About us

We’re the Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation, working to improve lives and communities in northeast Minnesota, northwest Wisconsin, and the seven sovereign nations in this region. We provide grants that finance good work in our region, scholarships to further education of people of all ages and leadership on important community issues.

Our Staff

We’re happy to connect with you. Contact us at 218-726-0232 or by email. Email addesses for all staff members are in their bios.

Paige Bramstedt
Finance Director

Amber Burns
Community Impact Specialist

Anika Eide
Executive Assistant and Affiliate Liaison

Shaun Floerke
President and CEO

Kursula Harris
Senior Community Impact Associate

Holly Herstad
Finance Assistant

Mary Calantoc
Administrative and Database Specialist

Anna Van Riesen
Graphic Design Intern

Michelle Morris
Community Impact Director

Jessica Peterson
Development Director

Alejandro Mendoza
Community  Disaster Resilience Specialist

Karen Sunderman
Communications Specialist

Make an Impact

GIVE

Board of Trustees

The Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation is guided by the efforts and commitment of our capable Board of Trustees.

Katelyn Baumann
Board Member

Fred Friedman
Board Member

Patrick Heffernan
Board Member

Kerstyn Hendricks
Vice Chair

Lee Jensen Bujold
Board Member

Sakib Mahmud
Board Member

David Montgomery
Treasurer

Jeff Corey 
Board Member

Joscelyn Skandel
Chair

Moira Villiard Secretary

Sandra Wright
Board Member

Paige Bramstedt joined the foundation in May 2022 as the organization’s accounting associate. She later was named interim finance director and, in January 2023, became finance director.
Paige earned her bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting and management from the University of Wisconsin-Superior. While at UWS, she spent time studying and living in Scotland.
She loves spending time with her family and friends in the area and traveling whenever she can. She also enjoys reading, hiking and crafting.
Amber Burns joined the foundation in 2022. She graduated from the University of Minnesota Duluth in 2011 with a bachelor of fine arts degree in arts education.
She has taught visual art, dance and theater at Marshall School, the Duluth Playhouse and many organizations around Duluth. In 2018, she finished her master’s degree in arts development and program management from the University of Denver.
She is passionate about advocating for the arts and youth as well as helping the local community.
Anika Eide joined the foundation in 2021. She has passion for social justice and for art as a means of healing.
After earning her bachelor of arts and master of fine arts degrees in creative writing from Hamline University, she served as mentor coordinator and creative writing mentor with the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop from 2013 to 2015.
Anika spent five years working in the veterinary field in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. She became a certified veterinary technician and remains committed to the care of domestic and wild animals.
She loves spending time with her family, her partner and her old cat, Simon. She enjoys hiking, writing, reading, camping, traveling and cooking.
The Board of Trustees named Shaun Floerke as the foundation’s leader in 2021 after he had served 16 years as a Duluth-based judge in Minnesota’s Sixth Judicial District.
As a judge, Shaun was a national leader in trauma-informed practice and strove to model and hold space for respect and dignity. He worked with other stakeholders to develop more thoughtful resources that considered equity as well as sustainable solutions for people and communities.
Shaun founded and presided over the South St. Louis County DWI Court, a national academy court with the National Association of Drug Court Professionals; the South St. Louis County Safe Babies Court; and the Duluth Domestic Violence Restorative Circles Process.
He has been a national leader and trainer in how courts handle cases involving substance abuse disorder, mental health and domestic violence. He has trained across the nation and internationally on recovery and resilience for individuals, systems and communities.
Shaun holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin and a law degree from the University of Minnesota. He and his wife, Sara, have five children and live in Duluth’s Lincoln Park neighborhood.
Kursula Harris brings to the foundation a background and expertise in operations management and administrative support.
As an adult student, she earned her bachelor of science degree in kinesiology, with a minor in psychology, from Pennsylvania State University.
Kursula has six siblings, and one of her favorite things to do is spend time with her nieces and nephews. She also enjoys volunteering in the community, working on DIY projects, hiking and traveling the world.
Holly Herstad is a lifelong Duluthian and a Duluth Central High School graduate.  She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota Duluth.
Holly has three wonderful children, two grandchildren and many family members who reside in the Duluth area. She spends her time trail riding, gardening, raising chickens, goats, pigs and turkeys. She enjoys giving farm-fresh food to family and friends.

Mary Calantoc recently moved back to Duluth after spending the last 10 years in Honolulu, Hawaii. She was born in Hawaii but grew up here in the Northland. She is a 1999 graduate of Duluth East High School.

After a brief stint as a high school music teacher in San Diego, CA, Mary has worked in non-profit arts management for over 18 years and is thrilled to be part of the team at DSACF.

In her spare time, you can find Mary singing with the choir at St. Paul’s Episcopal or spending time with her family and new puppy Saimin.

Anna is a Marketing & Graphic Design major in the University of Minnesota Duluth’s Labovitz School of Business. She is the Director of Philanthropy for the Alpha Sigma Tau National Sorority – Epsilon Chi Chapter on campus.

She is active in the Women in Business Club and Marketing & Graphic Design Clubs at UMD.

In her role at DSACF she has designed and created logos, brochures, print and social materials to share the story of the Foundation.

Michelle Morris advances the foundation’s mission of private giving for the public good by partnering with nonprofit organizations and community leaders to create positive outcomes through grants and scholarships.
She coordinates grantmaking for three initiatives:
  • Opportunity Rising, which builds a community that embraces diversity and inclusivity, where all children have abundant opportunities and feel respected, safe and secure
  • Ready North, which increases communities’ abilities to prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters, while focusing on community members who are most vulnerable
  • Young Leaders Fund, which attracts and retains young adults in the region through civic engagement, entrepreneurship and high quality of life.
Michelle earned her master’s degree in public health from Columbia University, focusing on social determinants of health and health equity within health promotion. She brings experience in program design and management, evaluation through qualitative and quantitative research methods, community-based participatory research and grant-proposal writing and review.
In her free time, Michelle loves sailing (especially in the Apostle Islands), snowboarding, traveling, cross-country skiing, climbing and reading.

Jessica Peterson joined the foundation in 2023.

She previously worked as development director at the Depot Foundation in Duluth, where she helped expand fundraising, grow community impact and support arts and culture nonprofits. Her work included leading that organization’s transition to a public foundation and raising more than $50,000 to create the Arts for All scholarship program that allows students to access Depot programming.

Before that, Jessica co-founded and oversaw development, fundraising and communications at Yellow Tree Theatre in Osseo, Minn. Her responsibilities included donor relations, grant writing, strategic planning, media relations and board recruitment. Throughout her career, she also has worked as a playwright, author and actor.

Jessica holds a bachelor of arts degree in English literature and theater arts from the University of Minnesota Duluth. She also holds a master of fine arts degree in creative writing from Hamline University in St. Paul. She grew up in Duluth and graduated from Denfeld High School.

Graduated from The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley with a bachelor’s degree in biology in 2016 and recently a Master’s in Public Administration with a Concentration in Homeland Security in Waterbury, Connecticut.

At DSACF and with the help of our cohort affiliates, he will create new incentives on how to persist, adapt, and transform the well-being of the social and economic assets and ecosystem. The goal is to help effectively protect persons and the Northland community and to prevent and reduce disaster resilience risk.

He loves the outdoors, hiking, and nature, and occasionally goes fishing with his dad. He has also created forums to sustain trash-free communities and prevent flooding clogged drains on roadways.

Karen Sunderman is an award-winning storyteller with deep roots in broadcast media and communications. She shares stories about grant-supported programs that foster community growth and development as well as accounts of donor impact and possibility through giving.
Karen grew up on a farm in southern Minnesota. She earned degrees in English and journalism from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. At the college radio station, WRFW-FM, she learned to clearly enunciate “W.” During a semester abroad, she developed a love for travel and a profound curiosity about exploring the world.
Karen is a graduate of the Institute for Renewing Community Leadership (Wilder Foundation) and the Creative Community Leadership Institute (Springboard for the Arts). She brings a passion for artist-led, community collaboration and creative problem-solving. She received the Maddie Simons Arts Advocacy Award from the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council in 2018. Her work with WDSE-TV, Duluth PBS, earned two regional Emmy awards.
A champion of the region’s arts and music, Karen is invested in the local scene, supporting homegrown talent across the Northland. She has served as host and a judge for numerous musical events, including the Duluth Does Dylan singer-songwriter competition, Sacred Heart Music Center’s From the Heart series and produced the long-running PBS/WDSE-TV series “The PlayList,” among other programs.
In her free time, she is a gardener with a love/hate relationship with the local deer herd.
Katelyn Baumann is Outreach Program Manager in The Link Center, a resource for students as well as student programs and initiatives at the University of Wisconsin-Superior. She received her bachelor’s degree in international peace studies and mass communication from UWS in 2012. She is devoted to developing strategies to meet community priorities through partnerships and bridge-building.
Fred Friedman served as the Chief Public Defender for northeast Minnesota before retiring in 2014. He was the longest-serving chief public defender in state history. He has worked as an attorney since 1972 and has taught college classes since 1975, including at the University of Minnesota Duluth. He is a Chicago native with a bachelor’s degree from UMD and a law degree from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.
Pat Heffernan has been with Duluth financial services firm Wheeler Associates since 2003 and is a certified employee benefits specialist as well as certified in long-term care. Pat is passionate about his community, city, and state and has been involved in programs at all levels. He graduated from the University of Minnesota, where he received the Donald R. Zander leadership award.
Kerstyn Hendricks is the AVP-Lead Signature Banker at National Bank of Commerce. In 2011, she graduated from the University of Minnesota Duluth with a degree in Communication. Kerstyn has worked at NBC since 2008, where she began as a teller, and has held various positions, including personal banker and signature banking specialist. Kerstyn is a proud Superior resident.
Lee Jensen Bujold of Knife River is a retired business development director. She grew up on Lake Superior’s South Shore in Ashland. She and her husband, Jim, have lived in Knife River for more than 30 years. Bujold’s professional background is in Chamber of Commerce work and regional economic development.

Dr. Sakib Mahmud is an Associate Professor in Sustainable Management and Economics at University of Wisconsin-Superior. Dr. Mahmud received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Wyoming, and M.A. in Economics from the University of British Columbia. Dr. Mahmud’s research focuses on applied economics with applications on issues related to environmental and resource economics, climate change adaptation and community resiliency, and small business economics. Dr. Mahmud loves to get involved with Twin Ports community in various capacities. Currently, he is serving as the Member of the Redevelopment Authority of City of Superior (RACS); Board Member of the Duluth Superior Eco Rotary Club; Vice President of the Islamic Center of Twin Ports, ICTP, Duluth and, the Faculty Advisor of the Student-led UW-Superior Sustainability Club. In the past, he served as a Member of the
Diversity Group of the Northern lights Elementary School in Superior and the Steering Committee for the National Bank of Commerce sponsored Regional Economic Indicators Forum
(REIF) project. Dr. Mahmud was also involved as a Voluntary Soccer Coach for kids at the Young Men’s Christian Association, YMCA, Superior.

David Montgomery retired from the City of Duluth as its chief administrative officer, where he oversaw operations of city departments and served as the administration’s liaison with the City Council. Montomery served as interim president and CEO of the Community Foundation in 2020 while the foundation searched for a permanent leader.

Jeff Corey has been Executive Director for One Roof Community Housing (formerly Northern Communities Land Trust) since 1998. During this time, One Roof has assisted over 500 households purchase Community Land Trust (CLT) homes by developing over 320 CLT homes and facilitating the resale of over 200 CLT homes.  In 2011, Jeff helped lead the merging of Neighborhood Housing Services of Duluth and Northern Communities Land Trust into what
became One Roof Community Housing in January of 2012.  Since the merger, Jeff’s programmatic work has focused on multifamily development in Duluth, including the development of Steve O’Neil Apartments (50 units of permanent supportive and shelter housing
for homeless families with dependent children), the redevelopment  of Gateway Towers (150 units of very affordable housing inhabited primarily by disabled and elderly residents), the
development of Decker Dwellings (42 units of affordable rental housing),  and the forthcoming Brewery Creek Apartments (52 units with 32 units for clients of Life House).

Joscelyn Skandel (Joscy) is manager of regulatory compliance, policy and rates Superior Water Light & Power, a subsidiary of ALLETE Inc. that serves customers in Superior and nearby areas. She joined the company in 2014 as supervisor of rates, financial reporting and budgeting. She earned her undergraduate degree in accounting from the University of Wisconsin-Superior and her MBA from the University of Minnesota Duluth.
Moira Villiard is a visual artist and community organizer in Duluth. She works as a freelance creative on projects including murals, animation, graphic design, grant writing assistance for other creatives, consulting and teaching. She grew up playing in the woods on the Fond du Lac Reservation and feels at home wherever there are wetlands, pine trees, mossy forest floors and ice-cold creeks.
Sandra Wright was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. She received her bachelor’s degree from Chicago Teachers College (now Chicago State) and a master’s degree in education from Ball State University. She has served as an educator, including 36 years in elementary teaching and 10 years at the University of Wisconsin-Superior where she taught the Multicultural Nonsexist Education class.