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Peggy Flanagan is a qualified and effective leader. She is Minnesota’s 50th Lieutenant Governor and a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe. She is the first Native American elected statewide in Minnesota and the highest-ranking Native woman elected to executive office in the country. At the center of all her work is advocating and making progress for children, working families, communities of color and Indigenous communities, and Minnesotans who have historically been underserved and underrepresented. She served on the Minneapolis Board of Education before becoming one of the original trainers of Wellstone Action’s signature program Camp Wellstone, where she trained thousands of progressive activists, community organizers, elected officials, and candidates – including Governor Walz. In 2015, Peggy was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives, serving her own community of St. Louis Park, as well as Golden Valley, Plymouth, and Medicine Lake. Peggy brings her experiences of building coalitions and advocating for children and families to the Lieutenant Governor’s Office as she works in close partnership with Governor Tim Walz to build One Minnesota. Peggy lives in her beloved community of St. Louis Park with her husband, Tom, her daughter, Siobhan, and their dog, Reuben.
Karen Velez is an accomplished organizer and immigration advocate whose passion for human rights earned her the distinction of being named “40 Under 40: Latinos in American Politics” by the Huffington Post. Before joining Women Winning, Karen worked at the Minnesota DFL, where she managed grassroots fundraising programs and organized successful donor events as Deputy Finance Director. Her own immigration story and frustrations with America’s broken immigration system helped drive her efforts as the face of DACA Sin Miedo, a Minnesota awareness campaign for DACA recipients, while she was still a high school student.
Karen grew up in the suburbs of Minnesota surrounded by a large and close-knit family and eventually moved to Washington D.C. While in D.C., she majored in Political Science at George Washington University and worked as a paralegal at the nationally renowned, full-service immigration law firm, Benach Collopy. Karen’s experience in D.C. helped her build well-rounded experience managing various teams and legal research. Despite her love for the nation’s capital, Minnesota is home. She returned to be closer to her beloved family and to help Minnesota maintain its status as the Midwest’s progressive firewall.
Outside of her busy work life, Karen loves trying new, locally-owned Twin Cities restaurants, listening to her favorite podcasts, and of course, you can always find her spending time with her close friends and family.
Alyse Maye Quade is an accomplished political operative and organizer who joins Women Winning after more than four years at the Minnesota Democratic Farmer Labor (DFL) Party. As the DFL Political Director, Alyse strengthened relationships among partners, allies, and activists to continually build the progressive, pro-choice movement and position for electoral victories in the next election cycle. As the Director of the DFL Coordinated Campaign, Alyse managed winning Minnesota field programs and supported voter protection, Get Out The Vote, and Coalition teams.
Alyse was raised on a farm in Southwest MN, and attended the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, where she got her start in politics, working on a local house campaign. From there, she worked at various non-profits and electoral campaigns, including for the U.S. Senate and for Everytown for Gun Safety / Moms Demand Action. Outside of campaign work, Alyse enjoys golfing, cooking, and drinking in taprooms all over Minnesota to find the best local IPA. She lives in Apple Valley with her wife and their two rescue dogs.
Emma McBride is an experienced electoral strategist and organizer. Emma comes to Women Winning having managed the campaigns of two pro-choice women. She also has experience in non-profit electoral organizing. Most recently, she served as Minnesota Political Director at America Votes where she managed a coalition of 40+ organizations and built and executed campaigns in support of progressive candidates.
Emma is a lifelong Minnesotan and received a degree in Social Justice and Political Science from the University of Minnesota. Emma is passionate about building a more representative democracy because she knows first-hand that the fiercest advocates for reproductive justice are the people who are most impacted and come to the decision making table with lived experiences. She is excited to help pro-choice women build winning campaigns using creativity, community, and data-driven strategy. In her free time, Emma can be found curled up in her sunroom with a book, puttering around her garden and plants, or trying new restaurants around town.
Brittany Wallman has nearly a decade of events, communications, and marketing experience in the Twin Cities. Prior to joining Women Winning as the Director of Advancement, Brittany consulted with various Minnesota nonprofits, including Women’s Advocates, ArtistryMN, Trademark Theater, and The Ordway Center for Performing Arts.
Brittany is most passionate about work that centers building connections between people and their spaces, while helping them find the resources they need. In her free time you can find her baking from scratch, finding a fun class to take around town, or trying her hand at sailing across Lake Harriet.
Jordan Elton Foster is a marketing and digital strategist, passionate about developing creative solutions to connect people to the issues they care about. Her experience comes from both nonprofits and political campaigns, most recently serving on U.S. Senator Tina Smith’s back-to-back winning Senate campaigns. As Digital Director for the 2020 election cycle and Deputy Digital Director for the 2018 special election, she had the opportunity to build and grow digital engagement, messaging, and fundraising strategies.
Born and raised in Minnesota, Jordan earned her undergraduate degree from Concordia College before beginning her career in the digital space at The ONE Campaign in Washington, DC. Jordan later attended the Humphrey School, where she studied data and policy analysis and graduated with her Master of Public Policy. Striving to engage communities around social justice issues and movements, Jordan brings data-driven strategic creativity to her work. Jordan lives in Minneapolis with her husband Barry and dog Otto. She enjoys reading, gardening, and exploring Minnesota’s state parks with Barry and Otto.
Councilor Terese Tomanek is a Duluth At-Large City Councilor, having been unanimously appointed to that position by her fellow Councilors. She was re-elected in November 2021. Tomanek is employed as a chaplain at Essentia Health. She is President of the Lake Superior College Foundation, serves on the Public Utilities Commission, Duluth Sister Cities International, Glensheen Advisory Council and the Great Lakes Aquarium Advisory Council. Tomanek was author of the Duluth mask mandate in June, 2021. She serves as head of the Intergovernmental Relations Committee of the Council, working on regional issues with representatives of the county and school board. Tomanek's issues include housing expansion, pandemic relief and support for families, all approached through an equity lens.
Emily Koski was elected in 2021 to the Minneapolis City Council in Ward 11, which includes the Diamond Lake, Hale, Keewaydin, Page, Northrop, Tangletown, Wenonah, Windom, and Field neighborhoods. Emily Koski worked at Target Corporation, owned and operated a small business based in Minneapolis for 13 years, and is currently a Director of Client Development at Antenna. Emily Koski is currently a member of the Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity Leadership Council, a Site Council Member at Hale Elementary School, and a Member of the Minneapolis Public Schools Parent Legislative Committee. Emily Koski was previously a Board Member of 261 Fearless, a Council Member of the Waite Park Community Council, and a Site Council Member at Waite Park School. When elected, Emily Koski will partner with members of the community, leadership city-wide, organizations, and experts to work together to find solutions to the issues we face.
City Council Member Katie Roche is running for Chisago County Commissioner representing District 3, which includes Lindstrom, Chisago City, and south Chisago Lake Township. Council Member Roche is a licensed teacher who began serving her city in 2017 as a planning commissioner and a member on the economic development authority. In her role as a city council member, she has strongly advocated for transparency and collaboration with other governing bodies to address the goals of our community and county. The priorities that she would like to address when elected to the County Board include incentivizing economic development in the area with the intention of broadening our tax base, promoting the necessity of accessible and reliable broadband, initiating communication with the local school boards to address future planning and growth, advocating for veterans and workforce housing in order to meet the needs of District 3 residents, collaborating with county staff to enable accessible and affordable child care, and ensuring transparency and collaboration amongst the county, cities, and township. When elected County Commissioner of District 3, Council Member Roche will continue to connect with voters in her District and work hard to find solutions to issues that we all care about!