Staff Bios
Joellen Gonder-Spacek is the founding executive director of the Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota (MPM). Since 1994, she has led the strategic direction of one of the original mentoring partnerships in the United States. Gonder-Spacek has provided leadership to the mentoring movement and brought together a multitude of community leaders around the issue of more mentoring for children, youth, and families in Minnesota. Recognized as national leaders, Gonder-Spacek and her staff, board of directors, and volunteers have recruited 44,000 thousand mentors, generated over $4 million dollars, provided training to over 5,000 mentors and 300 mentor organizations, assembled mentor networks for 400 mentor programs, and developed an award-winning multi-media public education to action campaign. Gonder-Spacek has twenty years of experience in resource development, community mobilization, partnership development, strategic planning, marketing communications, and social entrepreneurism. Gonder-Spacek has a degree in organizational communications from Creighton University and has completed master’s level work in business communication at the University of St. Thomas. In 2009 she was chosen to receive a Bush Foundation Leadership Fellowship, which gave her the opportunity to earn a master's degree at the University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute in Public Affairs and Nonprofit Leadership. She currently mentors as a basketball coach.
In her role with MPM, Mai-Anh Kapanke oversees all aspects of marketing communications and has helped launch public policy efforts around youth mentoring; she has also recently taken on resource development responsibilities for the organization. Before working for MPM, Kapanke worked for the YMCA Mentor Duluth program. In that capacity, she managed all public relations and marketing efforts and co-directed the Mentor Duluth program, the largest mentoring program in Northeastern Minnesota. Kapanke graduated from Michigan State University with a journalism degree. She has worked in television news as a news reporter and weather anchor for six years prior to her work in the mentoring arena. She has served as a mentor with both Mentor Duluth and Kids 'n Kinship.
Polly Roach leads the delivery of services to support youth-adult mentoring programs around the state, providing resources and technical assistance to strengthen their efforts to reach all youth in need of caring adult mentors. Before joining MPM in 2004, Roach directed a one-to-one mentoring program for girls at the YWCA of St. Paul for over 16 years. In that capacity, she was a founding member of the Metro Mentor Network and one of the first recipients of the Angel of Mentoring Awards. Roach received a master of social work degree from the University of Minnesota, focusing on services to children and families. She is actively involved in initiatives that promote meaningful youth-adult partnerships and advocacy for girls developmental needs. She is currently mentoring in the Longfellow United for Youth & Families-FUNdamentals tutoring program.
April Riordan manages MPM’s Training Institute, which offers technical assistance, consultation, resources and training support to help start, maintain and sustain quality mentoring initiatives, and to prepare both mentors and mentees to make the most of their mentoring relationships. Riordan is an experienced trainer and presenter, having delivered training and presentations for many organizations before joining the Mentoring Partnership. She also developed and managed two unique and award-winning mentoring programs while working in the fields of youth development and camping. She has also volunteered as a mentor for many years, building relationships with young people through Best Buddies, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Twin Cities, the St. Paul Jewish Community Center and Bolder Options of Minneapolis. Riordan has a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Hamline University.
Brad Jacobson came to MPM in fall 2008 with over a decade of work and experience in the nonprofit world of academics and the arts. His previous tenures include time at William Mitchell College of Law and most recently as Programs and Event Planner for the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, where he was responsible for designing and managing large-scale meetings, private events and exhibition openings. Jacobson has served in a mentoring role in his work with the GLCAC (now Out Front Minnesota) and Como Park High School’s Health Start Clinic, which focused on the unique needs of today’s GLBT youth. Jacobson graduated summa cum laude from the University of Minnesota in 1998 and is currently pursuing a degree in Graphic Design and Visual Communications at Minneapolis Community and Technical College.
Ashley Bemmels joined MPM in September through the True North AmeriCorps Program. Her role with MPM is to assist with training, technical assistance, and support of MPM's QMAP (Quality Mentoring Assessment Path) process. In December 2010, Bemmels graduated magna cum laude from Minnesota State University-Mankato with a bachelor's degree in Social Work. Ashley's past experiences as a mentor include the YWCA of Mankato's Girls' World program and fulfilling mentoring roles as a camp counselor with Camp Robindel in New Hampshire and University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Youth Programs.
Nicki Patnaude joined MPM as their Public Policy Graduate Intern in September 2011. Her role with MPM is to follow policies on the local, state and national level that pertain to youth mentoring. Additionally, she works with policy leaders to educate them about mentoring and advocate for stronger youth policies and program funding. Prior to joining MPM, Nicki worked with Lutheran Social Service of MN for six years with youth aging out of foster care in St. Louis County (MN). Patnaude coordinated and co-facilitated weekly independent living skills groups as well as serving as the supportive adult mentor for the LSS Arrowhead Youth Leadership Council, a group of current and former foster youth whose purpose was to be a voice for other foster youth, promote and educate about the foster care system, and work for positive change. Nicki is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Minnesota with a focus on Community Organizing and Advocacy.