Board of Directors

Itasca Waters is governed by an all-volunteer Board of Directors who come from a wide variety of backgrounds. The full Board meets quarterly and the Executive Committee, consisting of the officers and committee chairs, meets on a monthly basis. The board consists of both voting and non-voting technical advisors.

 

Kathy Cone, President

Kathy served IWLP as Education Chair from 2012 when she joined the Board to 2020. In addition, Kathy works full time as an accountant, has two children, and volunteers on the Community Cafe Board and completed a two- year training in "Leadership for the Century".

Kathy enjoys spending time raising meat birds, pork, beef, and laying hens for the farm fresh eggs as well as raising vegetables. She also likes to paint with watercolor and oil, hunting, fishing, crafts, and spending time with friends.

Jessica Loes, Secretary

Jessica’s first experience with Itasca waters was in 2020 with the Shoreland Advisor program. She contacted the organization’s coordinator, and two Shoreland Advisors came out to her cabin property for an assessment. The experience left an impression that inspired her to learn as much as she could about water quality.

Jessica, a lifetime resident in MN grew up on a small lake in Ramsey county and has more water memories than she can count. She spent her summers catching whatever would bite and swimming and canoeing from an early age. Every year she watched official looking people who were authorized to have motors spray chemicals into the water. She has vivid memories of emerging from a day of fun in the sun with discolored fingernails and toenails. She has especially fond memories of visiting her grandpa’s cabin in Wisconsin on weekends and summer vacations spent gnome hunting in the woods and competing in “smallest fish” tournaments with her brothers at a resort just north of the Mississippi Headwaters. The water was crystal clear and there wasn’t a bullhead in sight.

The decision to move their family in 2021 to Itasca County - a place with clean, beautiful water, fresh air, safe streets, and amazing teachers just made sense. Jessica was honored to be given the chance to serve on the Itasca Waters Board of Directors. The IWLP has done amazing work and has formed partnerships in the community to help keep Itasca County’s water clean.

She feels a strong sense of urgency and commitment to protecting one of our most vulnerable and treasured resources and knows Itasca Waters can continue to build partnerships within the community to preserve water quality for future generations to come.

Jessica has spent the majority of her career as a Quality professional. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from Cardinal Stritch University and a Masters of Science in Medical Technology Quality from St. Cloud State University. She has an analytical mind, is results driven, and is skilled at interpreting standards and regulations. She understands what it takes to get major projects across the finish line. Jessica is part of the Itasca Waters Shoreland Advisor program and completed the UMN - AIS Detector program in 2021. Most recently she registered to be a citizen lake quality monitor for two Itasca county lakes with the MNPCA.

Sandy Anderson, Treasurer

Sandy moved to Minnesota in the early 80's and to Grand Rapids in 2001. With a Masters in Geography and a GIS certification, Sandy worked as a site location analyst for Dayton-Hudson Corp. for years before starting Lakehomes.com Realty in 1999 with her husband, Dan. With a family cabin on Lake Ontario and Dan's experience growing up on Rainy Lake, they brought their love of lake property to the business. In 2013 Lake Homes Realty grew into the Move It Real Estate Group keeping a strong emphasis on waterfront sales. With a strong history of waterfront sales in Northern Minnesota, she and Dan understand the importance of clean waters on the environment and a community's growth potential.

John A. Downing

John is the Director of the Minnesota Sea Grant College Program, a research scientist at the Large Lakes Observatory, and a tenured Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Minnesota Duluth. He was formerly a Regent’s Excellence Professor of Ecology, Evolution, & Organismal Biology and Agricultural & Biosystems Engineering at Iowa State University and ran one of the best-funded and long-standing research operations at that institution. His research and teaching dossiers concern many aspects of the aquatic sciences. His 150+ peer-reviewed books and journal articles cover diverse topics in limnology, marine science, environmental economics, and terrestrial ecology. His leadership experience has been as the Director of the Laurentian Biological Station (Montreal, Quebec), the co-founder of the Inter-University Limnological Research Group (Montreal, Quebec), Director of the Iowa State University Limnology Laboratory (Ames, Iowa), Chair of the Environmental Science Interdepartmental Graduate Program (Ames, Iowa), President of the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography, and Chair of the Council of Scientific Society Presidents (Washington, DC). He has founded and run several small businesses in the US and Canada. He has a long-standing record of success in securing research funding from federal, state, provincial, and local agencies. He maintains current international research collaborations with Canada, Brazil, and Holland.

John’s family has conserved and managed a shore-habitat and forest area in northern Minnesota for 108 years. He is a certified diver, a once-professional musician, and volunteers to help citizens across the US Midwest with local water quality concerns.

Bill Grantges

Bill is the Itasca County Aquatic Invasive Species Program Coordinator. Bill is a board member of Itasca Waters. He served on the Technical Committee of the Minnesota Aquatic Invasive Species Research Center (MAISRC) for 4 years and is a past Vice-President of ICOLA. He received his Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Rhode Island and worked as a program manager for Siemens Medical Systems before coming to Minnesota in 1999. Bill has held certifications from the DNR as a Lake Service Provider and as a Level 1 & Level 2 AIS Watercraft Inspector. He is also a certified University of Minnesota Extension AIS Detector.

Bill is passionate about building partnerships to help preserve our strong outdoor traditions. In 2020, Bill was awarded the Carol Mortensen Invasive Species Management Award for Individual Achievement by the Minnesota Invasive Species Advisory Council.

Dave Lick, Shoreland and Youth Water Summit Chair

Dave is retired as principal owner of Itasca Reliable Insurance Agency, Inc., has a B.S. degree in biology, a minor in chemistry, past president of Itasca Coalition of Lake Associations, responsible for septic compliance for Wabana Township Lakes, past board member for Advocates for Family Peace, lifetime member of Izaak Walton League, current member of Minnesota Power's Citizen Advisory Board, active organizer of Citizens Advocating Responsible Power Production “CARRP,” public school science teacher for four years, and he directed  Youth Conservation Corp camps for the USFS for two years. 

Dave’s additional Interests are extensive international travel, forest landowner, sustainable forest management from 1994 to present converting 70 acres back to white pine, beekeeper, gardener, woodworker, avid bike rider and cross country skier, canoeist and scuba diver. He is married and has two children.

Wesley Sisson

Born and raised in Northeastern Minnesota, Wesley joined the IW Board in 2023. Wesley earnedbachelor’s degrees in history and political science from the University of Minnesota Duluth in 2020 and is currently working on his Masters in history from Arizona State University.  Wesley chaired the statewide non-profit Minnesota Public Interest Research Group in 2018 and is currently serving on the board of the DFL Environmental Caucus where he developed a passion for environmental, social, and economic advocacy for Minnesota’s communities.  To him, “history unifies the disciplines, heritage brings people together, and water is life for all living things.” Wesley has lived on or near a lake for all of his life, including Lake Margaret on the Gull Lake Chain, Lake Superior, and his current home on Shallow Lake in Warba. Wesley understands the importance of protecting, conserving, and defending Minnesota’s most important ecological resource.   When 10 percent of the world’s surface fresh water is in your backyard, you develop a conscious duty to preserve water, wildlife, and the people that depend on them. 

 

EMERITUS BOARD MEMBER

Harold E. Dziuk

As a young kid, Harold first learned to appreciate the wonders of nature on a small dairy farm in Benton County, MN. He left the farm to embark on undergraduate and graduate studies in Veterinary Medicine and a career in teaching and research. His graduate studies were delayed for two years while he was on active duty in the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps at the Biological Warfare Laboratories, Fort Detrick, Maryland.

His employment included a wide range of public and private venues, including the Tuskegee, Minnesota and Iowa State universities, General Electric, and the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission.

His primary role in IWLP over 8 years of service on the Executive Committee was to seek grants to support IWLP’s many initiatives

2022 TECHNICAL ADVISORY BOARD

Andy Arens, District Manager, Itasca County Soil and Water Conservation District

Andy Arens graduated in 2001 with a Forest Management Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Andy has been with the Itasca County SWCD since 2003, as Forestry and Shoreland Specialist initially, and District Manager and Water Plan Coordinator since October 2015.

Ben Benoit, Environmental Director, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe

Born in Hartford Conn, Ben likes to jokingly tell people that he has lived the Ojibwe migration story. Starting on the East coast and ultimately making his way to Minnesota, Ben went to high school in Anoka, began college at St Cloud State and finished with a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities in Biochemistry. After college, Ben worked for a few years in industry, as a microbiologist and chemist and when he began looking for a house but decided that city life wasn’t for him, and it was time to rejoin his family in the North. The best parts of Minnesota are found in this area. Some of the most pristine lakes and watersheds in the county and he is committed to protecting them for future generations to rely on as his family does today. He was taught that if we care for the manoomin, land and waters, they will care for us. That is the mission Ben works towards as Leech Lake Environmental Director and as an Anishinaabe man. He hopes that through working with Itasca Waters he can further develop relationships between local governments, help push projects that benefit all parties and share the core values that bring people together to care about the water.

Megan Christianson

Megan has been the Executive Director of Visit Grand Rapids since 2012. Megan has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Concordia University, St. Paul Campus. She has 20 years of marketing, public relations, and trade industry membership/advocacy experience. She currently Chair of the Minnesota Arrowhead Committee and is the NE Minnesota representative on the Explore Minnesota Tourism Council. She serves on the Mississippi River Parkway Commission from Grand Rapids to Brainerd. She is also a Blandin Foundation Community Leadership Alumni.

Megan lives in Cohasset Minnesota with her husband (Chad) and their two children (Madison, 17 and Caleb, 15). She enjoys being on the lake, scrapbooking, and spending time with family and friends.

Stephanie Kessler, Itasca Coalition of Lake Associations

Stephanie was born and raised in Grand Rapids. She has two Geography degrees: a Bachelor's degree from UMD and a Master's degree from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, where she focused on water resources. She worked for the Federal Emergency Management Agency for 24 years in the Mitigation Division mostly with flood recovery programs and floodplain management. She served eight years on the Itasca Water Plan Implementation Committee, eight years in leadership roles with the Itasca Coalition of Lake Associations, and now is President again with ICOLA. She has been her lake association president since she attended her first meeting, 20 years ago.

She and her husband have two teenage children. She volunteers for Girl Scouts, Itasca Synchronized Swimming Club, and 4-H. She has done event planning as a consultant, and she currently makes a cooking show for the local TV station, ICTV. She recently was hired as the part-time City of Cohasset Parks and Rec Coordinator. In her spare time, she likes to be outside in all the seasons. She grew up on the water and has valued water as a critical resource since she can remember.

Shirley Loegering

Shirley served as Board Secretary from 2010 through 2016 and managed the membership roster, website and Facebook pages and now serves as the Membership Chair. Shirley is a retired Administrator with a keen interest in preserving our water resources for future generations, including her four grandchildren. She is active with the Wes Libbey Northern Lakes Chapter of the Izaak Walton League. Over the years, Shirley has helped to organize several environmental events for Itasca Waters, Izaak Walton League and others. 

Shirley and her husband, Perry, spend vacations enjoying the outdoors, i.e. camping, fishing and bird watching. She is an active member in the Northstar Herb Guild where they study traditional uses for native plants and she enjoys working on her family genealogy.

Jan Sandberg, Secretary

Jan joined the IWLP Board in 2012 and helps ensure that the board’s work is kept on track. She compiles the annual report and assists with Google Drive and Dropbox.

Since retiring as a program evaluator with the Office of the Legislative Auditor in 2007, Jan and her husband, Richard spend much of the summer at their Pokegama Lake cabin that they purchased in 1986. In 217, they welcomed their first grandchild and plan frequent visits to Vancouver, British Columbia to “help” as needed. Jan makes Minneapolis her urban home, serving on the Minneapolis Charter Commission.

Jesse Davis, Past President

A native of Colorado, Jesse and his husband are 4th generation family farmers in Trout Lake Township. Active in local farmers' markets and the local food community and principal viola player in the Itasca Symphony. Jesse is presently a Realtor with the Move It Real Estate Group. Jesse feels that healthy lakes and waters are integral to the economic, cultural and social sustainability of the Greater Itasca area.

 

 

Eric Raitanen, Fisheries Biologist, Chippewa National Forest

Chad Severts, Board Conservationist, Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources

Cory Smith, Itasca County Commissioner District 1