Board of Directors
active board of directors:
erania brackett, Board member
Acacia Perkins, Board Secretary
Acacia Perkins learned of Spark-Y from her mentor and founding Board Member, Tammie Follett, and immediately wanted to be involved with this amazing organization. Acacia has worked with youth much of her life and wants to continue empowering youth. Spark-Y provided the perfect opportunity for this while also being able to focus on sustainability. Acacia is excited to be a part of Spark-Y and help as they change the world; while also helping others learn of Spark-Y and how they can become involved through volunteering. Acacia is currently a System Program Manager in Regulatory and Accreditation for Fairview Health Services, primarily located at University of Minnesota Medical Center. Acacia has been with Fairview Health Services for over 8 years in a variety of roles within Quality, Medical Staff Office, and Regulatory.
Erania joined Medtronic in December 2017. Before joining Medtronic, Erania held positions of increasing responsibility leading sales, services P&L’s and manufacturing sites in the diagnostic imaging healthcare services and consumer product businesses. An established commercial, services and operations professional, Erania excels at customer-oriented delivery and operational transformations. Erania’s demonstrated results in customer delivery excellence, continuous improvement, and operational excellence positioned her well as the C&I Operations Leader.
In her first year as the C&I Operations Leader, Erania has built service delivery and solutions management operational systems that ensure customer service and experience commitments are met. This infrastructure will ensure a smooth transition of Connectivity & Insights to a software as a service and solution ecosystem.
Before joining Medtronic, Erania worked at GE Healthcare for 15 years and held commercial and operational leadership roles in Sacramento, CA, Atlanta, GA, Southern California, and Denver. Before joining GE Healthcare, Erania worked for Procter and Gamble, in Kansas City, KS and held several engineering, operations management, and continuous improvement positions.
Erania holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the Tuskegee University and is pursuing an MBA.
Jeff Arensen, Board Member
I became very familiar with Spark-Y when Spark-Y was an investee of Social Venture Partners Minnesota (“SVP”). Although I was not active with Spark-Y at SVP the engagement allowed me to get to know the organization and appreciate the need in our community that Spark-Y is addressing. I am passionate and focused on helping youth in our community and Spark-Y is a dynamic organization addressing the needs of youth in our community.
I have lived my life as a firm believer of engaged philanthropy, where I believe one should be active in helping non-profit organizations achieve their goals besides just “writing a check”. I like to focus my philanthropy on few organizations at a time to ensure I bring value to the organization and those it serves. I firmly believe that the board shares this passion to serve youth in our community.
We share the passion to helping youth in our community and the open mind to adjust to the ever-changing needs of the community, where we have seen so much change in the past six months.
Patrick Whannel, BOARD MEMBER
I originally met Zach and another board member, Jeff Arnesen, to casually chat about Spark-Y and potential opportunities to leverage my expertise to help the organization think of ways to enhance support to the team members. After the conversation, it was apparent that the mission, vision, and values of Spark-Y and Zach as a leader, directly align with my interests and passion as an individual. After a few more conversations, I was introduced to the other board members which only strengthened my resolve to get involved in any way that made sense. Not long after, I was formally accepted as a fellow board member
The underlying interest is providing myself as a resource in whatever capacity will help the organization broaden their impact on the youth of our community. My specific area(s) of expertise lends itself well to finding creative ways to enhance the total rewards offering to employees, identifying administrative efficiencies, and broadly seeking ways to foster team member engagement.
I’ve worked with HR and Finance leadership teams over the past 15 years, the last 8 of which have been spent as part of Marsh McLennan Agencies employee health & benefits consulting team. As Vice President and Practice Leader of our private equity and M&A services, my primary focus is working with various types of financial sponsors and organizations in support of their acquisitive growth strategies.
founder:
Mary Helen McHugh Franze
Original board members:
Contributors to the original Board of Directors:
Tammie Follett
Mary Helen McHugh Franze
Emma Robinson
Zach Robinson
Kris Sibik
board chair:
Tammie Follett (2009-2016)
Terri Joski-Lang (2017-2018)
Jeannine Peterson (2019)
Steve Schumacher (2020-2021)
notable contributors:
Ayan Hargrove
Tanya Kellar
Kirk K. Marschel
