John Harper, Chair

Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
South Central College

John currently serves in the office of the president at South Central College as the Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and helps to oversee the Faribault Campus location.  He was the Vice Chair of the board in 2022 and was elected as the Board Chair in summer of 2023. John has been with South Central College since 2016 in a variety of capacities. . John actively works with academic deans, faculty, and staff to examine policy, procedure, and assessments with an equity lens. He has conducted over 200+ training for Blue Earth County Business Partners, Rice County, and campus departments since January of 2021.
 
As a strong advocate for cross cultural communication, John has support the greater Mankato region since his time as an undergraduate student at Minnesota State University, Mankato. His skill sets reside in equitable hiring practices and unconscious bias training. In the fall of 2022, John opened South Central College’s first ever Inclusion Centers; a place were veterans, students of color, gender affirming students, and various other forms of diversity could collaborate and participate together to address their specifics needs.
 
He is currently attending Morgan State University, a historically black college and university (HBCU) for a Doctor of Education (EdD) in Community College Leadership. His anticipated dissertation defense is Spring of 2025.
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Jack Kolars, Vice Chair

Nicollet County District 3 Commissioner
& Realtor at NuStar Realty

Jack Kolars serves as the County Commissioner and Realtor. He graduated in 1971 from Montgomery High School and attended Mankato State University majoring in Mass Communications and Broadcasting. He has lived in Nicollet County since 1986. He has served on the Nicollet County Board since January 1997 and was sworn in for his seventh term, January 3, 2023 - December 31, 2027. His districts include the North Mankato Precincts 1, 2, and 4. He has been involved with all facets of Nicollet County government, most notably around transportation. 

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Jenn Melby-Kelley

Owner
​The Coffee Hag

Jenn is a Mankato native, a graduate of Women's Studies and Sociology at Minnesota State University, Mankato, a second-generation entrepreneur, a Mankato City council member who represents Ward 4 for her second term, lead singer/songwriter for the band Sister Gin, one of the area's most visible LGBTQ leaders, and a well-known local advocate for arts, music, small business, entrepreneurship, and positive social change.

For the past 15 years, Jenn has worked tirelessly to grow her business, The Coffee Hag, into a successful coffee shop and cultural force that it is today. Against challenging economic tides, Jenn's leadership has grown the Coffee Hag from a struggling independent to a thriving, popular, fast-paced establishment that remains true to its roots, exemplifies social responsibility, and provides, in her words, "a place where people can find community and feel good about who they are the moment they walk through the door." Jenn's work at the Coffee Hag has earned her many awards and accolades, including a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Business Pathfinder Award. She lives in Mankato with her wife Anna, and their two yorkies, Patterson and Emmet.

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Dr. Mohamed Diab

Professor, Construction Management
Minnesota State University, Mankato

Dr. Diab is a professor in the Construction Management Program at Minnesota State University, Mankato, and a Construction Management Consultant. He holds a Baccalaureate of Science in Architectural Engineering from Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt, and a Master of Science in Civil Engineering from North Dakota State University. He has lived and worked in Asia, Africa, and North America, where he connected with different ethnic and diverse group of people nationally and globally.

Dr. Diab is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP). He was a 2017-2018 board member in the Project Management Institute - Minnesota chapter (PMI-MN), became president in 2018, and is currently a Director-at-large and board member.

He was the Construction Management Department chair from 2018-2021 at Minnesota State University, Mankato, and a member of the Global Education Advisory Council. He is currently an educator board of trustees member of the American Council for Construction Education (ACCE), and an ABET program evaluator.

He is passionate about diversity, equity, and inclusion in the greater Mankato region, the construction industry, and academia. He focuses on academia and industry collaboration to provide creative, inclusive learning experiences and talent and skills development.

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Cecil Fountain

Diversity Program Manager
​VINE Faith in Action

Cecil is a native Sudanese immigrant who moved to the States in 2023. she graduated from Ahfad University for Women in Khartoum, Sudan, with a Bachelor's degree in Family Sciences, specializing in Community health. She began her career in the U.S. by attending South Central College in Mankato, Minnesota and became a certified Community Health Worker in 2005. This opened many doors for her as she went on to become program coordinator at the YWCA Mankato (Walking in Two Worlds) and served many immigrants and refugee women for almost five years. During that time, she became a member of multiple organizations KIWANIS Club, Diversity Council, and a board member for Open Door Health Center.

In 2011, Cecil moved overseas and lived in Qatar for 5 years then Turkey for 4 years. In 2020 Cecil moved back to the US and to Mankato to resume her job as Diversity Program Manager at VINE Faith in Action.

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Liz Ratcliff

School Board Member, Mankato Area Public Schools & Founder of Futures PAC & Digital Strategist for Pantograph Labs

Liz is serving her first term as a school board member for Independent School District 77. Her priority is to ensure that all students are provided the tools they need to create the future of their choosing while feeling that they are an important part of the community. She attended Marquette Senior High School in Michigan and graduated from Northern Michigan University in 1993, majoring in Biology. She has lived in Mankato since 1998. 

Liz is a digital strategist for Pantagraph Labs, a boutique progressive digital firm, and also the founder of Futures PAC which supports progressive school board candidates across the country that advocate for a robust and inclusive public education system and oppose book bans, the whitewashing of our history, and attacks on LGBTQ+ students. 

Liz is married to her husband, Chad for 20 years and has three children, Emma (23), Jacob (23), and Conner (18). Chad is the general manager at Precision Press in North Mankato, MN. 

After the election of Donald Trump, she got involved in several community organizations to support disadvantaged groups being targeted by his policies. Alarmed by the rise in bullying and cruelty, ,she began selling artwork to pay for overdue school lunch bills. She is a lifelong social and climate justice activist with past involvement with MN350, Indivisible, Mankato United for Safety and Equality, Food Not Bombs, and Transition Mankato. 

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Guadalupe Quintero

Director of Community Partnerships Minnesota State University, Mankato

Guadalupe serves as a liaison between the University's Diversity and Inclusion Division and ethnic communities in Minnesota. In her previous position as Director of the Center for Latina/o Affairs, she developed programs to encourage and motivate Latina/os to pursue educational opportunities and increase their access to higher education. 

Guadalupe is an active member of the Global Education and Study Away Council (GEAC) at Minnesota State University, Mankato, and has traveled multiple times to Latin American countries to establish student and faculty exchange programs.

She has been a founder and co-founder of multiple bilingual and bicultural educational programs for Latina/o youth and women empowerment in Southern Minnesota, such as the Southern Minnesota Latino College Fair, El Pueblo Avanza Conference, the Southern MinnesotaMother and Daughter Conference, the Chicano Latino Youth Leadership Institute (CHILY), the Latino Academic Engineering Day (LEAD), the annual Woman to Woman Latina Conference, and the Multicultural Network.

Guadalupe's work has been recognized by the YWCA with the Women of Distinction award, the Minnesota State University, Mankato Outstanding Advisor of the Year and Latina Leader of the Year awards. She also received the BHA Award of Honor (Black Indian Hispanic and Asian) for her commitment and dedication to the Latina/o Community, the Minnesota Rural Futures award and the OTHLI Award of Honor given by the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs, which recognizes and honors Latina/o leaders whose efforts have contributed significantly to the wellbeing, prosperity, and empowerment of Mexican communities abroad.

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Ray Brauer

Scout Executive/CEO
Twin Valley Council, Boy Scouts of America

Ray Brauer has served as the Executive Director of the Twin Valley Council, Boy Scouts of America for the past 7 years. Scouting is for all youth from kindergarten through high school and teaches the values found in the Scout Oath and Law, leadership skills, problem-solving skills, communication skills, servant leadership, and how to be a participating citizen, all in an outdoor education classroom.

Ray has worked professionally for Scouting for over 30 years serving in several locations in the Midwest including Detroit, Michigan and Kansas City, Missouri where he served as the director of operations. A lifelong Scout, he has also worked 14 years on camp staff in central Missouri. 

Ray has been married to his wife, Mardell for almost 28 years and they have 4 children, Reagan (23), Anastasia (21), Nicholas (17), and Rebecca (12). Mardell is a special needs paraprofessional at Washington Elementary and currently working on her masters in special needs education at MSU.

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Diane Dobitz

Educator

Diane considers herself to be "part of the village," now that she doesn't have a regular contracted job as the educator she aspired to become since childhood. She grew up on a farm in southwest North Dakota where, as third oldest of fifteen children, her strong values of sharing, caring, and hard work were formed. 

In grade and high school, School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND) were her teachers. She came to Mankato and became an SSND after high school, spending the next 25 years of her life teaching with them. 

Diane taught in Minnesota and Iowa Catholic schools and also other places during the summer, including Appalachia, an Indian reservation, and a migrant workers' camp. She worked and taught in Kenya, East Africa for five years with other SSND's. These years in Africa were a life changing experience for Diane. Upon her return to the states she chose to leave the convent and started teaching in public schools. She received an advanced degree in Educational Leadership and became licensed as an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher (now called MLL - multi-lingual learning) through Minnesota State University, Mankato. As an ESL teacher she found her niche in ISD 77 at Kennedy Elementary, teaching immigrant and refugee children and being a cross-cultural support to their families. 

After leaving the convent, Diane met and shared 24 years of life with Jean Lovett. Jean's feisty and social justice, earth-loving spirit, until her death in 2021, was and continues to be an anchor hold for Diane's community activism. Beyond her professional commitment to the children and their families as an educator, Diane became involved with the Children's Project, Life Work Planning Center, the Mankato Interfaith Anti-Racism Task Force, and Mankato Area Fair Trade Town Initiative. 

In June, 2009, Diane was invited to Washington, D.C. where she accepted a Jefferson Award for Public Service as a representative of South-Central Minnesota and also received national recognition for serving her community as one of five Jaqueline Kennedy-Onassis Award recipients. In 2015, she was honored with the Mankato Golden Apple Excellence in Teaching Award. 

Since her professional career as an educator, Diane has continued volunteering as "part of the village" through the Mankato YWCA, the Greater Mankato Diversity Council, her Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Mankato church, Indigenous Peoples Day Committee, Moms Demand Action Against Gun Violence in America, a Board member of the Siemer Foundation, and simply showing up in different ways with others who are committed to strengthening the greater good in the greater Mankato area. 

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Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore. We have seen the future, and the future is ours.”

—César Chávez