Board Member, Chair

Patricia Brownell Sterner is Principal and CEO of JFB and Associates LLC, a consulting firm providing services for cooperatives, non-profits, and foundations established in 2002. Ms. Sterner brings more than 40 years of experience working with non profits and foundations, managing organizations and providing consulting services in the areas of governance, fundraising, program development, strategic planning, and organizational development.

Previous to establishing JFB and Associates, Sterner served as Executive Director of the National Credit Union Foundation, the charitable development arm for the national credit union industry. She has held other executive positions over her career, including Managing Director of the Center for Women’s Health Research at the University of Colorado where she led the board in raising funds to endow the Center’s first Chair. She received a faculty appointment during her tenure at the Center.

Ms. Sterner has a deep passion for supporting the work of environmental non profits, providing services to the National Park Trust and the Lake Earle Conservation Trust among others. Her work with Minnesota Point 50 (MP 50) strikes close to home as she lives in the family home on Park Point.

“My family believes our greatest responsibility lies in the stewardship of the environment, including the community around us. We are so fortunate to live on this extraordinary sandbar, and I am dedicated to continuing our 60+ year legacy of its stewardship through MP50.”

In addition to chairing the MP 50 Board Ms. Sterner serves on the national boards of the Furies Foundation and the FoolProof Foundation. She is a member of the City of Duluth’s Community Development Commission which oversees the distribution of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funding.

Board Member, Vice Chair

My great grandmother Edith Drewett Glass moved to Park Point with her four young adult sons on April 9, 1930 in search of opportunities. A younger Edith had survived seven trans-Atlantic crossings with her family who sailed back and forth seeking prosperity and stability.  The polio she contracted left her with a weak leg and she wore a brace.  When her husband died and she was faced with raising four young boys in Two Harbors in the 1920’s, she had to find ways to keep them warm and fed. She honed her mostly self taught musical skills to a level where she could provide piano lessons and earn enough to meet the family’s needs. Later on in life, she continued giving piano lessons in the cottage that her sons built for her at 3216 Minnesota Ave. It’s no surprise that the young men she raised were also hard working, clever, resourceful and resilient. I find that resilience is a theme in the lives of the people who lived here seasonally prior to 1900, settled here and choose to live here now.  This landform that is Minnesota Point was created by natural forces and remains dynamic by the forces of wind and water. The Point has also been, and continues to be, modified by the decisions and actions of people.

Focusing on the facets of resilience will be necessary to protect and preserve this place where we enjoy and share our extraordinary lives. Millions of visitors travel to Duluth to take in the majesty of the lake, experience the wind and the water, see the active harbor, take in the vistas, and recreate in the waves and along the shorelines.  The significant investment into these treasured resources by the State of Minnesota, the City of Duluth and the Park Point Community deserve our consideration, respect and ongoing stewardship. Park Pointers have worked to study, preserve and protect this fragile and unique landform for decades; we will continue these efforts while adding in the additional challenges of climate change variables, for the benefit and enjoyment of those who follow us into the future.

Board Member, Treasurer

Charlene grew up in Minneapolis, graduated from Saint Olaf College with majors in AmericanStudies, History, and German, and worked at the Newberry Library in Chicago before getting a graduate degree in historic preservation from Boston University. After working in Boston and Providence, Rhode Island, she returned to Minnesota, sold commercial real estate, ran a family business, and, in 1990, became a founding principal of Hess, Roise and Company. She was president of the historical consulting firm from 1997 until selling the business in 2020 and continues to work in the field. Charlene has experience with a broad spectrum of cultural resources ranging from designed landscapes and high-style buildings to bridges, dams, and aircraft hangars. Among her many projects are National Register nominations for Saint George Serbian Orthodox Church in Duluth and Hiawatha Golf Course and Peavey Plaza in Minneapolis.

In addition to exploring the outdoors by bicycle, cross-country ski, and yard work, she recently reached a long-time goal of hiking the Superior Hiking Trail end to end, over the course of four years, with partners Ozzie (an energetic mutt) and Richard. The exercise helps work off the calories from another hobby, cooking. Park Point is her happy place.

Board Member

Paul Treuer is a retired educator who, with his family, has visited, recreated, and lived on Park Point over the past fifty years.  An inveterate dabbler, he has engaged in activities that include early childhood homeschooling, molecular biology, environmental education, writing, long-distance sea kayaking, community gardening and growing vegetables in Park Point sand.  He and his partner Mary share a passion for cultivating their space on the Point.  They especially enjoy time at their family home on the Point with their children and grandchildren, all of whom they look up to, literally and figuratively.

Park Point is Paul's spirit home.  That is why he is working on its resilience through MP50.

Board Member

Jessica Boehland grew up near Duluth and has lived on Minnesota Point since 2020. She loves spending time in, on, and near Lake Superior and the Superior Bay. She is a member of the Lafayette Community Edible Garden Club and serves on the board of the Duluth Rowing Club. Jessica feels lucky to live in this special place and to be part of the Park Point community. She is grateful for the opportunity to help enhance the ecological, cultural, and economic resilience of Minnesota Point for generations to come.

Jessica works as a senior program officer with The Kresge Foundation’s Environment Program, which helps U.S. cities combat and adapt to climate change while advancing racial and economic justice. Jessica leads the team’s grantmaking and other activities that support cities in making an equitable and just transition to clean energy. Jessica holds a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Oberlin College and a master’s degree from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Her graduate work focused on climate science, climate policy, and climate justice.

Board Member

Brian grew up in the small town of Newton, Iowa. After attending college at Drake University and then going to University of Iowa for medical school, he came up to Duluth for family medicine residency, where Brian became acquainted with the beauty of Duluth. During residency, he rented a house on Park Point with his partner, Missy, and spent free time exploring the local streams and chasing trout with a fly rod. Brian and Missy moved to Kansas after residency for a job for Missy, only to return 5 years later, in 2020. The lake lured them back!  Brian was lucky to find and buy a home on Park Point across the street from where the two lived previously. Brian loves being part of the Park Point community, including being an active member of the Park Point Community Club, participating in the Lafayette Community Edible Garden, and chatting with neighbors whenever possible. Brian can also be found frequently running up and down the point. Brian and Missy plan to live here for a long time and know climate change is real and have seen its impact on the point. He is also seeing more vacation rentals in the Park Point neighborhood. Brian is on the MP50 board to be a working member of a group trying to ensure that Park Point is a place that continues to be a wonderful place to live, visit, and play.

Board Member

In 2023, my family and I made the move to Park Point, drawn by our deep love for Lake Superior and the vibrant spirit of the Duluth community. You’ll often find me by the water—whether I’m rowing, paddleboarding, swimming, walking, or ice skating. I’m thrilled to be an active member of the Park Point Community Club, Edible Garden Club, and Duluth Rowing Club, and I’m passionate about bringing young families together through social events here on the Point.

Becoming part of the Minnesota Point 50 initiative allows me to contribute to the resilience of this unique sandbar that my family and I proudly call home. I’m energized by the opportunity to bring people, ideas, and stories together to inspire action and strengthen our community. Through MP50, I can apply my skills while deepening my understanding of Park Point’s needs and the actions we can all take to preserve its land, water, wildlife, infrastructure, and people for generations to come.

When I’m not on the lake, I lead growth strategy and operations for a healthcare organization.