New Executive Director, Randi Ilyse Roth

By Dr. David Misemer, Board President

Randi Ilyse Roth

It is with great pleasure that I announce the appointment of Randi Ilyse Roth as Interfaith Action of Greater Saint Paul’s next Executive Director. Randi is a passionate, strategic and collaborative leader who has a deep understanding of distressed communities, and an impressive, lengthy record of leading organizations that have delivered exceptional results in serving these communities.

Randi’s most recent position was Executive Director of Philanthropy for the Otto Bremer Foundation. She led the Foundation for six years, providing strong leadership and grant-making focus that contributed to improved access to higher education, anti-poverty programs for communities in need and support for disadvantaged youth. Her prior positions include federal court-appointed Monitor for a national class action civil rights lawsuit brought by 22,000 African-American farmers, and Executive Director of the Farmers’ Legal Action Group, a nonprofit law firm providing legal services for farm organizations nationwide. Randi began her career as a civil legal aid attorney in Chicago.

Randi is a long-time Saint Paul resident and an active community volunteer. She serves on the board of the Rural Advancement Foundation International, as a Trustee for the Jewish Federation of Greater Saint Paul, and as a member of the Legal Services Advisory Committee to the Minnesota Supreme Court. She is an active member of her synagogue, Beth Jacob Congregation in Mendota Heights. She has two children who went through Jewish day school and then the Saint Paul public school system.

Randi’s appointment comes at an exciting time in the life of our century-old organization. At our last Annual Assembly, members voted to change our name to Interfaith Action of Greater Saint Paul. The change acknowledges the reality that people of faith in all faith traditions—including but not limited to Christianity—are ready to work together to make our community a better place for all who live here.

As greater Saint Paul and its needs change, we recognize that we, too, must continue to evolve in order to deliver high quality, relevant programs. We have great confidence that Randi is a leader who can take us to our next level. As a recognized leader in the Twin Cities philanthropic and nonprofit communities, and in the Saint Paul area Jewish community, she brings exceptional experience and a fresh perspective to the challenges that we face. Please join our Board of Directors and Staff in providing a warm welcome to Randi.

I would like to thank the Executive Search Committee, and especially its chair Bruce Nerland, for bringing the process to a successful conclusion. We had many excellent candidates, and the committee’s diligence and thoughtfulness through this process were exceptional and very much appreciated.

I would also like to take a moment to thank Art Berman for his leadership as Interim Executive Director. Art has provided exceptional leadership during our nearly year-long transition, helping us navigate through our renaming, some challenging financial issues, and the ongoing execution of our organizational strategy. We wish him well.