Michelle Grosz is the Grants and Contracts Manager for Northwest Area Foundation, a private Foundation with a corpus of approximately $500M. She is an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and is an active participant in Native Americans in Philanthropy. She also serves on the local advisory board of the Grants Managers Network and is a member of its National Association. She works with program, administrative, and communications staff to develop performance based grants and contracts to support community outreach, poverty reduction, the creation of tools and models for poverty reduction, evaluation, and media. Michelle has a Masters degree in Higher Education Admnistraiton, a post baccalaureate paralegal certificate, is a certified grants writer, and has a bachelor`s degree in business.
In his current position, Mike oversees a Twin Cities grantmaking program for a Fortune 100 company that focuses on education, community development, and arts and culture funding. He also handles board placement, volunteer programs, and alternative resource distribution. Prior to his current position, Mike worked as a fundraiser, volunteer services manager, and trainer. His work has involved extensive consulting, training, and speaking, but he is still an active community volunteer and nonprofit board member. Mike earned a Bachelors in Social Work from Bemidji State University, and a Masters degree in Community Development from the University of Minnesota. He is a member of the Minnesota Council of Foundations and National Council on Foundations.
Kris Taylor is the Director of Community and Public Relations at Ecolab Inc., the world’s leading provider of cleaning, food safety and health protection products and services. In her current role, Taylor is responsible for the development and execution of Ecolab’s civic and community-based programs and relationships, as well as general media relations. She is also Vice President of the Ecolab Foundation, which contributes approximately 1.2 percent of U.S. pretax earnings to communities near Ecolab facilities. Prior to joining Ecolab in 2004, Taylor was with the Minnesota Children’s Museum for three years as Vice President of Finance and Administration. She was also Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer for five years with Bentz Whaley Flessner, a national consulting firm for non-profit organizations. Taylor is active on numerous boards of directors including the Minnesota Council on Foundations and the United Hospital Foundation.
