​Past Board of Directors
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Leah Patnode, Board Chair (2022-2024)
Customer Engagement Consultant for Securian Financial Group ​

Jess Helland, Treasurer (2020-2023)
​​Jessica Helland, MBA, CPA (Inactive) is a finance professional with experience in public accounting, external and internal audit, risk analysis, accounting and financial planning. She joined Donate Good Stuff with the intention of using her passion for numbers to make a positive impact on our communities and the planet. Jessica's role is to provide financial support for the organization, which includes monthly accounting, financial budgeting, quarterly reporting, variance analysis, as well as defining financial objectives to help achieve our strategic plan. 

Erin Johnson, Sustainability & User Experience (2019-2021)
​​Erin works as the Customer Insights Program Manager at Aspiration where she is responsible for designing and managing projects that provide insights on the customer experience such as including listening sessions, training, surveys, town halls, and customer journey mapping. In short, she strives to understand what people want and need. She provides this expertise to Donate Good Stuff to ensure people have a great experience.
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Samantha Lucas, Nonprofit Relationships (2019-2021)
​Samantha is an experienced Program Coordinator with a demonstrated history of working in the hospital & health care industry. Strong human resources professional skilled in Event Management, Volunteer Recruitment, Marketing and Communications, Community Outreach, and Employee Engagement. She currently works as a Senior Program Coordinator within Community Benefit and Engagement at Allina Health.

Toni Savarese, Digital Media (2020-2021)
​Toni is a media consultant with experience in marketing, video production, and business development. She has managed agency accounts and marketing strategies for Fortune 500 companies, Time Inc., Meredith Corporation, and AOL, as well as small businesses and start ups. She has also helped with developing programing and fundraising efforts for after-school programs for children with special needs. Toni's role is to provide insight into digital marketing and social media campaigns.

DeAnne Hilgers, Volunteer Management (2020-2021)




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Amy Ireland (2020)
​Amy is an attorney practicing in the area of Estate Planning (wills, trusts, probate and guardianship) in St. Paul, Minnesota.  She also has a background in immigration law,  experience working for local non-profit organizations, and at a large Minneapolis law firm.  Amy is deeply committed to her local neighborhood, and has served on a variety of neighborhood organizations and boards.  ​

Stacey Kusnier, Marketing/CRM, Board Vice Chair (2017-2020)
With a background in nonprofit and B2B marketing, Stacey is known for leveraging technology solutions to solve business challenges and increase brand awareness. Stacey has a passion for sustainability and reducing waste. As the Vice Chair, she helped guide our organization's marketing and branding efforts. 

Sam Silverman, Technology (2019-2020)
Sam is a healthcare technologist with an emphasis on data modeling and analysis. Using data principles and business rules to bring order from chaos, he specializes in technology-assisted work automation, collaborative team building, and story telling through numbers. He also has specialties in SOP drafting, database programming and design, web design, automation, analysis, business planning, strategy, VBA, product development, project management (CPM) and digital marketing.

Nels Larsen, Treasurer (2014-2020)
Nels Larsen served as the Treasurer since the inception of Donate Good Stuff (formerly known as HeroSearch). He is a CPA with his own practice, Guidance Accounting, serving small businesses. Nels's interest in Donate Good Stuff is helping keep stuff out of landfills. He lives in Saint Paul with his family. ​

Dana Helm, Past Board Chair (2018-2020)
Dana has a passion for being be eco-friendly through everyday actions and choices.  As a Board member, she brings her business leadership and strategic thinking to help achieve the mission of connecting people who have things to donate, with local organizations in need; promoting purposeful reuse rather than waste. She brought over 25 business years of experience from roles in Operations, Data and IT Asset Management, Vendor Management, and M&A integration management.  These roles have been at Thomson Reuters – a global information solution provider, Boston Scientific – a medical device company, and Target – a retail company.

Matt Mareck, Creative Storyteller (2017-2019)
Matt is a published creative writer. He served on the board during early years, adding his creative ideas to discussions and communications, as well as hands-on contributions for the 5k fundraiser and other activities. 

Nick Wassenberg, Marketing (2017-2018)
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