The Minneapolis Foundation is pleased to welcome five new members to its Board of Trustees. Peter Gabler, Scott Gislason, Jocelyn Hale, Olivia Jefferson, and Hamse Warfa attended their first board meeting as Trustees last week.
“This group reflects the breadth of talent and leadership across our community,” said R.T. Rybak, President and CEO of the Minneapolis Foundation. “Their backgrounds span business, philanthropy, government, law, and technology, and their perspectives will strengthen our board and our mission.”
The Board of Trustees is composed of three dozen residents of the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metro area who are leaders in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. All the new members have been appointed to four-year terms.
The new Trustees are as follows:
PETER GABLER is a Private Wealth Advisor at UBS Financial Services, where he leads a nine-person Wealth Management Team. He has also served on the board of Youthprise and volunteered with the Groundbreak Coalition. Prior to joining UBS, Gabler worked at Piper Jaffray. Originally from Eau Claire, WI, he graduated from Miami University, in Oxford, OH, and began working in the financial services industry at age 22.
SCOTT GISLASON is a retired Financial Advisor who began his career in tax accounting with the international accounting firm, Arthur Andersen & Co. In his early 30s, Gislason transitioned into the financial services industry by joining the North Star Resource Group, where he spent 37 years helping individuals and businesses develop and manage financial and estate plans. Before retiring, he served as Treasurer of the Loppet Foundation and as a board member of the Minnesota Chapter of the National Parkinson’s Foundation. He currently serves as Treasurer of the Vital North Foundation and as a board member of the Pincushion Ski and Run Club. He grew up in Mankato, Minn. and holds degrees from Gustavus Adolphus College and William Mitchell College of Law.
JOCELYN HALE is a Partner at MillerHale Associates, a nonprofit consultancy that specializes in interim leadership, strategic planning, founder transitions, and governance. She has served as interim director of the Minneapolis Parks Foundation, Cantus, and Textile Center. Her clients have included the McKnight Foundation, the Bush Foundation, Amazon Literary Partnerships, Arts Midwest, and many others. Before becoming an independent consultant in 2016, she served as executive director of The Loft Literary Center, acting director of Open Book, and led Best Buy’s Twin Cities’ philanthropic initiatives. Hale’s freelance writing has appeared in the Star Tribune, Minnesota Monthly, OUTSIDE Magazine, and on-air nationally for Marketplace Radio. She serves on the Minneapolis Parks Foundation Board of Directors.
OLIVIA JEFFERSON is Vice President, Social Impact at Best Buy. As a social impact executive, she builds programs and partnerships that celebrate and resource innovators, with an emphasis on young people.
HAMSE WARFA is CEO of World Savvy, a nonprofit organization based in St. Paul, Minn. that educates and engages youth to learn, work, and thrive as responsible citizens. Previously, he served as a Senior Advisor in the U.S. State Department from 2022 to 2023, advancing a global democracy agenda that included the 2023 Summit on Democracy, supported by 74 nations. Prior to that, Warfa was the Deputy Commissioner for Workforce Development at the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). In addition to his public-sector work, Hamse is co-founder and Executive Vice President at BanQu Inc., a software company. He is also Founder of the Center for Transformational Leaders and creator of the Transformational Leadership Framework, where his work focuses on developing transformational leaders and helping build institutions worthy of trust. He previously worked as a Senior Program Officer at Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies.
