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Please join us in welcoming three community leaders joining our board of directors in 2023.

We are pleased to announce the election of Nausheena Hussain, Richard Senese, Ph.D., L.P., and Bo Thao-Urabe to our board of directors.

"We are delighted to welcome three new board members who, together, will bring diverse expertise and insight to the work of the Foundation," said Foundation Chair Jan Angell. "As an organization, we are committed to ensuring that our board represents a range of lived experiences from varied community and industry sectors. Our newest members will enable us to meet this commitment."

"We are honored to welcome these accomplished leaders to the Foundation's board," said Eric J. Jolly, Ph.D., president and CEO. "They will add tremendous value to our philanthropic initiatives as we work to advance equity and community-led opportunity across Minnesota."

Meet Our Newest Board Members

Nausheena Hussain
Nausheena Hussain

Nausheena Hussain, a social justice activist, is principal of Nissa Consulting, providing services to Muslim-led nonprofits and organizing Muslim philanthropy. She is currently the co-founder and executive director emerita of Reviving the Islamic Sisterhood for Empowerment, a platform established in 2016 for Muslim women by Muslim women to raise up and celebrate their positive community impact. Nausheena is the former deputy director of the Minnesota Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and currently serves on the board of the Center on Muslim Philanthropy. She is co-founder and board secretary of the Brooklyn Park Islamic Center and co-founder of the Muslim Youth Leadership Award.

Previously, Nausheena was a committee member of the Headwaters Foundation for Justice Community Innovation and Social Change Fund. She is a candidate for a doctorate in philanthropic leadership at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, Indiana University. Nausheena’s leadership has been recognized by the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits and the Minnesota Women’s Press.

Richard Senese, Ph.D.
Richard Senese, Ph.D.

Richard Senese, Ph.D., L.P., is president of Capella University. His work has expanded the university’s FlexPath offerings, which provide one of the country’s foremost direct assessment, competency-based learning formats, providing students the ability to have greater control setting their pace. Richard has been a leader in academic innovation, including establishing the Capella Fellows program that helps participants build the talent and leadership skills required to mitigate social and economic inequities in the communities it serves.

Active nationally in higher education leadership, Richard serves on the Presidents Forum board and is treasurer of LGBTQ Presidents in Higher Education. He is a board member and past board chair of the Center for Victims of Torture and has served as a member of the Foundation’s development committee. In 2019 the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal recognized Richard for his commitment to the LGBTQ community. A former professor at St. Olaf College, Metropolitan State University and the College of St. Scholastica, Richard has held leadership roles at the University of Minnesota Extension and was associate dean of Capella University’s Harold Abel School of Psychology.

Bo Thao-Urabe
Bo Thao-Urabe

Bo Thao-Urabe is founder and president of Seed. Grow. Bloom LLC, a consulting company that partners with executive leaders and organizations to create transformative solutions to change systems and cultures. Immigrating as a refugee child from Laos, her experiences at the intersections of war, poverty, immigration, gender, culture and race inform how she leads and innovates. Bo was founder and executive director of the Coalition of Asian American Leaders and executive director of Hmong National Development and the Women's Association of Hmong and Lao and served as senior director of Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy.

She co-founded RedGreen Rivers, BMPP Giving Circle, MaivPAC, Building Our Future: A Global Community Campaign, Asian Pacific Islander Institute on Gender‐Based Violence and Hmong Women Achieving Together. Bo was a Bush Fellow in 2019 and received the Foundation’s Facing Race Award, the National Philanthropy Day Award, AZNS Most Influential Asian Americans Award, Augsburg College Courageous Woman Award and the Governor’s MLK Day Commitment to Service Award.

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