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Northwest Area Foundation Announces New Board Members

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ST. PAUL, Minn., (Dec. 4, 2012) – Jim Laducer of Bismarck, N.D., Lynda Bourque Moss of Billings, Mont., and Nicholas Walrod of Portland, Ore., have been elected to the Northwest Area Foundation Board of Directors. Each will be seated and begin a three-year term at the regularly scheduled Board meeting in February 2013.

Jim Laducer, an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, is the sole proprietor of Laducer & Associates Inc., an information technology company in Mandan, N.D. that employs more than 300 people. He is a founder of the Turtle Mountain State Bank in Belcourt, N.D., the first privately held Native American bank in the country. He also owns Apple Creek Country Club in Bismarck, N.D. A veteran of the U.S. Army, Laducer is the recipient of many awards for his contributions to economic development in North Dakota. Among his honors, Laducer was the 2007 North Dakota Entrepreneur of the Year. In 2000 he was awarded the North Dakota Small Business Person of the Year and the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Small Business Partner.
 
Lynda Bourque Moss is finishing her second and final term in the Montana State Senate. She formerly held executive director positions at the Foundation for Community Vitality and the Western Heritage Center. An artist by training, Moss has initiated several collaborative regional and international programs involving nonprofit organizations, foundations, and government agencies. In the Montana legislature, Senator Moss worked on policies ranging from historic preservation and social justice to planning and health care. Moss has served on many different boards of directors including Friends of Montana PBS, Montana Governor’s Tourism Advisory Council, and the American Association of Museums.

Nicholas Walrod is a principal of 3x5 Special Opportunity Partners, a venture capital firm. The grandson of the late philanthropist John Gray, Walrod is a founding board member of the Gray Family Foundation. He is also executive director of the Yarg Foundation, a private family foundation focused on Oregon land trusts. He has served on many boards including the Board of Governors and Pacific Northwest College of Arts and is the founding board member of Gorge Grown Food Network and Oakland Leaf, an organization dedicated to community transformation through creative education for youth and families. In addition, Walrod is an accomplished tennis player who competed in the NCAA National Championship in 1995.

“Jim, Lynda and Nick bring a wealth of experience and skill to the Foundation,” said Kevin Walker, president and CEO of Northwest Area Foundation. “We eagerly welcome them to our Board as we refine our efforts to make prosperity possible for all in our region.”

Northwest Area Foundation works with nonprofit organizations that seek to increase assets and wealth of low-income workers. The Foundation believes that is the most effective way of helping people move out of poverty and on to a stronger financial future.

The Northwest Area Foundation Board of Directors consists of members from throughout the Foundation’s eight-state region.  Others serving on the Board are: Chair Emeritus Dorothy Bridges of Minneapolis; Chair Father Kevin McDonough of St. Paul, Minn.; Vice Chair Sally Pederson of Des Moines, Iowa; Terrence Glarner, Louis F. Hill, and Linda Hoeschler, all of St. Paul, Minn.; Rodney Jordan of Plymouth, Minn.; Nicholas Slade of Minneapolis; Elsie Meeks of Interior, S.D.; Natalie Camacho Mendoza of Boise, Idaho; William Thorndike, Jr. of Medford, Ore.; Darrell Robes Kipp of Browning, Mont.; and Sarah Vogel of Bismarck, N.D.  Directors Meeks, Mendoza, Pederson, Slade, Thorndike, and Vogel also serve as Trustees of the Foundation.

The Northwest Area Foundation is dedicated to supporting efforts by the people, organizations and communities to reduce poverty and achieve sustainable prosperity. The Foundation’s region includes the eight states of Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon and more than 70 sovereign Tribal nations that share the same geography. The Great Northern Railway, founded by James J. Hill, operated in this area. Hill’s son, Louis W. Hill, established the Foundation in 1934. For more information, please visit www.nwaf.org.   

                                                                                                 
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