|
Happy Dancing Turtle Staff
Lynn Hunt - Hunt Utilities Group LLC Founder & Senior Partner & Happy Dancing Turtle Executive Officer
Lynn is a 15-year entrepreneurial veteran managing high tech companies. Wearing hats that cover most managerial issues and also technology issues Lynn helped grow a start-up company to almost 200 employees. The company gathered many awards in both technology and fast growth. Ernst and Young honored Lynn as a finalist in the Entrepreneur of the Year competition for 2004.
Having finished her MBA at Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota she is preparing to grow companies to help the world. Some areas that Hunt Utilities Group, LLC (HUG) is focusing on are alternative energy, ecological housing and sustainable living and micro-farming. With her husband Paul's creative abilities and downright stubbornness to get materials to do what he wants them to, it might be possible to create a house out of local/indigenous materials that creates a large footprint in comfort, but a small environmental footprint.
There are more ideas for companies floating around in Lynn’s head than can ever be handled by one Woman, but she is going to try and build a few more companies before her great grandchildren arrive and she is too busy to build anymore.
Barb Beck - Education & Events Coordinator
Barb is a licensed teacher with 25 years of teaching experience. She earned a B.S. in Education from Illinois State University in Elementary Education, with a minor in Reading Instruction. She served in Illinois for 5 years as an elementary classroom teacher and an elementary reading specialist, and then spent 15 years in Maryland, teaching in elementary classrooms, and teaching reading & language arts at the middle school level. She then moved to Minnesota, and served for 5 years as Program Coordinator of The Village, a school-age child care program through Community Education in Pine River. During that time, she also served as a substitute teacher at Pine River Elementary, and taught Adult Basic Education through Pequot Lakes Community Education. Barb enjoys working with both kids and adults, and learning new things...she has always continued her own education, taking many graduate classes and participating in various workshops along the way. She spends her time at HDT creating and implementing educational programs, working closely with area school districts, and community organizations. She also coordinates Happy Dancing Turtle's special events & programs, such as the EcoSquared Fair, Back to Basics, and Eco Camp. She is always looking for new ways to reach out to the community to provide educational opportunities in sustainable living. Barb lives in Pine River with many pets.
Quinn Swanson - Sustainability Programs Coordinator
With a BA in Environment Studies and minor in art, Quinn fit right in with the HUG/HDT crew when she joined in May 2004.
In her current role - she works with the community and like-minded organizations to further levereage and represent the HUG Resilient Living Campus throughout the region and state. Quinn also works with cob; assists and teaches classes, events, and activities; and designs posters, calendars, and other marketing and informational material. Quinn helps out everywhere and anywhere she can...and, well, what's the prhase? Any other duties as needed!
In her spare time Quinn enjoys making art of all kinds in virtually every sort of media. From graphic design to painting to buildings; she likes to create. She loves to learn and read. In her dwindling free time, Quinn teaches and practices yoga, gardens, reads and enjoys travel.
Michelle Hoefs - Program Assistant
Michelle joined the team as the program assistant in May 2010. In her role, Michelle provides support for all aspects of HDT's core focus areas.
Michelle holds a teaching license in Elementary Education from Bemidji State University. She has worked with children of all ages in one capacity or another for many years, most recently as a daycare provider in her home. Before doing daycare, Michelle worked as an Educational Assistant at Forestview Middle School in Brainerd, and then at Pequot Lakes Middle School in their Alternative Education program.
Raised in Breezy Point, Michelle now lives just out of Pine River with her husband, Dan, and their daughter, Kate.
|
