Christine Metzo
Program Manager

Christine joined the Initiative Foundation in August 2022 as Program Manager for the Initiators Fellowship. She previously worked at St. Cloud State University as Director of First Year and Transfer Experience, leading mentoring, coaching and educational programs for new students including programs focused on equity, inclusion and belonging.  She’s worked in higher education for 20+ years, but is excited by the opportunity and challenges of working with social entrepreneurs in greater Minnesota.

Anne O'Keefe

Anne O’Keefe-Jackson is an enrolled member of the Lower Sioux Indian Community. In addition to being a 2020-2021 Initiators Fellow, she is also the Human Resources Director for Jackpot Junction Casino. She lives with her husband, three children and three dogs on her reservation in Morton, MN. She received her undergraduate degree in marketing and American Indian studies from Augsburg College and her masters’ in business and leadership from Augsburg University.  Anne currently serves on the Southwest Minnesota Arts Council Board, is an artist and advocate of the arts.  Her Fellowship project is Mni Sota Arts – a traditional arts mobile resource center.

Kris Shelstad

Kris Shelstad is the “Chief Energizing Officer” of the Madison Mercantile; a center for Art, Innovation, Creativity and Coffee in Madison, Minnesota.  She is a “rural rebounder” who returned to her hometown after 40 years (30 years in the Military) to help build a vibrant community where all can thrive.

Fardowsa Iman

With a troubling spike in opioid-related overdose deaths in recent years, no community in Minnesota has been immune from the crisis—including St. Cloud’s close-knit Somali and East African community. IIman focuses on recovery through faith, community lens, her  Initiators Fellowship was to create a chemical dependency recovery clinic designed to serve the specific cultural needs of the region’s Somali immigrant community.

Born in Uganda and raised in St. Cloud from the age of 8, Iman is a third-culture kid who can see why the traditional treatment paths might not be working for first-generation Somali Americans.