MEET OUR TEAM

Jeanne has served as the President of ANSR since 1980, though her path to leading the organization for nearly four decades has somewhat humble roots. The Association for Nonsmokers’ Rights, as it was called at the time, was in the midst of fighting for the nation’s first statewide clean indoor air law in 1975. Jeanne saw an ad in a local paper about the association’s work and decided to become a member, which only cost $1. After becoming a member, Jeanne soon joined the ANSR board and eventually moved her way up to the full-time President, a role for which she has never taken a salary. From ground-breaking smoke-free housing work to innovative approaches to preventing youth tobacco use, she has provided strategic direction for numerous public policy wins in Minnesota. She remains deeply committed to enhancing public health and her community. When not fighting the good fight at ANSR, you’ll find Jeanne baking in the winter, gardening in the spring and summer, and up to her ankles in rescue dogs year round.

Emily is a Program Director who focuses on point-of-sale policy work and clean outdoor air in parks and on college campuses. Since her first year at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Emily knew she wanted to work at a nonprofit and contribute to a greater good. After graduate school and stops at a few other nonprofits, she found her niche in public health policy and tobacco prevention at ANSR. Emily has supported dozens of Minnesota communities in passing tobacco-free parks policies and has worked closely with colleges and universities, including the University of Minnesota, in adopting tobacco-free campus policies. She advocated for a first-of-its-kind cigar pricing ordinance in Brooklyn Center. She has presented at several public health conferences, including the National Summit on Smokeless and Spit Tobacco and the National Conference on Tobacco or Health. Outside of work Emily enjoys spending time with her family in Minneapolis and heading into the great outdoors to bike, camp and skijor. While Minnesota is now home, she takes pride in teaching her two young daughters to say “Go, Pack, Go!”

Katie is a Program Director. Since 2002, Katie has coordinated and supported diverse school- and community-based tobacco prevention programming and advocacy work. Katie is currently working to reduce the amount of tobacco advertising and marketing aimed at youth. Much of Katie’s career has been focused on youth prevention, education, advocacy and engagement resulting in national awards for students. Some of her policy accomplishments include: numerous tobacco-free park policies, a smoke-free workplace ordinance in Ramsey County, an imitation tobacco ordinance and sign ordinance updates in St. Paul, flavored tobacco restrictions in multiple metro communities, numerous city ordinance updates to reflect the changing landscape of tobacco. She also directs the North Suburban Tobacco Compliance Project working to reduce youth access to commercial sources of tobacco. This is a one of a kind model with coordination with cities, law enforcement and youth. Outside the office one might find Katie in the middle of a lake, having arrived there via swimming, boating, or paddling. She also enjoys planning family adventures, such as trips to the beach and cheering on her kids at their activities.

Kara serves as the Project Director for the Minnesota Prevention Resource Center (MPRC). In her role she provides programmatic oversight and manages administrative duties. Kara has worked in public health prevention for over ten years, primarily in commercial tobacco prevention. Kara is also a Program Director for the Association for Nonsmokers-MN where she leads smoke-free housing policy initiatives and provides tobacco technical assistance to Statewide Health Improvement Partnership (SHIP) grantees. Outside of work Kara enjoys running with her dog, cooking, reading, and gardening. Kara has a Master of Social Work and Master of Public Policy degree from the University of Minnesota- Twin Cities.

Jason is ANSR’s Director of Finance and IT. He joined ANSR in 2020 and has a long history of nonprofit work. Jason helps manage the overall ANSR budget and ensures we are good stewards of the funds we receive. He is passionate about technology and enjoys teaching and discussing tech of almost any kind. Personally, he enjoys going for long walk-and-talks with his wife, throwing not-so-perfect spirals to his twin boys, and playing pickleball.

Molly is a Policy and Technical Assistance Manager. In this role, Molly is responsible for conducting outreach and education events, supporting youth policy and advocacy efforts, and supporting all other ANSR tobacco prevention efforts. Some of her accomplishments include: multiple flavored commercial tobacco restrictions in MN communities, working with youth to create, disseminate and evaluate vaping prevalence surveys with youth partners, as well as creating and disseminating a toolkit focused on the environmental impacts of commercial tobacco products. She has a BS from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse in Public Health – Community Health Education and is a Certified Health Education Specialist. She is currently pursuing a Master’s in Public Health degree at the University of Minnesota. She is passionate about many public health topics, such as health equity, policy and advocacy. Outside of work, Molly loves to be out on the Mississippi River, cooking, and watching the Minnesota Wild.

Chris started at ANSR as a contracted Campaign Organizer in 2020 and officially joined the team as a Community Policy Advocate in 2022. Chris enjoys connecting communities with lawmakers and city leadership. He believes that community engagement is key to developing sound equitable policies. Chris holds a bachelor’s degree in business and a master’s in advocacy and political leadership -both from Metropolitan State University. He comes to ANSR with a breadth of community organizing experience, from working closely with faith communities as a congregational organizer, to field organizing during numerous election cycles for political and issue campaigns. At ANSR Chris is focused on local tobacco prevention policy at point of sale and smoke-free housing. While not working in the office, Chris spends much of his time biking, developing bikepacking routes for his next adventure, and cheering on the St. Paul Saints with friends and family. Chris is a downtown St. Paul resident and considers himself to be an “armchair Urbanist” since he often criticizes street design, even though he does not hold a degree in engineering or urban planning.

Curtis is the Campaign Organizer working to end the sale of flavor tobacco products in Minnesota. Much of his work is focused on recruiting community partners to educate and advocate for this change. Curtis comes to ANSR from a long career in organized labor and activism. He is a graduate of Iowa State University with a BS in Political Science. Outside of work he collects vinyl from many genres and enjoys a quiet life in St. Paul.

Madeline is the Events Manager for the Minnesota Prevention Resource Center, and is responsible for planning and coordinating MPRC events, including the annual MN Prevention Program Sharing Conference, and supporting MPRC’s technical assistance and communications needs. Madeline has worked in Public Health in Minnesota, Oregon, and New Mexico, and has found a niche doing planning, organization, and communication-related work at the systems level. Madeline has an MPH from Oregon State University in Health Promotion and Health Behavior. Outside of work you might find Madeline cross-country skiing, crafting, or studying her dog, Pearl’s, personality.

David Iverson serves as the Cohort 5 Metro and SE Minnesota Regional Prevention Coordinator (RPC). Prior to taking on this role, David was actively involved in various health and substance misuse prevention programs. These include serving as the Drug-Free Communities (DFC) Grant Coordinator in Deer River, being a member of the Standing Together Embracing Prevention coalition in Deer River, holding a position as a board member of the Forward Health Foundation in Deer River, and also working with Itasca County as a D.A.R.E. Role Model in High School. As a DFC Coordinator, he was instrumental in rebranding the community's youth group, Step Up Deer River (stepupdeerriver.org). With more than 25 years of experience working with youth in schools, David has also spent seven years as a head varsity basketball coach and most recently coached a silver medalist team at the North American Indigenous Games in Nova Scotia. David holds an Associate of Arts degree from Itasca Community College and is currently pursuing a major in Special Education at Bethel University.

Alex is a Community Outreach Coordinator mainly working on the Live Smoke Free program housed at ANSR. Alex assists multi-unit housing properties adopt smoke-free policies, contributes to community outreach, resident engagement, and enforcement strategies for smoke-free housing. Additionally, she helps manage Live Smoke Free social media. Alex earned a Master's in Public Health from St. Ambrose University and a BS in Public Health - Health Administration from Winona State University. With her long standing passion for community well-being, she is eager to further ANSR's mission and engage with communities in promoting smoke-free living. Outside of work you can find her playing pickleball, reading a book, or enjoying the outdoors.

Kennedy is a Communications and Outreach Coordinator. She joined the ANSR team in 2024 and is responsible for managing the organization's social media accounts, writing newsletters for donors, grantees, and other stakeholders, and supporting the staff’s commercial tobacco prevention advocacy efforts. She graduated from the University of St. Thomas in May 2024 with a bachelor’s degree in Public Health and a minor in business administration. Outside of work, you can find her enjoying the outdoors, traveling, cooking, or playing with her dog, Chip.

Sheila Watercott serves as a Minnesota Regional Alcohol, Tobacco, & Other Drug Prevention Coordinator (RPC) in the 7 county Metro Region. She has over 15 years experience coordinating community projects focused on health and safety. Prior to taking this role, she was a Community Health Educator and Project Coordinator in Little Falls and Morrison County. She has worked with community partners to achieve outcomes in reducing youth substance use, in growing awareness of effective substance use prevention strategies, and in growing knowledge of the harms of youth substance use, including the use of marijuana, alcohol, commercial tobacco products, and prescription drugs.