MINNEAPOLIS – University of Minnesota Institute on the Environment (IonE) Director Jessica Hellmann has joined the Great Plains Institute (GPI) board of directors.
“Jessica brings proven leadership and a critical perspective to our board and organization,” said Great Plains Institute CEO & President Rolf Nordstrom. “We see Jessica’s addition to the board as strategic for both organizations: We’re excited to have her leadership in translating the university’s research into real-world application; and see opportunity for IonE to draw on GPI’s work locally, nationally and internationally to inform the university’s research. This new symbiotic relationship will help keep both GPI and IonE at the cutting edge of practice in the fast-moving energy space.”
Nordstrom said that the now nine-member board of directors is helping GPI further raise its profile and expand its reach and impact.
“GPI’s unique role as a consensus-based convener and problem-solver is needed now more than ever to ensure that diverse interests come to the table at the local, state and national levels to create lasting energy and climate solutions,” Nordstrom said.
As the director of the Institute on the Environment, Jessica provides overall strategic leadership for the Institute, an internationally recognized organization working to solve the world’s grand environmental challenges, while promoting interdisciplinary research, teaching and leadership across the university and engaging external partners and stakeholders.
Hellmann earned her Ph.D. in biology from Stanford University and served as a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation and the University of British Columbia’s Centre for Biodiversity Research. She is an alumna of Stanford’s Leopold Leadership Program and a recipient of a career enhancement fellowship from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation.
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