Board of Directors

We cannot thank our Board of Directors enough for their stewardship and oversight of TLC; for their commitment of time, energy, and financial support. They are an enthusiastic team dedicated to helping TLC raise support for artists and artistic partners nationwide. Please spend some time getting to know them.

  • Liz Engelman

    Executive Director

  • Sharee Johnson

    Chair

  • Faye M. Price

    Vice Chair

  • Sarah Berger

    Treasurer/Secretary

  • Daniel Lemm

  • Kevin Bitterman

  • kit briem

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  • michael kleber-diggs

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We are ever-grateful for the past board members who have served Tofte Lake Center’s development: Bernadette Christiansen (chair), Sara Fenlason, Rudy Guglielmo, Jr, Jeffrey Hatcher, Mara Isaacs, Bob Manning (chair), Marc Masterson, Kathleen Nolan, Randy Reyes, Jennifer Tatsuda (immediate past chair), John Warren, Keiko Williams (chair), Steve Woodring, & Laura Zimmermann

 

Liz Engelman, Executive Director

Liz Engelman is the founder and director of Tofte Lake Center at Norm’s Fish Camp, a creative retreat center in the Boundary Waters of Minnesota. She most recently taught Playwriting/Directing at UT-Austin. Liz has served as the Literary Director/Dramaturg/Director of New Play Development at theatres such as Mixed Blood, McCarter Theatre, ACT and Intiman Theatres, and as Assistant Literary Manager at Actors Theatre of Louisville. She has worked on the development of new plays around the country and internationally. She was the Alumnae Relations Coordinator at Hedgebrook, a retreat for women writers on Whidbey Island. Liz has served as President, Board Chair and is a current Board Member of LMDA. She is on the board of the National New Play Network (NNPN) and the National theatre Conference (NTC).

She has worked on the development of new plays at The Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, ASK Theatre Projects, New York Theatre Workshop, the O'Neill Playwrights Conference, South Coast Rep, Denver Center, and Florida Stage. She has directed new plays at The Illusion Theatre, Mixed Blood Theatre, The Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis, and Carleton College.

She studied dramaturgy and new play development at Brown and Columbia universities, where she received her BA and MFA in theatre and dramaturgy, respectively. Liz is the co-editor with Michael Bigelow Dixon of several collections of plays, a book on playwriting exercises, and of two volumes of monologues with Tori Haring-Smith.

Sharee Johnson, Chair

Sharee is an award-winning silversmith and also likes to express her artistic vision in other mediums such as painting, sewing, and cooking. She and her husband moved to the Ely MN area in 2004.

Prior to focusing on her art, she served as adjunct professor of Computer Science at Vermilion Community College and was the International Wolf Center's Interpretive Center Director in Ely, MN. She spent the years prior to moving to Ely as a relational database engineer for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

In Sharee's free time she enjoys cooking, foraging, fishing, camping, and reading.

faye m. price, VICE CHAIR

For over 20 years, Faye was the co-Artistic Producing Director and co-Center Director of Pillsbury House + Theatre in Minneapolis, where she has helped to lead the transformation of Pillsbury House, a 135-year-old community service center, and Pillsbury House Theatre, a 27-year-old professional theatre, into a one-of-a-kind, center for creativity and community.

A long-time Minneapolis resident, Faye is a multidisciplinary theatre artist. She has performed on many national stages and was a founding acting company member of both Mixed Blood Theater and Penumbra Theatre where she remains a company member. As a production dramaturg at the Guthrie, Faye collaborated on over 30 productions under the artistic leadership of Garland Wright and Joe Dowling. Faye directed the world premiere of Nina Simone: Four Women at Park Square Theatre in St Paul, A Crack in the Sky at the History Theatre and The Watsons go to Birmingham - 1963 at the Kennedy Center.

Awarded the August Wilson Fellowship to study Dramaturgy and Literary Criticism, Faye received her graduate degree from the University of Minnesota. She is the proud recipient of the 2021 McKnight Distinguished Artist Award.

sarah berger, TREASURER/SECRETARY

Sarah Berger (formerly Sarah Lovan) joined the McKnight Foundation in 2005 and has been a program officer since 2012 for the Foundation’s Arts & Culture program, which works to catalyze the creativity, power, and leadership of Minnesota’s working artists and culture bearers. As of 2022, she is spending her time with both the Arts & Culture program and a McKnight Family giving effort.

During her tenure, Sarah has worked with the 11 Regional Arts Councils across the state, shepherded the Distinguished Artist Award panel process, and participated in field-building initiatives throughout Minnesota as well as nationally. She is dedicated to equitable grantmaking practices and is deeply interested in decreasing barriers to funding.  

Sarah believes in the power of local communities to guide the way we understand and interact with the world. She is a member of the Racial Equity Funders Collaborative in Minnesota and serves as a local and national advocate for increasing equity and justice in philanthropy. Since 2019 she has served on the Propel Nonprofits fiscal sponsorship and loan committee and in 2020 joined the Minnesota Council on Foundation’s board of directors. Additionally, she has been a class instructor at the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy at Grand Valley State University. The Center for Effective Philanthropy featured Sarah in its grantee perception report as a highly rated program officer in the space of effective communication and respect for grantees.

Prior to McKnight, Sarah worked in development at Minneapolis College of Art and Design. She received a BA in cultural studies and comparative literature with an emphasis in music from the University of Minnesota and is a graduate of the Mini MBA program at the University of St. Thomas. Sarah is honored to be a new member of the Tofte Lake Center board and eager to carry onward what Liz and the original board, and subsequent members, have put into motion.

Daniel Lemm

Daniel Lemm is the director of finance and treasurer at Charles K. Blandin Foundation. In this role he is responsible for the Foundation’s overall financial management and reports to the Board of Trustees 

Prior to joining Blandin Foundation, Daniel held the positions of accountant at The McKnight Foundation, director of programs and finance at Native Americans in Philanthropy, and finance director at Lower Sioux Community. He earned undergraduate degrees in Accounting from Metropolitan State University and Finance from Iowa State University. Daniel is completing coursework for a master’s degree in Nonprofit Management from Hamline University. He is a Certified Management Accountant and Certified Fraud Examiner. Daniel is concluding his final term on the board of Minnesota Council on Foundations and has had fiduciary responsibilities with Headwaters Foundation for Justice, Dakota Wicohan, Tiwahe Foundation, and Ain Dah Yung Center.

Daniel is an enrolled member of the Lower Sioux Community, married to an artist, and father to a first grader. He is thrilled to be supporting Tofte Lake Center and the many artists and organizations whose capacities and impact are furthered through its residencies.

Kevin Bitterman

Kevin serves as Executive Director of the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts which forges local, regional and national partnerships aimed at strengthening the arts environment and increasing the contributions that artists make to develop social and economic capital.

Prior to the Kenan Institute, Kevin served as Director of Institutional Advancement & Partnerships for Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the Assistant Director of the Artist Fellowship Program with the Bush Foundation, and as the Producing Artistic Associate with Theatre de la Jeune Lune. Throughout his career, Kevin has designed and administered programs to advance the global performing arts ecosystem, including the distribution of over $25M in direct support for artists and cultural institutions.

Kevin earned his B.A. in Theatre and Communications from St. John’s University, is a graduate of the Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris, and earned a Master of Public Administration from the New York University’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.  Kevin currently serves as a Board Member of the Frederick Douglass Boulevard Alliance in Harlem and as Chair of the Tofte Lake Center Board of Directors in Ely, MN.

Kit Briem

As Vice President of Advancement at The Family Partnership, Kit Briem is responsible for cultivating resources to deepen the organization’s impact and positioning The Family Partnership for growth and sustainability. 

She has raised funds for the Twin Cities’ social service, art, and philanthropic communities for more than 25 years. “Philanthropy is a blend of science and art,” says Kit. “Metrics and research are important but listening deeply to donors helps match them to programs and projects that truly excite them.” 

Kit enjoys the challenge of growing annual funds while engaging in capital campaigns, having been an integral part of capital campaigns at Graywolf Press, Tubman, and Theatre de la Jeune Lune. She also served as the executive director of PFund, the community foundation serving the LGBTQ+ communities in the upper Midwest. 

At The Family Partnership, Kit was responsible for reigniting its stalled $22.2 million capital campaign, which led to the construction of a new center in one of Minneapolis’ most distressed neighborhoods. The center is the home to the organization’s therapeutic preschool and anti-sex trafficking, mental health, home visiting, and administrative services.

Kit holds a Masters of Arts in Arts Administration and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She currently serves on the board of the Kaleo Center for Faith, Justice & Social Transformation and lives in Ely, Minnesota with her partner Awen. 

michael kleber-diggs

Michael Kleber-Diggs is a poet, essayist, arts educator, and literary critic. In addition to his own writing projects, he teaches creative writing through the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop, at the Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists, and in Augsburg University's low-residency MFA program.

Michael earned his J.D. from the University of Minnesota and brings more than 25 years of non-profit board service to the Tofte Lake Center board. Michael lives in St. Paul with his wife, Karen Kleber-Diggs, two cats - Curly and Mocha, and two dogs - Ziggy and Jasper. You can learn more about Michael at his website.