Tony Heredia and Dee Thomas Join Bush Foundation Board

(Saint Paul, MN – June 13, 2012) – At its May meeting, the Bush Foundation Board of Directors elected Tony Heredia and Dee Thomas to three-year terms on the Board.

Jan K. Malcolm is chair of the Bush Foundation Board of Directors. She said, “My Board colleagues and I welcome the passion Tony Heredia and Dee Thomas bring to their new work with the Foundation. Each has expertise that deepens the Board’s ability to guide the important work of improving educational achievement, supporting the self-determination of Native nations, engaging communities in solving their tough problems and developing leadership capacity across the three states and 23 Native nations we serve.”

Tony Heredia joined Target Corporation in 2005 and is currently vice president, compliance of Target Canada, a division that expanded the company into its first non-U.S. market. Previously, he was a senior associate with Booz Allen Hamilton in the IT division, and spent 13 years in law enforcement in California.

Heredia chairs the Board of the Metropolitan Economic Development Association and sits on the Boards of Hamline University and the Hispanic Scholarship Fund. He holds an MPA from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a BA in management from Saint Mary’s College of California. Heredia lives in Minneapolis.

“Today’s communities face tough problems that require us to work together in new ways and with new urgency,” he said. “The Foundation’s goal is to help people identify and solve community issues and to do so in ways that support more effective leadership and that engage all parts of the community in the process. I am excited to be part of this bold plan to ensure that vital communities have the strategies and tools to thrive in challenging times.”

Dee Thomas is a high school administrator who helped design, develop and implement project-based learning at Minnesota New Country School (MNCS), where she is now the director. MNCS is located in Henderson, a small town in the south central part of the state where Thomas lives, and is recognized nationally as one of the top 10 charter schools in the country. Thomas spent 15 years as a K-12 classroom teacher and has been an adjunct educator at Gustavus Adolphus College and at Minnesota State University, Mankato (MSU-M), her alma mater, where she also served as a mentor teacher.

Thomas completed the Harvard University Change Leadership program, received a Fulbright Memorial Scholarship to study in Japan and received MSU-M’s Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award. She has also served as president of the Minnesota Association of Charter Schools and Minnesota Board of Teaching, treasurer of the Southwest Minnesota Association of Secondary School Principals and MNCS Board member. She sits on the Boards of the RiverBend Education District and EdVisions Schools. Thomas has a BA in consumer homemaking and a master’s degree in educational leadership from MSU-M.

“I’m eager to become part of the Foundation’s efforts to ensure that teachers in training are ready for the challenges of today’s classrooms,” Thomas said. “Communities across Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota face challenges in educating an increasingly diverse student body at a time when earning a degree after high school could determine our ability to compete in a global economy. The work of the Foundation’s NExT partners to reform teacher training over these next several years will be crucial to ensuring that our children have highly effective teachers.”

About the Bush Foundation

Our mission is to be a catalyst for the courageous leadership necessary to create sustainable solutions to tough public problems and ensure community vitality. The Foundation was established in 1953 by 3M executive Archibald Bush and his wife, Edyth, and today works in communities across Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and the 23 Native nations that share the same geographic area. BushFoundation.org