About Us
Our Team
Our Leadership

Elissa Sangalli
President/CEO
esangalli@northerninitiatives.org

Chuck Hurst
Vice President, Commercial Lending
churst@northerninitiatives.org

Amanda Blondeau
Chief Strategy Officer
ablondeau@northerninitiatives.org

Jill Miller
Chief Financial Officer
jmiller@northerninitiatives.org
Lending Team

Rachel Thomas
Credit Manager
rthomas@northerninitiatives.org

Matthew Shaw
Credit Analyst
mshaw@northerninitiatives.org

Tiffany Bernethy
Loan Operations Manager
tbernethy@northerninitiatives.org

Amber Gransinger
agransinger@northerninitiatives.org

Brenda Olson
Loan Operations Specialist
bolson@northerninitiatives.org

Sara Bednarek
Loan Operations Specialist
sbednarek@northerninitiatives.org
Business Services Team

Israel Flores
Business Services Director
iflores@northerninitiatives.org

Stacy Zielinski
Initiate Director
szielinski@northerninitiatives.org

Chris Wendel
Initiate Relationship Manager
cwendel@northerninitiatives.org

Jessa Armstrong
Initiate Product Manager
jarmstrong@northerninitiatives.org

Mary Bickel
Business Coach
mbickel@northerninitiatives.org

Jody Lindberg
Business Coach
jlindberg@northerninitiatives.org

Justin Andert
Business Coach
jandert@northerninitiatives.org

Cailin Kelly
Business Coach
ckelly@northerninitiatives.org
Accounting and Operations Teams

Lee Ann Heikkila
Data and Impact Manager
lheikkila@northerninitiatives.org

Michael Oman
IT Manager
moman@northerninitiatives.org

Natasha Koss
Development Manager
nkoss@northerninitiatives.org

Jodee Taylor
Content Coordinator
jtaylor@northerninitiatives.org

Kris Spaulding
Program Director
kspaulding@northerninitiatives.org

Yewhanes Frezghi
Senior Accountant
yfrezghi@northerninitiatives.org

Meghan Disselkoen
Executive Assistant
mdisselkoen@northerninitiatives.org

Becky Blom
Accounting Coordinator
bblom@northerninitiatives.org

Erin Beauprez
Senior HR Consultant
ebeauprez@northerninitiatives.org