Steven Belton

President and CEO

Steven Belton is an experienced executive, attorney and community leader with over thirty years tenure in high-level positions in state government, public schools and the non-profit and private sectors.

He has worked as Chief of Staff, Executive Director of Employee Relations and Director of Diversity and Equal Opportunity for the Minneapolis Public Schools, was a partner and litigator at Leonard, Street and Deinard where he specialized in employment, product liability and family law, President and CEO of the Urban Coalition of Minneapolis, and Executive Director of the State Council on Black Minnesotans. Currently, he  is on the preaching staff at Park Avenue United Methodist Church in south Minneapolis.

Steven earned a BA in political science from Washington University and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Michigan Law School. He has completed the majority of the requirements of a Master of Divinity degree at Luther Theological Seminary in St. Paul. Married for nearly 36 years to Sharon Sayles Belton, the former Mayor of Minneapolis, Steven and Sharon have three adult children.

Ashley Burris

Director of Operations

Dr. Barbara Doyle

Interim Director, Workforce Development

Cynthia Fraction

Director, Center for Social Justice Research, Policy & Advocacy

Nick Jaeger

Director, Wealth Development

Marquita Stephens

Director, Education Policy and Programming