The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota will hold the election portion of its 2023 Annual Meeting of the Members on Saturday, June 3, 2023, at 9 a.m. The virtual meeting will be held via Zoom.
Registration and an ACLU-MN membership in good standing are both required to attend. Once you register, we will send you the Zoom meeting link. The deadline to register is Friday, May 26, 2023.
- WHAT: 2023 ACLU of Minnesota Annual Member Meeting and Election
- WHEN: 9 a.m. on Saturday, June 3, 2023
- WHERE: Zoom
- WHAT: ACLU-MN Annual Member Meeting to elect new board members via Zoom
REGISTER by Friday, May 26, 2023
QUESTIONS: Contact Lily Russ at lruss@aclu-mn.org
Not a member yet and wish to attend? Join and become a member now.
BOARD CANDIDATES’ BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENTS
Amy Courts Koopman is a singer-songwriter, author, activist, and Lutheran pastor living in North Minneapolis with her family. She joins our board after four years of working with the ACLU-MN’s lawyers to win a precedent-setting settlement from the Robbinsdale Police Department for constitutional violations. She is thrilled to work with the ACLU-MN in serving Minnesotans and protecting all our rights.
Jenny Lee is a partner and co-founder of Engstrom Lee, a class action law firm that represents workers and consumers across the country. Prior to moving to Minnesota, Jenny was a staff attorney at the ACLU’s national office in New York where she challenged abortion restrictions across the country, including in Alaska, Wisconsin, Florida, and Alabama. A graduate of Yale College and the University of Chicago Law School, Jenny has previously served on the boards of Medical Students for Choice and Sunshine Montessori Preschool.
Vance Opperman is CEO of the private equity investment company Key Investment, which, among other things, publishes Mpls/St. Paul, Twin Cities Business magazines and the national ACLU magazine. He has served as CEO, lead director or board chair of private and public corporations including Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Thomson Reuters (TRI) and Huntington-TCF Bank; and on the boards of numerous civic and charitable organizations including the Okabena Orchestra Trust, Delta Dental of MN, University of Minnesota Law School Board of Advisors, and the Minnesota High Tech Council. He earned his bachelor’s and law degrees from the U of M. He has served on the ACLU-MN Union and Foundation Boards, as past board president, and on the selection committee for the last three executive directors. He also has been a frequent volunteer at the State Fair booth. “It’s probably not an exaggeration to say that if I have a religion, it is the Bill of Rights of our U.S. Constitution, and by derivation, my membership in the ACLU.”
Norman Pentelovich is an attorney with 3M’s Enterprise Risk Management group, responsible for strategy and oversight of the company’s most significant litigation and enterprise risk issues. Before that, Norm was a tral attorney specializing in contract and shareholder disputes, product liability and securities litigation, investigations, and legal malpractice defense. He has tried cases in state and federal courts across the country. He has maintained an active pro bono practice, including working with the ACLU-MN to defend the constitutional rights of immigrants unlawfully detained by law enforcement, and representing refugees seeking political asylum and survivors of domestic violence. During law school Norm assisted a nonprofit in Cambodia in developing legal analysis for the international criminal tribunal prosecuting crimes by the Khmer Rouge. He is on the Minnesota Jewish Community Center and Hennepin County Bar Association Boards.
Michele Statz is an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School. She is also affiliated faculty with the University of Minnesota Law School, the University of Minnesota Human Rights Center, and an Affiliated Scholar with the American Bar Foundation. Michele is trained as an anthropologist of law and is a leading researcher in rural and Indigenous access to justice. Her work has appeared in Law & Society Review, Harvard Law & Policy Review, and the American Journal of Public Health, among others, and is generously funded by the National Science Foundation. She is the founder of the Law and Rurality Collaborative Research Network, a member of the federal-level Rural Justice Task Force and sits on the National Advisory Council for Frontline Justice. Other work includes interdisciplinary and mixed-media projects on global youth and mobility; reproductive justice; working class identity; rural housing precarity; and immigration lawyering. Her first book, Lawyering an Uncertain Cause: Immigration Advocacy and Chinese Youth in the U.S. (Vanderbilt U Press), was published in 2018. Statz holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology and a graduate certificate in Comparative Law and Society Studies from the University of Washington.
Interested in joining the board? The board selection and recommendation process is available below and at aclu-mn.org/board-directors-recommendation-and-selection-process. If you have questions, please contact lruss@aclu-mn.org.
BYLAW INFORMATION FOR MEMBERS
Pursuant to the bylaws, this notice includes the following bylaw information for members:
ARTICLE 2. MEETING OF THE MEMBERS
SECTION 2.4 PETITIONER NOMINATIONS
Voting Members may nominate Directors by communicating such nominations to the Chair not less than 90 days before the first day of the corporation’s fiscal year (Apri1 1). Such nominations must be accompanied by:
- a petition signed by at least 25 Voting Members for each individual nominated;
- a statement by the nominee that the nominee is willing to serve as a Director; and
- a biographical statement of the nominee, which shall not be more than 300 words.
ARTICLE 9. AMENDMENTS TO THE BYLAWS
SECTION 9.1. AMENDMENT BY THE BOARD
The Board may amend the Bylaws by a resolution approved by the Board, subject to the power of the Voting Members to amend the Bylaws.
SECTION 9.2 AMENDMENT BY THE VOTING MEMBERS
Proposal by the Board. The Board may also propose an amendment to the Bylaws by adopting a resolution setting forth the proposed amendment and directing that it be submitted for adoption at a meeting of the Voting Members.
Proposal by Minority of the Board. An amendment to the Bylaws may also be proposed by (a) written resolution signed by any five Directors or (b) written resolution signed by any two Directors and accompanied by the written endorsement of 100 Voting Members and delivered to the Secretary setting forth the proposed amendment and directing that it be submitted for adoption at a meeting of the Members.
Voting Member Proposal. An amendment to the Bylaws may also be proposed by written resolution by a Voting Member accompanied by the written endorsement of at least 150 Voting Members and delivered to the Secretary setting forth the proposed amendment and directing that it be submitted for adoption at a meeting of the Members.
Meetings; Voting. Each proposed amendment to the Bylaws requiring adoption at a meeting of the Members shall be considered at the next annual meeting of the Members, unless the party proposing the amendment makes a demand to the Chair for a special meeting. If a special meeting is demanded, the Secretary shall call a special meeting pursuant to Section 2.2 hereof. An amendment to the Bylaws shall be adopted upon the affirmative vote of 80% of the Voting Members present at the meeting, so long as at least 20 Voting Members are present.
Notice to Members. Notice of a meeting at which an amendment to the Bylaws will be submitted for adoption by the Voting Members shall include a copy or summary of each proposed amendment and shall be mailed to each Member at least 30 days prior to the meeting at which the amendment is to be considered.
Nominations and proposed bylaw changes may be emailed to lruss@aclu-mn.org.
