Our Board Members
The Board of Directors for the Recycling Association of Minnesota is filled with some of the finest members of Minnesota’s environmental community. Meet them below!
Paul Gardner: Clean Water Council – Chair
Paul Gardner is the Administrator of the Clean Water Council at the State of Minnesota. From 1997 to 2006 he served as the Executive Director of RAM before serving two terms with Brita Sailer in the Minnesota House of Representatives. Paul worked with a major consumer brand to advocate for extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging in several states, leading industry to invest more than $100 million into recycling infrastructure. In recent years, he set up curbside textile collection in the Chicago and Twin Cities markets before coming to the State in early 2019. Paul is a volunteer Minnesota Water Steward and Water Conservation Adviser through the nonprofit organization Freshwater and his local watershed district.
Jodi Taitt: EcoConsilium, Inc. – Vice Chair
Jodi Taitt is a mission-driven economist. With over 30 years of industry experience and a passion for diverting waste from landfills and incinerators, she has no greater joy than to help organizations save money, achieve their sustainability goals and reduce their environmental footprint. As founder and principal consultant of EcoConsilium, she partners with business and government to lean their operations, decrease fixed costs, increase profits and comply with ever-increasing regulations using cutting edge waste prevention, reuse, recycling and organic waste recovery strategies. Prior to consulting, she was the State of Minnesota Recycling Coordinator for the Minnesota Department of Administration’s Resource Recovery Office. Jodi currently serves as a founding board member and secretary of the Meadow Lake Watershed Association.
Martin Bergstedt: Retired Environmental Executive. – Treasurer
Martin Bergstedt obtained a Chemical Engineering degree from the University of Minnesota. During his career, he spent ten years in General Manager positions with Aptus Environmental in Lakeville, and USFilter at their Recovery Services facility in Roseville. He then went to U.S. Water Services as Director of Engineering and Project Management, overseeing the design, specification and installation of water treatment systems for new ethanol plants. In 2012 he joined Amazon Environmental in Fridley and retired there as President in 2022.
Susan Heffron: Minnesota Pollution Control Agency – Secretary
Susan Heffron is a 30-year veteran of the MPCA. She currently works in Recycling Market Development. Susan helps to create and maintain the demand for recyclable material by working with a number of different stakeholders – businesses, haulers, processors, end markets, universities and local governments. She connects people with resources to overcome barriers to using recycled material. Susan also administers the newly started recycling markets development grant program with funding from the legislature. Susan received her Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Minnesota. Her first professional job was for the MPCA and she never left! She has worked in Solid Waste, Air Quality, and Environmental Review. Susan is also a 23-year volunteer at the Minnesota Zoo and a hockey mom.
Kristin Pierskalla: Hennepin County – Member at Large
Kristin has a B.S. from the University of Minnesota in Natural Resources and Environmental Studies, and has been in the solid waste and recycling field since 1996. Kristin was a RAM Board member from 1998-2004, winning the Denise Kolar Award in 2000. Kristin served on RAM’s conference committee, America Recycles Day committee, as well as on the host committee for the 2005 NRC Congress and Exposition in Minneapolis. Kristin has worked for Hennepin County Environment & Energy since 2000, having various roles for the County in solid waste, recycling, reuse and waste reduction programs. The most prominent program Kristin has managed is Hennepin County’s Choose to Reuse program, which she has been program manager since 2004, working on educating Hennepin residents on the environmental benefits of reuse and elevating the importance of reuse retailers throughout Hennepin County. In her free time Kristin currently volunteers for community organizations in Bloomington, Minnesota, assisting the Bloomington Crime Prevention Association in their annual Book’em Used Book Sale, one of the largest book sale events in the Midwest, as well as serving on the Executive Committees for the Jefferson Band Booster Club (1997-present), and the Bloomington Activities Foundation (2021-). Most people that know Kristin know she loves everything Star Wars, and loves attending Gopher music and sporting events.
Robert Craggs: Burns & McDonnell
Robert leads the Solid Waste and Resource Recovery consulting group and is a National Market Sector Leader for Burns & McDonnell’s Environmental Services Global Practice. He has worked in the environmental consulting field for more than 28 years providing planning, financial, and technical consulting assistance to public and private clients throughout North America in the areas of solid waste, recycling, water resources, and renewable energy.
Robert has a Master’s in Urban and Regional Planning and a Juris Doctorate of Law. He is presently SWANA’s International Board Director for the Planning and Management Technical Division. He resides in Lakeland, Minnesota where he previously served as both mayor and a City Council member.
John Curry: University of Minnesota
John Curry is a Development Officer at the University of Minnesota’s College of Biological Sciences. He helped the College raise $27 million for scholarships, research and strategic initiatives in it’s recently completed ‘Driven’ Campaign. Prior to that, John worked for environmental and wildlife focused non-profit organizations including the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the National Audubon society. In addition, he spent over a decade working for the Minnesota House of Representatives, primarily for the committee overseeing the Judiciary and the Department of Corrections.
John has been active on a number of boards and community organizations. He is a Master Naturalist who loves the outdoors, especially hiking, biking, boating and xc skiing.
Mark Hackbarth: Vonco
Mark is the Business Development Representative at the Vonco Industrial Waste Campus in Becker. His introduction to the solid waste and recycling industry began in 2007 with Randy’s Environmental Services. His experience has led him through the progression of single-stream recycling, expansion of sophisticated material recovery facilities, the collection and processing of organics recycling, and profiling industrial material. Mark has a continued passion for the betterment of environmental processes, recycling solutions, and best practices to minimize waste.
Stephen Haugh: Central State Wire Products
Stephen is the Director of Sales & Marketing of Central States Wire Products. He has been in the recycling industry for over 18 years serving first as a Sourcing Manager with the Peltz Group out of Milwaukee, then the Director of Sourcing for Recycle American Alliance throughout the West and Midwest and now with CSWP in the Twin Cities. He is passionate about recycling and continues to work with the public and private sectors to stress the importance and benefits of recycling. He is also a standing member of the North and South Dakota Recycling Associations and a member of the Associated Recyclers of Wisconsin (AROW).
Crystal McNally: Dem-Con Companies
Crystal McNally joined Dem-Con Companies as the Education and Marketing Director in July 2021. Crystal is responsible for the marketing efforts across the Dem-Con family of companies and manages the Green Grades Education Program. The Green Grades Program includes educational tours, virtual tours, online curriculum modules, community education events and in-person school education programs. In addition, Crystal works closely with local municipal and county governments as well as industry trade groups such as REC, RAM, MNCC, ARM and others on recycling education and outreach. Crystal currently serves on the REC Steering Committee and MNCC’s Legislative Committee.
Prior to her position at Dem-Con, Crystal served as the Communications Specialist at Shakopee Public Schools for 9 years. She began her career in TV broadcast news. She served as an anchor and reporter at KTTC-TV in Rochester, MN and the evening anchor at 9&10 News in Northern Michigan. She graduated from the University of Minnesota, Morris with degrees in history and communications. She lives in Jordan now with her husband and three children.
Chelsea Moody: St. Paul Public Schools
Chelsea has been an Environmental Specialist at Saint Paul Public Schools since 2016. She is responsible for managing the municipal solid waste, recycling and organics program for the school district’s 73 buildings totaling 7.7 million sq.ft. She provides educational outreach, training to staff and students and works across departments to reduce waste, promote recycling best practices, improve recycling efficiency and reduce contamination. She also focuses on health & safety compliance and implementing energy related and other sustainability initiatives. Prior to working with SPPS, Chelsea worked at Minneapolis Parks & Rec focusing on natural resource management and coordinating the work of the MN Conservation Corps crew. She also served 2 service terms in AmeriCorps programs: MN Conservation Corps Youth Outdoors program leading youth crews and Minnesota GreenCorps promoting energy conservation initiatives. Chelsea received a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from University of Minnesota, Morris.
Michael Reed: Ramsey County Environmental Health Division
Michael Reed has over 28 years of combined public and private sector experience in environmental management, recycling, composting, landfill operations, permit review, project management, public involvement, policy development, deconstruction and building material salvage and legislative advocacy. He currently supervises the Ramsey County Solid & Hazardous Waste Compliance Program. He has served as RAM Chair for the past 4 years and served as Vice Chair for the preceding 3 years.
Steve Schiefelbein: Republic Services
Steve Schiefelbein is Republic Services’ Recycling Sales Representative for their Upper Midwest Region. He is responsible for acquiring and then the marketing of 3rd Party recycling volume. He has held this position with Republic Services’ for the past 5 years and has been in the Recycling Industry for 8 years. He has successfully spearheaded numerous recycling initiatives which have diverted a significant amount of volume from either being landfilled or illegally burned; one of the most notable projects being the recycling of Boat Wrap. Over 200,000 lbs. of boat wrap was recycled in 2018 alone. He also spends a great deal of time working with and educating the Public and Private Sector on “Best Recycling Practices.” Steve received his Bachelors of Science in Business Administration from Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall, MN. He is active in youth coaching and was a Board Member of the Valley Athletic Association.
Nick Rich-Vetsch: SCS Engineers
Nick is a licensed Professional Engineer and certified advisor in the TRUE Zero Waste program working as a Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) Project Manager with SCS Engineers. He earned his Bachelor of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering degree from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, during which time he participated on the Soil Judging team and fostered a passion for soil science. His drive to promote increased utilization of recovered and recycled materials in project design are invaluable skills in compost market development, waste diversion programs, facility optimization and compliance, specialized waste composition studies, odor monitoring and mitigation, PFAS and other contaminant management, and researching emerging technologies for alternative waste management.
Elizabeth Walsh: City of St. Paul
Elizabeth was a Senior Sustainability Specialist at the Minnesota Waste Wise Foundation, a non-profit affiliate of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce. She worked throughout Minnesota to facilitate waste reduction at businesses and multi-unit residential properties. Elizabeth worked closely with local governments as well as property managers and business owners to improve recycling programs by providing technical assistance, custom recommendations, recycling trainings, and grant assistance. Prior to working with Waste Wise, Elizabeth worked with St. Paul Parks and Recreation, serving the public of St. Paul by developing and implementing environmentally focused community programs. Elizabeth is a LEED Green Associate and has a BS in Environmental Science from Creighton University.
Maggie Yauk: Anoka County
Maggie Mattacola Yauk has over 15 years in the solid waste and recycling industry. She is currently working for Anoka County in the Recycling & Resource Solutions Unit guiding solid waste, recycling and organics policy and plans for the County. Her previous roles include serving as the Executive Director of SWANA Land of Lakes Chapter, the Executive Director of Operations of RAM and Communications Director of RAM. Maggie has a BS in Political Science and Environmental Law and a Master’s degree in Public and Non-profit Administration.