Gunnar joined Youth Farm in 1999 and spent his first 7½ years as the Program Director for the West Side neighborhood before becoming the Executive Director in 2006. Gunnar has a degree in Philosophy from the University of Minnesota, with an emphasis in Education and Social Change. Prior to his work at Youth Farm, he spent 3 years working at the Jane Addams School for Democracy on the West Side of St. Paul leading a variety of youth organized initiatives, including the Homeland Project, a group of Hmong teens that he traveled to Laos and Thailand with, in order to visit their homeland and families. In 2012/2013, Gunnar was a Policy Fellow at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. He has also served on a variety of nonprofit boards including Community Shares of MN and the West Side Community Organization. Outside of Youth Farm, he can be found enjoying time with his family, coaching his kids in baseball/basketball, or throwing rocks down a sheet of ice, refining his new found love of curling. Originally from Pittsburgh, PA, he lives in West St. Paul with his wife and 2 children.
