Joint Leadership Team

The Joint Leadership Team are the architects and stewards of transforming the public health system in Minnesota. This happens through: 

Representative membership

• This team is structured to bring together key leaders of Minnesota’s governmental public health system—state health officials (MDH), local health directors (LPHA), and locally-elected community health board officials (SCHSAC).
• Each organization identifies its own representatives to sit on the Joint Leadership Team.
• The team is exploring what it looks like to increase work with Tribal Nations and Tribal health directors.

Shared leadership

• Changing Minnesota’s governmental public health system requires shared leadership.
• Joint Leadership Team members bring the perspectives of their members, and champion and lead change in their sector.

Consistent dialogue and trust-building

• The team operates in twice-monthly meetings, with asynchronous communication between meetings.

Outside the Joint Leadership Team, different sectors of the public health system are builders and project managers of specific pieces of work that make the Joint Leadership Team vision a reality. 

Local Public Health Association (LPHA)

• Nick Kelley (Bloomington), Immediate Past LPHA Chair
• Kari Oldfield-Tabbert, LPHA Director
• Coral Ripplinger (Dakota), 2026 LPHA Chair-Elect
• Amy Westbrook (St. Louis), 2025 LPHA Chair
• More information: LPHA

Minnesota Department of Health (MDH)

• Brooke Cunningham, Commissioner of Health
• Chelsie Huntley, Director, Community Health Division
• Kim Milbrath, Section Manager, Center for Public Health Practice
• Kris Rhodes, Director, Office of American Indian Health; Interim Assistant Commissioner, MDH Health Equity Bureau
• Halkeno Tura, Assistant Commissioner, Health Improvement Bureau
• More information: About MDH

State Community Health Services Advisory Committee (SCHSAC)

• Tarryl Clark (Stearns), Immediate Past SCHSAC Chair
• Laurie Halverson (Dakota County), SCHSAC Chair-Elect
• De Malterer (Le Sueur-Waseca), 2025-2026 SCHSAC Chair
• More information: SCHSAC

Please direct any questions or feedback to a Joint Leadership Team representative from your specific sector, above, due to the collaborative nature of transforming Minnesota's public health system.