Kate Lehmann, MA, LADC - Chair

 A member of the board since 2008, Kate brings rigorous clinical training and wide ranging experience to her work with RHI.  In addition to being a licensed alcohol and drug counselor, she has 30 years of experience working with family owned firms, small businesses and non-profit organizations, including a lengthy career in production for film and television.  Kate has a BA in Religion from Smith College, an MA in Organizational Leadership from the College of St. Catherine, and received her MA in Addiction Counseling from the world renowned Hazelden Foundation. She has served on several non-profit boards, and is a past president of PFund, an LGBT community foundation serving the upper Midwest. In addition to her own counseling work, Kate's labradoodle, Spuddy, is a registered therapy dog who volunteers at Regions Hospital.

Eric Meininger, MD - Vice Chair

A member of the board since 2002, Eric is a staff physician at Southside Community Health Center's St. Croix Family Medical Clinic. He is dual trained in internal medicine and pediatrics with a subspecialty in adolescent health. He also has a masters in public health in community health education from the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota. His main area of interests center around high risk youth including, but not limited to, homeless youth, sexual minority youth, and transgender youth, especially in the context of the local community. Previously, he was a guiding force behind a campus community partnership outreach of Community-University Health Care Center (CUHCC) bringing academic health students of a number of disciplines out of the University and into the community through an outreach clinic serving the underinsured and unstably housed members of one of the largest inner-city neighborhoods of Minneapolis. He also coordinated clinics for chronic Native American inebriates, a clinic for homeless youth, a school-based clinic in North Minneapolis, a health education program for Asian and Pacific Islander immigrants, a health education program to reduce teen pregnancy and type II diabetes in the Native American community, and three vaccine outreach programs, one for street youth, one for Asian and Pacific Islander immigrants, and a third for injection drug users. He has been a mentor for GLBT youth at District 202, a local community center, as well as the County Home School in the juvenile justice system. He also served six years as one of the team physicians and the medical director for the Twin Cities to Chicago AIDS ride. At home, he has been a parent to 4 young adults through a community based program placing homeless gay youth into a supportive home environment to foster independent living skills and develop trusting relationships with adults. In recognition of his commitment to community service, he is the recipient of the prestigious Fairview Cares Award 2000, the National Health Care for the Homeless Clinican's network Local Hero award in 2001, and he was named one of Blue Cross Blue Shield's Champions of Health in 2003. He served two terms on the needs assessment and evaluation committee of the Minnesota HIV Services Planning Council for Ryan White Care Act funding priorities, and currently serves on the national Society for Adolescent Medicine advocacy and communications committees, and on the national Health Care for the Homeless Clinician's Network Education committee. He is well known both regionally and nationally as a speaker on adolescent health issues and as an advocate for marginalized populations.

Mark D. Lofstrom- Treasurer

Mark D. Lofstrom (M.D. Lofstrom), with Drs. Ron Falcon and Lynne Ogawa, helped found Rainbow Health Initiative (RHI) 10 years ago acting as one of RHI’s incorporators and initial officers.  Serving as its first vice

president and later as president, he, among other things, helped the fledgling group “get its feet on the ground,” apply (successfully) for a major grant to secure RHI’s financial health, worked to initiate education efforts by and knowledge about RHI, grew the board, polled community members at Pride Festivals, co-founded Tobacco-Free Lavender Communities (TLC) to assist with education about smoking and delivery of anti-tobacco services to LGBTQ communities, and was present as RHI hired its first staff members, moved into an autonomous office and experienced early “growing pains.”  Due to work and travel commitments associated with an out-of-town position, he needed to step back from his involvement with RHI for a few years.  Now as then, he brings legal and financial experience to the board.  In addition to institutional perspectives and witnessing substantial growth for RHI, he possesses experience in non-profit governance and fundraising (for organizations) and estate planning (for individuals) and is active with several community organizations, including Lambda Legal and Quatrefoil Library.

A member of the board since December 2009.  Originally from New York, Val has been in the financial services industry for over 20 years with an interest in development/fundraising for LGBTQ organizations.  Most recently, in Michigan with Affirmations Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center as the Chair of their Annual Giving Program.  Living in Minnesota since 2006, Val has done some fundraising for Rainbow Families, OutFront, and now Rainbow Health Initiative.

Barry Lau - Director

A board member since 2008, Barry Lau has been involved with a number of non-profit organizations, both volunteering and serving on their board of directors.  Most recently, he has served on the board of directors for PFund, the Minnesota AIDS Trek, the Church Council at Edina Community Lutheran Church and Change of Heart.  Barry's health and fitness interest started with his passion for biking and has completed over 20 charitable bike rides, the longest being 550 miles.  In addition to bike riding, Barry is also a certified Johnny G SPIN instructor, currently teaching at Life Time Fitness.  He graduated from the University of St. Thomas in 1993 with a Bachelors of Arts degree in Quantitative Methods / Computer Science and Theology.  His professional career has involved working for The St. Paul Companies, Andersen Consulting (Accenture), Digital River, and Express Scripts.  Most recently he worked at Wells Fargo & Company as a Quality and Process Improvement Manager and has an extensive background in project management and quality assurance.  Barry can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Anna S. Min - Director

Anna S. Min is an Associate Tax Accountant at ROR Tax Professionals. A member of the Rainbow Health Initiative’s Board of Directors since October 2008, Anna graduated from Macalester College in 2009 with a B.A. in Economics and Statistics. As a queer Korean-American native of South Minneapolis’ Cedar-Riverside community, Anna has been active since the age of 12. Anna’s service began with lobbying and organizing work with the Welfare Rights Committee; around the same time, Anna came out. Later, in high school, Anna was not only the Homecoming Queen, but also a Member of the Board at District 202, serving as Secretary until attending college in St. Paul in the Fall of 2005.Anna has also served on PFund Foundation’s Communications Committee for the past four years and is now a first-year member of the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota’s Social Change Fund Committee. Anna is proud to be an advocate for social justice and would be nowhere without the community found in theorizing about and enacting actual social change! Professionally, Anna has worked with Wells Fargo Private Banking and also Wells Fargo’s Wealth Management Group. During spare time, Anna enjoys hosting shows as an emcee, DJing, and photographing people and events in her communities; also known to be an avid biker and entrepreneur, Anna is always interested in big ideas, partnerships, and ways to do things better.

Derek Blechinger - Director and Communications & Marketing Chair

Having joined the board in the spring of 2009, Derek serves as chair of the . After getting a degree in Psychology and Musical Theatre, he worked at various non-profit organizations, including District 202 and the Minnesota AIDS Project. For the last 4 years, he has worked as a community health specialist at the Red Door Clinic - Minnesota's largest HIV/STD testing center. Derek provides HIV/STD testing and counseling to gay & bisexual men through the HIM Program at the Red Door, as well as counseling and support for newly diagnosed HIV+ individuals through the CAPS Program. Derek is passionate about HIV prevention, HIV care, GLBT youth services and addressing GLBT health disparities. In addition to his work at the clinic, he conducts GLBT community outreach as well as support groups for HIV+/chemically dependent gay/bi men both at Pride Institute and in the community. He is an avid softball player with the Twin Cities GLBT softball league, and has also been an active member of the Twin Cities Gay Men's Chorus and the Red Ribbon Ride.

Robyn Provis- Director

A member of the board since January 2010. Rev. Robyn Provis is a second career clergywoman with over twenty five years experience in marketing, advertising, organizational effectiveness and nonprofit management. She was formerly a technical assistance provider with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the area of public health social marketing. Robyn has created effective prevention campaigns for teen pregnancy, STIs and HIV/AIDS. She is currently co-pastor of All God's Children Metropolitan Community Church, a primarily LGBT congregation in the Twin Cities. She holds a Masters of Theological Studies degree from Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary and will graduate this May with her Doctor of Ministry degree from the Episcopal Divinity School.

Ronnie Trambino- Director

A member of the board since May 2010.

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