Welcome new board members: Robert Blake, Sandra Boone, and Aimee Witteman

Published November 30, 2020

Please help CUB welcome the newest members of our board of directors. We are grateful to Robert, Sandra, and Aimee for their commitment and very fortunate to have their leadership and experience as a part of CUB's team.

Robert Blake is the owner of Solar Bear, a solar installation company located in Minneapolis. The Ojibwe pronunciation is Gizis-o-makwa. Robert is the Executive Director of Native Sun Community Power Development, a nonprofit also located in Minneapolis. Robert is a graduate student at the University of Minnesotan Carlson Executive Master of Business Administration (CEMBA) program. Robert is a tribal citizen of the Red Lake Nation. His passion is spreading the word about renewable energy through communication, cooperation, and collaboration.

Sandra Boone is a Communications Specialist for the Global Programs and Strategy Alliance at the University of Minnesota focusing on communications strategy for International Student and Scholar Services and the Immigration Response Team. Previously, Sandra worked in communications and research roles for the BlueGreen Alliance (a coalition of labor and environmental organizations) and the Minnesota Senate where she was the Democratic Researcher for the Energy, Utilities, and Technology Committee. Sandra graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2020 with a Master's in Strategic Communication and a minor in Literacy & Rhetorical Studies, and she previously graduated with a degree in political science.

Aimee Witteman is Director of the U.S. States Policy Initiative for Climate Imperative, an Energy Innovation project to secure just and ambitious climate wins at the scale and pace needed to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Prior to joining Climate Imperative, Aimee was Program Director at the McKnight Foundation for seven years, where she designed and led the Midwest Climate & Energy program, aimed at taking bold action on the climate crisis by dramatically cutting carbon pollution in the Midwest by 2030. In her last year at McKnight, Aimee doubled the program’s grantmaking portfolio and expanded its scope to include decarbonization of the power, buildings, transportation, and working lands sectors, embedding a focus on strategic democratic participation and racial equity. In this role, she also founded and chaired the Midwest Clean Energy Funders group and served on the governing committee of the national Climate and Energy Funders group.

Aimee previously served as McKnight’s Environment program officer specializing in water quality and agriculture systems. Outside of philanthropy, she has held leadership positions at several nonprofit organizations, guiding public policy advocacy, grassroots organizing, and coalition campaign efforts. Aimee also served as the first executive director for the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition in Washington, D.C. where she advocated for federal policy reform to advance the sustainability of agriculture, food systems, natural resources, and rural communities.

Aimee was a W.K. Kellogg Foundation policy fellow and holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin in Madison and a M.S. from Tufts University. She currently resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota and enjoys romping through northern forests and bogs with her husband and two children.