Julie Reiter—President
Julie Reiter has been involved in education and nonprofit work for over 15 years. She currently serves as the director of a program focused on nonprofits and volunteerism for students at the University of St. Thomas. For her own activism, she was drawn to CAA because of its positive and inclusive approach to supporting folks on their journey toward plant-based eating. She started volunteering with CAA through the Vegan Chef Challenge, and joined the board in 2022.
Learn more about Julie | Contact Julie
Stephanie Paquin—Treasurer
Stephanie Paquin has lived in the Twin Cities for the past 20 years, working in public accounting as a CPA and now as the Chief Financial Officer for a local wholesale distribution company. She became vegan in January 2017 and started volunteering with CAA in the summer of 2020. She is also a musician in several different Twin Cities bands.
Learn more about Stephanie | Contact Stephanie
Lydia Green—Secretary
Lydia Green comes to CAA with great new ideas for fundraising, community outreach, and education. As a CAA volunteer since 2018, Lydia has worked on Twin Cities Veg Fest and, most recently, helped at the CAA booth during the Pride Festival.
Based on volunteer experience with other local animal advocacy groups, she feels strongly about the benefits of collaborative work. Through activities like field trips to animal sanctuaries, Lydia hopes to work with youth education to create personal connections. Lydia has the goal of helping more people see the need to change their beliefs and habits to promote plant-based lifestyles. A personal goal for Lydia is to build a micro sanctuary focusing on rescued goats.
Learn more about Lydia | Contact Lydia
Mitch Bermel
Mitch joins the board after volunteering with CAA since early 2021. He has been plant-based for the last three years or so, and has developed a special fondness for quinoa. Mitch has a professional background in corporate sales and marketing, but left that space for the nonprofit realm where he works for a legal aid organization. Off the clock he is a loving dog-dad, and passionate outdoorsman.
Andrew Hamilton
Andrew Hamilton comes to CAA from the Animal Rights Coalition, where he had been a volunteer for over fifteen years and also a board member. Andrew has led vegan cooking classes, waffle parties and almost one-hundred Meetups at all-vegan restaurants. Andrew is an inner-city public school teacher and always travels during winter, spring and summer vacations to visit museums, gay bars and all-vegan restaurants. Andrew has a thriving vegan senior rescue dog and lives in Minnetonka.
Chris Homsey
Chris Homsey has volunteered for CAA as a member of the Twin Cities Veg Fest planning committee, having coordinated both cooking demos and speakers. She is a food scientist by profession and has worked in the areas of sensory science, consumer research, and product development. Chris joined the board in December of 2016.
Learn more about Chris | Contact Chris
Julie Knopp
Julie Knopp has worked at the intersection of communications, education, and nonprofit leadership for more than a decade. By day, Julie serves as Director of Communications for Friends of San Lucas, a fundraising non-profit that supports a Guatemalan partner organization working to increase access to education, healthcare, and housing. In her spare time, Julie advocates for animals. Julie’s writing on animal issues has appeared in New York Daily News, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Madison Capital Times, and other news media. Julie holds a Master of Arts in Teaching and lives in St. Paul, Minnesota. Julie has volunteered with CAA since 2015.
Learn more about Julie | Contact Julie
How to pronounce Julie’s name:
Hannah Milos
Hannah Milos started volunteering with CAA in 2022 and has helped with the Twin Cities VegFest, the Annual Vegan Chili Cook-Off, and the Twin Cities Plant-Based Bike Crawl. In the summer of 2023, she attended the Animal and Vegan Advocacy summit with CAA, where she learned skills and extensive resources for how to become a better activist. Inspired by this experience, Hannah joined the board in August 2023. She currently works in urban and community forestry and helps manage project grants aimed at increasing equity of urban canopy cover. She is interested in exploring creative approaches to outreach, education, and community building. She has been vegan since 2019.
Henry Patterson
Henry Patterson has volunteered with CAA since 2017. He regularly organizes and hosts the monthly Vegan Recipe club. He has also been a member of the Vegan ThanksLiving Potluck planning committee, coordinating social media for the event. He is a project manager and manufacturing consultant by profession and works in the areas of operations and manufacturing process improvement. Henry joined the CAA board in January of 2019.
Learn more about Henry | Contact Henry
Dyne Stephenson
Dyne Stephenson has been an educator, animal advocate, and vegan, for over 25 years. Since 2016, he has been a volunteer in many different CAA roles, including coordinator positions for the CAA Banquet and Twin Cities Veg Fest. Additionally, he has attended and volunteered at Vegan Chili Cook Offs, Dine-Outs, potlucks, film screenings, and other events. We welcome him into his new role as our latest board member.
Learn more about Dyne | Contact Dyne
Joining the Board
If you’re interested in joining the board, please read the letter to prospective board members and board member responsibilities. Also, familiarize yourself with the CAA core values and bylaws.
Prospective board members must attend and participate in at least one board meeting before being considered for board membership. After that, the board will ask you to fill out the questionnaire for prospective members.
If you are interested in attending a board meeting, email info@exploreveg.org to find out when the next board meeting will take place.