Onward and upward

Local arts college taps Second Harvest Heartland executive as its next President.

The Minneapolis College of Arts and Design (MCAD) issued a press release last Thursday:

As Co-Chairs of the Board of Trustees, we are excited to announce the appointment of Dr. Gwendolyn Freed, MCAD’s 20th president of the college. Following a national search, she was selected by unanimous vote of the Board. 

MCAD was founded in 1886 and is located within the larger campus of the Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA), south of downtown Minneapolis.

For a national search, MCAD ended up settling on a candidate close to home, tapping an executive with the Brooklyn Park-based free-food behemoth Second Harvest Heartland:

The Minnesota Star Tribune fills in a few details.

Freed, currently the interim chief development officer at Brooklyn Park-based Second Harvest Heartland, will lead the 800-student private nonprofit art college in Minneapolis known for drawing students from across the nation and internationally. She starts June 1.

It seems to have been a tough few weeks for the nonprofit Second Harvest in its efforts to retain top talent. Late last month, Second Harvest announced that its CEO, Allison O’Toole, would be stepping down in the midst of a controversy over her compensation ($721,000 per year) and the nonprofit’s generous taxpayer funding.

Recent documents (p. 4) from the in-development state Agriculture budget appear to show that a $3,400,000 earmark for Second Harvest, supported by the Governor, has been zeroed out of the proposed 2026-27 budget.

But don’t worry about them, tax documents show that the nonprofit produces annual revenue in the neighborhood of $260 million.

But as for the upcoming state budget, it’s never over until it’s over.