NextGen

The Young Leaders Council develops the next generation of Minnesota’s conservative leaders.

Local attorney Tara Anderson will chair the Young Leadership Council (YLC), Center of the American Experiment’s new group aimed at developing Minnesota’s next generation of conservative leaders.

Anderson, 32, is currently the youngest board member at American Experiment. A graduate of the law school at the University of St. Thomas, she practices in the corporate and commercial aviation transaction groups at Fafinski Mark & Johnson, an Eden Prairie-based firm. She is also a go-to activist for candidates who want to improve their connections with young professionals.

The YLC, she says, will introduce young professionals to the Center through quarterly events that combine social networking and a forum to discuss free-market ideas and conservative policies.

The YLC was initiated by the Center’s development committee chair Ron Eibensteiner, who says “Conservative leadership is too often equated with political involvement. They are not the same thing. Policy matters most. We spend too little time nurturing our next generation of conservative thought leaders. The YLC will do just that.”

Anderson will be joined by the following co-chairs:

  • Jen Niska, director of admissions at Bethel Seminary. She was also a committee legislative assistant at the Minnesota House of Representatives, and office director for the Tom Emmer for Governor campaign. She has a B.A. from Sioux Falls College, an M.A. from Sioux Falls Seminary, and an Ed.D. from Bethel University.
  • Ben Wilmoth, most recently at Target, worked in the White House from 2004-2009, where he served as executive assistant to the President’s chief of staff. He earned a degree in political science from Lafayette College and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
  • Anne Yoder, a communications executive at Clear- way Minnesota, has communications experience that includes work in the Washington, D.C. office of Congressman Mark Kennedy, the office of the U.S. Treasury Secretary, the National Republican Congressional Committee, and the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. She interned in the White House political affairs office under Ken Mehlman. She has a degree in political science from Drake University.