Sue Vento joins FMR Board of Directors

FMR is proud to welcome Sue Vento to our board of directors. Sue is a longtime FMR member, supporter and volunteer with a lifelong history of community service and civic engagement.

A former elementary school teacher, Sue worked on behalf of K-12 educators, technical college faculty and state-employed educators for many years as a staff member and leader of the Minnesota Education Association, now Education Minnesota. She says she allegedly retired in 2010, but failed miserably. Currently, she is the outreach director for the Church of the Assumption in downtown St. Paul.

Sue has a wealth of board experience, having served with many nonprofits including the National Park Trust, the Carman Pampa Fund, Neighborhood House, Friends of the Saint Paul Library and Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity. She is also the former chair and spokesperson for the Committee to Protect Mesothelioma Victims and a former board member of the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation. Sue lobbied on asbestos and mesothelioma issues at both the state and federal levels, including aiding in the prevention of federal legislation that would have stripped patients and families of legal rights.

Sue is a native of Chatfield, Minn. near the headwaters of the Root River from which her love of rivers may have sprung. "The calm and tranquility that a river brings can't be taken for granted, says Sue, I am honored to join the Friends in their advocacy for our treasured Mississippi and for all rivers. The Mississippi played a critical role in our state's past as it does today. We must ensure that it will continue to be a treasure for future generations."