The Minneapolis Foundation Names New Trustees

MINNEAPOLIS , June 2006 – The Minneapolis Foundation has appointed the following individuals to its Board of Trustees:

Judge Pamela G. Alexander, District Court Judge . Judge Alexander has been a judge since 1983, having first served on the Municipal Court from 1983-86, and since then on the District Court , serving as the Chief Judge of the Juvenile Division from 1998-2000. She has been appointed to serve on several committees by the Minnesota Supreme Court, including the Committee on Multicultural Diversity and Racial Fairness in the Courts, the Racial Bias Task Force, and the Byrne Drug Policy Task Force. Judge Alexander also serves as a youth motivational speaker, a basketball coach, and volunteer. She has received more than 50 community service awards, including the 2001 Profiles in Courage Award from the National Bar Association, the Torchbearer's Award from Rainbow Push Coalition, and Woman of the Year Award from Iota Phi Lambda. Judge Alexander previously served as a Trustee of The Minneapolis Foundation from 1994 – 2003.

Marshall J. Besikof, CPA, JD, LLM,   Partner, Lurie Besikof Lapidus & Company LLP (LBLCO), a Minneapolis   accounting and consulting firm founded in 1940. Mr. Besikof is a member of the Hennepin County , the Minnesota , and the American Bar Associations. He has been an active national committee member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and has served on several committees of the Minnesota Society of CPAs, including acting as Chairman of the Minnesota Society Accounting Careers Committee, where he  initiated a program  of   basic financial education fundamentals  f o r local and national high schools,  implementing it with the AICPA.  Money Magazine cited  Mr. Besikof as one of the “Best Tax Practitioners in the Nation”, and he is the recipient of the Special Service Award presented only in years there is a qualified candidate by the Minnesota Society of CPAs. Mr. Besikof serves on several Twin Cities non-profit foundation boards.

Sima Griffith , Managing Principal, Aethlon Capital. Ms Griffith is a founder and principal of Aethlon Capital, a private investment bank. She founded and was President of Griffith Levi Capital, an investment bank she formed in 1989. Ms. Griffith was the recipient of 2005 Women on Boards "Not for Profit" Director of the Year and the National Association of Women Business Owners ( Minnesota chapter) 2003 Vision award. She currently serves on the Board of Children's Hospitals and Clinics, and the Board of Advisors of PACER, a non-profit organization serving families of children and young adults with disabilities. Previously, she served on the Board of Governors of the Children's Theater Company. Ms. Griffith has spoken before various groups on issues and trends in venture capital. She appears in "Who's Who of American Women" and "Who's Who in Finance." She served as Co-Chair of Women-to-Women, an investment group dedicated to helping finance women-owned businesses. She is a member of the Minnesota 's Women's Economic Roundtable, a forum for high-profile women leaders. A graduate of Amherst College , she has served as Vice President of the Amherst Alumni Association of Minnesota.

Hussein Samatar, Executive Director, African Development Center . Mr. Samatar is the founder of the African Development Center , a nonprofit that works to start and sustain businesses, build assets, and promote community reinvestment within the African communities of Minnesota . Previously he worked as a senior lender of the Neighborhood Redevelopment Center and a commercial lender with Wells Fargo and Norwest Banks. Mr. Samatar was recently named to the Board of The Minneapolis Public Library, and serves on the advisory board of Payne-Lake Community Partners, and the board of directors for the Emerging Markets Homeownership Initiative, the Citizen's League, and the Minneapolis Consortium of Community Developers. A Hubert Humphrey Institute Fellow in 2003-04, he holds an MBA from St. Thomas University and speaks five languages.

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