Presenter Bios

JoMarie Leth Morris is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Winona State University. She served as a legislative intern for Minnesota State Senator Steven Morse prior to attending William Mitchell College of Law where she graduated with honors and served as associate editor of the law review.  She was a partner at Klampe, Delehanty & Morris law firm in Rochester for 18 years practicing civil litigation and immigration.  JoMarie is passionate about social justice issues and has done significant pro bono work relating to domestic abuse, sex and labor trafficking, and citizenship for refugees receiving numerous awards for her pro bono work.  She was recently appointed to serve on the Executive Council of the Minnesota Young Women’s Initiative, a cross-sector effort to achieve equity in opportunities and to improve the lives of young women of color, American Indian young women, young women from Greater Minnesota, LGBTQ youth, and young women with disabilities. For the past five years, she led the efforts to build and launch a Jeremiah Program campus in southeast Minnesota as the inaugural Executive Director of the Rochester-SE MN Jeremiah Program.  JoMarie currently works as a nonprofit consultant.

Christine Beech holds a Doctoral Degree in Management and her dissertation explored revenue generation models in faith-based nonprofits. She is the founder and owner of Copiavia, a consulting firm dedicated to helping nonprofits with strategic planning and revenue generation models. Additionally, Christine is the Executive Director of the Kabara Institute for Entrepreneurial studies at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota where she leads the university’s entrepreneurial programming and teaches business courses in the graduate school. Prior to joining Saint Mary’s University, Christine owned her own consulting business in the Washington, D.C. area for many years, and before that worked as a corporate entrepreneur, where she led the development of a new 21+ million-dollar business line for Booz Allen Hamilton. Christine serves on the boards of several local nonprofits, including the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce, Launch MN, Collider, Salt & Light Partners, and the Jeremiah Program.