With an MBA from St. Catherine University and a flourishing business career that has focused on financial management and systems building, program management and new-business development, St. Paul resident Lauren Dees-Erickson, 40, is poised to take on the interim role of executive director for Friends of the Parks and Trails of Saint Paul and Ramsey County.
She succeeds Amy Gage, who served in the part-time role from September 2022 until June 2024. Gage says she “got the organization back on its feet” after a COVID-induced hiatus. “But Lauren is going to get Friends of the Parks and Trails running again.”
Having spent much much of her career working around the world as an international development consultant, Dees-Erickson has established a track record of success championing increased women’s rights, access to land rights, equal access to education, labor-led climate reform and transparency in the delivery of quality government services. Each project she has been part of — each proposal written and won — boasts positive tangible outcomes that have left neighborhoods, cities and countries a bit better than when projects began.
She currently works as the chief administrative and financial officer for the Climate Jobs National Resource Center, which advances a pro-worker, pro-climate agenda.
New leader, expanded goals
Dees-Erickson’s goal as interim executive director is to help the organization through strategic planning and expanding existing funding streams so that well-needed advocacy work in St. Paul and Ramsey County can be supported — and so all residents can access the healing power of the outdoors.
When she applied for the job, Dees-Erickson made several observations that intrigued the board of directors:
- “You have to build people’s love of the outdoors over time and across the lifespan.”
- “I hear the board say: ‘Expand the view of the organization. Be present at activities.’ That’s what I want to help do.”
- “We have to create opportunities to participate with other organizations. Maybe the overlap is only 25%, but you’re able to engage people around things they already love.”
- “If you engage kids, their parents come along as well.”
Lauren and her husband, Reier Erickson, have a daughter, Dune, age 12, and a son, Darwin, 9. The family lived in Liberia for a time, and Lauren notes that “cultural competence goes a long way,” which will serve her in St. Paul, where almost 46% of residents are people of color; in Ramsey County, almost 40% of residents are non-white.
She is eager to learn more about the environmental and climate-focused organizations in St. Paul and surrounding communities and how Friends of the Parks and Trails can connect with them. “How can we invite them in?” she says. “We have an opportunity to partner with others.”
Dees-Erickson’s family enjoys spending time outdoors and will assist her in this role, she says. Reier, an active cyclist, is pursuing his Ph.D. in Natural Resource Science Management with a focus that includes environmental education. He serves on the Ramsey County Parks and Recreation Commission and is a former vice president of the Friends of the Parks and Trails board.
The family lives in the Payne-Phalen neighborhood of St. Paul, where Reier sits on the Payne-Phalen Planning Council board. Lauren sits on the City of Saint Paul’s Capital Improvement Budget (CIB) Committee. She is under contract with Friends of the Parks and Trails through September 2024.
Photos by board member Wolfie Browender.
