Leadership
Jeff Blodgett
Executive Director
Executive Director Jeff Blodgett has over 25 years experience in community organizing and political management. In addition to his leadership of Wellstone Action, Jeff also trains, teaches, and writes extensively on political skills, public management, and leadership.
Jeff was a student of Paul Wellstone’s at Carleton College and began his career as a community organizer, working with family farmers during the 1980s farm crisis. He later spent 13 years as a senior aide, advisor, and campaign manager to the late Senator (1989-2002), managing all three of his election campaigns, including the hard-fought 2002 race that was tragically cut short by a plane crash.
Jeff has served in key positions in dozens of other campaigns, including a post as Senior Advisor for Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar’s 2006 race, and Get Out the Vote (GOTV) Director for the 2004 Kerry Coordinated Campaign in Minnesota. He is a 1983 graduate of Carleton College and earned his Master of Public Administration from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in 1998.
Training Leadership Team
Adriana Barboza serves as the organization's Training Program Coordinator. She has extensive organizing experience, including work as co-chair of Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan and work on several state and national campaigns, including the Taco Bell campaign and the federal DREAM Act.-///-
Elana Wolowitz engages our 15,000 training program graduates as Alumni Director. She also served as Wellstone Action’s Advocacy Organizer, leading national issue advocacy campaigns and non-partisan voter engagement efforts.-///-
Erik Peterson has over 20 years experience in grassroots community and electoral organizing, and over 18 years as a trainer and community-based educator. He serves as the Director of Wellstone Action's Labor Program.-///-
Lonna Stevens directs Wellstone Action Fund’s Sheila Wellstone Institute, which continues Sheila Wellstone’s commitment to building power and visibility for the domestic violence movement. Lonna has been a strong advocate for criminal and civil policies that create greater safety for Native women and immigrant and refugee populations. A native of Alaska, she is from the Tlingit and Dakota tribes. -///-
Mattie Weiss is a long-time youth movement organizer, writer, and leader. Before joining Wellstone Action as the Campus Camp Wellstone Director, Mattie was a writer and researcher for the Applied Research Center in Oakland, Calif., where she wrote and published Youth Rising, a major report on youth organizing around the country. She also wrote two chapters of the book, How to Get Stupid White Men Out of Office. -///-
Peggy Flanagan is Deputy Field Director of Wellstone Action. An experienced organizer and advocate, Peggy is a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota. She was elected to the Minneapolis School Board in 2004 and is the first Native American to serve on that body.-///-
Organization’s Objective
The current progressive political infrastructure lacks the critical mass of leaders to give voice to our issues, win elections, and hold positions of power in our communities. Political leadership should accurately reflect the communities it seeks to represent, especially in communities of color and among low-income people, new American immigrants, and youth. Without this empowering leadership, the progressive movement has failed to move forward a comprehensive agenda for change.
We know that to build and sustain both electoral and issue work over time, we need to advocate for issues of our shared concern, run innovative and motivating campaigns, and elect progressive candidates. Candidates and their campaigns must be willing to stand up for a progressive agenda based on the needs and challenges of their community, and activists must organize and mobilize their communities to demand change.
Perhaps because of this leadership void, there is a hunger for training and leadership development at all levels of political engagement. Skills and capacity building are crucial, particularly in underrepresented communities. There is a need for large-scale, broad training that infuses the progressive movement with organizers and candidates equipped with the skills to recruit and elect progressive candidates and win on the issues we care about.
Victory in 2008 and Beyond
