Mile in My Shoes Board of Directors and Staff

Our Board

Matt Swiontek – Co-Chair

Matt started with MiMS as a Run Mentor at Higher Ground Minneapolis back when it was just one wee team, in 2015. After a three-year move to Grand Rapids, MI, where he founded a November Project run group, Matt and his partner, Jess (Team Roseville Team Lead) returned to the Twin Cities and he rejoined MiMS behind the scenes. A public defender with Hennepin County, Matt is motivated by the work MiMS does to change perceptions and advocate for issues important to our Members. His greatest pride-and-joy remains coining the term “Run Mentor” during a morning post-run coffee outing in the early days.

Jennifer Trost - Co-Chair
Jen found running over two decades ago and has continued to enjoy going after the miles year after year. When she discovered she could blend running with her passion for serving and lifting up Minnesota's marginalized communities she joined Mile in My Shoes as a Run Mentor in 2017. Now Jen is ready to take her engagement with MiMS to the next level and bring her skills, knowledge, and expertise from the education and advocacy world to the board to support creating a strong, healthy, and vibrant Mile in My Shoes community.

Laura Rapacz – Treasurer
Laura began running in junior high, with continued involvement on the cross country and track and field teams through high school and college. Since then, she has raced in everything from a 5K to the marathon. She credits her running experience with helping build her confidence and leadership skills, and believes MiMS can help people achieve their goals for the future! Laura has served as a volunteer head coach for Girls on the Run, which brings so much joy and inspiration to her life. She is an actuary and has a love for numbers. Laura shares her passion for running with her husband and two daughters, who often go on family runs together.

Naomi Prabhakar - Development Chair
A lifelong runner, Naomi began running as a kid with her dad to build healthier habits. She became involved with MiMS in 2021 and has served as a Run Mentor on Team Challenge. MiMS has offered Naomi the chance to join a passionate and meaningful community that is making a difference in the region, and for her to share expertise in development and corporate/foundation relations. Naomi believes that running and setting goals can change habits and transform lives. In her spare time she enjoys spending time with husband and two young daughters, traveling, and of course running the streets of the northwest metro where she resides.

Tim Murphy - Governance Chair
Tim discovered his love of running through a marathon training course at the University of Minnesota. After promising himself he would only do one, he has run six more and plans to one day run a marathon on every continent. He firmly believes in the power of running as a means to build community, and that led him to discover MiMS while searching for ways to deepen his civic engagement. Tim is excited to bring his professional background in non-profits and philanthropy to continue building on the strong legacy MiMS has created.

Joe Rauch - Planning Committee Chair
As a cornerstone of his physical and mental health, Joe has been a runner for as long as he can remember. But prior to joining MiMS in the summer of 2016, he considered himself a lone wolf. It wasn't until joining MiMS that he saw the power in running shoulder-to-shoulder with someone. Wanting to do more for the organization, Joe helped organize and lead MiMS’ first Distance Crew in 2017 in an effort to get more runners across the line at the Twin Cities Marathon. Joe is a certified UESCA running coach, and in his professional career has been a nurse for over 16 years, currently serving as the Nurse Manager of the Burn Center at Hennepin Healthcare. When Joe isn't running he is trying to keep up with his wife Anne and his two boys, Hayes and Miles (in My Shoes).

Margaret Guelzow - Board Member
When needing something to ground her in healthier living after having two kids and a stressful career, Margaret turned toward running and has been putting in the miles ever since! She believes, through firsthand experience, that having a community of people with a focus on creating a healthy life is essential to success and being happy. When Margaret heard about Mile in My Shoes, it presented an opportunity to combine her professional experience with a passion for community and running to create this same opportunity for people that may not otherwise find it.  

Matt Hourigan – Board Member
A life-long athlete and now a coach, Matt knows firsthand the incredible power of a team. He is inspired by the opportunity that each MiMS team offers its resident and mentor runners alike. Matt brings a diverse set of experiences to his work with MiMS, having served in various nonprofit finance and education roles throughout the Twin Cities over the past 10 years. Financial planner by day, high school lacrosse coach by night, and a dad to two young boys always, Matt has no problem staying (happily) busy!

Benj Vardigan – Advisory Member, Communications and Marketing
Benj brings a range of writing and running experience to MiMS. As communications director at the Oakland Public Education Fund, he wrote stories and grants that celebrated and supported Oakland public schools. While there, he coached Urban Promise Academy's middle-school track team and volunteered with Running for a Better Oakland. Thanks to the kids he ran with on the school's tiny track and around Lake Merritt, Benj discovered the power of running to bring communities together, and he feels lucky to have found this again through Mile in My Shoes. 

Andy Morgan - Advisory Board Member
Andy has been running with Mile in My Shoes since 2015. Along the way, he’s been a Run Mentor on four different teams and a founding Core Team Leader at two. UESCA-certified as a running coach, Andy has completed marathons, ultras, obstacle races, and more. A lifelong Twin Cities resident, he’s been working in the tech industry for 30-plus years. When not running with MiMS, Andy is probably midway through an ever-growing list of projects on the 125-year-old house he shares with his wife and three cats. True to the MiMS spirit, Andy believes that “running and training for events is a metaphor for continuous improvement in all that we do.”

Michael Jurasits – Co-founder
Mike became involved with an organization called Back on My Feet when he decided he wanted his running to be about more than his own personal achievements, and served there in various capacities. After arriving in Minnesota, Mike, with his partner Mishka, decided they wanted to continue to run with people from all walks of life! Mike brings running knowledge and ability to the team, and is known for his wicked dance moves and tremendous support of his runners and volunteers.

Jana Huffman - Co-founder

Member Advisory Council

The Mile in My Shoes Member Advisory Council is a group of Run Mentors and Alumni Members who advise Mile in My Shoes board and staff. Members of this group are regularly involved in discussion and decision-making, called upon to shape organizational policies, review new initiatives and in specific circumstances that warrant Member perspective. Every MiMS team has Mentor and Member representation on the MAC, and participants are compensated for their time. Current MAC Members include:

Antonyo Johnson, Dan Ferrie, Sarah Foss, Danny Nelson, Kris Coulter, Sruthi Narayanan, Kevin Den Hartog, Kennoshia Fullilove, Bradley Jones and Rachael Marret.

Our Staff

Mishka Vertin (she/her), Co-founder, Executive Director
When Mishka first proposed starting a little running group to the staff of Higher Ground Minneapolis in 2014, she had no idea that so many runners of ALL types would want to be a part of it - or that it would grow to include hundreds of runners across the Twin Cities in just a few years. A licensed social worker, Mishka brings over a decade of nonprofit experience to Mile in My Shoes and has thoroughly enjoyed learning all that it takes to run a successful startup nonprofit. While her focus is now primarily on the growth of Mile in My Shoes - strategic planning, development and community partnerships - she still gains her motivation from the team runs, where those first miles, fierce hugs, and incredible bonds continue to inspire every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday morning.

Beth Ross (she/her), Program Director
Beth started running to improve her physical health, but soon discovered the transformative power running had for her mental health and beyond. She first got involved with MiMS in 2019 as a Run Mentor with Team Roseville, and started as program director in early 2021. Beth has a long history of supporting folks reentering our communities after incarceration. Her favorite part of running with MiMS is the meaningful connections—it's amazing how well you get to know someone on a single run. As program director, she manages day-to-day program activities and provides support to our volunteers.

Matt D’Olimpio (he/him), Member Services Coordinator

Matt began running with MiMS as a Resident Member at Team Roseville in 2019. After completing his first mile - after a lifetime of avoiding running - he was hooked, both on running and on MiMS. After moving out of the reentry center, Matt continued his journey with MiMS, running on several teams during the pandemic and speaking at the Voices of Reentry panel in 2021. Matt joined MiMS as Program Coordinator in 2022 and effective in 2024 has transitioned into the Member Service Coordinator position. In this role, he'll continue supporting day-to-day program operations, but specifically focus on Resident Members and Alumni, working to make sure that everyone has all they need to run, connect, and thrive from their first mile through Alumni! When he’s not catching his breath after a long-winded story, he enjoys seltzer, trivia, and revolution. His love language is memes. Want to know more? Check out his full profile here.

Rebecca Lange (she/her), FundRacing + Run Mentor Coordinator

Rebecca first joined Mile in My Shoes as a FundRacer for the 2022 City of Lakes Half Marathon. She was deeply inspired by the stories of MiMS Resident Members and Alumni and thrilled to combine her passions for social justice and physical wellness. Growing up with a single mother in a community highly impacted by poverty, Rebecca learned first-hand about the effects of cumulative disadvantage on mental health and economic stability. Later serving as a special education teacher, Rebecca witnessed a profound need to address systematic educational inequity and juvenile justice reform. She went on to pursue a master’s degree in public policy with a focus on policy development to strengthen working families and target educational inequity. Rebecca moved to Minnesota in 2018 and enjoys learning more about her community and spending time exploring nature with her husband and two young daughters.

Whitney Hodge (she/her), Downtown Run Around 5K Race Director

Whitney fell in love with MiMS at her first run with the team at Higher Ground Minneapolis in 2015, and has since held core team roles at Higher Ground and VOA Southside as well as run several half marathons and marathons with MiMS Members. Whitney strongly believes in the power of running and movement to break down barriers - personal, interpersonal, societal - and running with MiMS has proven that time and time again. There’s nothing like an early morning MiMS sunrise run (complete with a hug and a Woo!) to change your perspective! Whitney led the virtual MiMS season during the COVID pandemic in 2020, grew our Alumni Program in 2021 and 2022, and in 2023 stepped into the role of Downtown Run Around race logistics coordinator. She hopes to see you there!