About Us

John practiced law in the Twin Cities for more than 40 years, most recently as partner at Faegre Baker Daniels, the region's largest law firm. He now provides development advisory services through Herman Real Estate Advisors LLC.

John’s practice centers on the intersection of finance and regulatory approvals for major development. He was the lobbyist for many laws in the environmental and development finance areas and has represented many major cultural and real estate developments in the state. His real estate development financing experience includes Tax Increment Financing, State Bond Financed Property, Historic Tax Credits, and New Market Tax Credits. 

John has also been a leading environmental advocate involved in passage of much of Minnesota's nationally recognized environmental legislation. He is a long-time land preservation advocate and was a key player in creation of the Metropolitan Open Space System, as well as establishment of the Root River Trail, Tettegouche Park, and Cedar Lake Park. He is a member of the Minnesota Advisory Board of the Trust for Public Land and the St. Croix River Association Board. John has received numerous awards and recognition for his legislative work and his legal practice. 

John guides SHA on the regulations surrounding State Bond Financing of capital projects, State Legacy Funding, and other financing options. 

Mayor Christine Maefsky has lived in Scandia for 50 years, where she and her husband and family operate Poplar Hill Dairy Goat Farm, Minnesota’s only Grade A commercial goat dairy. Christine has been mayor of Scandia since 2017. She previously served on the Scandia Planning Commission for 10 years, six years as its Chair. 

Christine taught in K-8 education for 33 years. For over 26 years, she conducted teacher training in areas related to curriculum and instruction, She has presented at national conferences including the National Association for Gifted Children and the International Reading Association. 

Christine’s vision for Scandia emphasizes its rural character, environmental riches, and proud history. This includes preserving its open-space viewsheds, dark night skies, small-town hospitality, excellent school, rich public parks and trails, the high water quality of its lakes and the St. Croix River (which makes up the City’s entire eastern border), and revitalizing the City’s Village Center to support appropriate-scale growth and change that is compatible with this vision. Christine prioritizes promoting the City’s rich heritage -- including acknowledging its Ojibwe and Dakota roots and its history as the site of the first Swedish settlement in Minnesota – and its historic sites such as Gammelgården Museum, Hay Lake School Museum, and the Swedish Settler’s Monument. 

Dan was born in St. Paul, Minnesota. His love for the St. Croix Valley has its roots in summers spent some 70 years ago at the family cabin in the little village of Franconia.  

Upon graduation in 1963 from Amherst College with a degree in American History, Dan started his 35-year career at Investors Diversified Services (now Ameriprise) in Minneapolis. He held positions as Director of Staffing and Employee Relations, Director of Community Relations and Corporate Communications, and Director of Client Service for IDS Life Insurance Company.

Throughout adult life, Dan has felt a strong call to community service. After college, he spent six years in the US Army Reserve (Communications Intelligence). He served on the Hennepin County Personnel Board and the boards of YMCA Camp Widjiwagan and Courage Center.

In 1995, in anticipation of retirement, Dan and his wife Ruth Ann moved to Scandia. Dan subsequently served on the boards of St. Croix Valley Foundation and St. Croix River Association, where he served as board chair. In 2014 Dan received the Association’s annual Watershed Stewardship Award.   

Dan currently serves on advisory boards supporting North Woods and Waters National Heritage Area and Wild Rivers Conservancy. Most recently Dan chaired the Steering Committee for the Water Tower Barn Arts & Heritage Center.  

Sarah returned to Minnesota in 2014 and began immersing herself in Scandia’s heritage after decades in which she worked for non-profits in the field of culture, co-founded an innovative online women’s clothing retail business, and slowly circumnavigated the globe, living in New York, Moscow, Vienna, Hong Kong, and Los Angeles. She helped organize a conference of influential women from the newly liberated countries of Central and Eastern Europe. She also traveled widely as a board member for the Federation of American Women’s Clubs Overseas.  She was responsible for creating the organization’s first web presence. In Southern California, she did marketing and event management for a world-class cultural institution, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. With partners, she later launched MyShape, an ambitious startup that sought to revolutionize the women’s apparel business. Sarah served as Customer Experience Officer for MyShape, which attracted millions of dollars in venture capital and employed more than 100 people. 

Back in Minnesota, Sarah is on the Scandia Tourism Committee and chairs the SHA Communications Committee. Previously, she managed and served as board chair of the Scandia Farmers Market and held several positions at Scandia’s premier cultural institution, Gammelgården Museum, where she spearheaded a drive to have buildings accepted onto the National Register of Historic Places. 

Susan, SHA Founder and Board President, brings to the table a love of history and preservation, family ties to Scandia (her grandfather was born and raised in Scandia/Marine), and project management and branding expertise. Susan is an award-winning healthcare writer and graphic designer and owner of the brand consulting firm Entelo Marketing Communications. Susan currently works in management at her husband's company Global Air Charters based in St. Paul. Her former roles include marketing communications manager at Medtronic and a writer/editor for multiple healthcare and technology publications.

Susan served on the Scandia Planning Commission for three years starting in 2008, chaired the Scandia Architectural Design Guidelines Committee, and wrote the Architectural Design Guidelines document. Susan and her family served as a Big Family through Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Twin Cities, and they have hosted multiple foreign exchange students. In 2010, Susan purchased and renovated the former phone company building on Olinda Trail in the Scandia Village Center. 

Pam’s ties to Scandia and the St. Croix River run deep, going back four generations. Her great-grandparents paddled upriver from Stillwater in the autumn of 1917, camped in Marine, continued north, and ended their journey by purchasing a cottage in Otisville (a platted neighborhood in Scandia). Over his lifetime, Pam’s great-grandfather bought hundreds of acres of land along the St. Croix River to protect it from development, and this land is now part of the Wild and Scenic River protected parkland. Pam and her husband, Mike, feel very fortunate to own the cottage in which Pam’s grandmother and father spent every childhood summer, and Pam’s generation of cousins (coming from opposite coasts) did the same. She and Mike split their time between their Scandia cottage and a residence in Idaho. 

Pam’s professional career has been in the life insurance industry, first in management at an innovative fast-growing insurance carrier and then for the last 30 years as co-owner and chief operations officer at a life insurance brokerage company.

Pam has been involved in philanthropic and civic endeavors, including co-chair of an annual fundraising event for a child abuse prevention center, PTO officer and events committee leader, and chair of the Scandia City Council-appointed Log House Landing Committee. She currently serves on the board of a business Women’s Leadership Council. 

Greg is a long-time resident of Scandia, Minnesota, where he lives with his wife, Betsy, on their hobby farm near the St. Croix River.  

His past accomplishments include shopping center management in Minnesota and California, establishing a successful timber-frame home construction company, holding a real-estate broker license in MN and owning and managing a vacation rental home business on the North Shore of Lake Superior in Lutsen.  

A former builder and dealer for Lindal Homes, Greg became an inventor and entrepreneur when he founded his company CornerFlex, Inc., DBA InstaTrim Products, after the housing market declined in 2009. Ultimately, he created a new product category in the DIY marketplace that competes directly with caulking products, with InstaTrim becoming Amazon’s #1 product in the building materials and adhesives category throughout the United States. 

Currently, Greg works as President and CEO of InstaTrim Products. He has served on Scandia’s Planning Commission and is currently the President of Scandia’s EDA (Economic Development Authority). Greg graduated from UW Madison with a BS degree in Construction Management. His hobbies include photography, hiking, kayaking, wood working and caring for the animals on his hobby farm.

Tammy Peterson, who grew up in Scandia and returned in recent years with her husband, joined the SHA board in 2022. Bio and photo to come. 

Peter Nora is a long-time resident of Scandia and owner of PN Products, a custom plastics manufacturing company in Scandia that Peter founded in 1984. Peter joined the SHA board in 2022. Photo and full bio to come.