The Great Northern Announces Jovan C. Speller Rebollar as New Executive Director

Speller Rebollar to co-lead the organization with Chief Programming Officer Kate Nordstrum

Image by Laure Vail

The Great Northern announced today after a national search that Jovan C. Speller Rebollar will be its new Executive Director. She will co-lead the organization with Chief Programming Officer Kate Nordstrum, who previously managed both programming and administrative activities for The Great Northern.

Speller Rebollar brings her decades of experience as a leader at organizations across the country to the position. Most recently, she was a program director at the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council (MRAC). An award-winning multidisciplinary artist, Speller Rebollar also has direct experience with The Great Northern – her installation Conservatory (created in partnership with Andy DuCett) anchored the 2022 festival, and she was a featured speaker at the 2023 festival’s Climate Series.

“Since participating as an artist collaborator with The Great Northern, I have been blown away by the innovation and brilliance of the team, led by Kate Nordstrum and backed by a powerhouse board,” Speller Rebollar said. “The festival has been a shining example of how to ambitiously celebrate ‘the North’ and build community. The platform centers the strengths of this region and engages in topics that lead to a greater understanding of our collective power to address climate issues. I look forward to helping expand The Great Northern’s reach and impact, while strengthening its operations and partnerships.”

In her new role, Speller Rebollar will lead key functions of the growing organization, including development, finance, marketing, and operations, with a focus on achieving its strategic priorities and increasing its institutional capacity. Nordstrum, who had held both the Executive Director and Artistic Director roles prior to Speller Rebollar’s appointment, will continue to lead festival programming as Chief Programming Officer. Nordstrum was hired in 2019 as its sole full-time employee, with the plan of splitting her role as capacity increased.

“I know Jovan will bring incredible momentum to The Great Northern and I’m thrilled to co-lead the organization with a colleague I already admire so much,” Nordstrum said. “Her rich experience as a cultural entrepreneur and sustainable systems builder will serve The Great Northern and its community tremendously well. With Jovan at the helm of the organization's operations, I look forward to focusing more fully on ambitious programmatic initiatives for the festival. I'm excited to usher The Great Northern into its bright future with Jovan by my side!”

The Great Northern’s Board Chair Eric Dayton agrees. “Jovan inspired us all with her passion for The Great Northern’s mission and her ambitious vision for its potential,” he said. “I can’t wait to see the next chapter unfold under her leadership combined with Kate Nordstrum’s world-class curatorial expertise."

Speller Rebollar will officially start her role on May 15.

The Great Northern’s 2024 festival will return to the Twin Cities from January 24–February 4, 2024, with illuminating live performances, thought-provoking art displays, meaningful conversations about the environment, invigorating outdoor activities and events, and seasonal food and drink. With climate change at the forefront, the festival seeks to inspire action and awareness around the importance of protecting the winter traditions we cherish.The full lineup of events will be announced to the public in November.

About Jovan C. Speller Rebollar

Jovan C. Speller Rebollar has had a dedicated career in nonprofit arts administration for more than 15 years. Her work has impacted broad communities throughout New York, Washington, D.C., and Minnesota. Her expertise spans development and fundraising, grant-making, education, entrepreneurship, and nonprofit management. Outside of the workforce she is both a supporter and practitioner of the arts. Her vast experience allows her to understand and negotiate relationships that achieve and sustain successful organizations. Whether in business, art, or as a hobby permaculturist, she is most passionate about creating harmonious ecosystems that generate abundance and sustainability. She is equally committed to the growth of opportunities for creative entrepreneurs and the advancement of the arts as a necessary cultural movement, essential to community health.​

Jovan is also a dedicated mother and multidisciplinary artist, archivist, and radical homesteader based in rural Minnesota. Her visual works and installations have been published and exhibited in venues throughout the country and world.

Welcome Maxine Bédat

The Great Northern is thrilled to announce that Maxine Bédat has joined its Board of Directors. Maxine is the founder and director of New Standard Institute and author of Unraveled: The Life and Death of a Garment. She will be familiar to festival audiences who attended her 2022 festival presentation about sustainability (or the lack thereof) in the fashion industry. A Minnesota native who recently returned to the state, Maxine maintains a national and international presence through her efforts to pass legislation that would hold large clothing companies accountable for their climate impacts through stricter regulation. Please join us in welcoming her!

Welcome new board members

The Great Northern welcomes three new members to its board of directors: Torrie Allen, President and CEO of Arts Midwest; Jothsna Harris, Director of Community Engagement at Climate Generation: A Will Steger Legacy; and Carson Kipfer, co-founder of SportsEngine. The board of directors brings extensive expertise, enthusiasm, and guidance to The Great Northern and plays a significant role in nurturing vision and growth.

“Jothsna, Torrie and Carson have been such valuable advisors and supporters of The Great Northern, and it is truly an honor to bring them on board more formally,” said Executive and Artistic Director Kate Nordstrum. “Their enthusiasm for what we are building, joined with their collective experience, energy and ambition, brings tremendous strength and momentum to the organization.”

Board president Eric Dayton added, “I’m thrilled to welcome three outstanding new members to The Great Northern’s board of directors. Each brings unique strengths, but they all share a belief in Kate Nordstrum’s inspiring and ambitious vision for the organization and I look forward to working together to help make that vision a reality.”

Learn more about Torrie, Jothsna, and Carson below.

Torrie Allen has more than 30 years of wide-ranging experience in national, regional, and local arts leadership including executive and artistic management, fundraising, marketing, policy, adjudication, grantmaking, and international performance. In 2019, he was recruited to become the new president and CEO of Arts Midwest. Allen currently serves on the boards of National Arts Strategies, VocalEssence, NIVA Foundation, and AIR Institute. Prior to his career in nonprofit leadership, Allen spent a decade traveling the world as a professional concert and opera singer.

Jothsna Harris is the director of community engagement at Climate Generation: A Will Steger Legacy, where she leads planning and implementation efforts for the organization’s community engagement work. Harris has helped bring the issue of climate change to communities across Minnesota, building community resiliency and capacity through multi-stakeholder alliances and connecting people through the power of storytelling. Her work includes the award-winning Climate Conversation series in partnership with Three Rivers Park District, the Talk Climate Institute, 2017-18 Youth Convening Minnesota, and the 2014-16 Climate Minnesota project. She is a co-editor of Eyewitness: Minnesota Voices on Climate Change and a recipient of the CERTs Women in Energy series.

Carson Kipfer co-founded SportsEngine, a sports technology startup that grew into the leading provider of Sport Relationship Management (SRM) software, empowering athletes, parents, coaches, and sports organization administrators with tools and services to manage their organizations and sports lives. Kipfer served as Co-Commissioner of the premier outdoor hockey tournament U.S. Pond Hockey Championships from 2010 to 2019. He has also served on the board of the Positive Coaching Alliance and is a founding board member of The Great Northern.