Leadership
Katherine Sims Delgado, Executive Director
Katherine joined Care in Action Minnesota in the beginning of 2020, serving as Program Coordinator. In this time she set up new mechanisms that have nearly doubled CIAM’s capacity for impact. She is equipped with a comprehensive background leading community organizing, donor engagement, events, and cross-functional teams to ensure success and achieve goals.
She received a BA in Economics and Political Science from Hamline University and has nearly a decade of non-profit experience across a broad range of community and national human service organizations. Katherine developed a strong sense of devotion for the nonprofit sector as a young beneficiary of various community services. Experiencing transient housing throughout her childhood, she became passionate about empowering homeless and foster youth, particularly those impacted by abuse.
In her early work with Habitat for Humanity, she managed volunteers to restore/build homes, while analyzing community needs and working to develop effective program delivery. During her time there, she saw more clearly the ways in which opportunities for economic mobility can vary substantially from one county to the next, and came to realize the importance of enabling intergenerational mobility at the local level. This experience also instilled in her a deep appreciation for how nonprofits and individuals can work to improve quality of life as a means for reducing inequities.
Board of Directors
Merrill Zieman, Board President
Merrill Zieman is a psychologist with forty years of experience working primarily in the Dakota County child protection program. He has extensive experience managing human service and mental health programs and organizations.
Peter Singer, Founder, Board Member
Peter Singer, MSW, LICSW, is the Founder and former Executive Director of Care in Action Minnesota. Pete has over 27 years’ experience working with trauma in a variety of settings, including schools, group homes, foster care, home-based services, outpatient therapy, law offices, and more. He currently serves as the Lead Consultant/Trainer for Advanced Trauma Consulting. He has worked extensively with families, teens, and children who have experienced trauma, including maltreatment, medical trauma, assault, violent loss, and captivity. Peter is a Licensed School Social Worker, Registered Circle of Security – Parent Educator, and Board-Approved Supervisor. He is also a member of the National Child Protection Training Center’s Speaker’s Bureau.
Rev. Carl Johnson, Board Member
Rev. Carl Johnson has a personal mission to abolish food insecurity in major cities, starting with St. Paul, believing that race and economic justice are strongly interelated with food. Reverend Johnson is a pastor in the twin cities and formally appointed committee member in the City of St. Paul of Food and Nutrition. He is on the leadership team of Mission St. Paul, a gathering of local pastors that promote unity in the city. After moving to the Twin Cities in fall of 2016, he made local connections by volunteering in Dayton’s Bluff Elementary school and recruiting volunteers to serve Dayton’s Bluff Elementary and Recreation Center in various capacities. During his time there, Carl also started a community garden at no cost to the rec center for teaching neighborhood kids how to grow vegetables. Reverend Johnsons’ primary motivation was to end everyday hunger, and has held neighborhood specific block parties and seasonal events to uplift the neighborhood.
Camille Morse Nicholson, Board Member
Camille Morse Nicholson joins the board with a background in designing and operating nonprofit programming, including those focused on youth, arts, community engagement, environmental issues, and agriculture. She brings experience with network-based fundraising to support vulnerable families, as well as familiarity with the role of state-level policy in enabling systems change. Camille received her BA from Hamline University and currently lives in Saint Paul, MN.
Andrew Morcomb, Secretary
Andrew Morcomb is the Care in Action Minnesota board foster family representative. He and his wife Gabrielle have been active foster parents in Washington County, Minnesota, for the past four years. Andy is currently pursuing a master’s degree in nonprofit administration from Metropolitan State University in hopes of taking a more active role in protecting vulnerable children in the future.
Mark Mellana, Treasurer
Mark Mellana is an investment professional with over a 30-year track record of: direct investing, asset management, corporate restructuring, and Board of Director roles in all types of energy companies and projects. He worked with General Electric for twenty-one years, providing private equity and debt investments in energy and infrastructure assets and companies. He has been recognized for building collaborative relationships with management teams, co-sponsors, and customers. Mark has served on numerous Board of Directors and in a variety of roles, including: governance, risk management, operations, and finance.