April 15th, 2007

Former Minnesota Congressman Tim Penny is the newly named President of the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation. Tim Penny represented Southeastern Minnesota's First Congressional District from 1982 through 1994. He served on the U.S. House agriculture and veterans affairs committees and the Select Committee on Hunger, heading the foreign agriculture and hunger subcommittee. While in Congress, Penny founded and co-chaired the Democratic Budget Group and drafted deficit-cutting initiatives. He continues to work in the areas of federal budgeting, agricultural policy, trade issues, and rural development. He is a board member and policy chair of a budget watchdog group, the Concord Coalition, and is an advisory board member for a clean-campaign project, the Minnesota Compact. Co-author of two books, Common Cents and Payment Due, he is a regular public speaker, radio commentator, and editorial writer. Penny has a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Winona State University.

Email - timp@smifoundation.org

Tim Penny Named President of
Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation
Former U.S. Congressman believes Foundation is “a change-agent” in the region

OWATONNA, Minn., March 27, 2007 – The board of trustees at Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation (SMIF) has named Timothy (Tim) Penny as its next president. Penny becomes the third president since 1986, when SMIF was established by the Minneapolis-based The McKnight Foundation to foster growth and vitality in southern Minnesota communities. Penny was selected from a national pool of candidates after a year-long review process by a search committee that included current and former board members. He will begin serving as president in April.

“As we recently celebrated 20 years as a foundation, we are thrilled to plan for our future with Tim Penny as our new president,” said SMIF board chair Dan Bonneur. “Tim is a leader and visionary in Minnesota and the nation, and his depth and breadth of experience makes him a tremendous asset to the foundation’s future.”

Penny represented Minnesota’s First Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1982-1994. Previously, he was a member of the Minnesota State Senate from 1976-82. Most recently, Penny was a Senior Counselor at Himle Horner, a Twin Cities-based public relations and public affairs firm, and co-chair of the Humphrey Institute Forum at the University of Minnesota.