InCommons Staff

Catherine Jordan joined the Bush Foundation in November 2009, and has become the director of InCommons, a network that connects people and lets them find and share credible tools, knowledge and resources for solving community problems in the region. She also assists the Leadership and Community Engagement team in developing strategies to integrate imagination, creativity and innovation into all the work of the Foundation.

Catherine has woven a career from the threads of community organizing, arts, education, health and executive management. Before arriving at Bush, Catherine was the first CEO of AchieveMpls, a nonprofit organization dedicated to building community partnerships with the Minneapolis Public Schools to support student success. She began her career as the co-founder of a teenage peer education program that dealt with issues of drug abuse prevention and sexual health concerns. She taught at the high school and college level, and she has produced media illustrating prevention strategies including the award winning video All of Us and AIDS.

Catherine was the founder of Capital New Year, an annual Twin Cities-wide arts and cultural festival on New Year's Eve. She was the president of the Twin Cities' United Arts Council, executive director of the Women's Art Registry of Minnesota (WARM Art Gallery), interim director of the Girl Scout Council of Greater Minneapolis, and interim director of Circus Juventas, a circus school for youth. She also served as the project director of the Blacklock Nature Sanctuary, located in Moose Lake, MN, managing the residency program for visual, literary and performing artists on the 440-acre site.

Catherine was born and raised in Minnesota and attended Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, to earn a BA in education and a MA in law and human services.

She lives in Minneapolis with her husband, Steve, in a 117-year-old house that is a demanding work-in-progress.