Yanisch, 48, is senior vice president at GVA Marquette Advisors, a Minneapolis-based real estate consulting firm. Immediately prior to that she was a candidate for US Senate, but lost in last fall's primary.
From 1994 to 1998, Yanisch was executive director of the Minneapolis Community Development Agency. Under her direction, the agency created or retained 4,000 affordable housing units, cleaned up numerouspolluted industrial sites and helped revitalize the city's neighborhoods, generating more than $1 billion in new development.
"I think if you look at her record with the MCDA alone, you can see what she brings to DTED," Ventura says. "She sees where Minnesota's growth is untapped, and where we can play off its strengths."
She will take over a department that is in transition. Ventura wants to merge Trade and Economic Development, which focuses on trade, tourism and business development, with the Department of Economic Security, which manages the unemployment compensation system and job-training programs. Carlson left in part due to these departmental changes.
Ventura praised Yanisch's ability to bring together "diverse constituencies." By combining the two departments, Yanisch hopes to connect the unemployed and the under-employed people of the state with good-paying jobs.
Yanisch is a Democrat, while Ventura is a member of the Independence Party of Minnesota.Yanisch, who has been considered a possible contender for statewide office in 2002, is reportedly committed to stay in the job until the end of Ventura's first term.
Yanisch is on the board of the Jeremiah Program, which assists single mothers with education, job training, housing and childcare, and the board of Artspace Projects, which creates affordable live and work spacefor artists. She and her husband Stephen have one daughter and four grandchildren.
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