Strong Towns Staff
President: Charles L. Marohn, Jr. PE AICP 
Charles Marohn - known as "Chuck" to friends and colleagues - is a Professional Engineer (PE) licensed in the State of Minnesota and a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP). He has a Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Minnesota's Institute of Technology and a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute.
Chuck grew up on a small farm in Central Minnesota. The oldest of three sons of two elementary school teachers, he graduated from Brainerd High School in 1991. Chuck joined the Minnesota National Guard on his 17th birthday during his junior year of high school and served for nine years. Besides being passionate about planning and small towns, he loves playing music, is an obsessive reader and is a season ticket holder of the Minnesota Twins.
Chuck and his wife live with their two daughters and two Samoyeds just north of Baxter, Minnesota.
Executive Director/Treasurer: Jon Commers
Jon brings fifteen years of experience analyzing, developing and implementing policy and public finance strategies to his work at Strong Towns. As a consultant to cities and private parties involved in redevelopment – primarily in core urban areas – Jon’s work has been devoted to understanding what distinguishes successful places. Managing the policy and practice of municipal finance is a critical element of Strong Towns, and Jon’s expertise supports the organization’s work in this area.
Jon also writes the Cents of Place blog, a forum for discussion of the financial issues around placemaking, and is a regular contributor to the Star Tribune’s online forum, Your Voices. In addition to his work with Strong Towns, Jon is a member of the Planning Commission for the City of St. Paul, Minnesota. He has served as a Fellow at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute Policy Forum, and as an Adjunct Professor of Economics at the College of Saint Catherine. He has served on many community boards, including current service as a director for the Neighborhood Energy Connection. Jon holds an MBA (University of Saint Thomas, St. Paul, MN) and a BA in History and Political Economy (Carleton College, Northfield, MN). He lives in St. Paul with his family.
Director/Secretary: Ben Oleson, AICP
Ben Oleson has spent his professional career studying and working in land use planning and regulation across the country and throughout Minnesota. His work experiences have included research of social and economic patterns within the country's major metropolitan areas while with a non-profit organization, a zoning administrator with a rural county in central Minnesota, and a private-sector land use planner serving rural cities, townships and counties. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP).
Ben grew up on a 19-acre hobby farm near Duluth, Minnesota and obtained a Bachelor's degree in Social Sciences from St. John's University in Collegeville, where he spent a semester abroad living near Galway, Ireland and backpacking around western and eastern Europe. He went on to study Land Use Planning at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute and earned his Master's degree in 1999. While at the Humphrey Institute, Oleson assisted the Minnesota Lakes Association in the research and development of the Sustainable Lakes Planning Handbook as a model for collaborative management of Minnesota's lakes, rivers and watersheds.
Ben has lived in rural Duluth, suburban Minneapolis and in the core of both Minneapolis and St. Paul. He now resides in Alexandria, MN with his wife and two children. He enjoys spending time with his family and friends, traveling, reading, camping and generally enjoying the Minnesota outdoors. Ben also enjoys a good healthy debate about just about any topic.
Photos taken by the highly recommended Molly Brendmoen, who can be contacted by email for your photo project at mbrendmoen@msn.com.