Staff

Program staff

Reginaldo (Regi) Haslett-Marroquin – Director, Rural Enterprise Center
Steven Renderos - Media Justice Organizer

Organizational staff

Kat Vann – Director, Communications & Development

Program staff

Reginaldo (Regi) Haslett-Marroquin
Director, Rural Enterprise Center

Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin began working on economic development projects with indigenous Guatemalan communities in 1988, and has served as a consultant for the United Nations Development Program’s Bureau for Latin America and advisor to the World Council of Indigenous Peoples. He founded the Fair Trade Federation and created Peace Coffee, a successful fair-trade coffee company and then went on to work with woodland owners in the Midwest and Guatemala where he organized several forestry stewardship certified cooperative forestry businesses. Haslett-Marroquin was recognized for his work in 1996 when he was named one of the Twin Cities International Citizens of the Year. He received the 2008 Service to Mankind Award from the Northfield and College City, MN Sertoma Clubs, as well as their district award.

A Guatemalan native, Haslett-Marroquin received his agronomy degree from the Central National School of Agriculture and studied at the Universidad de San Carlos in Guatemala.

Steven Renderos
Media Justice Organizer

Steven Renderos leads Main Street Project's media justice and community building efforts, including the Justice 2.0 training project and our collaborative work with the nationwide Media Action Grassroots Network (MAG-Net). He brings more than five years of community organizing and training experience, and more than eight years of filmmaking and media production experience to our organization.

Prior to joining Main Street Project, Renderos served as Project Coordinator of the Minnesotano Media Empowerment Project, an initiative of the Department of Chicano Studies at the University of Minnesota focused on improving the quality and quantity of media coverage and representation of Latinos in Minnesota. He currently serves on the boards of Headwaters Foundation for Justice, Organizing Apprenticeship Project, Alliance for Metropolitan Stability and La Asamblea de Derechos Civiles.

Kat Vann
Director, Communications & Development

Kat Vann joined Main Street Project in 2008 as director of communications and development. Vann is new to nonprofit work, but not to the power of communications in building relationships and advancing change. She has more than 25 years of communications experience, primarily in the health care industry and including strategic communications planning and implementation. She's pleased to focus her efforts on helping rural residents make their voices heard.