Faith Connors and Highline Recommendation

I am pleased to give a highly deserved recommendation for Faith Connors and her new business Highline.

Faith Connors is very personable, intelligent, and is highly skilled in listening, planning, organizing, scheduling, documenting, writing, and editing. She is capable of meeting in person, and very adept in conducting business virtually. Nothing seems to fluster her.

I first met Faith in late 2019 when she was selected by the Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MN DNR) for a two-year term on the Fishery Oversight Committee (FOC), a subcommittee of the full Game and Fish Fund Citizen Oversight Committee (aka Budget Oversight Committee or BOC). I was the Chair of the FOC and had to take on the responsibilities of the BOC as Covid disrupted personal lives, presentations, and meetings with committee members, and MN DNR staff. Faith took on a role liken to an Administrative Assistant.

Even with the disruption of the pandemic, a report was required by law which would never have been done without Faith’s abilities to take on responsibilities even as a first-time committee member.

I feel it important to define the complexity of the work and the intricate role Faith played.

The Fisheries Oversight Committee and the Wildlife Oversight Committee review how the DNR spent approximately $100 million from the Game and Fish Fund during the previous fiscal year. The Budgetary Oversight Committee, an umbrella committee composed of select members from the FOC and Wildlife Oversight Committee (WOC), combines those reviews to produce an annual report and spending recommendations. To complete the report the committees must review various detailed state and federal revenue sources, and how the MN DNR applies funds to all their project and administrative expenditures. This is done by reviewing the MN DNR’s various departments programs, budgets, and expenditures through presentations and review of complex spreadsheets. From there a consensus of the committees develop budget and policy recommendations for the MN DR, Minnesota State Legislature, and citizens of Minnesota.

Faith immediately took on additional duties and showed her abilities to understand the various projects and administrative programs and policies; and how complex revenue and expenditure spreadsheets were interrelated. She scheduled online meetings and helped developed agendas. Faith as a member of the team also had to develop her own reports on specific DNR programs while taking on the administrative duties. As the various oversight committees worked on their reports Faith skillfully edited them so meanings were not lost. She also was part of than editing team who developed the final report to the legislature and citizens of Minnesota.

Most importantly to me, she kept me on task.

Sincerely,

Craig Pagel
Past Chair of the Fisheries Oversight Committee
Retired President of the Iron Mining Association of Minnesota