Meet the 2026 Ubuntu Leadership Award Winners

The Minnesota Council on Foundations (MCF) is proud to announce the six recipients of the 2026 Ubuntu Leadership Award. It is an honor celebrating leaders and organizations who embody the African philosophy of ubuntu: I am (only) because you are and who advance equity, belonging, diversity, and inclusion — within and across — our philanthropic community. This year’s honorees reflect our 2026 theme, Rooted and Rising, leaders whose work is grounded in community and whose courage lifts us all.

Individual Honorees:

• Repa Mekha, President & CEO, Nexus Community Partners
• Karyn Sciortino Johnson, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Manager, McKnight Foundation
• Ted Chen, Vice President for Equity, Culture, and Learning, Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies

Organizational Honorees:

• Blandin Foundation
• Women’s Foundation of Minnesota
• Headwaters Foundation for Justice

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What makes these six honorees extraordinary is not simply what they have accomplished. It is as much about who they are. How they lead. With humility, with courage, and with a deep belief that we are community-made. Their leadership reflects the very best of what ubuntu asks of us: to show up for one another as whole humans and to build cultures where everyone belongs, especially when it is hardest to do so. We are better because they are among us.

— AWALE (WALLY) OSMAN, Director of Organizational Learning and Leadership Development for Equity and Belonging, Minnesota Council on Foundations

Individual Honorees

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Repa Mekha

I embrace Ubuntu as a guiding principle that holds me responsible for how I live life. This award serves as a reminder that the gifts that are channeled through me, have always belonged to more than me. I receive it with a deep sense of collective courage, pride, and dignity. I am because we are! May the Ancestors be pleased. 

— REPA MEKHA, President & CEO, Nexus Community Partners

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Karyn Scortino Johnson

To receive this award is deeply humbling. I see it as a celebration of the brilliance and persistence of Black, Indigenous, Asian American, Latiné, and LGBTQIA2S+ leaders — the mentors and colleagues who have trusted me to be honest, dream bigger, and build new ways together. This award belongs as much to them as it does to me — and it is an invitation to persist, to keep listening deeply, sharing power, and remaining courageous so more of us can show up with authenticity. I am because we are.

— KARYN SCIORTINO JOHNSON, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Manager, McKnight Foundation

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Ted Chen

The spirit of ubuntu – I am because we are – serves as a continuous reminder that my learning, growth, and development occurs through my relationship with others. These relationships are cultivated when I remain curious, ask questions, and listen deeply. It only takes one trusted and meaningful relationship to move from me to we – an important seed for influence and change.

— TED CHEN, Vice President for Equity, Culture, and Learning, Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies

Organizational Honorees

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Blandin Foundation

Represented by Tuleah S. Palmer, President & CEO

Ubuntu, to us, is a rural way of thriving, where relationships are the roots that hold us steady as seasons change. Belonging is not a statement but a practice, shaped by persistence, humility, and the courage to face hard truths and grow through them. ‘I am because we are.’ We do not endure alone. It lives in how we invest in one another, how we listen, how we share power, and how we make space for many voices to shape what comes next — returning to one another, again and again, as the work evolves. 

We stand on the shoulders of those who came before us, tending the fire they lit — not just to keep it alive, but to strengthen its light so those who come next can gather, lead, and carry it forward.

— TULEAH S. PALMER, President & CEO, Blandin Foundation

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Women's Foundation of Minnesota

Represented by Gloria Perez, President & CEO

For the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota, the path to achieving gender and racial justice is grounded in the power of community wisdom. Ubuntu – ‘I am because we are’ – shows us that community is our strength. Our values of hope, generosity, courage, inclusion, and belonging push us to grow, learn, and believe that transformation is not only possible, but it is on the way.

— GLORIA PEREZ, President & CEO, Women’s Foundation of Minnesota

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Headwaters Foundation for Justice

Represented by Migdalia Loyola Meléndez and Bilal Alkatout, Co-Executive Directors

Our community knows best, and our people need to lead the way to collective liberation. We know that fostering equity and justice requires a practice of change, not charity; healing rather than evasion; and celebrating difference, not minimizing it.

— MIGDALIA LOYOLA MELÉNDEZ & BILAL ALKATOUT, Co-Executive Directors, Headwaters Foundation for Justice

Award Ceremony & Ubuntu Leadership Summit

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The 2026 Ubuntu Leadership Award winners will be honored at the inaugural Ubuntu Leadership Summit on July 23–24, 2026, at Lake Superior College, 2101 Trinity Rd, Duluth, MN 55811. This first-of-its-kind, two-day immersive convening, centered on the theme Rooted and Rising, is designed to connect, inspire, and cultivate a culture of respect, learning, and belonging within our philanthropic community.

The award celebration will take place on Day 2 (July 24) from 11:00 a.m. to noon, right before lunch.

Learn more about the Summit here

About Ubuntu

Ubuntu is an ancient Southern African philosophy about how to live life well, together. The concept is found in almost all African Bantu languages, rooted in the word “bantu”—meaning “people.”

It is best captured by the proverb “Umuntu, ngumuntu, ngabantu”—a person is a person through other persons. The fundamental meaning: everything we learn and experience in the world comes through our relationships with other people. We are called to examine our actions not just for what they achieve for us, but for how they impact others.

What unites all these meanings is a profound truth: individuals are nothing without other human beings. Ubuntu tells us we are bound together by our shared humanity. It encompasses everyone, regardless of race, creed, or color. It embraces our differences and celebrates them. Ubuntu is not simply a way of behaving—it is a way of being.

About the Ubuntu Leadership Award

The Ubuntu Leadership Award honors those who have made meaningful contributions to the POC and LGBTQ+ Community of Practice and organizations with a track record of advancing equity, belonging, diversity, and inclusion.

Honorees are selected based on four core criteria:

• Ubuntu in Practice — A leadership style rooted in community, connection, and shared humanity
• Community Contribution — Meaningful and active engagement with the POC and LGBTQ+ Community of Practice
• Track Record of Impact — A history of cultivating leadership among BIPOC and LGBTQ+ professionals
• Advancement of EBDI — Demonstrable impact on equity, belonging, diversity, and inclusion

About the Minnesota Council on Foundations

The Minnesota Council on Foundations (MCF) is a vibrant philanthropic community connecting, strengthening and mobilizing the power of philanthropy to advance prosperity and equity. MCF connects collaborative groups through peer learning and networks, leadership development, and partnerships; mobilizes the sector through government relations, public policy, intermediary work, and pooled funds; and strengthens individuals through events and training, research and publications, tools, and resources.