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Board of Directors

Don Frankenfeld, Vice Chair and Secretary, lives in Rapid City, SD. A Republican, Don served as a state senator and chaired the senate tax committee. In 1990 he was the Republican candidate for South Dakota's single Congressional seat, losing to a now-Senator Tim Johnson. As a Bush Foundation leadership fellow, he earned an MPA at Harvard's JFK School of Government. Don often testifies in court as a forensic economicst and financial expert. He testified nearly one hundred times on behalf of claimants to the Federal September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. His testimonial appearances on behalf of a gay survivor in California and a lesbian survivor in Missouri were personally transformational, and led him to become an advocate for gay marriage rights.

Kay Jorgensen, Spearfish, SD, is involved in numerous business activities and is Owner and Chief Executive Officer of KSJ Enterprises, LLC, providing marketing and development services since 2006. She was Former Owner and Chief Executive Officer of Jorgensen-Thompson Creative Broadcast Services, Inc., a radio broadcast services company, from 1997 to 2005. She previously served in the South Dakota State Legislature and on various state and local boards and commissions. She also serves on the board of directors of Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Dakota.

Karen Mudd, lives in Washington state, with her life partner. An independent non profit consultant, she has over 25 years of experience in areas of non profit marketing and communications, legislative advocacy, philanthropy, and organizational capacity building. Karen is a founding board member of the Rainbow Endowment, a grant-making body that has distributed over $1.5 million to national LGBT projects since its inception. She earned a Master's Degree in Women & Public Policy from George Washington University and a BA from Webster University in St. Louis. Prior to launching her consulting business in 2006, Karen served as director of development for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America in Philadelphia. Currently, Mudd is directing a grant-funded project of the EqSD Institute, securing nondiscrimination policies among South Dakota businesses and municipalities. Karen is the Chair of EqSD.

Lawrence Novotny, Chair, lives in Brookings, SD where he works as a quality assurance chemist with South Dakota State University. Besides having a long history of involvement in South Dakota's environmental and social justice movements, Lawrence has also been involved in various former & current LGBT organizations. He is also secretary-treasurer of SD Resources Coalition, treasurer of Brookings County Democrats and a regular writer for the Gayzette. The Brookings Human Rights Committee presented the Dorothy and Eugene T. Butler, Jr. Human Rights Award to Lawrence in 2007 as someone who has shown outstanding commitment to the cause of Human Rights. Lawrence is the Vice Chair of EqSD.

Gary Snow resides in Pierre, SD where he owns Gary Snow & Associates, Inc. an environmental consulting and contracting company serving North and South Dakota. He currently serves on the PAC committee for NARAL - Pro Choice South Dakota and was a board member of the Campaign for Healthy Families during the 2006 effort to overturn the South Dakota abortion ban. Gary was a member of the Pierre School Board, Missouri Shores Domestic Violence Shelter board of directors and has been an on-call chaplain at a local hospital for the past 25 years. He has testified at several South Dakota legislative hearings on various social issues over the past three decades and was a registered lobbyist in the early 1990s.

Sharon Ludwick Warner, Treasurer, lives in Rapid City, SD. Sharon currently serves and has served on the boards of numerous local, regional and statewide public charities. She has extensive experience in grant making and administration.