After almost eight years at its helm, Jonathan Weinhagen abruptly resigned in June as president and chief executive officer of the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce following an internal investigation into its finances. The chamber, which retained a law firm to review the numbers, has projected it will suffer a $500,000 deficit this year and has laid off five workers in response.

Jonathan Weinhagen, as a candidate for Mounds View School Board in the November 2023 election. (Courtesy of the candidate)

The Minneapolis Regional Chamber has 2,300 members throughout the 13-county metro area.

In April, a special committee of the chamber board “commenced a thorough investigation into the organization’s financial governance and controls,” according to a statement released Aug. 15 by board chair Darrel German and interim president John Stanoch.

The chamber hired the law firm Jones Day to lead an independent review, which was presented to the special committee in June. Weinhagen then immediately resigned.

Reviews of finances ongoing

Five staff members were let go as part of efforts to control spending, generate revenue and better manage finances.

“This was a difficult decision and driven solely by our immediate need to address the deficit,” reads the statement. “The reviews of the MRC’s finances and controls remain ongoing.”

Stanoch, a former Hennepin County District Court judge and deputy state attorney general, is a former senior executive with Qwest Communications and the current board chair of the Medica Foundation. He was appointed the chamber’s interim CEO around the last week of June as the dues-based organization announced it had begun its search for its next top leader.

Stanoch, who had previously held the interim CEO role before Weinhagen’s arrival, is also a former interim president of the Science Museum of Minnesota in St. Paul and president and CEO of Ronald McDonald House.

The CEO search is being led by Breanna Schafer, vice president of government relations with Target. Inquiries to the Minneapolis Chamber on Monday were referred to a public relations spokesperson with Goff Public, who said German and Stanoch would not be conducting media interviews at this time and would limit their comments to their written statement from last week.

Weinhagen

Efforts to reach Weinhagen for comment on Monday were not successful.

Weinhagen holds degrees from Bethel University and the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs. He worked at the St. Paul Area Regional Chamber of Commerce for roughly six and a half years, including more than two years as vice president, before departing in October 2016 to become president and CEO of the Minneapolis Chamber.

Weinhagen has served as an elected member of the Mounds View Public Schools school board since June 2014, according to his resume on the professional networking website LinkedIn, and he previously spent five years on the board of the Mounds View Schools Education Foundation. His school board term ends in January 2028. He also served for five years on the Shoreview Economic Development Commission.

He is a former chair of the Twin Cities advisory board for the State Quality Council, which seeks to improve the quality of services for the disabled, and a former co-chair of the Friends of PACER advisory board, which is affiliated with the PACER Center, which offers educational supports to disabled children.

He is also a former sales and marketing manager with the Weinhagen Tire Company.

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