Lee Friedman is our chief financial and operating officer. In this position, Friedman oversees the business office; information technology; human resources; and the organization’s Early Childhood Education, Girls and Youth and Health and Wellness programs.

Friedman comes to YWCA Minneapolis from Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Minneapolis, where he has served as chief operating officer since 2015. In his role, he led the $13 million human services agency through intense change and growth, including several waves of retirements and succession planning, significant funding shifts and two agency strategic plans. He led institutional fundraising and project managed the design, planning, and construction of a $10 million new building project.

Prior to serving nearly 10 years at Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Minneapolis, Friedman was the business and outreach director and then associate director at Wilderness Inquiry, a nonprofit that provides inclusive outdoor adventures to share the benefits of nature with people who face structural or systemic barriers to the use of public lands and waters. Over the course of his seven-year tenure there, Friedman helped to increase revenue by 60% and double the number of people served. Friedman started his career at the law firm Briggs and Morgan (now part of Taft).

Friedman graduated from Tufts University with a bachelor of arts in international relations and French and received his Juris Doctor from University of Minnesota Law School. He was a policy fellow at University of Minnesota Humphrey School of Public Affairs from 2019 to 2020. Friedman has served on multiple boards of directors from the Golden Valley Little League to Appetite for Change.