Ali earned her Bachelor’s degree from Gustavus Adolphus College and a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology from the University of St. Thomas. With more than two decades of experience in community health, she has served in a wide range of roles—from mental health provider and crisis counselor to prevention specialist, coalition director, and university professor.

Ali began her career providing mental health support and crisis intervention for college students, often during their most vulnerable moments. These late-night calls sparked deeper questions for her—not just about how to respond, but about what might be done upstream to prevent such crises in the first place. That curiosity led her into the world of community prevention, where she served as a chemical health coordinator and prevention specialist across several Minnesota communities.

Today, Ali serves as Director of The Orono Coalition and teaches at Metro State University, where her course examines the neuropsychology of addiction, how both adverse and positive childhood experiences shape lifelong health outcomes, and how prevention can transform communities. Her life’s work is rooted in cultivating environments and relationships where all people can flourish, with a deep commitment to well-being, belonging, and resilience.

As a former client of The Montana Institute, Ali helped lead the development of a Positive Community Norms campaign that successfully reshaped perceptions of youth substance use in her local high school. Drawing on the Science of the Positive and the Cycle of Transformation, she continues to integrate these frameworks into her leadership and teaching—inviting others to transform their communities through a lens of hope, strength, and possibility.

Ali is most proud of her family life with her husband, Casey, and their four children. They live in the suburbs of Minneapolis and together, they’re on a mission to visit every U.S. national park. Ali is a life-long learner, she finds joy in adventure, time in nature, and the everyday moments that connect people to one another and to the world around them. On the weekends, you will find her cheering on her family at triathlons, soccer games, basketball tournaments and lacrosse matches, always with an iced latte in hand.