CLT Member Spotlight: Russell Habermann

Russell Habermann is a Community Health Program Manager at Essentia Health, which is a non-profit, integrated health system caring for patients in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and North Dakota. In this role, Russell leads partnerships and programming in response to identified priority community health needs. His geographic focus is on hospital service areas in northeast Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin.

Russell grew up in the Duluth area and attended the University of Minnesota Duluth, where he studied urban planning, geographic information systems (GIS), and economics. He first got involved in community health improvement work as an intern at the Healthy Duluth Area Coalition (formerly a part of Zeitgeist Center for Arts and Community) and eventually provided technical assistance in active living strategies to SHIP coordinators as a planner at the Arrowhead Regional Development Commission (ARDC).

Russell is particularly passionate about community infrastructure that supports a healthy life. He is a fan of cities and towns that nurture the safety, comfort, and entertainment of people walking, and he believes that everyone has a part to play in creating this vibrant environment. Russell joined the CLT to keep engaged with the work of public health colleagues, and he is grateful to be a part of the community health improvement field as it continues to grow and evolve.

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