Mary LaGarde

Mary LaGarde is the executive director of the Minneapolis American Indian Center and CEO of the Center’s Boys and Girls Club. She was selected to lead the organization in June 2013.

LaGarde has more than 30 years of nonprofit experience in program services, including management and development. In 1994, she established a therapeutic preschool for American Indian children at the Little Earth of United Tribes housing development in Minneapolis. In 1999, she managed the opening of the Little Earth Neighborhood Early Learning Center. LaGarde has since developed numerous programs for the American Indian community in Minneapolis.

LaGarde received the DreamMaker Award from the Ann Bancroft Foundation in 2008, was honored at the University of Minnesota’s American Indian Student Cultural Center’s Honoring American Indian Women Luncheon in 2014, was named a Local Public Health Hero by the City of Minneapolis Health Department in 2016, and received the Critical Collaborator Award from the Environmental Institute in 2024. She received her bachelor’s degree in sociology and American racial and multicultural studies from St. Olaf College and is a member of the White Earth Nation.