Lars Leafblad

Lars Leafblad is a Principal with KeyStone Search. He joined KeyStone in 2007 after serving as Director of Development for the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. He began his career in a leadership development program with GE Capital and subsequently spent two years helping launch Four51.com, a high-tech start-up. He also served as interim assistant director of alumni and parent relations at St. Olaf College and spent two summers in college competing in national BBQ competitions as a member of the Famous Dave's of America National Touring BBQ Team.

He is also the founder of Pollen, a digital community comprised of 4,000+ civic-minded connectors from several hundred different companies, start-ups, non-profits, foundations and public agencies who share ideas, career and civic engagement opportunities and peer-to-peer recognition to create positive impact and personal and professional growth for its members.

In 2007 Lars was recognized with a "40 Under Forty" award from The Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal and was called "the most networked man in the Twin Cities" by Minnesota Business magazine in December 2010. He was selected as a 2008-09 HHH Policy Fellow at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute and serves on the board of CaringBridge.org and the advisory board of the Public and Nonprofit Leadership Center at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs. He is a former advisory board member of The Salvation Army – Twin Cities.

Lars earned a BA in Economics from St. Olaf College, and his MBA with a concentration in Strategic Management from the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management. He makes his home in Roseville with his wife Maren and their three children. In his free time, he enjoys time with family, creative writing, reading, poker, trying to become slightly less unhandy and keeping his BBQ skills honed.