Saroeun Earm
Director, Project Vanguard
With a deep commitment to affect transformational change that results in racial equity and inclusion, Saroeun Earm has over 15 years of leadership in the philanthropic, nonprofit, and private sectors with extensive experience in economic development, community engagement, and project and business management.
In her current role, Saroeun oversees the Vanguard Accelerator project and investment fund fueled by a multi-sector collaboration between the Center, Founders First and NEOO Partners, Inc. to maximize wealth-building opportunities for Black and Latina women business owners in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region. Project Vanguard will provide support for an accelerator pathway for business growth and revenue generation through coaching, access to capital and an ecosystem of affirming partnerships. She will nurture and facilitate relationships with business owners, developers, corporate and government leaders and investors to build a more racially and gender inclusive business ecosystem.
Most recently, as an Inclusive Growth Consultant with the Center, Saroeun worked directly with local, regional, and state government agencies to accelerate racial equity and regional inclusive economic growth. She equips public-sector clients with the knowledge, tools and resources needed to close racial wealth gaps and accelerate inclusive economic competitiveness through racially equitable workforce, land-use, economic development, housing, transportation, and infrastructure policies and investments. She also assists with the Center’s efforts to create broad, measurable shared accountability among public local, regional, and statewide leaders and policy makers.
Prior to the Center, Saroeun was a Program Officer at Greater Twin Cities United Way. While there, she led the redesign of the agency’s household and food security portfolio to align with its intentional shift to disrupt inequity and include the intersections of race, economic opportunity, and education.
Previous positions include the Bush Foundation where she led program evaluation strategy, processes, and data analysis, and managed multiple subcontractors with a $2 million portfolio.
She served as an advisor to St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter’s team in authoring the Financial Empowerment Blueprint for the City of Saint Paul. As the Blueprint’s lead writer and researcher, she ensured that it was informed by and rooted in community engagement and expertise around financial empowerment.
As a member of the first cohort at Nexus Community Partners, Saroeun applied her knowledge and skills in cooperative development and served as a thought leader on medium-size business conversion to employee ownership as a pathway to equitable wealth building.
She has also worked with national public policy and advocacy nonprofit organizations, including the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center and National CAPACD where she gained extensive knowledge and skills in community organizing, leadership development, and legislative processes to address the challenges in marginalized communities at the city, state, and federal levels.
Currently, Saroeun serves on the board of Aeon, an organization that works on making homes affordable. She holds a Master’s in International Relations and Economics from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and a BA in sociology from St. Olaf College.