SPUT Announces the Addition of Gunnar Liden as Executive Director 

The Board of St Paul Urban Tennis is thrilled to announce that Gunnar Liden will join the organization as the new Executive Director, effective April 10, 2023.  

St Paul Urban Tennis (SPUT) Board of Directors Chair, Collyn Iblings stated, “We are thrilled to have Gunnar join SPUT. His experience and proven leadership will help to further build upon our strong foundation. He brings energy and a passion to serve that will help us achieve our mission of strengthening our community by educating and empowering youth to realize their full potential.”

Gunnar has a long history in youth development, including 17 years as Executive Director of Youth Farm where he helped to create impactful programs for social change, environmental justice, community engagement, and leadership development. As a graduate of the University of Minnesota, board member of local community organizations, public speaker, published author, and youth sports coach, Gunnar has collected a wealth of experience and knowledge in youth development in the Twin Cities. We are excited to see him bring this same level of dedication and innovation to SPUT. 

“I am so excited to be the next Executive Director of SPUT, this really is my dream role!” said Gunnar. “I have admired SPUT for a long time for its amazing youth development work, using tennis as an entry point to build great youth leaders across Saint Paul. I cannot wait to get started to work with the staff, board and youth leaders to build and grow the potential of the organization.”

Gunnar’s leadership will help us to continue to grow and expand our youth programs, further strengthening the community through tennis. We are committed to developing youth leaders, and with Gunnar at the helm, SPUT is confident that we will be able to make an even greater impact in the years to come. 

Please join us in welcoming Gunnar to the SPUT family! We can’t wait to see all the great things that we will achieve together.