Members and Staff

The current Board members and staff are listed below. Communications to Board Members should be sent to:

Board on Judicial Standards
1270 Northland Drive, Suite 160
Mendota Heights, MN  55120

       Board Members 
  

Judge Shereen M. Askalani
2020 – 2027

Vice Chair. Judge of District Court (Fourth District). Appointed to bench in 2016. Assistant Ramsey County Attorney from 2002 to 2016. Appointed to the Board on Judicial standards in 2020.
 

Judge Stephanie L. Beckman         

2025 – 2030

 

Chief Judge of District Court (Eighth District). Appointed to the Board on Judicial Standards in 2025. Appointed to the bench in 2012. Assistant Chief Judge of the Eighth Judicial District 2018-2021. Chief Judge of the Eighth Judicial District 2021-2026. Meeker County Attorney 2005-2012.               

Judge Jeanne M. Cochran           2025 - 2029

Judge of the Court of Appeals. Appointed in 2018. Elected in 2020. Administrative Law Judge from 2012-2018. Assistant Attorney General from 2000-2012. From 1992-2000, worked at the Minnesota House of Representatives in a non-partisan role, in private practice, and for a public-interest, nonprofit law firm.

Michael Friedman
2026 – 2030
 		Public member.  Previously served on the Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board, the 4th District Ethics Committee, and the Minneapolis Ethical Practices Board. He is the former Executive Director of the Legal Rights Center. 
 
Theresa M. Harris
2022 – 2030
 

Executive Committee Member. Attorney member.  In-house counsel at a corporation providing legal advice regarding complex business contracts, product labeling and advertising claims, marketing-related regulations, and legal compliance.   

Judge Theresa M. Neo
2020 – 2028		Judge of District Court (Sixth District). Appointed in 2014. Assistant Duluth City Attorney 2010-2014. Staff Attorney Indian Legal Assistance Program 2005-2010, Attorney Safe Haven Shelter 2002-2005.
 
Timothy O'Brien
2019 – 2027
 

Attorney member. Retired partner, Faegre Baker Daniels LLP. Served as a member of the Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board from 1997-2003, as a member of the Minnesota Client Security Board from 2007-2013, and as a member of the Minnesota Commission on Judicial Selection from 2011-2018.     

Scott Sakaguchi
2025 – 2029
 		Chair. Public member. Appointed in 2021. He was trained as a cardiologist and, in 2019, retired from practice as a Professor of Medicine at the University of Minnesota.
 

 
Nhia Vang
2019 – 2027
 		Public member.  Ms. Vang works for the City of Saint Paul and has more than 20 years' experience in public service in the areas of administration, budget, and policy.
 
        Staff 
  
Sara P. BoeshansExecutive Secretary.  Admitted to practice in 2007. Ms. Boeshans clerked for Judge Marybeth Dorn, Second Judicial District, after which she was employed as an Assistant Attorney General in the public safety and health licensing divisions of the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office. She served as the Board on Judicial Standards' Staff Attorney for eight years.
 
Amy J. IhlanStaff Attorney.  Ms. Ihlan has both a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a Ph.D in Philosophy from the University of Minnesota, with a specialty in ethics.  She clerked for the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, and for former Minnesota Court of Appeals Judge Marianne Short.  She brings years of experience as a practicing attorney and college professor to her new position as staff attorney for the Board on Judicial Standards. 

 

Mary Pat Maher

 

Executive Assistant.  Prior to working for the Board, Ms. Maher served as Executive Director of Project Remand - Ramsey County Pretrial Services for 26 years where she colloborated with her justice partners to improve the pretrial justice system in Ramsey County and statewide.