About Ember:
Chartering Pioneer

Former Minnesota State Senator Ember Reichgott Junge is the author of Minnesota’s 1991 first-in-nation charter school law, which was a winner of the 2000 Innovations in American Government Award from the JFK School of Government at Harvard University. The 18-year legislator served as Senate Assistant Majority Leader before stepping down from senate service in 2000.

In honor of the 20th anniversary of the passage of the first charter legislation, Reichgott Junge wrote the history of the origins of chartering from 1988 through 1992 in her book:  Zero Chance of Passage:  The Pioneering Charter School Story. The book is a candid memoir of her challenging journey of pioneering the first charter school law from idea to national movement. The book won multiple national awards, including 2013 Grand Prize Winner of Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards, and Third Grand Prize Winner for Nonfiction Books in the 2013 Next Generation Indie Book Awards.

Reichgott Junge is an international policy leader and spokesperson for charter public schools, having presented in 35 states, Guam, Canada and India. She consults with K-12 education, chartering, and business entities around the U.S. She is past founding board member of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools and current board vice chair of Charter Schools Development Corporation (CSDC), copublisher of Zero Chance of Passage. She was inducted into the National Charter Schools Hall of Fame in April, 2008, and received the Brian Bennett Education Warrior Award from Democrats for Education Reform in 2012. She served as founding board chair of Level Up Academy, a Minnesota charter school that opened in Fall 2015. She was honored by Business Week Magazine in its 1992 Special Edition “Reinventing America” as one of “Six Local Heroes Making a Difference” in sponsoring one of the “most innovative experiments in the nation.” Sen. Reichgott Junge also sponsored into law the first public school open enrollment initiative in the country (1988), allowing students to attend public schools of choice anywhere in Minnesota.

As an attorney and president of Ember Communications, Reichgott Junge is also a national speaker and consultant in leadership, messaging, strategic communications and governance support for leaders in business, nonprofit and government sectors. In addition to public service, she draws on over 40 years of experience in business and nonprofit law, five years as nonprofit executive for a large human services organization, 20 years of media messaging and television political analysis, and lifetime of board service, including Citizens Independent Bank, Twin Cities United Way, and Minneapolis Chapter of the American Red Cross.

Ember received her BA from St. Olaf College, JD from Duke University Law School, and MBA from University of St. Thomas. She is an avid ballroom dancer and co-founder of the nonprofit Heart of Dance which brings Dancing Classroom of Mad Hot Ballroom fame to Minnesota 5th and 8th graders. She most enjoys spending time with her husband, Michael Junge.