Mindy is a former newspaper editor who has lived in Sandpoint since 2001. She and her husband, Bill Berg, have three sons and six grandchildren. Mindy retired in 2001 after nearly 20 years at the Seattle Times, including 12 years as editorial page editor and eight years as city editor. Earlier in her career she worked in Idaho, including as managing editor of the Lewiston Morning Tribune and for the Idaho Statesman and Idaho Public Television.

Mindy and Bill cofounded Panhandle Alliance for Education in 2002 as a means of building independent support for local public schools. She remains an active member of the Panhandle Alliance for Education board. She has been a trustee of the Lake Pend Oreille School District since 2004, and has served on the board of the Inland Northwest Community Foundation and the Idaho Humanities Council. She is currently chair of the board of trustees of her alma mater, Pacific University, in Forest Grove, Oregon.

Mindy dates her passion for public education back to the days when her father served on the local school board and school issues were dinner table conversation. Her bottom line about public schools: “You can’t have a quality community unless you have quality schools. And you won’t have quality schools unless you engage the larger community in the support of schools.”