Message from Chief of Staff

“I grew up in the small rural community of Wilber, Nebraska, where my parents still live today. My dad is a retired Criminal Investigator with the Nebraska State Patrol and now the Mayor of Wilber, and my mom is a Kindergarten teacher in town. Both of them encouraged me to pursue my interests in science from an early age and supported my move to the Twin Cities, MN to attend the UMN where I received my bachelor’s degree in Genetics, Cell Biology and Development.

I was extremely fortunate to begin my career working in Dr. Lee Wattenberg’s lab, the world renowned “Father of Chemoprevention” and I can’t begin to tell you how much I learned from that experience. Over the next few years I discovered I had a real passion for research administration and decided to get my Master’s in Public and Nonprofit Administration. I was fortunate to find administrative leadership positions throughout my career with the Center for Genome Engineering, working with Director Dan Voytas and the Brain Tumor Program, working with Director David Largaespada, before arriving at the Masonic Cancer Center as their Research Development Manager, with Director Douglas Yee. Each step of the way, these directors have provided tremendous mentorship and helped me discover the powerful and innovative ways that research administration can support the larger research mission.

During this time, my family and I had been considering a move further outside the cities and it wasn’t until the Chief of Staff position was posted at The Hormel Institute that we realized how far outside the cities we were willing to go! I had heard a lot of wonderful things about the Institute over the years and after visiting, I was convinced this would be an amazing and unique opportunity to be part of a world-class research institute in the welcoming and thriving community of Austin. My husband Tim and I, along with our two boys (Harrison, 9 and Lincoln, 6) recently bought a home in Austin and we already feel a strong connection to the town and are eager to meet more people as we explore all it has to offer.

I look forward to this next chapter, bringing new, exciting and innovative ideas to support the promising research happening at The Hormel Institute.”