Six new members with strong St. Thomas connections (five alumni and one parent) joined the University of St. Thomas Board of Trustees last month.

The new trustees are: Katharine A. Groethe; Sister Mary Haddad ’07 MBA, RSM; James P. Kolar ’85; Nancy Peterson ’85, ’04 MBA; Debbra L. Schoneman ’96 MBA; and Carol Frey Wolfe ’83.

“These six new trustees are very involved not only in the St. Thomas community, but in their broader communities as well,” President Julie Sullivan said. “They understand the importance of our university and higher education overall in advancing the common good at this crucial time in our society. We are honored to have their expertise on our board.”

About the new trustees

Katharine A. Groethe

Groethe is owner and CEO of Katharine’s Garden, LLC, a U.S. wine importer and distributor of Korta Katarina wines from Croatia. Her parents, Lee and Penny Anderson, established the winery in the late 1990s. Today Korta Katarina operates a state-of-the-art winery, tasting room and wine bar, and a boutique hotel, Villa Korta Katarina, in Orebić, Croatia, on the south Adriatic coast.

Groethe earned a bachelor’s degree in art history from Pine Manor College in Brookline, Massachusetts. Before her involvement with Korta Katarina, she served for 15 years as vice president of marketing for her family’s business, APi Group Inc.

Groethe serves on the boards of the Breck School and the Lee R. Anderson Family Foundation and previously served on the boards of Pine Manor College, Episcopal Community Services and the Minnesota Orchestra.

Her son, Griffin, graduated from St. Thomas this year; daughter Katharine (“Penny”) will be a sophomore at St. Thomas this fall.

https://news.stthomas.edu/six-new-members-join-board-of-trustees/