Personal & Mission Statement
My human resources executive experience and my GAHF Board contributions over the past two years, have demonstrated the leadership, creativity and passion needed to achieve goals. As we approach our 50th Anniversary in 2026/2027 and to help ensure GAHF’s continued relevance, we need to create a Strategic Plan. To help carry out that Plan, we will need to establish an Endowment Fund. I would be honored to serve as your President.
My human resources executive experience and my Board contributions over the past two years, have demonstrated leadership, creativity and passion to achieve goals.
In 2019, I retired from Penn Medicine Princeton Health as the Vice President of Human Resources. My work included significant change management initiatives including the revision of the health system’s mission/vision/values. I also focused on organizational excellence by becoming a Baldrige Examiner. In December 2021, I joined the GAHF Board of Directors and was asked to serve as 2nd Vice President. During my two years on the GAHF Board, I led the rewrite of the Bylaws and was on the Membership Committee where we enhanced the benefits of each level of membership. My passion stems from being a proud first generation German-American whose parents immigrated from Tilsit, Ostpreussen and Falkenburg, Pommern.
As we approach our 50th Anniversary in 2026/2027, we need to create a Strategic Plan with all stakeholders, including members, to help ensure GAHF’s continued relevance. We will also need to figure out how best to blend our anniversary year with our nation’s 250th anniversary which occurs in the preceding year. This should be a period where we showcase who GAHF is and the contributions of German-Americans.
There is much that can be said about the need for a Strategic Plan. When GAHF was founded almost 50 years ago much of the focus was on preserving our German heritage which remains as the core of our mission. At that time, it was also the hope of the founders to include other Germanic countries such as Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. We have not made much progress in this area but we do have Board colleagues from Austria. In addition, there is much that GAHF can influence today, but we cannot do it all ourselves. I believe we need to identify strong partners. We also need to visit the topics of transatlantic relations, education exchanges, research, among other ideas. GAHF over the past few years has solidified its relationship with the German Embassy and they have become a wonderful partner. These are just some initial thoughts and I would look forward to hearing from others during the strategic planning process which should begin in the spring of 2024.
To help carry out that Strategic Plan, we will need to establish an Endowment Fund. Endowments help provide finances to ensure the vision and mission of GAHF continue for generations to come. Earlier this year, I led a discussion at one of our Board meetings about the What, Why and How of Endowments. At that time, the Board approved that a committee move forward with the creation of an Endowment Policy (what will restricted funds be used for) and then an Endowment Investment Policy (how would funds be invested and withdrawn). The Strategic Plan will help to guide the development of the Endowment Policy.
I would be honored to serve as your President alongside the rest of the Board of Directors and with the assistance of our members and partner organizations.