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Home: White Bear Township, Minnesota

Gifts to For the Hill and Beyond:

• $3,500+ annually to the St. Olaf Fund in gifts of stock, with additional matching gifts from their employers. A major portion supports St. Olaf’s women’s and men’s swimming and diving teams.
• St. Olaf Fund Leadership Circle and Loyalty Society members.

“We believe mixing academics and other activities makes for a better college experience and life balance.”

Impact: In addition to supporting St. Olaf’s ongoing operations, their gift underwrites travel and lodging for the Oles’ December training trip and the three-day MIAC Championship Meet to help the athletes best prepare for competition.

Why: “We believe mixing academics and other activities makes for a better college experience and life balance. Swimming, a lifelong sport, was an important part of that balance for us.”

On the Hill: At St. Olaf, both Vic and Susan majored in mathematics with a computer science concentration. A scholar-athlete, Susan was a varsity swimmer, and the first woman to earn All-American honors in any athletic team at St. Olaf. A four-year letter winner, she was twice selected as St. Olaf’s Most Valuable Player in women’s swimming, and is now a member of St. Olaf’s athletic hall of fame. Their daughters Lindsey ’14 and Maddie ’16 were also all-conference and record-setting swimmers for St. Olaf. Vic’s parents are alumni, as are his siblings.

Beyond: Since leaving the Hill both Vic and Susan advanced as software engineers working for leading area firms. Initially Vic managed St. Olaf’s academic computer center, and is now a vice president in Allianz Life’s hedging group. Susan moved into the medical device field and works currently for St. Jude Medical. Both are active community volunteers and avid cyclists. Susan also coaches swimming, and has received consecutive recognition as a Minnesota high school section coach of the year.

Of their time on the Hill: In addition to their academic and extracurricular experiences, both Vic and Susan worked in the St. Olaf academic computer center over a summer. “That gave us an excellent opportunity to apply what we had learned in classes, and to experience the ‘other Northfield’ – the one with almost no students during the summer.”

Why they give: “Once we started we couldn’t stop – St. Olaf prepared us well for many challenges and changes we’ve experienced in our fields of work. Had we been more narrowly trained, many opportunities would have been beyond our reach. Watching our Lindsey and Maddie flourish on the Hill and beyond has been another great reflection of St. Olaf’s value.”