Bishop Andrew Cozzens

Auxiliary Bishop of Saint Paul & Minneapolis

We want to help schools strengthen their Catholic mission of formation of the whole student.

Gail Dorn

President

Gail Dorn is the youngest of 12 children, and her 6 brothers and 5 sisters think highly of her, or at least they say so in public. Her first job, at 12 years old, was working off tuition at her local Catholic grade school. She and her husband are proud graduates of 16 years of Catholic education, and they have five children.

Gail spent her entire career working for Target and served as company spokesperson, Target Foundation director and marketing and PR warrior. She started at Target when they were a small Midwestern retailer, before they became Tar-chaaaay.

Gail loves Catholic Education and wants Catholic schools to grow in excellence and enrollment here in the Twin Cities and around the country. When she grows up, she wants to be a school librarian.

Steve Hoeppner

Vice President, Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation

We want to help all of our schools so more families can experience a Catholic-school education.

Fr. Kevin Finnegan

Pastor at Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church

We want to build upon the legacy of Catholic schools so that they can help students grow a deep sense of faith for generations to come.

Kathy Schneeman

Catholic Author and Community Volunteer

We want to nourish future leaders who are respectful and crave knowing, loving and serving God.

Brian Wenger

Former Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer of Optum, Inc.

We want to prepare students with a world-class education so that they thrive in their life’s work.

Lisa Anderson

Community Volunteer

We want to bring the high caliber education that is a Catholic education to more children.

Michael Cole

Global Business Educator for L’Oreal

We want to ensure the best educational opportunities for our students.

Steven Ryan

President and Managing Partner at Briggs and Morgan

We want to make available to children throughout the Twin Cities the unique combination of faith, virtue and knowledge that Catholic schools can offer.

Melissa Hamilton

Communications Manager

Melissa joined CSCOE in 2017, and thrives on the entrepreneural, driven, excellence-focused atmosphere of the organization. She spends her days dreaming up ways for CSCOE to win social media (in addition to editing the CSCOE Magazine, creating print pieces, updating websites, poring over analytics, helping with events, coordinating PR…). Melissa will tell you that she has the most interesting role at CSCOE, because she gets to work in every aspect of the organization.

Melissa is a proud graduate of the University of St. Thomas, and a double major in Catholic Studies and Philosophy. She is currently working on her doctorate in “How-to-raise-two-kids-under-two-while-maintaining-one’s-sanity-and-working.” We’ll see how that goes.

In her non-existent spare time, Melissa would like to go salsa dancing, hike the State Parks, or volunteer at her parish, the Basilica of St. Mary. Instead, she and her husband Ryan spend their free time making yet another fix to their 100+ year old home or taking family outings to Minnesota United soccer games.

Robert Behr

Finance Guru

CSCOE’s chief bean counter, grant writer, office designer and furniture procurer is a proud graduate of St. Peter’s Catholic grade school in Richfield (now part of Blessed Trinity). Finance and accounting degrees from the University of Notre Dame were followed by a Northeastern MBA and a stint as an Air Force officer. School and career related moves from Minneapolis to South Bend, Chicago, Boston, Germany, San Diego, Washington, St. Louis, Jerusalem, Sarasota and Pittsburgh before returning to Minneapolis have kept him one step ahead of his pursuers.

Bob is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) who has held senior level financial positions in a variety of firms and industries — public and private, large and small. After returning to the Twin Cities in 2011, he shifted his career focus to the non-profit world where he served as the Director of Finance and Operations at St. Therese Catholic parish and school in the western suburbs. He became CSCOE’s finance director shortly after the Center of Excellence was formed in 2015.

With a home in St. Louis Park, you can find Bob in the gym or on the running trails in the early morning (with 56 marathons under his belt, he is a certifiable cardio addict) or on the bike paths on the weekend. He is the very proud father of a pharmacist, doctoral candidate and aspiring lawyer (all of whom fortunately inherited their mother’s intelligence genes).

Mike Halloran

Vice President of Development and Operations

As a product of Catholic education and a proud Catholic school parent, Mike is committed to Catholic education and is grateful for the opportunity to make an impact as Vice President of Development and Operations for CSCOE.

Mike has more than 25 years of leadership in advancement for nonprofit and for profit organizations. He has secured more than $300 million in capital, endowments and operational support for diverse organizations, including educational institutions, churches, foundations, and government and community organizations. During his 11 years with the University of Minnesota, Mike acquired the philanthropic support necessary to fund 25 sports and 730 student-athletes, raising millions for the athletic program’s annual fund, capital projects and endowments.

Mike’s commitment to making a difference extends beyond work hours. Mike, his wife Danette, and their twin daughters enjoy volunteering together at their parish of Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church and School in Edina, MN. Mike also serves as the Chair of the Development Committee on Ascension Catholic Academy’s Board of Directors.

When he isn’t doing great things in his community, you can find Mike fishing, biking or running with his family. And, during basketball season, you can address him as “Coach”, as he is the proud coach of his daughter’s basketball team.

Gail Dorn

President

Gail Dorn is the youngest of 12 children, and her 6 brothers and 5 sisters think highly of her, or at least they say so in public. Her first job, at 12 years old, was working off tuition at her local Catholic grade school. She and her husband are proud graduates of 16 years of Catholic education, and they have five children.

Gail spent her entire career working for Target and served as company spokesperson, Target Foundation director and marketing and PR warrior. She started at Target when they were a small Midwestern retailer, before they became Tar-chaaaay.

Gail loves Catholic Education and wants Catholic schools to grow in excellence and enrollment here in the Twin Cities and around the country. When she grows up, she wants to be a school librarian.

Annemarie Vega

Enrollment Director

Annemarie Vega truly believes that Catholic education transforms lives! She learned this early whether it was through her service trips with Totino-Grace High School or starring as Mother Abbess in the 5th grade musical at St. Vincent de Paul in Brooklyn Park. While her acting career was brief, she also enjoyed her years as editor-in-chief of Totino-Grace’s school newspaper. Being part cheesehead, Annemarie chose to study Elementary Education and Spanish at Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI, and also spent a semester in Madrid, Spain.

Post graduation, Annemarie traveled even farther from her MN roots landing outside Tegucigalpa, Honduras at a home for over 500 orphaned and abandoned children, Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos. After teaching English and mentoring youth for two years, Annemarie re-entered the frozen tundra of MN where, through her Catholic school connections, she connected with Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Minneapolis. During her 7 years at Cristo Rey Jesuit, Annemarie served as the Director of Admissions and Communications/Marketing and completed her MBA at the University of St. Thomas.

Outside of her love of Catholic education, Annemarie loves traveling, cycling, women’s flat track roller derby and Latino culture. Recently married, she and her husband, Rodrigo, are members of St. Gerard’s in Brooklyn Park.

Jessica Trygstad

Enrollment Manager

Jessica Trygstad first jumped on the CSCOE train in 2015 as the project manager of its magazine, and fell in love with CSCOE’s mission and work. She has witnessed the beauty of Catholic education through her work in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Office of Communications, and her children’s parish school, St. Charles Borromeo in St. Anthony. Her background in nonprofit marketing and communications, and eagerness to see Catholic schools flourish drive her work as CSCOE’s Enrollment Manager.

Aside from correcting the spelling or pronunciation of her last name (it’s not as difficult as it seems!), she spends her time with her husband, Eric, and their three daughters. Ever the thrill seeker, she enjoys baking and a good game of cribbage.

Maricruz Hernandez

Latino Enrollment Coordinator

Maricruz is originally from Mexico, and has been a member of the Minnesota Latino community for over 23 years. She and her husband have two boys, ages 11 and 9. They love swimming, walking and watching cartoon! They live in St. Paul’s West side. Maricruz enjoys volunteering for her church. Her boys attend Community of Saints Catholic School.

Before joining CSCOE, Maricruz worked as an interpreter and owned a flower shop. Her favorite part about working at CSCOE is collaborating with the team. She loves the difference Catholic schools make in transforming kids’ lives and their future.

Loanne Lindfors

Executive Assistant/Office Manager

Loanne comes from long history of administrative assistant positions (a.k.a. everyone’s favorite person in the office), including 9 years in merchandising at Dayton’s Department Store and 24 years at Target in Risk Insurance, Personnel, Corporate Communications and Marketing. She says she met Gail at Target before she was dry behind her ears. Loanne was a car hop at an A&W root beer stand for her first job, and she was also a cosmetologist in another lifetime. We’ve considered creating a Catholic Schools Hair Salon with Loanne as the Expert Beautician, but the idea hasn’t panned out quite yet.

Loanne spent over one year in Liberia, West Africa, leaving just prior to the 1980 coup. She is an outstanding card maker and scrap booker, and she also enjoys sewing, needlecraft, gardening, reading and traveling. Loanne has 2 children and 6 grandchildren (they all get older, but thankfully, she doesn’t), and she loves little kids and animals – especially dogs (although she doesn’t have one right now.). Loanne lives in Brooklyn Park where she bought the family home she started out in at age 3 and remembers when it was all surrounded by farm fields.

Helen Dahlman

Director of Excellence

Helen has spent more than 48 years in Catholic schools either as a student, teacher, coach or administrator, beginning her career as a teacher at Benilde-St. Margaret’s, then serving as the principal of St. Peter’s School (now St. Maximilian Kolbe) in Delano and retiring as president of Risen Christ, School in 2015. Risen Christ Catholic School also received the SPICE (Special Programs for Improving Catholic Education) award for outstanding school programs from the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) twice under her leadership.

Helen received her B.A. in education from the College of St. Catherine (St. Paul, MN) and both her M.A. in elementary administration and her education specialist degree (EdS) from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN. She has continued her commitment to Catholic education in her retirement by serving as a consultant to Catholic schools, parishes and organizations in the areas of leadership development, strategic planning and governance. Even though her fifth grade teacher told her she would forget her head if it wasn’t attached, Helen is proof that Catholic schools can form even the biggest daydreamer and airhead into an articulate and critical thinker! She and her husband Steve live in Delano, MN, are members of St. Maximilian Kolbe parish and the parents of two adult children.

Dr. Nes Rotstein

Strategy Guru

Dr. Nes Rotstein is the Strategy Guru at CSCOE where he has been responsible for developing our strategic vision and business plan since 2015. He is also President of the Chesterton Foundation in Edina and Chairman of the Open Window Theatre in Minneapolis. Previously he was CSO at Whitebox Advisors, LLC in Minneapolis, Chairman of InstyMeds Corporation in Eden Prairie, MN, and a Director at Auto Pharma B. V. in Leeuwarden, The Netherlands. Nes came to Whitebox from the chemical industry. He was a senior executive at the Dow Chemical Co. and started his career at Monsanto Co.

Dr. Rotstein holds a B.Sc. in Chemistry and Physics from Universidad Nacional del Sur, Argentina, and a Ph.D. in Polymer Physics from the University of Minnesota. We are not sure if Nes has trouble holding on to a job, has a short attention span or a high level of curiosity and sense of adventure, but in addition to all the positions mentioned above he has also been a teacher, a cattle herder, a furniture mover and has served in the army. Oh yes, and the accent comes at no extra charge!