We are thrilled to introduce the newest members of the Augsburg Alumni Board! Please join us in welcoming:

• Berlynn Bitengo ’21
• Arianna Antone-Ramirez ’20
• Willie Giller ’19
• Navid Amini ’19 MBA
• Dave Stevens ’90

The Augsburg Alumni Board is an opportunity for alumni from all programs and class years to build relationships with each other and the University today. Members connect with institution leaders, faculty, and students to better understand and support the mission. To learn more go to our Alumni Board page.

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Oatman contemplated the situation and decided to call the ADA (American Diabetes Association) and ask for a job. As a pre-med graduate, she had both the passion and desire to better the lives of other people and knew that raising money to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes would be a fulfilling career. Although the ADA didn’t have a position immediately available for Oatman, eventually a spot within the Tour de Cure team opened up, and she got the job.

Oatman has now been employed with the ADA for approximately nine-and-a-half years and is currently the Development Director and the Director of the Tour de Cure. She still harbors the same passion for curing diabetes today, as she did the day she started.

“Thirty million Americans have diabetes,” she continued, “and an additional 84 million have pre-diabetes (meaning they are at a significant risk of developing type 2 diabetes within ten years.) Why wouldn’t we want to find a cure for an illness that affects so many people?

It’s a scary reality that every 21 seconds someone will hear the three words that will change life as they know it: You have diabetes.”

“Augsburg was instrumental in shaping my values, including a deep sense of community and stewardship. The fact that my career path brought me to a non-profit is a testament to Augsburg’s emphasis to serve others” said Oatman, regarding her time working with the ADA.

Oatman has remained active within the Augsburg University community and is a member of the Alumni Board. When asked what she loves the most about Augsburg, Oatman replied “Augsburg is a second home to me. It’s a place I love to go back to as in my mind it represents faith, family, and friends.”

On Saturday, June 2, 2018, the Tour de Cure will take place at Boom Island Park in Minneapolis. Tour de Cure is a fundraising event, where participants bike-ride, run or walk to raise money and show support for all people living with diabetes.

For more information on how to sign up for the Tour de Cure, , contact the Augsburg Alumni Office at alumni@augsburg.edu or Janeece Oatman directly at joatman@diabetes.org.

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On Tuesday December 12, the Augsburg Alumni team will be hosting a special Auggie pre-theater reception before the show, which will take place in the Guthrie Theater Target Lounge at 6 p.m., with yummy appetizers and a chance to celebrate holiday spirit with old friends and new!

A miserly and miserable man, Ebenezer Scrooge greets each Christmas with a “bah humbug,” until he is visited one Christmas Eve by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Future. Through a restless night, the spirits show him happy memories from his past, cruel realities from the present and the grim future should he continue his cantankerous ways– Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is a perennial favorite.

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The annual night out at the ballpark began with a pre-game reception at the nearby Kieran’s, with a short program hosted by Nick Rathmann ’03 and featuring Robert Grace ’98, who operates Be Graceful Bakery, with a concession booth at TCF Bank, Target Field, and the new US Bank Stadium. Then 75 Auggies watched the Minnesota Twins take on the Phillies and WIN. Special thanks to Nik Linde ’15 for taking the photos.

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Growing up with an entrepreneurial father planted the seed in his mind that running his own business could make a lot of sense—and was doable. But the idea really took root in his adult life, when Frank Grazzini ’96 realized, after 12 years of working for larger corporations, that this work wasn’t a very good fit for him. He’d much rather create something new than fine-tune an existing structure. So he switched gears. In fact, starting a new business seems to have become a way of life for him, and he sees himself as a serial entrepreneur of sorts. He is now involved in his fourth early-stage business (his third technology start-up), with the potential to scale into a much larger business. The down side? He’d much rather start a new remodeling project than mow the grass!

At , his latest venture, Grazzini is working with two other co-founders and the Cleveland Clinic to commercialize a groundbreaking technology to monitor and measure the force of head impacts to athletes (both male and female) in sports such as football, lacrosse, hockey, and soccer. He says that if a concussion is treated early, it usually results in a full recovery; if not, there is a much greater risk the athlete will suffer permanent neurological damage, even CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) or Second Impact Syndrome, which can cause death.

In spite of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s estimate that over half of all sports-related concussions in the U.S. (approximately 3.8 million each year) are never identified, response has been slow. But now, there finally seems to be a growing awareness that the problem must be taken seriously, as indicated by laws in all 50 states, as well as recent statements by professional sports league representatives. Though some would make the case for ending football altogether (most notably, Dr. Bennet Omalu, whose exposure of the widespread consequences of NFL injuries was dramatized in the recent film, Concussion), Grazzini believes that better monitoring of injuries, plus a few changes to the rules, would likely be sufficient to keep football a healthy sport for kids.

Prevent’s head-impact monitor, currently being tested by athletes, has been in development for six years and is expected to be officially released for sale in December 2016, though various inquiries to the company have already been made by researchers in the military and the NCAA for earlier sales.

Unable to deny the moniker of “business nerd,” Grazzini is energized by not only the strategy and process of trying to build a competitive business, but by bringing a new product to market. It can be done, he says, in a way that generates a healthy profit (essential for outside investors), while also operating as a good corporate citizen (including paying a “living wage” to your employees, mitigating the environmental impact of your products, and working with suppliers who share your values).

When asked about lessons learned as an entrepreneur, he cites first of all, the actual process of starting a business–all that one learns day to day in that experience. Secondly, he mentions the importance of having spent time with other entrepreneurs, both those who had had a lot of success, and those who were working through some of the same challenges he had encountered. He also stresses the importance of joining organizations filled with other entrepreneurs trying to build new companies. Regular opportunities to learn from, and share ideas with, peers and mentors are important as these connections give you access not only to the experience of others, but to informal best practices that can be applied to your own venture as well.

If there’s one thing Grazzini wishes he had done differently before starting his first business, it is to have spent time learning from other entrepreneurs who were willing to critique his ideas and challenge his plan. He thinks Augsburg is in a strong position to offer leadership to budding entrepreneurs–certainly in traditional classroom education, but also by connecting entrepreneurially minded students with alumni who’ve launched their own ventures. His advice to any alumni considering starting their own venture? First, talk to as many experienced entrepreneurs as you can. Second, keep your “day job” as long as possible before jumping into your venture full-time. Finally, if you have an idea, don’t be afraid to try it, especially with some outside advice.

Grazzini and his wife, Rebecca, live in South Minneapolis with their two cats. He says that since they have no children, he has filled his “free time” with volunteer work, including membership on various boards, such as the Augsburg Alumni Board and the nonprofit Soo Visual Arts Center in LynLake. He is a big fan of modern art and music, and an avid biker—as long as it’s at least 40 degrees outside.

—by Cheryl Crockett ‘89

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This marketing success convinced Hawks that she had found her niche in marketing and communication, and that her decision to forego the field of broadcasting—even after an internship at the local ABC-TV station—was the right one for her. At each step in her career since then, new positions seemed to call out her desire to “build” something—whether in terms of products, experiences, relationships, a fine-tuned team, or an unusual market launch. She loved finding undiscovered opportunities, using good communication tools, and assembling a good team—and she still loves the challenge and fun of doing it.

She uncovered such an opportunity at Paper Direct, a high-end specialty paper company, where she was given 45 days to convince the leadership that her alternative idea to existing market launch plans could work. She did so, and the company followed her lead toward specialty retailing to small businesses, setting up distribution networks all across the country at outlets that sold computers and printers.

Hawks later landed at Musicland, where she led the full gamut of communications—investor relations, public relations, employee communications, earnings releases, annual reports, investor reports, etc. Soon after, when the company was acquired by Best Buy, she was invited to take a leadership role in Best Buy’s communications department. She enjoyed some “phenomenal” experiences over the 12 years she worked there, including launches that involved The Rolling Stones, Bill Gates, Usher, and other pop culture figures.

Asked often about her management style, Hawks believes it can best be described as coaching, stemming from her experience at Augsburg. She says Augsburg was a fabulous place to play sports, and she feels lucky to have had excellent coaching from Marilyn Florian and Mary Timm, and to have played with driven student athletes who performed beyond what they thought possible. Hawks was a three-time All-MIAC pitching selection in softball, earned AIAW All-State and All-Region honors twice, and All-West Region honors. A member of the team that won the Minnesota AIAW state softball title in 1982 and 1983, as well as MIAC championships in 1982, 1983, and 1984, Hawks holds the second-best record in Augsburg history for both her 1.35 career earned run average, and for her 47 pitching wins. In volleyball, she earned All-MIAC honors in 1984. She served as captain of both teams and was named Augsburg’s Honor Athlete in 1985. Appropriately, she is a member of the Auggie Athletic Hall of Fame.

Hawks recalls—with some relish—the determination of Athletic Director Joyce Pfaff ’65 to create opportunities for female athletes. “She fought hard for program development and funding,” says Hawks. Since the women’s teams had no analog to the men’s A-Club, Hawks proposed to Pfaff—and Pfaff agreed—that the softball team could raise money to fly south for softball games against teams in different leagues and divisions. The team raised funds by various methods, including staffing Metrodome concession stands for numerous events, such as professional wrestling contests and concerts. It worked, and theirs was probably the first Auggie women’s softball team to “have a spring break game in the sun.”

Hawks sees the College as a “pillar of faith,” one of the reasons she chose Augsburg and why she continues to be involved. She served six years on the Alumni Board and is a founding member of AWE (Augsburg Women Engaged). She recalls hosting one of the first focus groups in her home to ascertain what form AWE could take. She and other founders discovered that the wishes were as varied as the people who attended—yet very specific. Some wanted to give back, others wanted to help students, others wanted to connect and donate money or time. AWE has opened the door to all sorts of involvement, and women may opt in as they see fit.

Currently, Hawks is vice president, external communications, for United Healthcare, where she feels her retail experience is serving her well. She is focused on helping simplify the complicated healthcare landscape for the consumers so that they can live healthier lives.

In her spare time, Hawks enjoys gardening, cooking, and playing golf and other sports. She also enjoys coaching her 10-year-old son Andrew’s baseball team, which she has done for the past three years.

Hawks’ corporate success is likely related to her love of confronting a challenge, and she offers three insights that have guided her: (1) Find something you care about and see where you can contribute, (2) Surround yourself with people from whom you can learn (she benefits regularly from her “Board of Mentors”), and (3) Lead with humility and integrity, and then be proactive about using what makes sense to you. Apparently, that has worked very well for her!

—by Cheryl Crockett ’89

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