Lisa Wollan ’78 joins the Ripon College Board of Trustees

Lisa Wollan ’78 of Minneapolis, Minnesota, is a new member of the Board of Trustees at Ripon College. The board will meet virtually this week.

She focused on marketing throughout her career. She earned an MBA from Cornell University’s Johnson School of Management. She has worked for Dun & Bradstreet; in consumer packaged goods brand management for General Mills (Minneapolis) and Kraft (Chicago); as vice president of marketing for a division of Keystone Foods; doing international consulting projects in India, Argentina and Thailand; and in marketing for Wawa Inc. in Philadelphia.

She retired in January 2019.

At Ripon, Wollan majored in politics and government and did her junior year abroad in Bonn, Germany. She was active in theater, presented a weekly radio show on WRPN and served as vice president of student council during her senior year.

“Ripon gave me the opportunity to be involved in so many interesting activities!” she says.

She continued a life of service after Ripon. She was very involved with the Philadelphia community, including board leadership positions with Susan G. Koman, Wawa Welcome America Inc. and several activity-based groups. “I moved back to Minneapolis in June 2019 and have been slowly dipping my toes into opportunities for involvement and service,” she says.

Because she lived on the East Coast for nearly 30 years, Wollan says it wasn’t always easy to visit the Ripon College campus but has been an active contributor and attended several class reunions. I’ve also tried to help our wonderful 1978 Class Agent Gregg Petersen with contacting classmates and raising funds whenever he asks.”

She now looks forward to serving Ripon more actively. “Ripon has played such a pivotal role for me and I have always been interested in ways to give back to the school,” Wollan says. “These are unprecedented times for all colleges and universities, and I am happy to give support in any way I can to help navigate the near- and long-term future of this very special school.

“I am excited to meet and work with such an amazing group of people! My first job will be to listen and learn and ask lots of questions. I am looking forward to participating in the Academic Affairs and Advancement Committees, as well as the board as a whole. I hope that my experience in marketing and strategic planning will be of help to the board as we identify and address key issues and opportunities.”