Co-Chairs for a Cause: Karin Werner
In July of 2015, Rick Stratton ’92 and Karin Werner were named co-chairs of the Our Common Bond campaign. In addition to serving as co-chairs, they also serve as Trustees and parents of current students. “With this campaign, we are celebrating and promoting Our Common Bond while developing spaces and programs in which students will learn and grow together, preparing them for lives of purpose and success,” said Stratton. Added Werner, “Rick and I are grateful and honored to have been chosen to lead this fundraising effort for the School. We’re proud of what has been accomplished over the last two years and excited as we anticipate the opportunities that these new spaces will provide for students in the coming years.”
Karin Werner is well aware of the value of a USM education, and she does not hesitate to remind her three children—Isabel ’24, Andy ’26, and Eleanor ’28—of the benefits. “My children are very fortunate to be here because it is such a diverse and fascinating student body,” she said. “We also have some of the best faculty in the world and a beautiful campus. I often ask my children, ‘Do you realize how lucky you are to go to school at USM?’”
Werner, who is a senior counsel and an estate planning, trusts, and nonprofit organization lawyer with Foley & Lardner, has served as Trustee since 2014. She and her husband Teddy have supported the Our Common Bond campaign with both their time and financial resources. “My day job is working with people who are planning for their wealth and making transformational gifts to charities, and I’ve seen the difference they can make.” As co-chairs, Werner and Rick Stratton ’92 were instrumental in speaking with USM community members prior to the launch of the campaign to determine the campaign initiatives based on the School’s greatest needs. “We have wonderful facilities here, but we realized that there were a few areas in need of enhancements in order to continue fulfilling our mission of preparing students for success in the future.”
Werner is most excited about seeing the impact that the Our Common Bond campaign will have on future generations of USM students, “I see day in and day out the effects of the prior [Next Generation] capital campaign when the Lower School was added, because my children live in the Lower School wing. I see how beautiful the Lower School’s Marion and Verne Read Gymnasium is, and that it’s such a great place for students to exercise. I see firsthand the difference that the prior campaign made, and I’m hoping that what we’re doing now will improve things for many years to come.”
