New members were named to the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University Boards of Trustees, effective on July 1.
Complete bios of all board members can be found on the Boards of Trustees webpage.
The new trustees are:
Mike Anderson ’05
Saint John’s Alumni Association President
Anderson is a director at SkyWater Search Partners, where he leads a team specializing in corporate accounting and finance recruiting. He majored in communication/media studies at Saint John’s, studied abroad in Australia, and served as a captain of the SJU lacrosse team and the news director at KJNB campus radio. Anderson and his wife Kayla live in Orono and together they have two sons.
Chris Coborn ’81
Coborn serves as chairman and CEO of Coborn’s Inc., a corporation of grocery, pharmacy, convenience, liquor, retail stores, online grocery ordering and delivery, and central support facilities headquartered in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Coborn’s Inc. has $2 billion in annual sales and employs over 10,000 people in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Illinois. In 2021, the company celebrated its 100th anniversary and was recognized as the Retailer of the Year by the Shelby Report of the Midwest.
Coborn serves on the FMI and Topco boards and is past chairman of the National Grocers Association’s Board of Directors; past chairman of Topco Associates’ Board of Directors; past chairman of the Minnesota Grocers Association’s Board of Directors; past member of NACS Board of Directors; and member of the North Dakota Grocers Association’s Board of Directors. Coborn has also served on boards or committees of several community organizations in Central Minnesota where the company is headquartered. In 2017, Coborn was inducted into the Minnesota Business Hall of Fame, and in 2021, he was honored by his alma mater as the Saint John’s University Entrepreneur of the Year.
Kathryn Enke ’05
Saint Ben’s Alumnae Association President
Enke is a higher education professional with expertise in leadership development, strategic planning, crisis response and nonprofit board governance. In her professional role at the American Association of Colleges and Universities, she directs leadership development and support programs, including the Presidents’ Trust, an international group of college and university presidents committed to advocating for the value of liberal education, inclusive excellence and rebuilding public trust in higher education. She also oversees AAC&U’s Board of Directors, advancement operations and strategic planning.
Enke earned a B.A. in history from the College of Saint Benedict and an M.A. and Ph.D. in educational policy and administration from the University of Minnesota.
Kristen N. Hodge-Clark
Hodge-Clark serves as senior assistant dean for program planning within the School of Continuing Studies (SCS) at Georgetown University. She oversees several strategic functions related to the development of new credit-bearing programs and collaborates with SCS leadership to implement a thorough program review process to constantly monitor the health of existing academic programs and to identify opportunities to improve, redirect or close programs as needed.
Prior to joining SCS, Hodge-Clark served as vice president for best practice and innovation with the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB). There she directed AGB’s efforts to provide comprehensive innovative governance solutions and resources to member institutions through the development of programs, research and digital tools. Under her leadership, AGB launched the Trustee Index, a national poll of trustees conducted by Gallup. Hodge-Clark has authored several publications including her most recent reports, Taking the Pulse of Campus Climate and Strengthening HBCU Governance and Leadership.
She holds a B.A. from Spelman College and a Ph.D. in American Studies with a concentration in higher education policy from the University of Maryland, College Park.
Jeanne Marie Lust ’73, OSB
Lust is presently the treasurer of Saint Benedict’s Monastery. She graduated from the College of Saint Benedict with a major in biology and a minor in secondary education. She earned a Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Minnesota.
Lust retired as associate professor of biology at Saint Ben’s and Saint John’s in 2023 after 33 years of teaching. Upon retiring, she was awarded professor emerita status in biology. Along with serving on the Faculty Senate three different times, she also served as chair of the biology department from 2000-06. Students often commented on her unusual ability to present complex information in an understandable and fascinating way.
Denis McDonough ’92
McDonough served as the 11th United States secretary of veterans affairs from 2021 to 2025 under President Joe Biden. He also served in President Barack Obama’s administration as the 26th White House chief of staff, from February 2013 to January 2017. In that role, McDonough managed the White House staff and worked across the cabinet to advance the Obama-Biden agenda, confronted management issues facing the federal government, and devised and enforced goals, plans and performance standards to preserve the Obama-Biden administration’s reputation for effective, ethical operations.
Prior to his role as chief of staff, McDonough was principal deputy national security advisor from October 2010 to January 2013. He also served as the chief of staff of the National Security Staff and as the deputy national security advisor for strategic communications. He chaired the National Security Council’s Deputies Committee, leading the multi-agency team to address complex challenges including crisis management and national security policymaking. And throughout his service in the White House, McDonough helped lead the Obama-Biden administration’s work on behalf of military families and veterans.
McDonough graduated from Saint John’s University and earned his master’s degree from Georgetown University.
Pam Wheelock
Wheelock has extensive experience from her long career, having served in executive roles in nonprofit, philanthropic, academic, business and state government organizations. From 2017 to 2019, she was the chief operating officer at Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity. Before that, she held various positions including vice president of university services at the University of Minnesota, interim president and CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, vice president at the Bush Foundation, and executive vice president and chief financial officer for Minnesota Wild’s parent company, Minnesota Sports & Entertainment.
A Twin Cities resident, Wheelock has a long record of extensive public service to her home state of Minnesota. In 2019, Gov. Tim Walz appointed her acting commissioner for the Minnesota Department of Human Services. She became a trusted advisor in the Ventura administration as commissioner of finance, and she was deputy mayor and director of planning and economic development for the City of Saint Paul.
She holds a master’s in applied economics from Marquette University and a Bachelor of Arts in history from St. Catherine.