Karen Grupe
President
Karen lives in the rural Cleveland area with her husband, Keith and their children. They have three sons and one daughter. She loves to spend time with her family first and foremost. She also enjoys traveling, reading, hiking and is a novice bird watcher.
Currently Karen works with her husband, Keith, who is a Thrivent Financial Representative. She is a member of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Sheboygan Falls. She loves spending her time and using her God given talents to make a difference in our community. Thrivent, Sheboygan Leadership Academy and SCIO provide countless opportunities to serve others and make a positive impact every day.
Jensen Bartels
Vice President
Jensen lives in Sheboygan with her bloodhound, Cooper. Together they like exploring new places and making new friends. She recently graduated from Lakeland University with a bachelors in business administration with an emphasis in nonprofit management. Her passion for helping others is what initially drew her to SCIO. She is excited to bring fresh ideas, thoughtful problem solving, and her understanding of nonprofit management to the team.
Open
Treasurer
Kat Weber
Secretary
Kat lives in Manitowoc with her fiancé, Tim. She graduated from St. Norbert College in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, and studied abroad in Limerick, Ireland during her junior year. She works at UW-Green Bay as a Program Specialist for the Division of Continuing Education. She also volunteers at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, and with Horizons4Girls as their website manager. Kat has recently completed a graduate certificate in sex therapy from UW-Stout. She enjoys fiber arts, swimming in Lake Michigan, playing ukulele, piano, and drums, traveling, and board games. Kat is excited to share her love of community with SCIO.
Julie Mavity Maddalena
Julie lives in Sheboygan with her spouse, Mike, and two children, one in elementary, one in middle school. She enjoys hiking, reading, coffee, and wine, and is beginning to explore gardening. Julie is the University Chaplain, Ulrich Ethicist in Residence, and Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Lakeland University. She is ordained in the UCC and is a member at First Congregational UCC Sheboygan.
While completing her MDiv at Emory University in Atlanta, Julie lived in a homeless shelter for women and children, serving as the resident manager. Her transformative experience there led her to more work with single mothers and doctoral work at Southern Methodist University in Religious Ethics. Julie’s dissertation centered the voices of single, working-class mothers and explored ways to create and support systems that promote justice, equality, thriving, and dignity for women across racial identities. Julie teaches university and community courses on ethics, intersections of class, race, gender, and sexuality within the US political economy, and social justice within the Christian tradition.
While still new to the area, Julie is thrilled for the opportunity to support and promote the important work of SCIO as it aligns with her commitments, passion, and focus of the past twenty years.
Emily Kaiser
Emily lives in Sheboygan with her husband, Zach and their three children. She is a member of the Sheboygan Northside Catholic Parishes and her two older children attend Trinity Lutheran School. She enjoys being active, thrifting, reading, traveling, and running.
She is currently an Events Planner at Sargento Foods. Prior to that, she was the Director of Donor Engagement at United Way of Sheboygan County, which was where she was introduced to the great work that SCIO does. She strives to make a positive impact in the lives of others, and is excited to continue supporting the community as an SCIO board member.
Britanni Meinnert
Rick Cruse