News Archives - 1996

Barbara C. Gage, Chair of the Augsburg College Board of Regents, announces the election of seven new board members. They are Gary E. Benson of Rochester; Tracy Lynn Elftmann of Minneapolis; H. Theodore Grindal of Eden Prairie; David J. Larson of Golden Valley; Julie R. Nelson of Minneapolis; Ronald G. Nelson of St. Paul; and P. Dawn Taylor of Des Moines, Iowa.

Benson, a pastor at Zumbro Lutheran Church in Rochester since 1993, has been a clergyman since 1974. He serves on the board of directors for Kiwanis, is on the St. John's Regional Chemical Dependency Board; is president of River Region Christian Health Services and is involved in Y-Pals. Benson graduated from Augsburg in 1970, and he and his wife, Sara, have two children.

Elftmann, a 1981 Augsburg graduate, is an attorney dealing in employment-related legal matters for the Minneapolis law firm of Mackall, Crounse & Moore. After graduating from Drake University Law School in 1985, Elftmann worked in labor and employment law from 1985-89 for the law firm of Faegre & Benson. She received her master of law degree from Columbia University Law School in 1990 and worked in systemic investigations for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Washington, D.C., in 1990-91. She worked for the Minnesota Department of Human Rights from 1991-94.

Elftmann is currently president of the Augsburg Alumni Association and is a member of Colonial Church of Edina.

Grindal, a 1976 Augsburg graduate, is a partner in the Minneapolis law firm of Schatz, Paquin, Lockridge, Grindal & Holstein. After receiving his law degree from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1979, Grindal worked in 1979-80 as a communications analyst for Dayton Hudson. He then served as a special assistant in the Minnesota attorney general's office from May 1980 to August 1983.

Grindal has been a member of both the Minnesota Governmental Affairs Council and American Society of Medical Association Counsel since 1984. He and his wife, Michelle, are the parents of two children and are members of Prairie Lutheran Church.

Larson is the senior vice president, secretary and general council for Lutheran Brotherhood. He has been on Lutheran Brotherhood's legal staff since May 1968. A graduate of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., he holds a law degree and master of laws degree from New York University Law School. Larson is active in the National Fraternal Congress of America (NFCA) and the American Council of Life Insurance (ACLI), is the secretary/treasurer of Insurance Federation of Minnesota and is a member of Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota Foundation. He and his wife, Caryl, have two daughters and are members of Calvary Lutheran Church in Golden Valley.

Julie R. Nelson, a 1983 Augsburg graduate, is executive director of the Opperman Foundation. She worked in market research for several years, specializing in qualitative research. Nelson is a member of the PACER Center Advisory Board and chaired PACER Center's annual benefit in 1996. She and her two children are members of Bethel Lutheran Church in Northfield.

Ronald G. Nelson, a 1968 Augsburg graduate, is the vice president and controller at 3M, where he has worked since 1971. Nelson is a board member, treasurer and chairman of the finance committee for HEALTH START in St. Paul, Minn. He is also a member of the Twin Cities and national chapters of the Financial Executives Institute, the Committee on Corporate Reporting in Morristown, N.J. and the Manufacturers' Alliance for Productivity and Innovation (formerly MAPI) in Washington, D.C. Nelson and his wife, Mary Kay, are members of St. Stephen's Lutheran Church in West St. Paul.

Taylor, a 1976 Augsburg graduate, is president of The Iowa Group, which provides independent housing for senior Iowans. She is also a mediator for the Restorative Justice Center in Polk County, Iowa, and the vice president of membership for the greater Des Moines Chamber of Commerce's Corporation for International Trade. She has previously worked as the director of business and industry relations for Iowa Lutheran Hospital and as an instructor in human services and group dynamics at Drake University. She is active in her community in Rotary, the Iowa Lutheran Hospital Foundation and the Family Planning Clinics of Iowa. She and her husband, Jack, are members of Cottage Grove Presbyterian Church in Des Moines.

The new regents were unanimously elected to the board by the governing members of the Augsburg College Corporation, an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America advisory body that oversees operation of the College.