Macalester Board Elects Three New Trustees

St. Paul, Minn. – The Macalester College Board of Trustees has elected three new members for   three-year terms:

Sandra R. Ortiz ’97, Vice President of Corporate Capital Markets at Wilmington Trust in Wilmington, Del. She is responsible for strategic, administrative and relationship management and planning for Corporate and Municipal Services in the Capital Markets Division. This division provides traditional corporate trust, custodial, specialized agency, and other fiduciary services to business entities that access the capital markets. As a leader in new product development she has been instrumental in the evolution of Wilmington Trust as a leading provider of services for Tender Option Bonds. Previously, she worked at the corporate trust department of U.S. Bank Trust National Association in Minnesota and the investment banking division of Bear, Stearns & Co., Inc. in New York.  Ortiz holds an MBA from Pennsylvania State University and received her bachelor’s degree from Macalester, majoring in Political Science, Economics and International Studies. She has also earned the designation of Certified Corporate Trust Specialist (CCTS) from the Institute of Certified Bankers. She lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband and daughter.

Sara Peterson ’72, Principal Counsel and Manager of Insured Litigation for Bechtel Corporation, a global engineering, construction and project management company headquartered in San Francisco. Peterson joined Bechtel in 2003 and manages all insured claims and litigation, directing the work of national and local counsel handling insured matters in the U.S. and overseas. Prior to joining Bechtel, she was an associate and then partner in the litigation group at McCutchen, Doyle, Brown & Enersen, a leading San Francisco firm. Peterson earned her JD from Stanford University and an MA in Public Administration from University of Minnesota, Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. She received her BA from Macalester. A wine enthusiast since her days in Minnesota, Peterson and her late husband Charles Cooke planted a 12-acre Zinfandel vineyard on their 193-acre, historic property in Sonoma Valley in 1980, resulting in high-quality grapes used by Ravenswood Winery to make Cooke Vineyard Zinfandel.  She resides in San Francisco and Sonoma.

Juan F. Rada, Senior Vice President of Oracle Corporation, with worldwide responsibility for Public Sector and Education. He is also a member of the management team for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Rada joined Oracle as Vice President for Public Services for EMEA in 1998. He became Senior Vice President for Oracle Industries in 2004 and took over responsibility the Public Sector and Education Global Business Unit in 2006. In the late 1980s, Rada served as the founding Director General of the Swiss-based International Institute for Management Development, one of the world’s leading management education institutes.  Rada studied economics and sociology at the Universidad Católica de Chile, his country of origin, followed by studies at the University of London, where he obtained his PhD. He resides in France with his wife.

Macalester College, founded in 1874, is a national liberal arts college with a full-time enrollment of 1,958 students. Macalester is nationally recognized for its long-standing commitment to academic excellence, internationalism, multiculturalism and civic engagement.  Learn more at macalester.edu