1 Year Member
1 Year Members
Greg
Greg is originally from Smethport, PA and currently works in General Logistics for Mayo Clinic in Rochester. Previously Greg served 30 years with the Air Force, nearly 26 years of it being Active Duty and the remaining time he was a Government Contractor and Government Civilian. He enjoys watching basketball as well as is big football fan, both college and high school, specifically, Texas High School.
Cristina
Cristina is from Bogota, Columbia and Maple Shade, New Jersey. She currently works as a Clinical Nurse Specialist with Mayo Neo-natal ICU in Rochester. Previously Cristina served 27 years in Air Force Active Duty and 4.5 years as Army Civilian. Reading and watching basketball are a couple of Cristina’s favorite past time hobbies.
Greg and Cristina joined President’s Circle as it offers an opportunity to spend more time together while getting closer to the Lynx organization and supporting its efforts.
1st Year Members
Four Year Member
Don Davidson – Dealer Principal and President
Don graduated from Luther College in 1968 with a BA in Accounting and Economics. Spent over three years with Arthur Andersen & Co in Chicago as a CPA. Subsequently, he joined the international pharmaceutical company, G D Searle & Co, as a Corporate Accountant, later becoming an International Internal Auditor and ultimately the Director of Financial Reporting for the Pharmaceutical Group. In 1979, Don joined his father-in-law at Sears Imported Autos where for the last 20+ years I have been Dealer Principal and President.
Ruth Maynard – Corporate Account Manager/ Corporate Events
Ruth is a Minnesota native. However, her family members live in London, Barbados, Atlanta and Orlando. She has worked in the auto business for over 30 years. Ruth loves the outdoors, travel, most sports and is passionate about doing something good in the community.
“I joined the President’s circle as I am a bigtime Lynx fan and wanted to support them. I also wanted to interact with others who want to lift up women, men, boys and girls to have a more inclusive world.”
Rafter Apartments
We love being season ticket holders and fans of the Minnesota Lynx. President’s Circle has given us an opportunity to get involved with the team and meet the players. Women’s sports are our passion, including Gopher basketball, volleyball and softball. We have seen interest in the Lynx grow every year and applaud the WNBA for growing the league. We also share the team’s commitment to justice for all.
Five Year Member
Debbie Cote is a Northern California native who moved to the Twin Cities a couple years ago. Given her warm-weather roots, she spend winters in Snowmass, CO, skiing, swashbuckling, troublemaking, engaging in excessive merriment, and pursuing other adventures while practicing law remotely for a San Francisco law firm. Yet, few things make her happier than returning to the Twin Cities in the spring for another Minnesota Lynx schedule of superb WNBA basketball.
“I joined the President’s Circle for the opportunity to support this team of outstanding female athletes while also helping underprivileged youth, promoting diversity, and advancing women’s leadership was one I simply could not pass up. Indeed, the goals of this group are exactly consistent with my own personal values. In these complicated times, I only wish I could have joined sooner. Hooray for the Lynx President’s Circle!”
Two Year Members
Business Development
Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr LLP
9 Year Member
Senior Vice President, Global Supply Chain and Logistics
Target Corporation
Irene Quarshie is a Vice President in Target Corporation’s global supply chain and logistics organization. In this role she has general management responsibilities for a multi-billion-dollar P&L, leading the indirect, reverse and returns supply chain functions. Indirect supply chain operations include the forward movement of all non-sellable items procured to enable Target operations in all Stores, Distribution facilities and corporate offices. Reverse dispositioning and returns logistics include developing and executing strategies to maximize gross margin recovery rates through secondary markets and removing consumer friction points related to product returns. Her responsibilities also include leased and owned facility operations management.
Previously, Irene was a vice president in Target’s global sourcing organization. She led a global team of 300+ team members and was responsible for product quality and responsible sourcing. Her team’s purpose was to ensure Target’s vendors and suppliers operated efficient, safe and ethical factory environments where they could produce safe, reliable, high-quality products. She had direct accountability for overseeing the production of nearly $30B in private label retail sales.
Irene was also Target’s Director of Government Affairs where she oversaw all government affairs activities at state and local levels nationwide. She has held other leadership positions during her tenure at Target, including Senior Group Manager of Corporate Risk and Responsibility and Group Manager of Supplier Diversity.
Prior to Target, Irene spent five years as a strategy and management consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton, and three years in the government affairs industry.
Among her many affiliations, Irene serves on the Board of Directors of Meet Minneapolis and Artspace. She also serves as a Board Observer to Inspectorio—a digital start up— and is a member of the President’s Advisory Council for Adelphi University. She is a member of the Executive Leadership Council and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Additionally, her graduate paper on juvenile justice was published in A Comparative Perspective on Major Social Problems. She holds a B.A. in political science from Adelphi University and Master’s in Public Policy from American University.
President and CEO
LIvea
Wells Fargo
Drinal (Dra-Nell) Foster is a Senior Vice President in Wealth & Investment Management Technology and is responsible for driving global forward-leaning employee engagement and employee experience strategies for building a high-performance workforce, anchored in diversity, equity & inclusion (DE&I).
A 28-year Wells Fargo veteran, Drinal started her financial services career at the company on the frontline as a teller. Throughout her career, she has led various business functions and geographically disbursed teams across the globe. She brings 20 years of advanced leadership experience in the fields of Human Resources, DE&I and Treasury Management.
Drinal is active in a variety of professional and non-profit organizations. She’s a board member of Wells Fargo’s Black & African American Connection Enterprise Leadership Team. Here she serves as a Regional Chair with over 1,200 members. In addition, she is a member of Wells Fargo’s Public Affairs Council for Minnesota and has responsibilities in charitable giving.
Drinal is a founding board member of Twin Cities Black Affinity Network Development Day (TC BANDD) which is a cross-sector of employee resource network (ERN) leaders from Fortune 200 organizations committed to professional development. She’s also a member of the Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport’s Traveler Advisory Committee offering insights on customer travel experiences.
Since 2016, she has mentored high school students with Girls Taking Action™ at Patrick Henry High School in North Minneapolis. She’s serves on the executive committee for the Cookie Cart and for the Minnesota Black Chamber of Commerce boards of directors. Drinal is also a member of the Board of Trustees for the Science Museum of Minnesota.
In 2023, the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal named Drinal as an influential business leader and gave her top honors with the distinguished Women in Business award. They also recognized her as one of the “Top Black Leaders” in the Twin Cities market. She has been honored with the “Celebrating The Sistas” community leadership award for outstanding achievements. In 2020, she was recognized as a Minnesota Civic Leader by the Citizens League and selected as a 2019 Minnesota Young American Leader Program in partnership with Harvard Business School & the University of Minnesota. In 2018, Drinal received Wells Fargo’s coveted Diversity Champion Award for her unwavering commitment to DE&I. She is also a three-time Wells Fargo Sales & Service award winner (the top 1% of all company employees).
Internally & externally, Drinal speaks about Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, career mobility and financial literacy.
Drinal holds a degree in Organizational Leadership and Communication from Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, Minnesota. She is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), has credentials as a Professional in Human Resources (PHR) and is a Certified Professional (SHRM-CP).
A native of Seattle, Washington, Drinal currently resides in Minneapolis. She has interest in traveling, interior design, mindfulness and the arts.
3 Year Member
Executive Manager
Rudy Luther Toyota
We joined the Minnesota Lynx Presidents Circle because of our desire to support the Lynx’s pursuit of excellence and their community initiatives align with our values. Being a member of the Presidents Circle holds significance for us because it reflects our unwavering dedication to the team and their mission. We are invested in the success of the Minnesota Lynx. We truly enjoy being part of a passionate community that supports women’s basketball at the highest level. It’s been an incredible opportunity to participate in exclusive, unforgettable experiences. We really feel part of the team.
Four Year Member
Kate and Marianne Wulf Christianson
Marianne Christianson was a behavior specialist and special education teacher working with emotionally disturbed children in the Minneapolis Public Schools for 31 years retiring in 2001. To prepare for that awesome task, she attended Luther College in Decorah, Iowa where she played on Luther’s first intercollegiate basketball team. She spent 2 years as a missionary volunteer in Japan teaching English at a Japanese High School, worked as a canoe guide in the Boundary Waters, and coached track at Minneapolis South.( An eclectic mix to be sure.) Marianne enjoys gardening and women’s sports.
Kate Wulf grew up outside Pittsburgh and attended Penn State where she was on the PSU fencing team. Post graduation, while working at a Girl Scout camp in New Hampshire, Kate was offered a job with the State of Minnesota one night in a bar. She moved to Saint Paul and spent 31 years in a variety of jobs with the State including planner in the state demographer’s office and grants administrator for the Department of Corrections. She retired as a division director in the MN Department of Human Services in 2011. In between stints with the State, Kate was the director of the Metropolitan Center for Displaced Homemakers. Kate enjoys woodworking and women’s sports.
We’ve been together since 1980; as pre-Title IX college athletes we have long been committed to supporting opportunities for girls and women in athletics. We attended Minnesota Fillies games in the old Women’s Professional Basketball League and were thrilled to put down a deposit on Minnesota Lynx season tickets before the team even had a name. We see membership in the President’s Circle as another way to support our Lynx athletes and the organization’s mission.
Four Year Member
Holly and Hunter have been happily married for 9 years now, and currently reside in Plymouth, MN with their dog, Gabby. As loyal Season Ticket Members for the last 7 years, they saw the President’s Circle as an opportunity to meet new people and support the team they love the most!
We decided to join the President’s Circle because we wanted to meet new people, help out in the community, and the take our support of the Lynx to the next level!
6 Year Member
CJ Floyd
Retired
CJ is a life-long resident of the Land of 10,000 Lakes and is retired from over 25 years in the retail industry with her last position as a Corporate Account Manager with a retail supply distributor. Volunteering is at the heart of her retirement activities – Feed My Starving Children, Animal Humane Society (“cat adoption specialist”), visitation of elderly shut-ins, playing cello in Minnetonka Civic Orchestra, as well as involvement in civic and political organizations.
Widowhood is difficult at best, and overwhelming when it comes unexpectedly. Finding myself sitting at home every day after work, the call of the Lynx beckoned me – and I became a Lynx member six years ago. I joined the President’s Circle because I see an organization that has values of teamwork, integrity, competitive spirit, caring and sharing that go far beyond the basketball floor and include the front and back offices. On and off court, the team and its leadership are wonderful role models to girls and boys state-wide and nationally.
Five Year Member
Retired Air Force Pharmacist
8 Year Members
Cheryl Greene
Director
Human Rights Campaign Foundation Program, Welcoming Schools
Cheryl Greene has spent her career in education and is passionate about making school a place where all children can thrive. She is the Director of The Human Rights Campaign Foundation Program, Welcoming Schools. This program provides professional development, support and resources aimed at creating elementary schools that are more gender and LGBTQ inclusive, embrace family diversity and prevent bias-based bullying.
In addition to her work with Welcoming Schools, Cheryl is the Program Coordinator/Adjunct Professor for Hamline University’s Graduate Bullying Prevention Certificate Program.
Cheryl and her wife Angie Craig joined the Lynx President’s Circle because the Lynx provide an opportunity for girls to dream big and witness what happens when you work hard, stay focused and surround yourself with people that believe in you.
Angie Craig
U.S. Congresswoman
U.S. House of Representatives
Angie Craig is a Member of Congress from Minnesota’s second congressional district. She is an investor and former advisor to St. Paul software technology company, Structural. Prior to serving in Congress, Angie spent two decades in the private sector at two healthcare manufacturing firms. She is the former President of the St. Jude Medical Foundation and a former newspaper reporter. She and her wife Cheryl live in Eagan and have four boys: Josh, Jonas, Jacob and Isaac.
We joined the President’s Circle because we want to be a part of positive change in our community for full gender equality. The Minnesota Lynx are incredible role models for all kids. We are so lucky to have such an amazing franchise in our community focused on positive social change.
Five Year Member
College Professor
Normandale Community College
Nancy is a college professor at Normandale Community College. Coaching and teaching has been her career for the past 27 years. Nancy was a Lynx season ticket holder for the first 10 years of the teams existence and has become active once again, five years ago.
“This is such an awesome program and I believe in everything the team/franchise stands for. Joining the President’s Club has many benefits we enjoy. Getting to watch practice and communicate with the players and coaches is wonderful. I am an avid basketball fan, former player and coach. This gives me an opportunity to get back to the game. It is important to spread the word and get young people involved. I am jazzed to be able to help kids attend some games. They are our future and can help continue the Lynx tradition! Thank you for this opportunity! “
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