The Hope College Board of Trustees has elected five new members and appointed three Executive Committee members, effective July 1.
Dr. Katharine Polasek — Hope professor of engineering and department chair — was appointed to a four-year
term as a Hope faculty member representative. Polasek has been with Hope since 2010
and also serves as the faculty advisor for the Hope chapter of the Society for Women
Engineers.
Four of the new Hope Trustees appointed to a three-year term are also Hope College alumni who will serve as at-large members:
Rev. Dr. Gretchen Schoon Tanis ’99: She is a senior pastor at Hope Church in Holland and a published author. Prior to
returning to Holland, Schoon Tanis was a pastor for nine years with RELISH, an international
congregation in Hannover, Germany and served as an associate professor at NLA in Bergen,
Norway. She is ordained in the Reformed Church in America and holds a Ph.D. from Kings
College in London. She is also a board member with the International Association for
the Study of Youth Ministry. She has two children, including a son who’s a junior
at Hope.
Ryan T. Cook ’96: Cook is a seasoned energy and financial executive, currently serving as the managing
partner for Clear Energy Brokerage and Consulting, LLC, in Grand Rapids, where he’s
been since 2007. After graduating from Hope with his B.A. in economics and business,
Cook completed his MBA in finance from Indiana University. He currently serves on
the Grand Valley State University Scholarship Leaders Committee and the Kent County
Sheriff’s Office Traffic Squad Enforcement Unit. He’s the proud parent of a 2026 Hope
College graduate and Hope sophomore.
Laura Grit ’01: Grit serves as a vice president and distinguished engineer at Amazon Web Services
in Seattle, leading the AI transformation within AWS. She’s been with Amazon since
2007. She graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. degree in computer science and was
a Phi Beta Kappa and Hope Presidential Scholar. She completed her Ph.D. in computer
science at Duke University.
Andy Pierce ’96: Pierce is the group president for Stryker Corp.’s Medical/Surgical and Neurotechnology
groups. He’s been with Stryker in various executive and marketing roles since 1996. He also
serves as a board director for Envista Holdings and the Healthcare Leadership Council
in Washington, D.C. Pierce played football for Hope, where he graduated magna cum
laude with a B.A. in business, psychology and political science.
Two trustees were reelected to serve a third term: Rev. Eddy Aleman (Caledonia, Mich.) and Rt. Rev. Eugene Sutton ’76 (Washington, D.C.). Brett VanderKamp ’94 (Holland, Mich.) was elected to serve a second three-year term.
Trustees concluding their service on the board are: Rev. Mike Pitsenberger (Holland, Mich.), Debbi Jarvis ’82 (Washington, D.C.), and Hope faculty member, Dr. Jeanne Petit (Holland, Mich.).
Executive Committee Members Include:
- Brett VanderKamp ’94 (CEO of New Holland Brewing Co., Holland) continues serving as board chair;
- Tommy Gordon ’08 (President-U.S. Distribution of Gordon Food Services, Grand Rapids) continues serving as vice chair in his final year of his term;
- Vicki Brunn ’84 (Retired attorney, Seattle, Wash.) continues serving as secretary.
Committee Chair Leaders Include:
- Lisa Joldersma ’95 (Founder and president of Birch Point Strategies, LLC, Washington, D.C.) — Protecting the Mission
- Frances Traisman ’89 (SVP of sales with the Seattle Mariners, Seattle, Wash.) — Sustaining the Mission
- Dara Spearman, MD ’98 (Owner of Radiant Dermatology Associates, LLC, Ft. Wayne, Ind.) — Living the Mission