Pictured (left to right) Sadhna Morato-Lindvall, Jean Casey, Patrick Kessenich, Rebecca Osborn & Christa Shields.
The Shorewood Foundation is marking 2022 as a year of progress, electing a new president, adding four new board members and hiring the organization’s first associate in its 57-year history.
Sadhna Morato-Lindvall, who has served on the board since 2017, took over as president this spring. Additionally, four new board members – Jean Casey, Patrick Kessenich, Rebecca Osborn and Christa Shields – have signed on this year. And in June, the Foundation hired Annysa Johnson as a part-time associate to assist the board in day-to-day operations.
"We are so excited to grow our board and bring in Annysa as our first dedicated associate," said Morato-Lindvall. "As a volunteer board, we are grateful for the time and talent of our directors, and I'm excited to work with them to strengthen efforts that improve the quality and vibrancy of our community."
Morato-Lindvall is a program manager with Froedtert Health’s Customer Experience team. She has extensive experience in journalism, media relations, marketing, communications and fund development. She has served on numerous nonprofit boards, including the Hispanic Professionals of Greater Milwaukee, Girl Scouts of Wisconsin Southeast, and Skylight Music Theater. Morato-Lindvall is a graduate of the University of Iowa and earned her MBA at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She, her husband, Scott, and two daughters have called Shorewood "home” for the past decade.
Like Morato-Lindvall, the new additions to the foundation bring a wealth of professional and community experiences to the organization.
Jean Casey is excited to give back to the community she is proud to call home – once again. Casey, a Shorewood native and mother of two adult children, returned to the village six years ago. “I’ve always loved Shorewood and considered it ‘home,’” said Casey, who appreciates the community’s proximity to Lake Michigan and downtown, its walkability, friendly neighbors and sensibilities. “And I’m so pleased for the opportunity to support the work of the Shorewood Foundation.” Professionally, Casey has held leadership positions with several top architecture firms for more than 20 years, working in business and relationship development, strategic planning and public direction. She is engaged in a variety of service and professional associations and has served on the boards of the Rotary Club of Milwaukee, Alexian Village and the Social Development Foundation.
Patrick Kessenich has spent his career in nonprofit fund development, working at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin and Covenant/Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare before joining the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee more than a decade ago. A Whitefish Bay native and University of Wisconsin graduate, Kessenich and his wife, Patrice, raised their three children in Shorewood, where they attended St. Robert and Shorewood High schools. Kessenich, who sits on the foundation’s Grants and Development committees, sees serving on the foundation as a great opportunity to give back to his community. “My professional background in fund development aligns well with the Shorewood Foundation mission, and contributing to its strategic planning for the future very much appealed to me,” he said.
Rebecca Osborn spent her childhood years in Shorewood and returned with her husband and two children in 2013 to make their home here. A graduate of Marquette University and the University of Wisconsin Law School, Osborn has been an attorney with the Wisconsin Education Association Council for more than two decades. She believes her experiences, both as an attorney and as an adult who returned to raise her own family here, will bring a unique perspective to the board. “I support the mission of the Shorewood Foundation to celebrate the uniqueness of the village, to connect members of our community and to sustain the history, charm and green spaces of Shorewood,” she said.
Christa Shields recently accepted the lead development role with Food For Health, a social enterprise working to transform lives through the power of food, an area of passion for Shields.
Shields, who holds an MBA from Cardinal Stritch University, has an extensive background in philanthropy. A relative newcomer to Shorewood, which she has called home since 2019, Shields is no less enthusiastic about serving her community through the foundation. And she said she’ll be guided by the same sense of mission she has felt in her other philanthropic work. “Shorewood has welcomed me with open arms and feels like home already. I am excited to work with the Foundation to make this amazing community an even better place to work, live and play.”
Annysa Johnson has lived in Shorewood with her family for 25 years. An award-winning journalist, she spent nearly four decades in newsrooms large and small before retiring from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in 2022. Johnson holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Northern Kentucky University and Indiana University, respectively. In addition to her new post with the foundation, she serves on the board of Lake Park Friends and works for the Milwaukee Community Sailing Center, where she is also learning to sail. “The Shorewood Foundation plays such an important role in this community,” said Johnson. “And I’m excited and grateful to be a small part of that.”