Board of Directors

Tom Cartier – Founder

Tom Cartier is founder of the Spring Point Project. Tom holds a bachelor’s degree from the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minn., and was a social worker for three years before founding Cartier Agency, Inc. in 1979. Cartier Agency is a property casualty insurance company with clients throughout the Midwest.Tom and his wife, Patty, have lived in Duluth all of their lives and are working together to accomplish the mission of the Spring Point Project. Their son, Cory, contracted diabetes in 1993 at age 10. The Cartier family has been active with The Diabetes Institute for Immunology and Transplantation at the University of Minnesota and Dr. Bernhard Hering for more than ten years and have the utmost faith in his work and commitment to finding a cure for diabetes.

Pat Ryan – Chairman

Pat Ryan is president of Ryan Companies US, Inc., a leading national commercial real estate firm. Ryan provides integrated design-build and development as well as asset, property and facilities management services to customers in the industrial, retail, office, healthcare and hospitality markets. Pat is a member of the Urban Land Institute, a member and past director of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties, University of St. Thomas Law School Board of Governors, past president and executive member of Young President’s Organization and a current member of the world President’s Organization. His community work includes serving as trustee and past president of Children’s Cancer Research Fund, trustee and past president of Benilde-St. Margaret’s High School and current board member of Catholic Charities and the University of St. Thomas School of Law.

Pat currently is working on bringing a Jesuit high school to the inner city of Minneapolis, and on Spring Point Project. Pat graduated with honors from the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minn., where he received a degree in business administration finance. Additionally, he earned a law degree from William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minn.

Tim Clark – Executive Vice Chairman

Tim Clark is CEO of Urban Ventures, an organization established in south Minneapolis with the mission to break the cycle of generational poverty one person, one family at a time.

Prior to his current position, Tim was a senior partner with CarVal Investors for 19 years and served as a member of the executive team. He was responsible for the North American Real Estate business, overall operations of all funds and capital markets activities. Tim, who joined CarVal in 1992, has experience investing in a wide variety of asset classes including commercial real estate loans, single family mortgages, business loans and consumer debt. Prior to joining CarVal, Tim was a manager in the financial services practice of Arthur Andersen & Co. in Chicago. His client base included real estate operating companies and financial institutions. Tim holds a master’s degree with a specialization in finance from the University of Chicago and a bachelor’s defree in economics and psychology from DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind. He is a certified public accountant. Tim serves on the board of Cote Family Companies and also is an elder at Christ Presbyterian Church.

Steven Murphy – Treasurer

Steven Murphy is the former chief executive officer for the National Pork Board. He was responsible for the development and implementation of promotion, research and consumer information initiatives strategically directed toward the issues most critical to the U.S. pork industry. Additionally, Steven and his staff provided oversight for 43 state pork associations.

Steven was selected as the National Pork Board’s first chief executive officer in October 2001. He established an entrepreneurial culture centered on empowering people and integrated teams, strategic partnerships and alliances.

Prior to the National Pork Board Steven led the creation of three start-up companies centered on leading-edge technologies and information management strategies. Steven was a founder and president/COO of AgWeb.com, prior to which he was VP for Data Broadcasting Corporation and founder and president of their AgCast Division.

Murphy is a Purdue University graduate with a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy.

Martha Vetter – Secretary

Since co-founding R/P in 1993, Martha has consistently delivered results and created relationships with key audiences throughout the country, resulting in client successes that have paralleled the growth of R/P. She has developed the firm from three to more than 30 employees, and PR Week now ranks the company in the top 100 public relations firms in the country. Advertising Age also recently placed the firm in the Top 1% among all U.S. advertising agencies.

In 2005, Martha was inducted in to the Journalism Hall of Fame at Bowling Green State University, her alma mater. She also is a member of the USA Today small business panel, the American Marketing Association, the Public Relations Society of America and PRSA Counselor’s Academy.

Martha’s expertise and leadership have benefited a variety of nonprofit organizations. She is the former chairman of the board for the Toledo Area Humane Society and founder of Chicks for Charity, a philanthropic organization that aims to raise money for various charitable organizations by encouraging a younger generation of women to become more involved in the community.

Based in Holland, Ohio, Martha is married, has three-step children and enjoys gardening, animals and watching football.

Mike Gretschel

* President & CEO, Market Development Group

**Volunteer President, Diabetes Research and Wellness Foundation

Mike is a native of Washington, D.C., married to Maureen Lawyer, father of four children and grandfather to four grandchildren.

He has been in advertising and direct marketing business since graduation from the University of Maryland with major in marketing and minor in statistics. He founded Market Development Group in 1978, a full-service, direct response ad agency.

Mike’s expertise in direct marketing promotions and fundraising has served hundreds of national and local charitable, humanitarian and political clients producing more than $300 million in sales and contributions annually.

In addition to his business activities, Mike served for eight years as president, board member and fundraising chairman of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation International’s Northern Virginia Chapter.

In 1993, Mike was one of the founders of the Diabetes Research and Wellness Foundation (DRWF) and today serves as volunteer officer/director in the United States, France and the United Kingdom. DRWF is the publisher of the largest, paid, consumer/patient circulation newsletter in the field (Diabetes Wellness News); the first publisher of a weight-loss system for people with diabetes; and has funded nearly $25 million in scientific research to discover a cure for diabetes.

Christian Gretschel

 

“My wife, Patty, and I became involved in the fight to find a cure for diabetes following the diagnosis of our son, Cory, with Type 1 diabetes. Since that time, a mighty group of board members, donors and supporters, all with a passion for finding a cure to diabetes, have joined our efforts and made our accomplishments possible.”

– Tom Cartier,
founder,
Spring Point Project