St. Olaf Distinguished Service Award

Professional Biography
Kelly Irvine is a member of the Management Team and Chief Marketing & Communications Officer for Carlson Capital Management. She oversees the planning, development, and execution of the firm’s marketing strategies; client communications; brand management; event management; and community involvement all with an eye on keeping our clients’ experience at the forefront. She is also responsible for partnering with other leaders and human capital colleagues to nurture and support the firm's keen focus on culture as expressed through its mission, vision, and values.

Kelly graduated with departmental distinction in Political Science from St. Olaf College, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude. Her career took her to Montana, Idaho, and Wisconsin before returning to Minnesota. Kelly’s professional background spans both the corporate and non-profit sectors. She has held corporate management positions in community relations and human resources.

Kelly was selected as a Policy Fellow at the University of Minnesota Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, and served board tenures at both the Northfield Area Family YMCA and the Helena Education Foundation. Additional activities have included advisory committee service at St. Dominic School and co-chairing 5th Bridge-Feed My Starving Children Northfield meal-packing events, and many years of Northfield Jingle Bell Runs. Kelly, her husband Colin, and their two children spent the 2010-2011 school year living in and working from Oslo, Norway. She now telecommutes from Sioux Falls, South Dakota where she resides with her family.

Personal Thoughts
Like many Minnesotans, I grew up with the privilege of “going to the Lake” in the summer. (Much to the chagrin of my spouse, who hails from the West, we Midwesterners never really bother to specify which lake. It’s just the Lake.) Not unlike many families in this area, I am fortunate in that early ancestors from Norway had the foresight to purchase lake front land where they wasted no time establishing family traditions – including an annual July 4th celebration. And while land is simply land, it’s our landscape that helps describe the essence of who we are. For me that landscape, and more precisely the Lake, is really all about cousins.

I recall my wedding day as guests came out of the chapel to greet us in the receiving line. My new mother-in-law from out of state stood next to me as I introduced her to many unfamiliar faces. She remarked later that every other person was “a cousin from the Lake.” How right she was. In our family, it doesn’t matter if one is a first cousin, a third cousin twice-removed, or the spouse of a second cousin – we are just cousins. Cousins range from several months old to those in their nineties. We all grew up spending summers at the Lake, and we were always accountable to the aunts and uncles in the generation (or two) ahead of us. We are there for one another’s weddings, funerals, and sometimes birthdays. We look forward to sharing kransekake and rommegrot on special occasions. We are intent on ensuring that our children know our cousins’ children. So, to know me is to know that I am a wife and a mother, a daughter and a sister, and, importantly, a cousin.

All of us at CCM look forward to learning your story, because that is how we at CCM have defined ourselves as a company, and that is how we will continue to define ourselves in the future. Knowing you, and your story, enables us to help you accomplish what is important to you.