Our Team
Michelle Rovang
Of Counsel
Michelle Rovang has more than 25 years of experience in fund development, communications and strategic planning within health care and educational organizations. Michelle serves as a leading expert in the areas of culture alignment, leadership development and community engagement. Often cited as a skilled trainer and engaging speaker, she has demonstrated the ability to build teams, create results and lead people during periods of crisis and change.
Most recently, Michelle spearheaded public programming, research and assessment at a donor-funded ethics institute located at the University of St. Thomas, the largest private university in Minnesota. In her role, she consulted with various US Catholic hospitals to implement the Catholic Identity Matrix™, a best practice self-assessment on core values. International engagements included sites in Mexico, Germany and Chile. Michelle previously held leadership roles at a national public policy communications firm and a regional health care foundation. She brings significant fundraising experience from her foundation role, including major gifts, special events, board engagement and culture alignment.
Michelle also served as the community relations executive for Colorado State University, one of the nation’s top public research universities. She and her public relations staff received national acclaim for crisis management of the 1997 Spring Creek Flood that caused $140M in campus damage. A former television reporter, she continues to share her stories with her students as an adjunct communications professor. She also has co-authored numerous articles on corporate ethics, risk and culture in academic journals and publications.
Michelle has served as an ongoing judge for the Minnesota Business Ethics Awards (MBEA) and the Hesburgh Lecture chair for the Notre Dame Alumni Board of Minnesota. She is an active member with the Association for Fundraising Professionals (AFP) and TEAM WomenMN. She received her B.A. in communications from the University of Notre Dame and holds a Master of Business Communications (MBC) from the University of St. Thomas.