The Foster Adopt Minnesota Board of Directors is the governing body of our non-profit organization. Their efforts are a crucial component to the important support that Foster Adopt Minnesota provides to the community.
The below listed individuals graciously volunteer their time and energy to sit on Foster Adopt Minnesota’s Board and are collectively responsible for overseeing our organization’s activities while remaining focused on Foster Adopt Minnesota’s mission, supportive programs and overall goals.
Dr. Bradley Wolfe
Bradley joined the Foster Adopt Minnesota board in 2021. Bradley works as a communication instructor at Ridgewater College in Hutchinson. He and his husband have adopted a teenager out of foster care and continue to grow their family. Bradley previously worked as a regional coordinator for the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits and as an executive director of a small nonprofit. He has a doctorate in educational leadership along with three master’s degrees.
Cathy Bruer-Thompson
Cathy Bruer-Thompson joined the Foster Adopt Minnesota board in 2015. Cathy is a retired social worker of 41 years in the adoption and foster care field. Cathy placed children for adoption, and most recently, trained foster, adoptive and kin families in preparation for adopting children from the foster care system. She wants all adoptive families and children to have the support and preparation for successful family life. The children usually have complex histories of trauma, attachment issues, and prenatal exposure to alcohol and drugs. FAM is here to help connect families with resources and provide ongoing training.
Danielle Theirl
Danielle joined the Foster Adopt Minnesota board in 2022. Danielle has spent her entire career in and supporting human resource teams and leaders. After nearly 15 years as a HR Practitioner, she spent 15 years as a Senior Business Development Director at Salo where she sold and supported her consultants and clients with a wide variety of HR project-based work. Danielle and her husband, Peter, have two children, a biological daughter and a son who they adopted (domestic) from birth. Having grown their family through adoption and being a part of the adoption and foster community has been such a blessing and she looks forward to getting even more directly involved with the incredible mission of FAM.
Eric Becker
Eric joined the Foster Adopt Minnesota board in 2020. He is a financial advisor with Raymond James and takes great pride in helping members of our community craft thoughtful financial strategies that help them achieve the lives they desire. Eric and his wife, Melissa, adopted their amazing daughter as a newborn in 2015, and are immensely thankful for the gift that adoption has provided their entire family. Eric feels strongly that every child should be given the opportunity to find their forever family, and that adoptive and foster families should be given the opportunity to feel the unconditional love from a child.
Kara Eastlund
Kara Eastlund joined the Foster Adopt Minnesota Board of Directors in 2023. She is a proud native of Cambridge, Minnesota and is married to her high school sweetheart, Sean. Together, they have a son who is the center of their world! Kara is a licensed social worker with a master’s degree, serving as North Dakota’s statewide program director to provide adoption services to children in the foster care system. As a supervisee working towards clinical licensure, Kara is a part-time mental health practitioner at a local counseling agency. Her passion for children and families radiates in all she does and is grateful to serve others through her involvement in many communities. She loves iced coffee, walks, Hallmark, and quality time with family.
Katie Walt
Katie joined the Foster Adopt Minnesota board in 2023. She has worked in human resources for most of her career and enjoys helping organizations grow through their people and processes. Katie and her husband John have three children; two of them were adopted through foster care. Katie is passionate about helping families in their foster and adoption journeys, and ensuring they have the support and resources they need.
Laura Carroll
Laura joined the FAM board in 2023. She worked as a housing counselor for 11 years before making the move to lending in 2017. Having heard too many stories about homeowners losing their homes during the foreclosure crisis, she came to Bell Bank Mortgage to be one of the “good guys,” with a passion for originating solid loans for buyers to thrive and build wealth through homeownership. She and her husband Josh fostered their daughter through Ramsey County starting in 2014, and adopted her in 2015. They are now in the thick of the teenage years and appreciate the community of support that surrounds them. She strongly believes that all kids deserve the love and stability of a good home.
Sharon Markowitz
Sharon Markowitz joined the Foster Adopt Minnesota board in 2019. Sharon is a Partner at Stinson LLP, where she represents companies in complex commercial litigation. Sharon and her husband are adoptive parents. Sharon is passionate about achieving FAM’s goal of Zero Children Waiting.
