Marla Friederichs is a senior program officer and scholarship program manager for the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation. In addition to developing and implementing scholarship programs for everyone from preschoolers to graduate students and working with grantees, she has been working with Catholic elementary schools on their marketing and enrollment strategies.

Marla began her foundation work after she failed miserably (only four months) at retirement. During her 27 years with the University of St. Thomas, she served as the assistant director of financial aid, director of undergraduate admissions, and, for the last 17 years, associate vice president for admissions and financial aid. She enjoyed a long career in higher education where she lived out her passion for making college a reality for thousands of students.

Marla grew up in Moorhead, MN (where it is really cold), earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of North Dakota (where it is even colder) and has settled in the tropics of Coon Rapids, Minnesota, where she and her husband, Joe, raised two sons who are proud graduates of Totino Grace High School and the University of St. Thomas.

Her days of living in a house full of men ended with the addition of a daughter-in-law and granddaughter and she couldn’t be happier. She loves family time, summers at the cabin, all things football, reading, March Madness and her 5-pound yorkie, Chewie.