Meet Our Board and Team
Kathryn Szott
Executive Director
Kathryn is co-founder and President of the Szott Foundation. She has recently retired from a 33 year career of teaching deaf/hard of hearing students in the St. Paul Public Schools. As rewarding as this has been, she is now looking forward to devoting her time and energy to help grow the Szott Foundation from a grassroots organization to one that will benefit families across the country. Her primary focus will be fundraising and networking to raise awareness of how essential it is for a parent to be home with a child diagnosed with cancer.
David Szott
Founder / Board Member
David is co-founder, Vice-President, and treasurer of the Szott Foundation. He is the proud father of Brian, Andrew, and Abby and as their dad, enjoyed the responsibilities and rewards of spending quality time building memories and learning from one another. He worked his entire career in non- profit organizations; 13 years in college administration and 20 years in long-term senior health care.
Emmy Ross
Board Member
Emmy Ross lives with her husband, Tony, in St. Michael, Minnesota. She is an event planner and currently owns her own business called em.my events. She also is an independent wedding planner for Bellagala. She became involved with the Szott Foundation because she and Abby were friends since elementary school. After volunteering with the first Tournament for Time, she knew she wanted to continue to support the foundation, so she started the Annual Sand Volleyball Tournament. Over the past 6 years that she has hosted the tournament she havs raised over $12,500 for Gifts of Time. When she is not working she loves playing volleyball or homebrewing with her husband or going out on the boat with family and friends.
Bob Ward
Board Member
Robert (Bob) Ward has held senior level planning positions, for over thirty-five years, with three Fortune 500 companies and one state agency. He is currently President and Chief Marketing Officer for Oaks Financial Services where he concentrates on the areas of tax, estate, and distribution planning for individuals and small businesses. He has been married for over 39 years to Shelley and they have three grown children, and one grandson, who all live in the Twin Cities. Bob's life is also dominated by Jiminy a 7 pound 7 inch tall Yorkshire Terrier who loves to be with Shelley.