Kathy Callen is known for her hard work on behalf of organizations in Fort Wayne, but especially for her humility. At a recent Women’s Leadership networking event held at Brookside, she accepted congratulations on her recent award when chatting with friends, but asked, “Why me, when there are so many other worthy people in the community?”

Interim Saint Francis President Dr. Lance Richey acknowledges this hardworking yet modest characteristic in The Journal Gazette article about Kathy, sharing, “Not only is she too humble to admit it, she’s too humble to know it.” He added, “She can’t begin to understand the impact she’s having.”

One notable improvement at Saint Francis, the Doermer Family Foundation Immersive Learning Laboratory, would not have been possible without Callen’s advocacy. The university is using a $250,000 gift from the Doermer Family Foundation to create this immersive suite, the first of its kind in Indiana, to allow students to experience several medical simulations.

“Kathy wants to make sure that her efforts really are focused on who the students are, what their needs are and how we can help them access education and the life-changing opportunities that it offers them,” Richey explained in The Journal Gazette article.