Friday, June 27, 2008

Karoline Droege accepts SVSEF devo job

Alpine alum will raise funds

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Former Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation alpine ski racer Karoline Droege of Ketchum has accepted the new position of SVSEF Director of Development, starting July 15.

Droege, 37, will be responsible for all aspects of fundraising for the organization that oversees winter sports programs for about 500 Wood River Valley children. She will be charged with planning, budgeting and donor/supporter relationships.

A native of Germany, Droege learned to ski at Kitzbuehel, Austria and moved to Ketchum with her parents, John and Anna Droege, when she was in the sixth grade. She was a SVSEF alpine team member from 1981-89 and graduated from The Community School in Sun Valley.

Droege competed as an NCAA Division 1 alpine skier for the University of Utah from 1989-93. She completed her undergraduate work at Utah and received her Master's degree in Physical Therapy from Idaho State University, Pocatello.

She has been a part-time coach with the SVSEF alpine team from 1996-02. Since 1999, Karoline has worked with John Koth at Koth Sports Physical Therapy, now located at the Wood River Community YMCA in Ketchum. She is a member of the SVSEF board of directors.

Droege is joining eighth-year SVSEF fund-raising event director Kate Berman and a strong office staff that has brought SVSEF fundraising activities to new levels in recent years, according to a June 24 SVSEF press release.

An enthusiastic mountain biker who enjoys her friends and spending time in the outdoors, Karoline is married to Chris O'Donnell.