When Katie Iverson ’26 first stepped foot onto the University of St. Thomas campus, she knew she would fit right in as a student, and not just because she had a place on the Tommie's D-I Swim and Dive team. It was because of the numerous opportunities available to allow her to grow as a person and engaged member of society.
“I just want to continue developing into the best student, employee, daughter that I can, and I have to know weaknesses and remind myself of them in order for that to happen.”
Iverson, a self-described perfectionist, said she’s come to learn during her time at St. Thomas that failure is crucial. She has grown to understand that continuous improvement is more important than striving for perfection and that has helped her in her academic and extracurricular activities.
St. Thomas, with a growing focus on an entrepreneurial spirit for all students regardless of major, was a natural choice for her.
Now a senior double majoring in accounting and business law and compliance, with minors in philosophy and sustainability, Iverson said her interest in business started with her parents’ family business and their close relationships with employees.
“That culture, I just really took to it and liked how it was an extension of what our family values were,” Iverson said. “I thought it was cool; you could see that grow into a career.”
Diligence pays off
As a GHR Fellow, Iverson engages in programs with a global perspective and that are business-focused. A unique experience was her trip to Ghana.
“It was the first time I was a minority ever in my life,” Iverson said. “You walk into a room, and everyone stares at you because you look different. That was the first time I ever experienced that.”
She said the experience gave her an opportunity to learn history from a completely different perspective.
“Katie has always had a voice sort of in private, but over time, she’s used that voice in their groups as a leader,” said Adrian Perryman, who as director of the GHR Fellows Program, has known Iverson since her freshman year. “She is creative and driven servant leader.”
Iverson also has been involved in the Undergraduate Business Council, where she discovered a sustainability minor and was encouraged by a friend to apply for the position of director of sustainability.
“I just kind of ran with it,” Iverson said. “It was a fun challenge.”
Iverson also dived into a project through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP). In working with Stacey Supina, an assistant professor in the Ethics and Business Law Department at Opus College of Business, she compared fraud in nonprofit and for-profit businesses.
“She works really hard; she’s just very diligent,” Supina said. “If she’s not understanding something right away, which is rare, she works at it until she understands it.”
Public speaking was once a weakness for Iverson, but she improved after taking a course put together by a few professors. That achievement led her to present at a conference and win a student paper competition.
“Katie is brave, diligent, and energetic – I use her as an example for my class,” Supina said.
Throughout Iverson’s years at St. Thomas, she’s had lots of work experiences, as shown on her resume: internships at accounting firm Brady Martz & Associates, the St. Thomas Controller’s Office, and KPMG in New York. But getting there wasn’t easy.
“I was getting rejected a lot, like a lot,” Iverson said. “But it was good for me. Like I said, failure is essential in order to grow.”
In helping her grow, she served on the Damus Board where she helped issue accolades to nonprofits that focused on mental health.
“Being on the other side of philanthropy, while having this incredible gift and blessing of being a recipient, was a cool perspective,” Iverson said. “It had allowed me to create so much more gratitude for the situation I’m in, which was a really powerful thing that I got out of that experience.”
Weighing career options
As a college senior, Iverson is considering both professional and service paths once graduating. She hopes to pursue a CPA license and a J.D., with possible careers in compliance, ethics, or financial law.
Before that path, she plans to do a yearlong program abroad in January called Las Familias de Familias in Spanish but also called the Center for Working Families.
“My parents totally think I’m crazy,” Iverson said, smiling. “But the more I talk about it, the more it’s sticking and the more it’s coming into my plans.”
Her advice to other students is easy: Don’t be afraid of rejection.
“I got rejected from UBC my sophomore year, so I tried again,” she said. “You also don’t have to be on the board or executive board or anything to be involved, and don’t get involved in things you don’t like.”
For Iverson, sometimes success isn’t about having everything planned out. “I love this age, because you don’t know what’s going to happen, and you can’t plan it. So, I’m excited for the opportunities that I don’t know that are going to come.”
