Governor Tim Pawlenty announced Friday that Gustavus Adolphus College graduate Ivy S. Bernhardson (’73) has been appointed to one of three trial court bench vacancies in the Fourth Judicial District in Hennepin County. Bernhardson was named along with Peter A. Cahill and William H. Koch.
Bernhardson is the chief legal officer at the Hazelden Foundation, a position she has held since 2004. She was a shareholder at the Leonard, Street and Deinard law firm in Minneapolis from 2000 to 2004, except for four months in 2002, when she was senior vice president and general counsel with Medica Health Plans in Minnetonka. Prior to joining Leonard, Street and Deinard, she was a staff attorney, associate counsel, senior associate counsel, and associate general counsel with General Mills, Inc. in Golden Valley from 1978 to 2000.
After graduating magna cum laude from Gustavus in 1973, Bernhardson earned her juris doctorate degree cum laude from the University of Minnesota in 1978.
“Our courts are best served by judges who bring a variety of professional experiences with them to the bench,” Governor Pawlenty said. “Ivy has excelled in civil law, and her expertise in this area will be a great benefit to the Hennepin County courts.”
Bernhardson is a former chair of the Gustavus Board of Trustees. She is a member of the American, Minnesota State, and Hennepin County Bar Associations, as well as the American Health Lawyers Association, Corporate Counsel Association, University of St. Thomas Law School Board of Governors, and the Society of Corporate Secretaries and Governance Professionals, of which she is past president of the Twin Cities Chapter. In addition, she serves on the board of directors of the Greater Twin Cities United Way, is a trustee of the Bush Foundation, as well as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Board of Pensions.
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