Danielle Garbe Reser ’97

Danielle Garbe Reser ’97 has served on the Board of Trustees since 2021, spearheading the presidential search process that resulted in the hiring of Sarah Bolton. Prior to becoming a Trustee, Garbe Reser volunteered on the President’s Advisory Board and the Alumni Board from 2007–2021. As a student, she played on the Whitman women’s tennis team and was involved as an Admission Office Volunteer, a writer for the student newspaper, a sorority member, and a leader of the Young Democrats. Having received a full-ride Sherwood Scholarship to Whitman herself, Garbe Reser is dedicated to investing both in the college’s greatest needs and in scholarship programs that make a Whitman education accessible for more students, including the NaShuntae Pleasant-Miles fund and the J. Antonio “Tony” Cabasco fund. After graduating Phi Beta Kappa, cum laude, with honors in Politics, Garbe Reser worked in the Whitman Admission Office for two years and then earned a Master of Public Administration degree from Columbia University. Her Whitman education and alumni connections introduced her to the Foreign Service, and she served as a diplomat with the U.S. Department of State from 2001–2015, including postings in Jakarta, Beirut and the White House. Returning to Walla Walla in 2015, Garbe Reser became CEO of Sherwood Trust and now serves as CEO of Blue Mountain Action Council. She and her husband, Todd Reser, make their home on the Reser family farm, which celebrates its 160th anniversary this year.