‘I don’t do all of these things for the recognition’

Rachel Kroeger

Staff

June 16, 2025

FOND DU LAC – A home-grown example of how community connection can empower up-and-coming generations is humbly celebrating being named Envision Greater Fond du Lac’s 2024 Young Professional of the Year.

Mason Gravelle – the philanthropy development manager with SSM Health’s internal Agnesian Healthcare Foundation – said when he started his journey with the chamber’s Young Professionals of Fond du Lac (YPF) program in college, he didn’t set out to collect accolades.

“I don’t do all of these things for the recognition,” he said. “That’s never been a motive of mine. It’s always (been about) doing the right thing… doing the work that we need to do, supporting one another and giving everyone else the credit they deserve as well.”

Gravelle said if it weren’t for what the award means to his work at the foundation and the chamber, he’s not sure he would’ve accepted it.

“(Receiving the award) challenged my humility,” he said, “but as adverse as I was to accepting the honor, I’m grateful that I did.”

Over the years, as his involvement with the YPF program and the chamber grew, Gravelle said he was made the target of several recognitions – all of which he declined.

“Every other award that they have nominated me for – whether it was Young Professional of the Month or the Future Five awards – I’ve probably been nominated for either one of those, or both, every year for the last handful of years, and I’ve always declined,” he said. “I think that’s been a motive of some of my fellow (Advisory Committee) members, (also) with Young Professionals, is that one way or another, someday, they were going to get me to accept recognition or an award.”

That day, Gravelle said, came this year when he was nominated for and won the 2024 Young Professional of the Year award.

“I’m sure I won’t ever become a fan of seeing my face plastered everywhere and all of the congratulations that I got,” he said, “but I am – at the end of the day – thankful and grateful that I accepted it.”

Philanthropy, professional connection

Recently, Gravelle celebrated his seventh anniversary at SSM working for the Agnesian Healthcare Foundation – an organization he said he found himself working for after graduating from Marian University in 2019 with a degree in healthcare management.

“(After graduation), I was on the marketing team for three, four years supporting the foundation and some of the philanthropy work,” he said. “Then there was an opportunity to move over to the foundation, so I did that. Now I’m on my second or third role in the foundation.”

Over his near decade with the foundation, Gravelle said he worked his way into his current leadership role.

“With the changes of our team over the last year or two, we’ve had some fluidity,” he said. “I have stepped into being the leader of the foundation in its current state – right now, driving the strategy behind fundraising.”

The foundation’s fundraising strategy, Gravelle said, is rooted in three larger events organized and hosted by his staff and SSM.

“Most of that is… taking on operational duties, leading some of the structure, the strategy, supporting my three colleagues on what work needs to get done and what they need to be successful,” he said. “That is seemingly what I do all day, every day, and it goes by very, very quickly.”

Gravelle said he describes the Agnesian Foundation as the “philanthropic arm of the services that SSM offers in Greater Fond du Lac.”

“We’re fundraising to support (initiatives) within our own walls, within our own brick and mortar,” he said. “So, we’re not a community foundation. We don’t typically give externally… We fundraise to support our providers, our patients, our own facilities and the needs of providing excellent care and enhanced technology, enhanced patient care, safety – all those good things.”

Gravelle said that is work that requires quick action, attention to detail and exceptional time management of himself and his staff.

“I’m usually flying in and out of my office, or my door (is) shut because I’m on meetings,” he said. “Sometimes, we’re all in the same hallway, and I might only see everyone maybe once or twice a day, briefly, (and) that goes for all of us.”

Gravelle said his involvement with the chamber and YPF have helped him in his role at the foundation by connecting him with the Fond du Lac business community.

“Even though you grow up in a community and you live here your whole life, there’s still a lot to learn, there’s still a lot of people to meet (and) there’s still a lot of networking to do,” he said. “I would say YPF gave me that opportunity to meet other people, to learn about other industries, to involve myself in volunteer opportunities (and) certain other things that I probably wouldn’t have otherwise.”

Especially in the industry of fundraising, Gravelle said “it doesn’t hurt to know as many people as you can.”

“You never know when knowing someone might make a fruitful connection for you, really, in any work, any industry – but especially in fundraising,” he said.

‘Twofold’ community give-back

In a small community such as Fond du Lac, Gravelle said there’s “a lot of great nonprofit work” happening and everyone “wants a little piece of it” – something he is deeply familiar with in his role at SSM.

“I know that because I actually still assist with both angles (of the Agnesian Healthcare Foundation’s work),” he said. “I field all of the sponsorship requests from all of those community members and events and organizations from the SSM angle, and then, in turn, I also solicit and make those major gift and sponsorship requests for the foundation. So, it’s kind of twofold.”

His large professional and social network is how Gravelle said he’s benefited the most from his more than decade-long involvement with the YPF program.

“Networking and just having people in your corner – knowing the right people or knowing someone to connect you with the right person – I think, is probably what stands out the most in my day-to-day work, and how YPF has benefited me,” he said.

Now, as he continues to develop in his roles at SSM and Envision Greater FDL, Gravelle said he is looking to help future generations find their path – just as SSM did for him.

“When I was still in college at Marian… I was connected with someone who had worked at SSM at the time,” he said. “I had the opportunity to further connect with some of our senior leaders for some job shadowing – just to learn more about the industry.”

In health care, Gravelle said people typically only see the patient-care side of the business, despite the complexities that exist in the industry.

“The consumer doesn’t know what it takes to make a place like this go around, and neither did I at the time,” he said. “There are a lot of other things on the other side of the business that happen, so shadowing there really helped me see all of that, learn all of that and then figure out where I wanted to be in the healthcare space. So, that was pivotal to have that opportunity.”

SSM and Envision Greater FDL’s YPF program, Gravelle said, share a like-minded goal – to develop, attract and retain talent to the Fond du Lac and Greater Northeastern Wisconsin community – which he said makes his congruent work with both organizations even more appropriate.

“SSM really does believe in investing in their employees, developing career paths and goals for them,” he said.

Echoing that sentiment, Anna Huck – events specialist and Young Professionals of Fond du Lac program director – said Gravelle gives back to the Fond du Lac community both through his work at SSM Health and with the chamber.

“Mason’s role with SSM Health is all about giving back in the community, and Mason extends this beyond work by donating his own time and talent as a volunteer,” she said. “He embodies generosity in all things he does, and Fond du Lac is lucky to have him as an asset to help make it a great place to live, play and work.”

Showcasing recognition-worthy work

Though “born and raised in Fond du Lac,” Gravelle said his initial brush with Envision Greater FDL and the YPF program happened in college.

“(I) left just briefly to try out the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee my freshman year, (but) wasn’t much of a fan of that,” he said. “So, I decided to come back and figure out what I wanted to do, what I was going to get my degree in… (and) I ended up going to Marian.”

There, Gravelle said he was required to take a “career development class” where he was assigned a project involving YPF.

“Engaging with the young professionals was one of the projects that we all had to do,” he said. “So, I started (working with them) back when I was still in college.”

Now, roughly seven years after graduation, Gravelle said his relationship with YPF and Envision Greater FDL has not only continued, but “blossomed.”

“(After that class), there were obviously no requirements of how involved (Marian students had to) stay (with YPF),” he said. “But, from there, I stayed engaged, was asked to be on a committee, was asked to be on their advisory council, and it kind of blossomed from there.”

Though adverse to accepting awards and recognition, Gravelle said he is “a pretty loud person.”

“I’m definitely an extrovert, but the awards, the recognition, it’s just something that deep down in my being I’m not looking for and makes me uncomfortable,” he said.

However, Gravelle said he could see the benefit in accepting the award for the work he does and for his employer.

“What made me decide to say, ‘Sure, I’ll accept it – I’ll run with it,’ (is) taking myself out of it,” he said, “It’s something that I need to do, not only for SSM as my employer but to showcase the great work that Envision (Greater FDL) and Young Professionals (of Fond du Lac) do.”