Katherine Horstmann Huebert (1984), Craig School of Business
By ESRA HASHEM
To the surprise of her parents, Katherine Huebert was born with a cleft palate. In the first 15 years of her life, she underwent over 16 surgeries.
“That gave me a lot of character and really broadly is the base of who I am today,” Katherine says. “The strength that [my parents] gave me to get through that, the perseverance — it took a lot.”
Katherine has always admired her parents. So when the time came to choose a college, she enrolled at Fresno State.
“My parents have always been advocates of Fresno State,” Katherine says. “That’s where they met — that was the base of their relationship…They’ve been married for 59 years.”
Katherine joined a sorority at Fresno State and played tennis. She studied marketing, earning her bachelor’s degree in 1984. Like her parents, Katherine also met her husband while at Fresno State — to whom she’s been married for 32 years.
“Fresno State was always a strong part of our community, our background and our family,” she says. “It still is today. I can’t imagine not having it as a part of our lives, because so many of our best things have come from Fresno State.”
Katherine has been part of the insurance and financial industry since 1985. She is Vice President of Employee Benefits at Horstmann Financial and Insurance Services, which has been nominated multiple times for the California Family Business Awards, and has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau under her leadership.
Her community involvement is notable. Katherine is a member of the Society of Financial Services Professionals, a past president and board member of the Sierra Kings District Hospital, a Reedley Rotarian and a Valley Children’s Hospital Guild Member, helping raise tens of thousands of dollars each year for the hospital.
At her alma mater, she is a strong supporter of the Craig School of Business, serving on the college’s Business Advisory Council. She assisted with the college’s first annual Philanthropy Summit in 2016 and has contributed over $10,000 to various campus programs, including the Business Associates program and the Institute for Family Business. She has also been instrumental in launching a campaign to renovate the University Business Center.
“It’s amazing what we’ve achieved, and what we will continue to achieve for our students,” Katherine says. “Being a Bulldog is a gift of a lifetime.”
