Knock Publishing Company has a deeply experienced board of directors with varied perspectives and strongly rooted ties in the Door County community. Our board includes members with backgrounds in nonprofit governance, education, religion and business. The board sets policy, while staff handle day-to-day operations.
Board members
Martha Beller was born and raised in a suburb of Boston, then a suburb of Chicago. When she moved to Baileys Harbor in the late 1970s, she thought she’d arrived in the most beautiful, wild and wonderful place she’d ever been. She was assistant manager of The Baileys Harbor Yacht Club for three years, then divorced in 1990, moved to Fish Creek with her two daughters, and began her career in real estate. She was a top producer for 22 years and then in 1992 she was struck by a pickup truck while out for a Sunday run. Recovery from that would forever change the course of her life. In the years to follow, she found a new life in Sturgeon Bay with her husband Bill. Together they’ve travelled extensively throughout the U.S. and 11 provinces of Canada with their dog Omar in their 25 ft. Winnebago Sprinter. Since the accident, her focus has been on resiliency, kindness, and civility, with a daily dose of appreciation for being able to live in this incredible county. Her resume includes work as a membership liaison with the Door County Visitor Bureau and as owner and operator of Tweak Social Media. She’s semi-retired now but still does some social media consulting and also spends time as possible with her two grandsons, Emmett and Oscar, who live just outside Boulder, Colorado.
Susan Ford-Hoffert moved to Door County in 2017 from central Wisconsin. She retired after 25 years from UMR, a United Healthcare Company, where she was vice president—Marketing Communications, overseeing internal and customer communications, advertising and public relations. She has always been active in her community, serving on a number of nonprofit boards, including as founding president of the Central Wisconsin Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the cure. Since settling here in northern Door, her passion for her community has not waned. She served St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Sister Bay, as a Vestry member and Clerk and is currently president of the SCAND Auxiliary, which oversees Bargains Unlimited. An avid birder, she spends a lot of her summer sailing with her husband Stan, and their three dogs, on their boat, Pelican.
Anna Grasse Knapp was born and raised in Northern Door County and graduated from Gibraltar School District. She earned an English degree with an emphasis on secondary education from Carthage College, and taught middle and high school English both in Wisconsin and Anchorage, Alaska. While in Alaska, she received her Masters in Educational Leadership from the University of Alaska. In 2010, she moved back to Door County with her husband and is currently raising her two daughters on the family farm where she grew up. She took a few years off from teaching to raise her young children and operate a small CSA farm, complete with chickens and goats. When her daughters got to be school-age, Anna returned to school to become a special education teacher. She now teaches middle school special education at Gibraltar. Anna values her local community and volunteers with the Girl Scouts and League of Women Voters. She serves on the Board at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Door County and helped with the most recent capital campaign of the Northern Door Children’s Center. In her spare time, you’ll see her running or skiing through our beautiful local parks!
Peter Mannoja is an ELCA pastor in southern Door County, serving Tanum Forest Lutheran Church in Clay Banks. Prior to responding to the call of the church to come to Wisconsin, in Chicago he was a high school and community college professor of English. His favorite class to teach was Creative Writing. He is involved in the community in numerous ways, but particularly in the recovery community. He is married to Amy, who is a musician and former high school band director. Together they have six children and six grandchildren.
Angela Sherman worked for eight years at Peninsula Publishing and Distribution prior to taking time off to raise her children and expand her homestead. She began as the Events Calendar Manager and ended as the Circulation Director. She holds an Associate Degree from the University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley, where she graduated with honors, and a B.A. in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has served on the Gibraltar Area Schools Board of Education and Ephraim Business Council and currently helps with the Door County Seed Library. When she’s not in the garden or preserving food, she’s spending time with her husband, three sons, and miniature schnauzer.
Reagan Smoker is relatively new to Door County after moving to Sturgeon Bay in 2018. She is originally from Lancaster, PA and resided in Philadelphia for more than a decade. Reagan left her fast-paced retail career to run the family business at the Inn at Cedar Crossing. Her passion for the Door peninsula stems from her love of the outdoors and community. Reagan hopes her presence on the board can help conserve and protect the community by facilitating working through our struggles together.
Tom Toerpe is a Senior Vice President in the capital markets department at Associated Bank. He was born in Chicago, raised in Milwaukee, and holds degrees from Marquette University and Northwestern University’s Graduate School of Management. He has lived in Baileys Harbor for more than 20 years, when he and his wife Kathy moved to Door County. Their five adult children are all graduates of Gibraltar High School. In addition to his 35-year career as a banker, Tom has played trumpet in the New Horizons community band, his photography has appeared on the cover of Door County Living magazine, and he was co-owner of a small business in Sister Bay. He has also served as a board member of multiple local non-profits, including the Northern Door Children’s Center, JUST Door County, and the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Door County.
Emeritus board members
Alan Kopischke is a university lecturer in both Theatre and in Arts Management, as well as an Equity actor, and an arts consultant specializing in launching new programs. He has served in staff and board leadership positions in arts nonprofits and local government, consulted with dozens of arts nonprofits, and launched the Cultural Alliance of Milwaukee, The Big Read Door County, Peninsula Players’ The Play’s the Thing staged reading program, and the Door Kinetic Arts Festival. Alan earned an MFA in Acting from the American Conservatory Theater and a BS in Math from the University of Miami, completed the Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management program at Harvard Business School, and has served on grant review panels for the Wisconsin Arts Board, the Milwaukee Arts Board and the Wisconsin Department of Tourism’s JEM grants. Alan is a founding board member of Knock and served on the board from 2020-22.
Martha Luber Pelrine was born in Milwaukee and spent summers in Little Sister Bay picking strawberries, waterskiing and adventuring via boat around the Great Lakes. In 1972 her parents purchased Little Sister Resort and she continued high school at Gibraltar. After graduation she moved west and received her pharmacy degree from the University of Utah (and skied a lot). Martha returned to Sturgeon Bay where she met her husband Ray Pelrine after spending a decade in Salt Lake. Ray and Martha’s two children were born in Eau Claire while Ray was district attorney there and then the family returned to Little Sister Bay where Martha served on the school board for 12 years. She also currently serves on the Door Community Auditorium Board and is a trustee for The Nature Conservancy of Wisconsin. Martha served on the Knock board from 2021-24.
Dr. Stephen Seyfer entered public school as a student in 1953 and retired from its employment in 2012. Across 59 years in public schools as student, teacher and administrator, he became a constant and continuous commenter on the life and times of our nation’s greatest institution. His career included teaching in Michigan and Iowa, principaling in Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, and district administration in Wisconsin. His current work includes election to a local school board, consulting for CESA 7 (Green Bay), blogging on Causing Learning.com, turning custom wood products for Wood in Hand, LLC, and grandfathering. Steve is a founding board member of Knock and served on the board from 2020-22.
Rev. Dawn Volpe is a native of Staten Island, New York. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.S. degree in Elementary Education from Wagner College (S.I.). Upon graduating college, she became a classroom teacher in Brooklyn, N.Y., before moving to Lititz, PA, where she served as Director of Christian Education at Lititz Moravian Church. Following her tenure at Lititz, she earned a Master of Divinity degree from Moravian Theological Seminary. After 25 years serving congregations in Bronx, NY and New Carrollton, Maryland, she and her family moved to beautiful Door County, where she has been the pastor of Ephraim Moravian Church since 2010. Her son, Robert is an artist and a graduate of Gibraltar HS. Her husband, Bob serves on two fire departments as well as being a First Responder. Dawn is a founding board member of Knock and served on the board from 2020-22.