Kathryn van der Pol

Born: Kathryn was born in Eureka, California.

Grew up in: Kathryn grew up in the Navy as a daughter of a naval officer. She spent four years of her childhood in Japan.

College: Kathryn graduated from Rice University with a degree in Latin. Se was a summer Fellow at the American Academy in Rome.

1st Job.  Kathryn’s first job was delivering newspapers, the Pacific Stars & Stripes in Yokosuka, Japan.

Other Jobs: Kathryn taught Latin and history for 24 years. Seventeen of those years were at St. John’s School in Houston. She also taught for 7 years at St. Thomas Episcopal.  After teaching 24 years, she switched gears and operated a 14-bay auto repair shop for another 17 years.

Came to Houston: Kathryn moved to Houston in 1978 to attend Rice University and never left, although she spends time in the countryside of Washington, Texas.

Current Career: Kathryn is an entrepreneur and operates Ready2Roll Cycling with her husband and an event center in Washington County.

Offices held and Affiliation and Memberships:

Kathryn is still an ASE Certified Service Advisor and hold her Automotive master’s in automotive management.

In 2012 Kathryn received the National ASA Legislative Award.

Kathryn is an alumna from the Goldman Sachs 10000 Small Business program.

For the past three years, Kathryn has served on the board member of the BBB Education Foundation.

Kathryn was recognized as the Most Valuable Member of the Year in the State of Texas for ASA. 

Kathryn has served as President of the Houston chapter of the Automotive Service Association, and the Professional Women’s Exchange Group, a private women’s business organization and past director of the Greater Heights Chamber of Commerce. 

In 2008, Kathryn founded the North Shepherd Community Alliance currently named the North Shepherd District.

Hobbies: Kathryn enjoys bike riding with Sybren across Texas roads. She writes a Sunday opinion column on history for a small-town paper.  She also loves gardening and history. 

Kathryn also keeps honeybees and likes to write.

Family: Kathryn & Sybren have three daughters and three grandchildren.