I enjoy reflecting on life. As the end of 2025 approaches, I find myself sitting at my desk at Pine Hall Court, sipping on a coffee from Cheese Shoppe, and looking at photos from the past twelve months. Becca and I stopped sending cards a few years ago, so I’ll invest a few minutes to share some updates here.
Holger
Holger graduated during 2025 from Corl Street Elementary School and started sixth-grade at Park Forest Middle School. He is doing very well in school and has a great group of friends. In an interesting twist, his love of soccer continues but has been eclipsed by a love of basketball. He is constantly playing with an indoor, foam basketball, working on his “handle,” and he is playing competitively in a regional league. I am also his team’s coach! I wrote a post about that here: Coaching Post on LinkedIn
Camilla
Camilla is a sophomore at State College High School. She is a wonderful student. Camilla keeps a very busy schedule with various bands — she plays in the marching band, symphonic band, flute choir, and I am sure I am missing others — as well as fitness club, the high school journalism organization, and teaching part-time at Congregation Brit Shalom. She also passed her driver’s permit test yesterday, so to my fellow drivers in Happy Valley… watch out!!
Both kids are thriving in SCASD and at this stage of their lives. Becca and I are so proud of them both!
Becca
Becca is enjoying her work in ArtSmart at State College High School. Her schedule is incredibly busy — her work ethic continues to burn in legendary fashion — and it would be impossible to list her full scope of duties. Organizations she invests into deeply include Congregation Brit Shalom (current treasurer) and the State College Food Bank (board member).
I am personally troubled by issues in State College Area School District and have encouraged Becca to consider resigning her role to enable her to run for school board. My personal view is that many leadership decisions at SCASD have been awful — which is to say, not student centered — and that her voice, as an engaged parent, trained and experienced educator, and intelligent / pragmatic voice, would help return the culture of SCASD to what local families (i.e. students) deserve.
I do not appear to be “making this sale,” though. So, the students in ArtSmart will continue to receive the benefits of Becca’s time and attention near the band rooms!
Valhalla and Business
My business is doing quite well. We have grown in staff, customer count, revenue, and profit. Most importantly, I am proud of the work we are doing. I love the team we have brought together and the partners we have affiliated with. Tim Carroll and Emily Felice are working full-time in State College; Mark Molckovsky, a local physician with a background in software engineering and business, came on this year officially as our medical director. Stuart is active, but he also works a “regular job” in leadership at Members 1st Federal Credit Union. We continue to work closely with Willie Bass — a classmate from NYU-Stern — and I was thrilled to officially begin working with Rich Wilber again.
One of my favorite memories of the year was the Valhalla sponsorship of A Great Big Fight to End Hunger featuring A Great Big World. This charity concert was incredibly fun — and it raised awareness and money for an organization that is very important to the Thorsen family. We wrote a blogpost about the gathering here, if you are curious to learn more. Consider joining Valhalla as a supporter and sponsor during 2026! Link to Valhalla Blog about A Great Big Fight to End Hunger
Among the ways we continue to differentiate for clients’ needs — areas we focus on include health benefits, executive benefits, estate planning, life/disability insurance, and certain corporate finance and HR support — now include tools we are posting to online sites:
- Check out https://finclense.com/
- We continue to build out and post simple calculators for financial modeling, retirement planning, and employee benefit purposes.
- Check out https://complylense.com/
- We are posting our various compliance solutions for group health benefit clients in this area.
- We expect to roll-out ValhallaOS during 2026 — a unique and modern management system for insurance agencies like Valhalla… reach out to me if you are interested in learning more about how we are solving problems with this solution!
We were nominated by the Chamber of Business and Industry of Centre County as “Emerging Business of the Year,” but we did not win. Oh well!
Travel and Music
We had some family travel during 2025. In March we ventured to Aruba.
We also attended an A Great Big World concert in Philadelphia with our local friends, Kathryn and Tony, and my business-school classmate and friend Elizabeth and her husband Steven. That show was amazing!
We enjoyed a week in Maine with Becca’s folks, Ann and Rob, as well as Becca’s siblings, Herschel and Lizzie, as well as Lizzie’s family, Josh and Iggy. Ann and Rob’s home was damaged earlier in the year as a consequence of a large tree falling on it. Thankfully, no one was injured and the repairs were completed this fall.
We visted family in Denmark — across Bornholm, Jylland, and Sjaelland — during the summertime. Our friends Bob and D’Anne also joined us.
I had a bit of business travel during the year: most frequently to New York City, Philadelphia, and Columbus. Included in a trip to NYC in October was an opportunity to attend a show with favorite musicians, Robert Glasper and Bilal. I was surprised to see Questlove sitting next to us!
We enjoyed a short trip to Spain, where we packed a ton into one week around Thanksgiving. We visited our good friend Fernando in Madrid, traveled to Alicante and Elche for a Real Madrid LaLiga match, and checked out Toledo. I have remarked to many of my friends and family that I was overwhelmed by how surprised I was about Madrid: It was cleaner, more beautiful, and more interesting than I expected. My favorite city that I have visited. We will return!
Becca and I attended the Ingrid Michaelson Holiday Hop in Irving Plaza a few weeks ago. It was the first evening Holger and Camilla stayed home alone over night… and it was OK! I was happy to have a night away with Becca in the East Village. Ms Michaelson kept spontaneously crying openly during the show; It was a moving evening… I hope she is OK!
Finally, we just returned from a few days in Springfield, Cambridge, and Boston, MA where we visited the Basketball Hall of Fame, New England Aquarium, and attended a performance of Wonder, adapted from RJ Palacio’s book with music written by A Great Big World.
Odie
Odin — otherwise known as Odie — continues to hold a prominent place on our couch… er. i mean… in our life! His cycle of going from fluffy and seemingly a bit pudgy to closely-shaved and, consequently, surprisingly svelte continues to surprise us all!
Overall, it was a wonderful year in the Thorsen household. I am sad to be leaving the board of State College Food Bank, but pleased that Becca is a new board member; I am also excited about my new role on the board for Mount Nittany Health System.
As I went through the year’s photographs, I have a few more I will post below because I love them! But, I think it is time for an early end to a Wednesday at the office… it is NYE, after all! Happy New Year to you all!
