Cathy David – Inspired Leadership Initiative

Originally publish in the ILI Newsletter March 2020

Cathy David moved to South Bend (for the second time) about six months ago. She had some friends in the area but has made plenty more and also met with plenty of students. She has visited local museums, taken in theatre, hiked state parks, and could give a restaurant suggestion for whatever your taste. All this, while tackling the University of Notre Dame’s Inspired Leadership Initiative (ILI) coursework and programming.

It’s David’s enchantment with the world around her—wherever she might be—that has buoyed her successful career and fulfilling life.

“I love trying to understand how people live and think and what their lives look like as a whole, she says, “So I have worked mostly in consumer products and the home industry. I am fascinated by people and ideas and possibilities.”

Surrounded by accounting professionals in her family, David says she was “born a business major.” She serendipitously wound up at Notre Dame after a high school boyfriend introduced her to the school, and she discovered its prestige in this field. She was also born a leader, and while she earned a marketing degree from ND, she served as president of her residence hall and student body vice president.

Graduating with three job offers, she spent the summer in Japan teaching children English and then started her career in California with Gallo Winery.

“My goal from early in my career has been to be happy, to be challenged, and to make a difference,” she says, and while she was at Gallo and later at Target, she continued to serve Notre Dame as the young alumni member of the Mendoza College of Business Advisory Council and Board of Trustees.

Since then, she has lived in eight different states—some multiple times—packing up “for school, for work, and for love.”

One move for school came after her time at Gallo. Planning to pivot her career toward international brand management and eventually move overseas, David enrolled in Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. She earned an MBA focused on international relations and added organizational behavior because it interested her.

She also took her next job because it interested her—a lesson in following your instincts.

“I went to work for a really small company that had 300 stores based in the Midwest called Target,” she says, recognizing the irony. “There was something about the company. I thought it was fascinating.”

Believing that the more you know about a business from end to end, the more effective you can be, David was a buyer and asked for a field assignment. She worked in a store and then returned to HQ and the Merchandising team. As part of her role, she participated in campus recruiting and established the relationship between Notre Dame and Target. And when the Internet came along, and Target had not yet committed to the technology, she planned to find a new company where she could work in the e-commerce space. Instead, they asked her to stay and help launch the new venture. She became one of the first employees of target.com, ultimately rising to vice-president and general manager.

Thirsty for new adventures, David moved to new businesses and new corners of the country. She was president of a frame company in Austin, Texas, then she went to the Great Indoors, then Kirkland’s, and then she moved to small-town Tennessee, bought a restaurant, and raced and raised thoroughbred horses (her husband’s passion).

Most recently, she retired from Pier One as chief merchant—a perfect fit role that took her around the world studying people and seeking out interesting products. She still makes her home in the company’s home of Fort Worth. It was during this last phase, and in a brief period of time, that David became both a widow and a breast cancer “overcomer” (her word, which suits her better than “survivor”). These hardships weigh on David, but they do not weigh her down. She has kept her wide-eyed captivation with the world and the people in it. She is cheerful and hopeful and grateful. She would tell you that other people have faced far worse.

It was with this mindset, she decided to take a break when she left Pier One.

“I was new to not-employed, and I wanted to take a gap year. I spent a lot of time traveling and visiting family and friends—being present and with people I hadn’t been able to connect with due to the busyness of life. I was able to do some hands-on work with charities I have supported financially, such as sorting donations at the food pantry and delivering Meals on Wheels to clients.”

But in time, this amazing freedom felt less and less so.

“When everything’s possible,” David says, “It’s almost paralyzing. It’s hard to focus on what matters most. At the time I was 55, and I am going to live to be 104, and I felt like I should have a little more purpose in terms of what was important to me.”

Still connected to her alma mater through various roles, including Hesburgh Women of Impact and the Undergraduate Experience Advisory Council, David heard about the ILI program and was invited to attend a Discovery Weekend. But she wasn’t convinced.

“Then three friends each sent me notes about the program, and said this is for you,” she recalls. “These were people who knew me, and had a good sense for me, and were people I really respected.”

Feeling like this might be a “God wink,” David was compelled to at least attend an ILI Discovery Weekend. She did so—with a list of reasons why enrolling wasn’t a good idea—but she left committed to applying.

“It was one of those things where suddenly I really thought it was the next right thing,” she says.

And halfway through her time in the program, she can confirm it was.

“I love asking questions, exploring options, being part of the University, being in classes, and having relationships with students and professors,” she says. “And I am fortunate to have some great friends outside of the program and inside the program.”

As such, David may already be playing a role in “God winks” for future fellows.

“When people find out about the program, they see the incredible value in the experience and want to be a part of the program when the time is right for them,” she says.

David believes the ILI will flourish and more and more people will be continuing their education or retiring to college communities, like her current hometowns of South Bend and Fort Worth.

They would be lucky to know David. She could offer unparalleled advice on any activity and invaluable friendship on any adventure.

HWOI Fall 2020 Virtual Sessions

Unprecedented: Leadership for a World in Need
Featuring:
Marie Lynn Miranda – Charles and Jill Fischer Provost
Anne Thompson – HWOI Co-Founder and Board of Trustee Member
Cindy Parseghian – HWOI Co-Founder and Board of Trustee Member

Watch Here

Hesburgh Women of Impact Presents: “You Are Home: Caring for Our Students of Color”
Featuring:
Angie Torain – Senior Associate Athletics Director for Culture, Diversity and Engagement
Pamela Nolan Young – Director for Academic Diversity and Inclusion
Megan Brown – Director, McDonald Center for Student Well-Being
Arnel Bulaoro – Director, Office of Multicultural Student Programs and Services

Watch Here

Hesburgh Women of Impact Presents: “A Fighting Chance: Coronavirus, Catholic Schools, and Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education”
Featuring:
John Schoenig – Senior Director, Teacher Formation and Education Policy
Sr. Gail Mayotte SASV – Academic Director, ACE M.Ed.

Watch Here

Hesburgh Women of Impact Presents: “The Coronavirus and Navigating Financial Uncertainty”
Featuring:
Jessica McManus Warnell – Associate Teaching Professor of Management & Organization
Jessica Brice – Gift Planning Program Director

Watch Here

Notre Dame Women & Endow

Before Claire Fyrqvist (’05), Teresa Hodgins (MTS ’12), Laura Zambrana (MDiv ’13), and Katie Smith (MDiv ’14) worked together to form a community for Endow; they worked together developing community at Notre Dame. Notre Dame’s focus on educating both the head and the heart is engrained in this group of women, and they bring that experience to the mission of Endow. Endow unites the intellectual tradition of the Catholic Church with an intentional community through the creation of study guides and assisting women in finding small groups.

Claire Fyrqvist is a mother of five who got her start with lifelong learning and writing in Notre Dame’s Program of Liberal Studies. She is returning to South Bend from a year in the beautiful Pacific Northwest where her husband grew up, and she is looking forward to plugging back into the university’s Catholic intellectual life. She has loved working with Endow and its mission by women for women in the Church.  Someday she hopes her daughters will be in their study groups!

Teresa Hodgins is a writer and grant manager for Endow. After graduating from the Master of Theological Studies program in 2012, she moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, which is still home base for many adventures with her husband and three small children. While at Notre Dame, Teresa loved all of the opportunities, both in academics and in the community, to engage Theology with other subjects and the secular culture. In many ways, Endow was her chance to continue this engagement–she discovered and joined Endow when looking for ways to deepen both her spiritual life and her connection to her community and loves working to help others do the same. She loves that Endow allows women to take on the rich intellectual tradition of the Church while also helping them to form authentic friendships as they wrestle with these truths. 

Laura Zambrana currently works as the Director of Content at Endow. She is a 2013 graduate of the University of Notre Dame’s Master of Divinity program. She was delighted to study at Notre Dame, combining both the head and the heart, following in Bl. Basil Moreau’s educational philosophy. Laura is also an avid Notre Dame football fan. During her time at ND she joined the co-ed football team and had the privilege of playing in the intramural championships in the Notre Dame Stadium and winning! Laura has been a member of the Endow family since 2010. When the opportunity to join the Endow team arose in 2018, she was delighted to join a mission so closely tied to her own – formed the hearts and minds of women to be beacons of light in the world. Laura and her husband James have three future Domers – Peter, Helen, and Jane – and live in San Gabriel, CA. 

Katie Smith is the Executive Director of Endow. Before attending Notre Dame, Katie worked as an Operations and Program Manager in technology. After graduating from Notre Dame with a Masters of Divinity, she set out to combine her operations experience with her theological education to serve the Catholic Church. Education of the head and the heart is one of the things that attracted Katie to Notre Dame, and she loves carrying on the tradition through her work at Endow. She and her husband live in South Bend with their little one on the way and their dog, Henri.

To find out more about Endow, and the amazing work these four ND graduates are doing, visit endowgroups.org.

Hesburgh Women of Impact 2020 Retreat Update

To the Hesburgh Women of Impact,

It is with a heavy heart that I must announce the cancellation of the Hesburgh Women of Impact 2020 Retreat. Please know this decision was the result of careful consideration and discussion regarding the COVID-19 situation, with the safety and wellbeing of our speakers and attendees being our top priority. While this is disappointing, we know that this is the best course of action to protect our Notre Dame family, especially those who may be at a higher risk of infection.

If you have already registered for this year’s retreat, you will be refunded your entire registration fee. No action is required on your part. We have had women reach out to let us know that in the event the retreat was cancelled, they were interested in donating their registration fee to the Student Emergency Relief Fund. You can do so here. 100% percent of gifts made to the fund directly benefit those students whose financial status has been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

While we aren’t able to gather this year, we do look forward to hosting everyone on campus for the Hesburgh Women of Impact Retreat in June of 2021! Next year’s retreat will run from June 25th-27th. We will be hosting the retreat in conjunction with the rescheduled Billy Joel concert, so registration for 2021 will again include the option to receive a premium club ticket. We will send out further information later in the year.

Thank you for all you do to support both the Hesburgh Women of Impact Initiative and the wider Notre Dame family. It is through our shared love, dedication, and belief in the mission that we will emerge from these challenging times stronger and more impactful than ever.

Please know that you and your families are in my prayers, and I eagerly await the day we can all gather together again under the Golden Dome.

Stay well.

With gratitude,
Grace Prosniewski