Please join me in extending sincere condolences to Meghan Walsh, our Prospect Management Consultant for the Southern region. Her father, Daniel Roche O’Connor, Jr., passed away in Salisbury, MD this Saturday at the age of 88. Daniel was a Navy veteran who gave over 30 years of service to his country in various government roles. A Notre Dame alum from the class of 1959, Daniel was blessed to spend the last day of his life with his children cheering the Irish to victory.

More information about Daniel’s life and funeral arrangements can be found here: https://www.bradshawandsonsfuneralhome.com/obituary/daniel-roche-oconnor-jr?lud=F0CE2E8DC804069E49BE0F2B395F3397

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.

-Jonathan Retartha

Wendy Sigala-Rubio welcomed her beautiful daughter, Aliah, into the world on November 9th at 11:40pm weighing 7 pounds. Both mom and baby are doing well!

Dear Colleagues,

Please join us in congratulating Maureen Daday on her recent promotion to Assistant Program Director (APD) on the DC Team of Regional Development. Maureen has been an integral partner in Gift Planning since 2019 after she graduated with a MS in Management from Notre Dame. She’s a proud alumna of Saint Mary’s College with a BA in Music.

Maureen has worked in tandem with Chris DeTrempe, Jessica Brice, and Sarah Wodrich. At the beginning of the pandemic, she successfully took over management of the Life Insurance Program, stewarding ~50 donors and providing research to advance the program. She also helped RaeLee Rea bring the estate program into the digital era. Besides her work duties, as a dedicated contributor to UR culture, Maureen is best known for captaining the Benchwarmers softball team and her work on the DEIU GEE committee.

In her new role, Maureen will continue her current responsibilities while taking on new project-based work and mentoring partnerships. This will include strategizing with the Gift Planning team, training people inside and outside of Gift Planning, and continuous improvement processes.

Congratulations on the well-earned promotion, Maureen!

-Jen Koebel and Lori Tinkey

Dear Colleagues,

I write to announce that Curtis Claypool will be transitioning from his role as a Regional Director on the New York Metro team effective December 31. During this transition, Curtis will report to Brian Diss and work closely with the Advancement Services team to benchmark and adopt best practices for Regional Director hiring, on-boarding, and training.

Since joining the New York Metro team in June 2019, Curtis has created and deepened important relationships on behalf of the University and raised critical funds for Notre Dame students. Needless to say, he will be missed by his teammates and donors.

Please join me in thanking Curtis for his numerous contributions to our team and wishing him well in his next endeavor.

All the best,
Ryan

Thank you to all who attended the Stewardship & Donor Relations team’s Endowment Report Education Session with Special Guest Trent Grocock on Nov. 2nd. Please find HERE a link to the slide deck from the session as well as a full recording. Please reach out to Cristi Ganyard at cganyard@nd.edu with any questions or feedback.

We are so happy to announce the promotion of Laura Walker! Members of the Badin Guild have been the lucky recipients of Laura’s stewardship, newsletters, cards, warmth, and prayers since 2014.

Laura has been a dedicated, flexible, and steady member of the development team in her eight years of service. She spent her first seven years as part of the Annual Fund team and moved to Stewardship & Donor Relations just over a year ago so that her role could fully focus on and expand the stewardship programs and efforts for Badin Guild members.

Today, we show the University’s appreciation by announcing her promotion to Program Director, Badin Guild Stewardship. Recently of note, Laura has created new stewardship programs for our benefactors with $10 million+ estate gifts and also widows and widowers. Whether making her monthly visit to the Grotto to pray for deceased members of the Notre Dame Family, planning innovative and meaningful events, deepening relationships with members of the Badin Guild, or selecting just the right photo from the Archives to share with her population, Laura conducts her work with excellence, integrity, and great care. Thank you, Laura, and congratulations!

-Sara Kassen

The newest episode of “The Grace of Giving” podcast is out featuring Annual Giving Program Assistant Director, Dezha Moore! In this episode, recorded in the St. Joe Coffee Company in the newly renovated St. Joseph Country Public Library in downtown South Bend, we talk with Dezha about and her journey to Annual Giving, what keeps her motivated in her work, and what it was like to record her new album. Listen now! Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram and fill out this form to appear as a guest.

You can find the photos from this year’s UR Spooktacular at the link below:

https://photos.nd.edu/gallery/CP-10-27-22-University-Relations-Spooktacular/G0000uaQiB5uq89U

password: photos

The Gift and Data Management team will be out of the office on Wednesday afternoon for a service and team building activity. The general phone and email will be covered by Mary Bueno and we’ll respond to outstanding issues on Thursday.