In an effort to continue the momentum from our strong fiscal year-end close and our current year’s production pace that projects to a record first quarter, I want to share our plan to fill the open positions in the Northwest and New York Metro regions.
Bill Ribera will transition from his Senior Director role to a Regional Director position serving benefactors in the Bay Area. As we approached addressing the importance of the Bay Area and creatively evaluating different alternatives, Bill presented this option to us and we enthusiastically agreed that this transition would best serve benefactors and leverage Bill’s extensive experience given his 33 year career in High Tech sales in Silicon Valley. This move will also provide a seamless transition with benefactors and will provide added stability to the team. I am humbled by Bill’s selfless approach to this opportunity and look forward to his continued success.
Given our comprehensive Senior Director selection process conducted earlier this year, plus our ongoing focus on succession planning, we are pleased to announce that Sean Sharpe has been promoted to the role of the Senior Director of the Northwest Region. Sean will be transitioning from a Regional Director role where he successfully served benefactors in the New York and Connecticut areas for the past 2 years. Before joining the University, Sean spent 11 years at Under Armour in sales and product management/marketing roles, plus held key roles at Mizuno, Fila and Ernst & Young.
With Sean Sharpe’s promotion to Senior Director, Steve Sollman will transition from the South region to the New York Metro region in his Regional Director position. Steve has been a successful fundraiser for the University since joining the South team in December of 2016 and has made significant impact cultivating a portfolio based in Austin, San Antonio and Cincinnati. Steve graduated from Notre Dame in 2004 and was a standout baseball player earning All-American, MVP, and Academic All-American honors. Steve spent four years playing in the Milwaukee Brewers organization before returning to the University in 2011 as an academic counselor for student-athletes.
Finally, Riley Koval will transition from the Southwest region to the Northwest region in his Regional Director position and will serve benefactors in the Bay Area. Riley started in Development as a Major Gifts Officer on the Annual Giving team in 2016. Over the past two years, he served benefactors in the Phoenix and Denver areas. Riley is a 2016 graduate of Notre Dame’s Law School where he also worked as a recruiting analysis for the Notre Dame football team.
To summarize, we are confident these moves will best serve benefactors for the long-term in these key areas. Please know we are aggressively moving forward with our hiring plan and have several interview days scheduled to fill the open positions in the Southwest and South regions. We remain committed to developing and growing our current team with talented fundraisers who will advance the Notre Dame mission.
Stu Fortener
