As part of the development of a new internal communications strategy, from now on, please send any news announcements for the UR Blog to Grace Prosniewski to post.

I am delighted to announce that Katie Spohr will be joining our team as the Associate Director for Special Events on October 1. She will be planning and executing a portfolio of university programs.

Katie is currently the Assistant Director for Indiana University Auditorium in Bloomington, where she is responsible for performances, lectures, and receptions across four venues.

Katie earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Alabama and a masters degree in Arts Administration from IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs. She is excited to be moving to South Bend where her husband is the Volunteer Assistant Coach for the Notre Dame Men’s Tennis program.

-Geni Holmes

Dear Colleagues,

This Friday, September 13, 2019, the Office of Gift Planning will host our Badin Guild New Mexico Reception from 4-6 pm in the Downes Club Landing in Corbett Family Hall.

G. Marcus Cole, Joseph A. Matson Dean and Professor of Law will be our special guest speaker at 5 pm.

Please see the list of registered attendees for detail on benefactors who will be attending this event.

-Laura Snell Walker

It is my pleasure to welcome Maureen Daday to the Gift Planning team as a Development Coordinator. Maureen’s first day will be September 9, and she will be supporting Chris DeTrempe and Jessica Brice.

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

Lukas Grant Donegan Kinney arrived on 8/31 weighing 7Ibs 8oz and 20 inches of pure adorableness. They are all home and doing great. Brigette says they are not sleeping, but he is so cute it doesn’t matter!

The September Matching Gift Email will send on Tuesday, September 10 to this list of assigned entities who work for matching gift companies and have made a gift since June 7, 2019 and have not yet matched their gift. Please note that individuals on the second tab of the excel file (“Fundraiser Outreach”) have not received the matching gift email message (all gifts exceeding $24,000) but are eligible to match their gift.  You are encouraged to reach out to your assigned benefactors directly to discuss the details and answer questions related to the matching gift process.

If you have any questions regarding this communication, please reach out to Laura Snell Walker.

UR Friends and Colleagues,

I’m excited to share our 2018-19 Alumni Association Year In Review, which highlights the initiatives and programs we had the opportunity to lead, participate in, and partner on during the past fiscal year. Hard copies are being distributed to the PLC and Deans, current and former Alumni Board members, ND club presidents, and advisory council members.

To view a PDF version, please visit the following link: https://drive.google.com/a/nd.edu/file/d/1JRLNir2TUcyG5QpkA6_W3dn2ww7t8XA3/view?usp=sharing 

Thanks for your continued partnership and support of the Alumni Association.

All the best,
Dolly

Dolly Duffy – Associate VP & Executive Director of Alumni Association