Notre Dame Networking

UPDATED: May 12, 2006

 Welcome to Notre Dame Networking

General Networking Information

We now have four subcommittees for Notre Dame Networking. Feel free to contact them or me regarding networking in Chicago.  See Page 2 of this handout for the current networking schedule.    The subcommittee Chairs for this year are:

1.  The CREATE Network (Construction & Real Estate):  John J. Talbot, P.E., Sr. Vice President, Director, Industrial Technology Group, jtalbot@henneman.com 

2. The Business Network: The Business Network:   John Levitske,  Managing Director,  Duff & Phelps, LLC (Chicago), john.levitske@duffandphelps.com     The Business Network is subdivided into two groups: 1) the Entrepreneur Group, headed by Andy Whiting at ajwhiting@gmail.com, and the General Business Group currently headed by John Levitske.

3.  North by Northwest Regional Networking: Susan Mogab, Koenig & Strey GMAC, smogab@ksgmac.com 

4.  General Networking-Downtown:  Michael Marrion,  Senior Associate,  Trammell Crow Company, mmarrion@trammellcrow.com 

Linda Weaver
Networking Chair & Board of Governors
Notre Dame Club of Chicago
IrishNet@aol.com
(312) 320.9916

CURRENT NETWORKING SCHEDULE

Fourth Thursday of the Month:  Entrepreneurial Focus Group (Business Network)  meets at St. Peter's in the Loop, 110 W. Madison. 7:30 a.m. They are in the process of scheduling the monthly presentations they will have for the next year.  Contact Andy Whiting if you would like to join this group which will meet regularly on the 4th Thursday of the month.  ajwhiting@gmail.com

First Tuesday of the Month:   The CREATE Focus Group regular monthly meeting at St. Peters, 110 W. Madison. 
7:30 a.m.  The purpose of this group is for our Construction and Real Estate professionals to meet together regularly to form a more cohesive and mutually beneficial working relationship by either having members give presentations to the group in their particular areas of expertise or to find speakers to come in to discuss topics of interest to the group on a more informal and regular basis.  Those who attend this meeting should have an interest in attending on a regular basis. If you plan to attend, please contact Mary O'Toole at motoole@hbra-arch.com

 

May 4th, Thursday: Spring Business Summit – Sign Up Now!!

 

Topic: "Financing- Start Up to Buy Out" at the Metropolitan Club- 5:30- 8:00 pm. 

 

Speakers:

James Hunt, (ND ’73, Marketing) Founding partner of "The MITA Group," a public affairs and business advisory services company located in Washington, DC.  Mr. Hunt is an active member of the Irish Angels, and will be speaking to us about his experiences in the development of companies, both from his experience as a founder (of BDS Inc.) and also from the perspective of an Irish Angel. For info on the Irish Angels go to http://www.ihif.org/stories/july/angels.html and http://www.business.nd.edu/IA/. Those interested in starting a new business will be particularly interested in his comments on the Notre Dame Business Plan Competition and the Irish Angels.

Mr. Hunt founded BDS Inc., a system integration company focused on federal government markets. He then merged BDS with BTG, Inc. in 1992 and assisted in the IPO in 1993. The year of the merger, BDS had revenues of over $80M. In 1994, Hunt became Managing Director of Global System Integration for Price Waterhouse, and then moved on to become CEO of Ernst & Young Technologies in 1996. Within 3 years E&Y Technologies had grown to over $100M, and was later purchased by CapGemini, where he served as President until 2005.  Mr. Hunt is also an Adjunct Professor in the MBA Program at Georgetown University, where he teaches classes on "High Growth Strategies" and “Entrepreneurship."

 

Jackie Hopkins (ND '84), Managing Director, JPMorgan Partners Mezzanine Practice (JPMP), will speak on "Success Stories in Financing Entrepreneurs." JPMP provides an added dimension of flexibility in designing appropriate financing structures for growth capital, corporate acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, special situations and recapitalizations, and the targeted investment size is usually 2nd or 3rd stage financing from $5-30 million as sole investor or more as a partner with other investors. JPMP brings a creative approach to transaction structure with the ability to invest in the full spectrum of mezzanine securities including current or deferred pay debt and preferred stock as well as convertible securities. Ms. Hopkins is based in Chicago and has over 20 years of experience in financing companies at various stages of growth and throughout the U.S. Previously she was with First Chicago and BankOne.

 

Join Chicago ND alums for an evening of business networking and gain some insight into business financing. This event is highly attended by members of both our Business Network and our Construction and Real Estate Network, so regardless of your field, or even if you are not currently interested in finance issues, this is the event to attend if you want to connect with other ND business execs. 

 

Timing and Location: Doors open at 5:30 for open networking. Program starts promptly at 6:00 with speakers. The Metropolitan Club is located at the top of the Sears Tower. Please check in with the Metropolitan service desk in the lobby of the Sears Tower.

 

Cost: $25 per person in advance. $35 at the door if space available. Hors d'ouevres and Cash bar available. Guests allowed. 

Sign up on the club website a www.ndchicago.org

 

This event sponsored by the financial advisory services firm of Duff & Phelps, LLP and the law firm of McGuireWoods, LLP.

 

North by Northwest Regional Network Event:
Tuesday, May 23, 6:30 p.m.- 7:45 p.m.
Event: Navigating the job search process, Tips from HR Insiders

HR Professionals and Hiring Managers will discuss strategies, pitfalls & resumes. This is open to job seekers and HR personnel, and anyone looking to get a pulse on current corporate hiring practices.  This is also a great opportunity for HR and Hiring mangers to find high quality networking contacts.  Bring your business cards and any job opportunities to share with the group. Open to ND, SMC grads, colleagues and friends. Cost: $5.00 at the door. 

 Location and Directions: Notre Dame High School is located at 7655 W. Dempster St., Niles, IL between Milwaukee Ave. & Harlem Ave. Please enter the building via the circle drive at the northeast entrance of the building.

RSVP: Please sing up online for this event at www.ndchicago.org

JUNE

June 12:  CREATE Executive Seminar: Metropolitan Club
Save the Date!   Details coming out next week.


Faithfully yours,
Linda A. Weaver, Networking Chair
IrishNet@aol.com

National ND Alumnae Leadership Initiative

I am privileged to be on the six-woman steering committee for the ND Alumnae Leadership Initiative, a mentoring, networking, "give back" initiative for Notre Dame women.  This week we had our kick-off luncheon at The Chicago Club with Fr. Hesburgh as our guest of honor. The event was sold out, with a waiting list. If you would like to become involved in the Initiative, please contact me at IrishNet@aol.com.  We are in the process of receiving surveys from the attendees as to the types of events and programs they want. Get involved now! This is our network. We will be rolling it out in cities across the nation soon.

Faithfully yours, Linda

The following article and picture is from the South Bend Tribune.

Article published May 12, 2006
 
  ND women by the numbers  
 
  • 1972: The year Notre Dame began admitting women in its undergraduate programs.
     
  • 116,841: Current number of Notre Dame graduates.
     
  • 31,534: Current number of female Notre Dame graduates.

    Source: University of Notre Dame Alumni Association

    		•  

     
    Thank you, Father Ted
    Women grads honor Hesburgh for coeducation.

    MARGARET FOSMOE
    Tribune Staff Writer

    CHICAGO -- Thirty-four years after the first woman earned a bachelor's degree at the University of Notre Dame, several hundred women graduates thanked the man who made it possible.

    The Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, Notre Dame's president from 1952 to 1987, was feted and thanked Thursday at a luncheon in downtown Chicago attended by 230 Notre Dame alumnae.

    "This is a wonderful day for me. It's like coming home in a way," said Hesburgh, who will turn 89 on May 25.

    Hesburgh said there were two decisions he was most proud of during his presidency: transferring governance of the university to a board of lay trustees and admitting women.

    Hesburgh accepted the invitation to speak at the lunch as part of a new alumnae leadership program. He didn't know there was a secret agenda.The women gathered to help him celebrate his upcoming birthday and to formally thank him for opening Notre Dame to women undergraduates.

    Hesburgh opened a gift box containing about 350 thank-you letters from women graduates describing the impact their Notre Dame education has had on their lives. The first class of women undergraduates enrolled in 1972.Hesburgh said the all-male Notre Dame was a coarse place, with a locker-room atmosphere in the residence halls. "If Notre Dame had one big failing, it was the fact that it was only addressing half of the Catholic Church," he said of those days.

    After months of merger discussions with Saint Mary's College, no agreement was reached. "You say you want to marry us, but you don't want to take our name and you don't want to live with us," he recalled telling the nuns in November 1971. The merger was off.

    Notre Dame began admitting women undergraduates the following year."It does my heart good. The experiment was right," he said, noting many other all-male institutions followed Notre Dame and became coeducational.

    "I think we are a much healthier place today. We certainly are a more intellectual place today," Hesburgh said. "I have to say we're a better place because about 50 percent of our students today are women."

    The priest said he looks forward to the day when a woman will be president of the United States.

    Hesburgh recalled kissing 36 girls goodbye as a teenager on the night before he left for the seminary. There were plenty of hugs and kisses to go around Thursday, too, as women gathered around Hesburgh for photos and to offer words of gratitude.

    Some of the women from the early years recall being the only female in some classes or facing professors who didn't want to teach women. Others remember having to be tough when faced by people who told women that they were taking student slots that men deserved.Mary Davey Bliley, of Richmond, Va., described how in 1972 she became the first woman undergraduate to earn a degree.

    She was among the Saint Mary's students who had been earning credits at Notre Dame while the two schools planned to merge. When the merger fell through, Bliley was told her business credits at Notre Dame would not allow her to earn a Saint Mary's diploma.

    Hesburgh and Vincent Raymond, a Notre Dame business dean, intervened and decided she would receive a Notre Dame diploma. She later went on to an international business career, marriage and raising two sons.

    "I was given an incredible opportunity by the University of Notre Dame," she said. "Father Hesburgh opened up doors that I never could have opened on my own."

    Staff writer Margaret Fosmoe: mfosmoe@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6329

     

    Welcome, Chicago EMBA's!!!

    I was able to duck in and visit the Chicago EMBA's whose classes are held at 205 N. Michigan Ave. Friday and talk a bit about our networking program. We hope you take time to join us soon.  If you want to be added to the Club E-mail list, go ahead and contact the Club Director, Kristin Leonardo, directly at ndclubadmin@earthlink.net  Be sure to let her know you are with the EMBA program.  (She will be excited!)  If you have any questions about our networking programs, feel free to contact me at IrishNet@aol.com   I do know something about networking.... although I know I convinced you I know nothing about football!!! Thanks for letting me stop in. Come meet the rest of your family!  Linda

    If anyone wants more information on Notre Dame's Chicago Executive MBA program, see www.nd.edu/~execprog/executiveMBA/chicago/chicagoExecutiveMBA.shtml 
     

    Hello to the ND Undergraduate Women in Business Club!!!
    Friday, I had the great pleasure to speak to this awesome group of young women from campus at the Summit Club. I was unbelievably impressed with the UWIB club members present.  They are so much more polished than I could have ever thought to be at that stage in my life and carreer.   I will be meeting with their officers in the next month or two on campus to plan some networking functions for the 2006-2007 school year. If your company would like to recruit some top talent or host an event for them next year when they come to Chicago, please contact me so we can get you on the schedule.   Irishnet@aol.com The group already has offers from a couple of major corporations to do this next year. On this particular trip, they had programs at RSM McGladrey and Boston Consulting Group. They also met with a recruiter from AON.  You do not want to miss a chance to meet them!

    Home    News    Job Opportunities    ND Networking    Charity/Volunteer    Faith    Dancing
    Picture Gallery    Personals    Professional News    West Coast