John Cardinal O’Hara Society Expands to Include All Graduate Business Programs

As a Mendoza alum, you might remember the feeling of walking
into your first classroom on your first day and realizing your life is about to
change.

Jim Cunningham MBA ’13 certainly remembers: “I walked in and
met my classmates who were so brilliant and I wondered if I would be able to
keep up,” he recalls. “ Surrounding yourself with high caliber students makes
everyone work harder.”

Jim has become passionate about helping others experience
it, too. “There is no other school like Mendoza,” says Cunningham, the new associate
director of graduate business annual giving. “So many people made it great for
me, and I want to pay it forward for others. It’s the Notre Dame way.”

And now there are new ways to support Mendoza programs and
students through the expansion of the John Cardinal O’Hara Society, which
recognizes the most generous supporters of the graduate business programs.

Since the start of the O’Hara Society in 1999, gifts had
supported the MBA and EMBA programs only. This is no longer the case.

Now all Mendoza programs will benefit from the society’s
support, which means alumni of the Master of Nonprofit Administration (MNA), Master of Science in Accountancy (MSA) and Master of Science in Business (MSB)
programs are eligible for membership by giving back directly to their program.

Additionally, two new Mendoza programs were announced on
April 23 that will start in 2015—the Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA)
and Master of Science in Finance (MSF). Gifts to these programs will also qualify
donors for membership in the O’Hara Society.  

“Mendoza is unbelievably fortunate to have so many alumni
and friends who believe strongly in our programs,” says Cunningham. “We hope
this expansion will encourage more MNA, MSA and MSB alumni to consider
supporting Mendoza since they can now support their programs specifically.

“We’re excited about what this will do for Mendoza students and
programs.”

Named for the first dean of Notre Dame’s College of Business
Administration, the University’s 13th president, and the only Holy Cross priest
to be elevated to cardinal, the John Cardinal O’Hara Society recognizes alumni
and friends who provide the graduate business programs with these levels of
annual support:

• Associate: $500 – $1,499 for graduate business alumni of the last five years
• Traditional: $1,500 – $4,999
• Dean’s Circle Blue: $5,000 – $9,999
• Dean’s Circle Gold: $10,000+

Gifts
provide critical support for fellowships, recruitment of top business faculty,
funding for curriculum and technology enhancements, and more robust services
for graduate business alumni.

Cunningham
knows firsthand the power of donor support. He was able to come to Notre Dame
because of a fellowship to the one-year MBA program. “That was a dream come
true,” he says. “Especially for an Irish kid from the south side of Chicago.”

As
an MBA candidate, Cunningham served as senior vice president of alumni
relations and the lead for the MBA Class Legacy Campaign. “We worked very hard
and pushed participation from 68 percent to 98 percent, an MBA record,” he
says. “It was a great role because it helped me get to know so many of my
classmates. There were 192 people graduating that year and I contacted many of
them five or six times.”

Cunningham
did such a phenomenal job with the legacy campaign that a few months after
graduating from Notre Dame and starting a new job in development at a small
college outside Chicago he received a call encouraging him to apply for his
current position, which he started in February. “They knew I was passionate
about raising funds for Mendoza,” he says. “I had hoped to come back to Notre
Dame in a fundraising capacity, but I didn’t think it would be so soon after I
graduated. I am ecstatic to be here.”

To his credit, Cunningham has taken off running. He expanded
the number of class legacy campaigns from three to six (one for each graduate business
program), and is supervising the student directors of each. He is also seeing
great success with the John Cardinal O’Hara Society and, as of the time of this
publication, 78 students graduating this year have pledged to join the society in
2014.

 “People want to give back to what’s important to them,” he
says. “Alumni are transformed by their Mendoza experiences and they want to
support the fantastic things happening here. It’s exciting to be part of that
every day.”

For more information about the John Cardinal O’Hara Society
and membership benefits, please visit ProudtoBe.ND.edu/ohara or contact
Cunningham at jcunni10@nd.edu
or 574-631-4303.

/news_and_events/news_articles/article/14264/john-cardinal-ohara-society-expands-to-include-all-graduate-business-progra