The Mendoza Endowment; The benefactors and their thoughts
Dean
Woo's Welcome
Tom
and Kathy Mendoza on Notre Dame
Tom
Mendoza on making business worthwhile
Kathy
Mendoza on working together
The
Mendoza's Contribution
Tom
Mendoza on why Notre Dame
Carolyn
Woo: "It is my pleasure to welcome Tom and Kathy
Mendoza. We have had quite a buzz of excitement in the College
in the last month because of the Mendoza's tremendous generosity.
Their gift will allow us to accelerate many of our plans
in the College of Business, and allow us to begin the next
phase of our development as the Mendoza College of Business."
"In addition to the financial aspect of this gift, there are other significant benefits. First, this gift will provide us with a link to Silicon Valley, a link that will allow us to develop our technology infrastructure, and will push the envelope on how we use technology in the classroom. Second, the Mendozas' drive and energy remind us of what it takes to innovate and lead. Third, the Mendozas live the Notre Dame value: to give back from success. Finally, this gift comes from a marriage that has grown over nineteen years, and is given in honor of their fathers. It represents the love of family which our University celebrates."
"For all of these, I want to say thank you."
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Tom
Mendoza: "Now I am sure that everyone who comes
to speak at Notre Dame says that they are really proud and
honored to be here, but, as you can imagine, this is kind
of an odd moment for me."
I would like to tell you a bit about Kathy and me -- in particular that we did not start out with this kind of money. Kathy's father owned a tile and carpeting business in Tulsa Oklahoma, and raised five children. My father was a fighter and a singer when I was born, and became a traveling salesperson to support his family. In the year I came to Notre Dame, my father earned $12,000. If we had not received aid, we would not have been able to go this type of school."
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Tom Mendoza on making business worthwhile
Tom
Mendoza: "This is advice that I give to every business
student here. Many people make the wrong moves in their
careers, and ask the wrong questions. They say "I'm
looking for a company that can go public." Going public
is not an event that is worth noting. At Network Appliance,
we never set a goal to go public."
"The real goal is to find a company with values that you believe in and one that will create a sustaining business model over time. You want to focus on whether the company has a market that will grow, a business model that works, and the potential to make a long term contribution."
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Kathy Mendoza on working together
Kathy Mendoza, on working together: "We are very fortunate in our situation: when I joined the company it had a lot of problems, yet we saw the vision and wanted to make it work. We actually recruited Tom to come in and join us."
"Tom and I do not always agree on everything. We are not in lock-step on every decision or strategy. We do have respect: respect of and for the people in our company. We have a long-term marriage and a great personal relationship so we can have different opinions and it is healthy."
Tom Mendoza, on Kathy: "The reason I commuted for three years? When we first started working together Kathy was the number one salesperson in the company, so the C.E.O. did not want her to move. Kathy created her own track record. "
"It is hard to describe how good it feels to be able to do something with someone you care about and have it work out this well. Together, we have had a very positive impact. The fact that we, together, are able to make this contribution to Notre Dame, has been made possible by Kathy."
"Having someone whom you know is on your side day after day when you are going through difficult times is incredible. Without that support, things would be very hard."
"People keep thanking us, but I just want to say again to the entire group, that this is our pleasure and we are absolutely gratified and humbled by having the opportunity to do it."
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Tom
Mendoza: "I asked Sean Farrell, who works with
me on the West Coast, and for Notre Dame to think of something
"cool" that would make an impact. Sean and Father
Beauchamp came to visit me in California, and we talked
about the Business School. They said 'the Business School
is definitely going in the right direction -- going fast.
It has great leadership, and is committed to doing something
special. If they had the resources, it could become a very
special place, and go to the top'."
"Now rankings are one way of evaluting this. My thought is if I meet people in 10 years who are driving businesses and making people proud to work for them, and they tell people they come from the Mendoza College of Business, that would be a special moment for me. If I meet them, and they've driven big numbers, but they're not good people, that would not be a special moment for me."
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Tom
Mendoza: "So if I could ask one thing back from
you, it's very simple. Most of what people think of a business
school, comes from the people in the business school. It
doesn't come from magazines. It doesnt come from how other
people talk about you. It comes from how you hold yourself
and what you do with the privilege."
"Going to Notre Dame, in my opinion was a great privilege for me. I felt that when I came here. Quite honestly, the day Notre Dame told me I was accepted I thought I had misread the letter. It was a dream, but you don't think it can happen."
"But the fact of the matter is, once you go through here, you feel it when you leave here. People treat you with respect. This has happened to me my whole life."
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