History
In the late 1980’s, a group of friends who lived together on the fifth floor of Flanner Hall (back when it was still a male dormitory) spent a decent amount of their time—even late into the night – discussing philosophy, education, and life. None of them knew exactly what he wanted to do with his life in terms of education or career. None had found his passion.
In short, these close-knit Notre Dame students and friends were really no different than the vast majority of undergraduate students at Notre Dame and across the country during their lifetime, before or after them.
And like most of students, these young men decided to attend a panel discussion, one of the many that take place on college campuses around the world on a regular basis. Little did they know, however, that their attendance at this event would inspire the founding of the Notre Dame Council on International Business Development.
In the fall of 1988, a few members of the Business School’s Advisory Council were speaking about globalization at an MBA event. Our group of undergraduates from Flanner Hall found a way to get their names on the invitation list, even though this was supposed to be an event primarily for MBA students.
The businessmen who comprised the panel spoke of the daily impact international forces has on their operations, whether they dealt in manufacturing, transportation, investments, or any other field. One of the panelists was Frank A. Potenziani, an attorney who runs a private family foundation in New Mexico. His words particularly affected Fred G. Botek, one of our students from Flanner Hall. For reasons to this day unknown to Fred (he attributes it purely to divine intervention), he approached Frank after the panel discussion.
Remember, these were undergraduates at an MBA even; they should most likely have left after the formal discussion. Instead, Fred was drawn to Frank. He spoke to Mr. Potenziani about how (at that time at least) international topics were the last chapters in most every text book, the chapters that invariably either were squeezed out because of too little time in the semester or were left (will continue on)
