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OG’s Note: On Campaign Chairs

Team Development, Boards | | Tom Suddes

I founded The Suddes Group in 1983. My very first ‘client’ was an amazing 100-year-old Catholic High School in the Chicago area. At the time, I was using pretty much everything I had learned at Notre Dame on THE CAMPAIGN for NOTRE DAME.

The model at the time was to have a CAMPAIGN CHAIR. The absolute best candidate for that was an alum who happened to be a Chairman of (at that time) one of the largest retail operations in the United States with a huge ‘Tower’ in downtown Chicago. We got our 20 minutes on the 44th floor. Showed the Plan and Structure. Told him we needed him to do “These 6 Things” (none of which were about taking personal responsibility for raising all the money).

He said, “I can do everything but this one.” I took my pen and put a line through #4. I don’t even remember what it was. I asked him if he could do it now. He said, “Yes.” It was huge.