WATCH NOW
Building Successful Mentoring Relationships: Best Practices and Resources
RECORDED ON TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2023
Presenters:
- Tim Donovan, Bus Ad 18, Director of Investments, Midloch Investment Partners
- Marilynn Gardner, Jour ’88, President & CEO, Navy Pier
- Demetrius Liston, Bus Ad ’01, Senior Vice President in Global Implementation, Citibank
- Sophia Sandoval, Arts student, Marquette University
- Dan DeWeerdt, Radtke Director of Marquette Mentors & Senior Engagement Director, Marquette University
Mentorship allows experienced professionals to share their insights and connect with the next generation while emerging leaders gain the chance to build skills and engage in learning opportunities. In this session during National Mentoring Month, hear advice and strategies from a panel of experienced mentors and mentees from Marquette Mentors—considered the gold standard of higher education mentoring initiatives. Whether you are looking to give back as a mentor or to find a mentor to help you grow in your career and professional development, join us to hear best practices and learn about what resources are available to the Marquette community. Mentors and mentees of all ages, industries, and skill levels can learn takeaways from this session.
More about this session
Tim Donovan, Bus Ad ’18, currently serves as the director of Investments at Midloch Investment Partners, a Midwest-based private equity real estate firm. In addition to his work at Midloch, Tim is serving for the second year as a mentor and Leadership Council member of Marquette Mentors. His program involvement began as a student mentee in 2016 and continued as a member of the Mentee Alumni Network to support current mentees. Tim enjoys reading, baking, and traveling with family and friends.
Marilynn Gardner, Jour ’88, is president and CEO of Navy Pier, one of Chicago’s greatest recreational assets and the Midwest’s most visited destinations. An enthusiastic ambassador and advocate for her native Chicago, she has spent nearly three decades establishing Navy Pier as a world-class public space and resource for the community. She has been the driving force behind the Pier’s $400 million redevelopment, securing several multi-million gifts from private and corporate donors.
She began her life’s work at Navy Pier in 1994 as assistant director of Public Relations, during the Pier’s initial redevelopment. She was promoted to director of Public Relations, then senior director of Marketing and Communications and later executive director of Marketing and Communications, ultimately becoming general manager while the Pier operated under the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority.
Gardner’s insights on nonprofit business, tourism, place-making, event management, and programming are often sought by other institutions, media outlets, and such organizations as YPO Gold, City Club of Chicago, Harvard Business School Alumni Organization, Global Cultural Districts Network, and Urban Land Institute.
She serves on numerous boards, including the Marquette University Alumni Association’s National Board of Directors, and is mentoring for the eighth year in Marquette Mentors.
A resident of Chicago’s North Center neighborhood, Gardner and her husband Patrick are active and involved parents of college student Madeline and high school students Katherine and Patrick.
Demetrius Liston, Bus Ad ’01, was recently promoted to senior vice president in Global Implementation at Citibank in New York City. He joined Citibank in 2021 and served as a vice president in Treasury and Solutions. Prior to Citibank, he spent the majority of his career at JP Morgan in a range of leadership roles that included mortgage banking, investment banking and firm wide project management as well as at Morgan Stanley in wealth management finance Risk. He has mentored Business students in Marquette Mentors since 2018 and resides in Manhattan, where he enjoys exploring New York City, history, traveling and sports.
Sophia Sandoval, Arts mentee in the 2022-23 Marquette Mentors, is majoring in Criminology and Law Studies as a Pre-Law Scholar. She’s being mentored by Cathleen Ebacher, Arts ’84, Grad ’86, who’s serving for the fifth year in Marquette Mentors. Sophia’s extracurricular activities include volunteering in the Marquette University Law School Pro Bono Clinic and she’s the owner of epda.alondra, which sells a variety of custom-made items ranging from frames to graduation caps.
Dan DeWeerdt is Radtke director of Marquette Mentors and senior alumni engagement director in University Advancement at Marquette University. He’s served in a variety of capacities for nearly 20 years at Marquette, including his current role for more than 10 years in leading Marquette Mentors, considered the gold standard for higher education mentoring initiatives and the 2019 CASE Circle of Excellence silver award recipient for student-alumni initiatives. Other roles at Marquette have included alumni program ideation, development and communication strategies.
Prior to Marquette, he served as vice president of communications at the United Performing Arts Fund and public relations agencies, including Laughlin Constable in Milwaukee. He helped lead several award-winning campaigns for clients such as McDonald’s Restaurants of Southeastern Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Department of Tourism, Wisconsin Sesquicentennial and Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Wisconsin, which was a Silver Anvil award recipient. He began his career as assistant general manager for the Rockford Expos, a Class A affiliate of the Montreal Expos. He holds a B.A. degree in Communication Studies from the University of Iowa.