Thursday Roundup
In this Issue:
- From Wente’s Desk: Dancing into the summer
- Women’s golf head coach Kim Lewellen named Coach of the Year by WGCA
- Deacons selected as the No. 1 overall seed for the 2023 NCAA Baseball Tournament
- Verger Capital internships
- Happy Pride Month
Today I have a smattering of athletics news and blog posts to share. Dig in to what serves you best!
From Wente’s Desk: Dancing into the summer
President Wente has a blog called From Wente’s Desk, in which she shares her thoughts. Her most recent message talks about Commencement and reflects on this past academic year. Here’s a taste:
“As one of our most beloved Wake Foresters Dr. Maya Angelou once said, ‘Everything in the universe has a rhythm, everything dances.’ As I reflected last month, perhaps nowhere is this more true than within the confines of our academic community. The predictable, even comfortable, rhythms of life in academia help us to focus on why we are here — to educate our students, engage and deepen our scholarship, and continue to advance Wake Forest as a catalyst for good in society.
But, sometimes, it’s also good to dance.”
Read Dr. Wente’s full message here.
Women’s golf head coach Kim Lewellen named coach of the year by WGCA
Wake Forest women’s golf head coach Kim Lewellen (P’25) has been named the Women’s Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) National Coach of the Year for the second time in four years. She was also named the WGCA National Coach of the Year in April 2020 after the season was cut short due to the pandemic.
This marks the 15th time national coach of the year in Wake Forest history including 11 since the turn of the century. The Demon Deacons have three active national coach of the year winners in field hockey’s Jen Averill (P’27), men’s tennis’ Tony Bresky and Lewellen. The three have combined for six national coach of the year honors during their time in Winston-Salem.
Congratulations to Coach Lewellen and the golf team!!
Deacons selected as the No. 1 overall seed for the 2023 NCAA Baseball Tournament
The Demon Deacons were selected as the No. 1 overall seed for the 2023 NCAA Baseball Tournament and will be joined by No. 2 seed Maryland, No. 3 seed Northeastern and No. 4 seed George Mason at the Winston-Salem Regional.
This is the Demon Deacons’ 15th all-time NCAA Tournament appearance and the only time in program history Wake Forest has been selected as the No. 1 overall seed.
Our Deacs will open NCAA Tournament play against the Patriots on Friday, June 2 at 7 p.m. on ESPN+ in the second game of the regional. The Terrapins and Huskies will open the regional at 1 p.m.
We are all cheering for you – Go Deacs!
Verger Capital internships
I’m not sure if our parents and families would have reason to know about Verger Capital Management, but this is a cool story and there are internships involved, so here goes.
In 2009, Jim Dunn was named Vice President and Chief Investment Officer at Wake Forest. I had heard him speak at a number of Wake events, and he is just a terrific guy (hails from Phili, had played soccer in college on scholarship if I recall correctly). With his personal story, he always understood the importance of scholarships and what financial aid does to transform young people’s lives. His oft-stated philosophy in regards to managing our endowment was ‘protect, perform, provide.’
Back in 2014. Wake Forest formed an external for-profit asset capital management company called Verger Capital Management LLC, with Jim as its CEO and Co-Chief Investment Officer. Verger exclusively serves non-profits as an Outsourced Chief Investment Officer (OCIO), so it manages Wake’s investments, as well as other non-profits: “With deep non-profit roots, we share your passion and work to meet your needs today and fulfill your ambitions for tomorrow.”
One of the things I’ve always admired about Jim and his team (both at Wake and now at Verger) is their commitment to mentoring students. They have an internship program and students get a chance to be part of their team and soak up a lot of learning, as well as real-world experience.
I get the Verger e-newsletter and in it they had reflections from their two interns from spring 2023, Ali Hakim-Florian (’25) and Blair Faber (’23). Here’s a taste of their blog:
“What have you learned about workplace culture that you will take to your next experience and/or what have found most valuable?
Blair: My biggest takeaway about workplace culture after this internship is how crucial Verger’s open and engaging environment was to my development. I was fortunate to be able to sit on the trade floor where I could listen in on conversations and important meetings between the investment team. This was critical in helping me develop as I became better exposed to the team, the investment industry, and the process of how the Verger team thinks about problem solving and meeting challenges.
Ali: My most valuable takeaway from Verger’s workplace culture is the power of collaboration. Serving as a fiduciary to non-profit institutions is a complex responsibility, so complete synergy is required across the investments, operations, and client relations teams to make everything run smoothly. In addition, as an intern on the trade floor, I quickly learned that decision-making on the investment team is always a team effort. Input from every member is necessary and valued, and the spreading out of responsibilities ensures efficiency and harmony. Similarly, I learned that the key to fostering a successful and constructive work environment is simply treating others with kindness and respect. Throughout my time at Verger all my relationships and interactions were defined by these principles.”
It’s incredible that these student interns can participate in such a talented team and soak up so many valuable work (and life) lessons. If your student is looking for an internship at Verger, they can see more here. (Note, it is of course a competitive process). It looks like fall internship applications are due very soon, so they’d want to get a jump on it, or plan ahead for future semesters.
Happy Pride Month
June is Pride Month, and for any in the Daily Deacdom who are celebrating, I wish you a Happy Pride! I am one of our campus’ Deac Allies, so know that your Deacs are always free to be their true and authentic selves with me.