Notre Dame elects new Trustees, University Fellow
Two new Trustees — Cathy Molnar and Ryan McInerney — have been elected to serve on the University of Notre Dame’s Board of Trustees, and Trustee Stephanie Gallo has been elected to the University’s Board of Fellows, effective July 1.
Molnar is the executive director of CHS Management Group LLC, a single-family office. She has served previously as a shareholder and wealth manager at Wetherby Asset Management, as a vice president at Goldman Sachs and as a CPA at Ernst & Young.
Molnar holds an undergraduate degree in accounting from Notre Dame and a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania’s Carey Law School. She has served on Notre Dame’s Provost’s Leadership Group, been involved with the University’s Women’s Investing Summit and assisted with the design of and served as a guest lecturer in a new MBA course at the Mendoza College of Business regarding family enterprises. Her husband, Mike, also earned an undergraduate degree from Notre Dame, and they have two children, one of whom is a current Notre Dame student.
McInerney serves as the chief executive officer of Visa. Before being named CEO in February 2023, he served as the company’s president since 2013. Prior to joining Visa, he served as CEO of consumer banking for JPMorgan Chase, as well as other roles, and before that he was a principal at McKinsey and Company.
McInerney earned an undergraduate degree in finance from Notre Dame in 1997. He has served as a member of Notre Dame’s Undergraduate Experience Advisory Council since 2019 and is a member of the University’s For Good Cabinet. He and his wife, Angela, have three children.
Gallo has been a University Trustee since 2002 and is the chief marketing officer for GALLO, a family-owned company and global leader in the total alcohol beverage category. She earned a bachelor’s degree in government and international studies from Notre Dame and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. She and her husband, Chris Tyler, have two children, one of whom is a current student.
Composed of six laywomen and men and six priests of Notre Dame’s founding religious community, the Congregation of Holy Cross, the Board of Fellows is the University’s ultimate governing body. The Fellows elect the Trustees, adopt and amend the bylaws and are specifically charged with maintaining Notre Dame’s Catholic character.
Additionally, Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., assumes the role of University president and John Veihmeyer becomes Board chair effective June 1. On Dec. 4, 2023, Father Dowd was elected Notre Dame’s 18th president by the University’s Board of Trustees after Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., announced he was stepping down to return to teaching and ministry after leading the University for 19 years. Veihmeyer, who is the retired chairman and CEO of KPMG and has served as vice Board chair since October 2023, succeeds John J. Brennan as Board chair.
Latest University News
- Internationally recognized physician Tom Catena to visit Notre DamePhysician, humanitarian and medical missionary Dr. Tom Catena will visit the University of Notre Dame on Nov. 12 (Wednesday) to deliver the 2025 Rev. Bernie Clark, C.S.C., Lecture at 5 p.m. in the Eck Visitors Center Auditorium. Catena’s lecture, titled “Hope and Healing,” is also part of the 2025-26 Notre Dame Forum, which is organized around the theme “Cultivating Hope.”
- Karen Deak named executive director of Notre Dame’s IDEA CenterKaren Imgrund Deak has been selected as executive director of the IDEA Center at the University of Notre Dame, where she has served in the interim role since September of 2024. She will lead the unit and oversee the roll out of its recent strategic reorganization. Deak brings to the role knowledge of developing partnerships at the IDEA Center, across the University, and beyond.
- Kevin and Cynthia O’Brien endow Notre Dame center devoted to international security research, teaching and leadership formationKevin and Cynthia O’Brien of Dallas have made a significant gift to the University of Notre Dame to endow the O’Brien Notre Dame International Security Center, which provides a forum for scholars and students at the University of Notre Dame and elsewhere to explore the most pressing issues in national security policy.
- Notre Dame receives $2.5 million gift from Coca-Cola to expand entrepreneurship programs into FIFA World Cup 26 host citiesThe Coca-Cola Company in North America has awarded a $2.5 million gift to the University of Notre Dame’s Urban Poverty and Business Initiative (UPBI). The initiative brings together universities and nonprofit organizations committed to alleviating poverty and helping low-income and underprivileged individuals launch and grow sustainable businesses. The gift will enable UPBI, housed within the University’s Keough School of Global Affairs, to expand its network of partner organizations across the United States and into Canada, including cities that will host the FIFA World Cup 26.
- Cardinal Robert McElroy, archbishop of Washington, DC, to speak at Notre Dame Forum event on ‘Healing Our National Dialogue and Political Life’Cardinal Robert McElroy, archbishop of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., will join University President Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., for a conversation titled “Healing Our National Dialogue and Political Life” at 4 p.m. Friday (Oct. 17) in Room 215/216, McKenna Hall, as part of the 2025-26 Notre Dame Forum on the theme “Cultivating Hope.” This event is free and open to the public.
- Notre Dame’s Kellogg Institute partners with Vanderbilt University to launch 2025-26 democracy surveyThe University of Notre Dame’s Kellogg Institute for International Studies and Vanderbilt University’s Center for Global Democracy are partnering to advance one of the world’s leading surveys on attitudes toward democracy. Starting in October, the Center for Global Democracy, with support from the Kellogg Institute, will conduct the 2025-26 round of the AmericasBarometer, which tracks public opinion on democracy in 20 countries across the Americas.
