The Business of 给 Back

Chris ’04 和 Katherine Pond ’05, CUI 校友 & 捐助者

具有讽刺意味的, 也许, since Chris, who is from Denver, 在1999年第一次去康考迪亚欧文学院之前，他确信自己不会去那里.

“I came t在这里 convinced I’d go to another Lutheran school, 但是当我第一次菲律宾十大网赌网站的时候，我能感觉到圣灵在那个地方移动,” Chris says. “I get the same feeling every time I drive up Concordia West. The two guys I stayed with the night of my visit were outst和ing. 我们就他们如何活出自己的信仰进行了很好的交谈，并感到他们来到康科迪亚是一个很好的决定. I left t在这里 saying, ’Mom, this is w在这里 I want to go.’”

克里斯是一名预备学院的学生，但他觉得上帝在呼召他往另一个方向去. He switched his major to business.

“在康科迪亚，我弄清楚了我是谁，我的身份和我的优势，”他说.

他遇到了来自堪萨斯城的凯瑟琳，凯瑟琳获得了全额奖学金来到康考迪亚大学. They were married in 2005. 一位康科迪亚机场的维修工人帮助克里斯在一家私人房地产公司找到了他的第一份工作. Then came the transition to Johnson & Johnson 和 the health care arena which became his career.

At Concordia I figured out who I was, my identity 和 my strengths

“I found my sweet spot in the field of analytics 和 planning, 区域部署以及如何建立一支最高效的销售队伍,” says Chris.

Katherine, meanwhile, had every intention of going into the classroom, but “t在这里 was an over-abundance of teachers, 和 we needed income,” she says. 于是，她在等待路德教会学校的电话时，通过一家临时工中介找到了一份工作.

I found my sweet spot in the field of analytics 和 planning, 区域部署以及如何建立一支最高效的销售队伍

When a call arrived to teach fifth grade, 当她正在为此祈祷时，一次工作上的谈话改变了她的职业轨迹. Out of the blue, a coworker asked her about the concept of sin. “Clearly you know because you’re a Christian,” he told Katherine. After an hour of explaining the Christian perspective, Katherine went home 和 told Chris, “神呼召我把我在康考迪亚大学神学课上学到的知识运用到工作中去. He’s telling me I can be a light.她拒绝了教学电话，接受了一家科技公司的全职工作.

From t在这里, a series of jobs trained her to balance books, oversee production, negotiate contracts 和 much more. 但在结婚的头八年里，庞夫妇的经济状况很艰难. Then came a life-defining crisis.

“当凯蒂的小公司遇到资金问题，需要让她做兼职时，我和凯蒂都在努力工作，只是为了付房租,” Chris says. “We dug deep into savings but knew something had to happen.”

During those difficult days, 克里斯对公司的税收结构有一个创新的想法，最终为公司净赚了800万美元，并为他赢得了约翰逊 & Johnson’s prestigious St和ards of Leadership award. The award came with a cash bonus. 这笔钱相当于凯瑟琳以前全职工资的损失金额，以美元计算.

“就在那一刻，我们面面相觑，说，‘这太可怕了. 我不明白为什么人们对更伟大的事情没有信心，认为这样的事情就会发生,’” Chris remembers.

上帝开始眷顾她，2012年，凯瑟琳被排名第二的智能电视制造商Vizio聘用. 她晋升为业务发展和广告高级总监. She now negotiates all contracts with Hulu, 亚马逊, F和ango 和 other app partners, 并监督销售广告和推广他们认为用户会感兴趣的各种内容的团队.

“I still find it all surreal,” she says of her career path. “有时我看着上帝把我们带到哪里，我一直等着眨眼，看到一切都消失了.”

Chris became director of sales, planning 和 analytics at Allergan, 这家制药公司生产各种产品，从肉毒杆菌到帮助乳腺癌重建手术的产品. Chris负责制定艾尔建产品的商业策略并监督销售团队.

庞德夫妇还与崔永元的支持者克雷格和简·奥尔森成为了好朋友, 和 Walt 和 Leann Luchinger, MA ’11 at Salem Lutheran Church in Orange. Those couples encouraged the Ponds to get involved with CUI again.

克里斯被邀请加入校友会，并“开始热衷于寻找让校友与学生互动的方法”,” he says. Specifically, 他希望校友们能帮助在校生了解工作世界并为之做好准备, 和, when appropriate, even help them find jobs.

To practice what he preached, Chris began bringing interns on board at his companies, 和 coaching students with resume help 和 mock interviews.

“I let them know what to expect 和 what’s coming at them,” he says. “I became an advocate for it on the board. 87届的史蒂夫·汉图拉在见面会中将这一理念提升到了一个新的高度，在见面会中，校友和康考迪亚大学的大三、大四学生可以谈论在不同领域工作的感受. I want parents to say, “我希望我的儿子或女儿去康考迪亚欧文，因为他们不仅会得到良好的教育, 但他们毕业后会有很好的人脉和机会.“推动凯瑟琳和我的是，我们如何为学生提供同样的体验.”

在Vizio，凯瑟琳对帮助女性在职场取得成功也充满了“难以置信的热情”. She mentors a number of women within her company, 和 often pays their way to CUI’s 信仰 和 Business Forum.

她和Chris通过向CUI教授询问毕业生的推荐信，并为他们公司的面试铺平道路，积极为学生与工作机会做好准备和联系.

The result is that CUI students are in dem和.

“公司里的每个人都说，‘你能再给我们找一个康考迪亚大学的学生吗?’ That’s part of the reason we give back,” Chris says. “Concordia turns out phenomenal workers. They are people I’m proud to say went to my school. 你 can trust that they are going to do a good job for you.”

在一场返校节篮球赛之后，庞德夫妇第一次成为捐赠者，当时他们坐在学生们中间，对他们周围的积极行为和对话印象深刻.

“我看着克里斯，眼里含着泪水，说，‘亲爱的，我们的孩子太棒了，’”凯瑟琳回忆道. “He said, ’I’m so proud to be part of this.’ We went home 和 that’s when we started donating.”

Two years ago, the Ponds were invited to chair the Gala of Stars, 和 this year they shared their story in a way that moved many. 凯瑟琳要求在场的人站起来，看看他们是否在过去15年或更长时间里给康科迪亚捐过钱.

“我喘不过气来，我说，‘你们的脸就是我想看到的. 是你们让我和克里斯上这所大学成为可能，’”她说. “I went on to talk about what Concordia had meant to us.”

Many attendees were in tears as a result.

克里斯最近退出了校友会，现在在校董会任职.

他说:“我真的很感激我和凯蒂都走到了一起。. “We get to do things we enjoy, to empower people to be successful. 我们在工作中都领导着团队，最大的动力就是帮助别人实现梦想. The opportunity to build people up is the most rewarding thing.”