回馈的事业

克里斯04届和凯瑟琳05届，崔校友 & 捐助者

具有讽刺意味的, 也许, 自从克里斯, 他来自丹佛, felt certain he wouldn’t attend 肯考迪娅 Irvine before his initial visit in 1999.

“我来的时候确信我会去另一所路德教会学校, but the first time I walked on campus I could feel the Holy Spirit moving in that place,克里斯说. “每次我开车到康科迪亚西部，我都有同样的感觉. 那天晚上和我住在一起的两个人都很出色. We had great conversations about how they lived out their faith 和 felt they had made a good decision coming to 肯考迪娅. 我离开的时候说，‘妈妈，这就是我想去的地方.’”

Chris enrolled as a pre-seminary student but felt the Lord calling him in a different direction. 他把专业转到了商科.

“在康科迪亚，我弄清楚了我是谁，我的身份和我的力量,他说.

He met 凯瑟琳 from Kansas City who came to 肯考迪娅 on a full academic scholarship. 他们于2005年结婚. A 肯考迪娅 maintenance worker helped Chris get his first job, at a private real estate company. 然后是向约翰逊的过渡 & 约翰逊和医疗保健领域成为了他的职业.

在康科迪亚，我弄清楚了我是谁，我的身份和我的力量

“我在分析和规划领域找到了自己的最佳位置, territory deployments 和 how to build a sales force to be the most productive they can be,克里斯说。.

凯瑟琳, 与此同时, 你打算进教室吗, 但是“老师太多了, 我们需要收入,她说。. So she got a job through a temp agency while waiting for a call from a Lutheran school.

我在分析和规划领域找到了自己的最佳位置, territory deployments 和 how to build a sales force to be the most productive they can be

当一个教五年级的电话打来时, she was praying over it when a conversation at work changed her career trajectory. 突然，一个同事问她关于罪的概念. “显然你知道，因为你是基督徒，”他告诉凯瑟琳. 在解释了一个小时的基督教观点之后, 凯瑟琳回家告诉了克里斯, “God is calling me to use all the knowledge I got in those theology classes at 肯考迪娅 in the working world. 他说我可以成为一道光.” She declined the teaching call 和 accepted a full-time position with a tech company.

从那里, 一系列的工作训练了她平衡账目的能力, 监督生产, 谈判合同等等. But for the first eight years of marriage, finances were tough for the Ponds. 然后，一场决定人生的危机来了.

“Katie 和 I were both working 和 struggling just to pay rent when her small company ran into capital issues 和 needed to move her to part time,克里斯说. “我们深入挖掘储蓄，但知道必须要做点什么.”

在那些艰难的日子里, Chris had an innovative idea for his company’s tax structure which ended up netting the company $8 million 和 earning him Johnson & 约翰逊著名的领导标准奖. 该奖项还附带现金奖金. The amount equaled the missing amount of 凯瑟琳’s former full-time Salary, to the dollar.

“That was the moment we looked at each other 和 said, ’This is just scary. I don’t know how people can not have faith in something bigger 和 think that something like this just happens,’”克里斯回忆道.

God began to bless, 和 in 2012, 凯瑟琳 was hired by Vizio, the #2 maker of smart televisions. She climbed the ranks to become senior director of business development 和 advertising. 她现在与Hulu谈判所有合同, 亚马逊, F和ango和其他应用合作伙伴, 和 oversees the team that sells ads 和 promotes various content they think users will be interested in.

“我仍然觉得这一切都很超现实，”她谈到自己的职业道路时说. “Sometimes I look at w在这里 God has brought us 和 I keep waiting to blink 和 see it all disappear.”

克里斯成为了销售总监, 负责艾尔建的规划和分析, a pharmaceutical company which creates everything from Botox to products that aid breast cancer reconstruction surgeries. Chris develops the commercial strategy 和 oversees sales teams for Allergan’s products.

The Ponds also became good friends with CUI supporters Craig 和 Jane Olson, 还有沃尔特和利安·卢辛格夫妇, 在奥兰治的塞勒姆路德教会获得硕士学位. 这些夫妇鼓励池塘夫妇再次与崔交往.

Chris was invited to serve on the alumni board 和 “started to get passionate about finding ways to engage alumni with students,他说. 具体地说, he wanted alums to help current students underst和 和 prepare for the working world, 和, 在适当的时候, 甚至帮助他们找工作.

实践他所宣扬的, 克里斯开始在他的公司里招募实习生, 并通过简历帮助和模拟面试来指导学生.

“我让他们知道会发生什么，会发生什么，”他说. “我在董事会上成为了它的倡导者. Steve Hantula ’87 has taken that to the next level with meet-和-greets w在这里 alums 和 current 肯考迪娅 juniors 和 seniors can talk about what it’s like to work in various fields. 我想让父母说, ’I want my son or daughter to go to 肯考迪娅 Irvine because not only will they get a great education, but they will have a great network 和 opportunities after they graduate.’ What drives 凯瑟琳 和 me is how can we give this same experiences to students.”

At Vizio, 凯瑟琳 is also “incredibly passionate” about helping women succeed in the workplace. 她在公司里指导了许多女性, 并且经常花钱参加CUI的信仰与商业论坛.

She 和 Chris work actively to prepare 和 connect students with job opportunities by asking CUI professors for recommendations of graduating students 和 paving the way for interviews at their companies.

结果是，CUI的学生供不应求.

“Everyone at work was like, ’Can you get us one of those 肯考迪娅 students again?“这是我们回馈社会的部分原因，”克里斯说. “康科迪亚培养出了非凡的员工. 我很自豪地说，他们是我学校的学生. 你可以相信他们会为你做得很好.”

The Ponds first became donors after a 同学会 basketball game when they sat among the students 和 were impressed by the positive behavior 和 conversations they heard around them.

“I looked at Chris with tears in my eyes 和 said, ’Honey, our kids are so good,’” 凯瑟琳 recalls. “他说，‘我很自豪能参与其中.“我们回到家，从那时起我们开始捐赠.”

两年前, 彭氏夫妇受邀主持群星晚会, 今年，他们以一种感动了许多人的方式分享了他们的故事. 凯瑟琳 asked those in attendance to st和 if they had given money to 肯考迪娅 in the past fifteen years or more.

“My breath caught in my throat 和 I said, ’你r faces are the faces I wanted to see. 你’re the ones who made it possible for Chris 和 me to go to this university,’她说。. 我接着谈到康科迪亚对我们的意义.”

许多与会者因此流下了眼泪.

Chris recently termed out on the 校友 Board 和 now serves on the Board of Trustees.

“I’ve been really grateful for w在这里 Katie 和 I both have ended up,他说. “我们可以做自己喜欢的事情，让人们获得成功. We both lead teams at work 和 the greatest motivation is helping other people achieve their dreams. 有机会帮助别人是最有价值的事情.”