Now. Here. This.

In this all-Notre Dame episode of the podcast, hear University Vice President and James E. Rohr Director of Athletics Pete Bevacqua '93 in conversation with friend Kevin Baxter about leading successful teams through times of disruption. Bevacqua discusses his professional journey back to campus to lead Notre Dame's sports programs, life lessons from his mother, and what sustains him in work with coaches and student-athletes amid the hailstorm of changes to college athletics.

"What I'm proud of...is that in this moment of chaos, we are still attracting kids from all over the country—and quite frankly all over the world,—who want to come here and win, but they [also] want to get this Notre Dame education and be part of this Notre Dame experience."

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Secretary for Education and Superintendent of Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Orlando, Erika Wikstrom, discusses how creativity and change management are indispensable tools for leaders in times of uncertainty. In a conversation about her leadership journey with Notre Dame’s Kevin Baxter, Wikstrom shares her early understanding of leadership as the act of bringing people together, running as a spiritual discipline, and the impact she hopes to have as a Black woman leader in the church.

“I'm walking into these Catholic schools, so hopefully they see that the world can have its perceptions, and people can have their ideas and comments, but at the end of the day, Kevin, if you're comfortable in your own skin and your own identity, that's not going to shake you.”

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Former Chicago Catholic school superintendent Greg Richmond spoke with Notre Dame's Kevin Baxter about leadership as service, and how the approach supports larger mission goals through committed engagement with principals. A week before the end of his tenure as head of schools for the Archdiocese of Chicago, Greg spoke with Kevin about the district's new shared goal of building upon welcome to create belonging for students ("We believe belonging fosters student wellness"), and the enduring love for the schools he's led—and served—for five years."

They're not there for the money," Richmond says of the nearly 150 Catholic schools managed by the archdiocese. "They're there because they care about the kids, they care about the mission, [and] they care about fully developing children academically, socially, emotionally and spiritually."

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Author, speaker, and scholar Ann Garrido talks with Notre Dame's Kevin Baxter about her leadership journey and the enduring relevance of her three-book 'Redeeming' series for Catholic school educators building culture and navigating conflict. Hear Ann share how writing also served as a way to access mentorship during her professional development as a school administrator; the new challenge in contemporary society of resolving conflict when even facts can no longer agreed upon; and reconciling the complicated nature of power with the Catholic imperative to use it well. "We will tend not to see ourselves as having power because we don't want to be associated with that.; it's considered often with abuse or oppression," Garrido says. "But power from a Christian lens has the potential to be good. And if one does have power and one does not use it, well, that's where you get in the greatest danger."

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In this podcast opener, Host Kevin Baxter, director of the Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program at Notre Dame, introduces a series to offer a spiritual and mental reset for those transforming Catholic schools today.