Maureen McNamara Position: Exec. Director - External Affairs/Community Relations First Year at ND: 1990

A 19-year veteran of the Notre Dame athletics department, Maureen McNamara was promoted to her present position as executive director of external affairs & community relations in June 2005, after she was named director in that area two years earlier. Her primary responsibility in that role is overseeing the Rockne Heritage Fund, the first athletics annual fund at Notre Dame, as well as the Director's Circle recognition society. Her other duties include raising funds for scholarships, other initiatives and capital projects for the Notre Dame athletics department. In addition, she directs the marketing activities and acts as liaison to the University's central development office relative to those efforts. She plays an integral role in the strategic planning and implementation of the Irish athletics external affairs & community relations program in direct collaboration with Senior Associate Athletics Director Bill Scholl.

Prior to being named director of external affairs & community relations, McNamara served as manager and then director of corporate relations, coordinated the University's summer sports camps that featured more than 7,000 participants, and served as the athletics department liaison with NBC Sports. In September 2000, she hosted 55 corporate parties and more than 10,000 guests prior to the Notre Dame-Nebraska football game at Notre Dame Stadium.

She first joined the University as assistant women's tennis coach in January 1990. During her coaching tenure, the 1996 Irish finished sixth in the country, the program's first top-10 final ranking since it was elevated to NCAA Division I status. She also spent two of those coaching years earning her master's degree from Notre Dame, graduating magna cum laude in 1996.

A native of Peoria, Ill., McNamara held two corporate positions in the five years prior to her arrival on campus. She was employed by Xerox Corporation and Abbott Laboratories in Chicago. A 1984 graduate from the University of Illinois with a degree in business administration, Maureen earned four letters in tennis, was voted most valuable player as both a junior and senior, and held the school wins record for both men's and women's teams. In 1992, she was voted to the UI Women's Tennis Team of the Decade by former and current Illini athletes in all sports.