NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Karl (’92), Holly, Karter and Kennedy Peterson have made a gift to the University of Notre Dame to endow the swimming & diving head coach position. Karl is a former Fighting Irish swimmer.
The Peterson’s gift will help underwrite the salary of the coach, provide stability and resources and create funds for use within the athletics department. Notre Dame Athletics is currently conducting a national search for its next swimming & diving head coach. That individual will assume the title of Peterson Family Head Swimming Coach.
“The gift the Peterson family has made to Notre Dame will help provide long term financial support to the program they love,” said University Vice President and James E. Rohr Director of Athletics Jack Swarbrick. “Student-athletes are at the heart of our mission as an athletics department and the Peterson’s support will ensure we continue to bring in world class coach-educators.”
A resident of Aspen, Colorado and a South Bend native, Karl is Senior Partner at TPG, a leading global alternative asset management firm. He is also a co-founder and former president and CEO of Hotwire.com and is currently chairman of both Sabre Corporation and Accel Entertainment. Additionally, he serves on the boards of Vacasa, Inc. and Playa Hotels and Resorts. He earned a Monogram and as a senior in 1992, he received the swimming & diving program’s Knute Rockne Scholar-Athlete Award. Karl graduated from the Mendoza College of Business with a bachelor’s degree in finance with high honors.
Holly, a resident of San Francisco, California, is a graduate of Fresno State University. She is active in numerous philanthropic activities and serves on the Board of Trustees of the Sutter Health CPMC Foundation. Karter and Kennedy are freshmen at Brentwood College School in Mill Bay, Canada.
“While it’s been 30 years since I last raced for the Irish, the benefits from being a student-athlete at Notre Dame persist,” Peterson said. “Coach Tim Welsh was a great influence on so many of us over more than three decades. His mission that we pursue academic and athletic excellence with self-discipline and love for one another helped us grow and prepared us extremely well for the future. Holly, the twins, and I are pleased to make this gift to recognize the love for Tim, the swim program and the University that so many of us have and continue his mission while also helping to attract world class talent in the water, the classroom, and on the pool deck.”
“Karl Peterson is what Notre Dame Swimming is all about: family, excellence, self-discipline, and love for one another,” said former Fighting Irish swimmer Haley Scott DeMaria (‘95). “Like many Notre Dame Swimming and Diving alumni, Karl’s life has been defined by his time as a Notre Dame student-athlete and the strong bonds formed with his teammates and long-time Notre Dame swim coach, Tim Welsh. The generosity from the Peterson family does not surprise anyone who knows them, and I am grateful for this transformative gift that will ensure Notre Dame Swimming and Diving continues to pursue excellence and change lives.”
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