David Schnadig ’86 is a Trinity trustee, Co-Chair of the All In Campaign, and someone who knows what it means to lead. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Trinity, earning a B.A. with honors in economics. He went on to earn an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. As Co-President of Cortec Group, a New-York based private equity firm, Dave has helped numerous founders and families build their companies’ size, scale and quality.
Dave and his wife Lori have been meaningful contributors to the All In Campaign since its inception. They have focused their philanthropy on three primary objectives: i) enhancing access to Trinity for highly qualified students unable to afford full tuition; ii) formalizing the leadership of and funding for students to avail themselves of the Trinity Plus Curriculum; and iii) improving Trinity’s competitiveness by increasing the pool of available unrestricted capital.
Early in Trinity’s All In Campaign, Dave identified Financial Aid as a pivotal priority for Trinity and agreed to co-chair the Financial Aid component of the Campaign that has now raised $77 million. Dave and his wife Lori created the Schnadig Endowed Scholars Fund as part of the initiative.
“We have seen student quality consistently rise as the College’s commitment to Financial Aid has been strengthened. Our initiative has enhanced Trinity’s focus on helping middle income families, capital region scholars, first generation students, and talented students from around the world who deserve the Trinity experience.”
Dave and Lori Schnadig
Getting into Trinity and having the resources to attend is only part of the story. Trinity has long offered small classes, one-on-one faculty mentorship, and exceptional teaching. Three years ago, the faculty introduced the new Trinity Plus Curriculum that builds upon and amplifies the College’s liberal arts foundation. It is a game changer for students seeking to explore beyond the classroom.
One of Trinity Plus’ learning goals advocates a simple concept that yields a powerful outcome:
Gain experiences that connect knowledge with practice.
The Trinity Plus Curriculum complements classroom learning with substantive hands-on, real-world experiences that earn students credit toward their degrees — through a range of opportunities including internships, faculty-guided research projects, short-term courses abroad, peer mentoring, and entrepreneurship programs.
Internships are a powerful means of broadening Trinity’s educational objectives. By providing various hands-on experiences, they enable students to explore more deeply their interests, passions and talents, and how they align, or don’t, with what the real world has to offer.
To help increase access to and adoption of the Trinity Plus Curriculum, Lori and Dave have taken two critical actions. First, they are endowing the newly created position of Executive Director of the Trinity Plus Experience. This role, which will report to the Dean of Faculty, will lead a team working with students to help them optimize the combination of classroom and experiential learning during their Trinity years. Dave stated, “Trinity offers an array of world-class experiential opportunities, but navigating these great options can be daunting for students. Seeing this as an opportunity, Lori and I decided to invest in the thing we know works best: experts taking a genuine interest in students, one at a time. Mentorship.” Dean of Faculty Sonia Cardenas added, “Trinity Plus is the most significant innovation in Trinity’s curriculum in almost two decades. With the Directorship, we will ensure that every student has individualized guidance and will take full advantage of all Trinity Plus can offer them.”
Second, they are creating and endowing the The Schnadig Fellows Program, which will remove financial barriers for students seeking internships to supplement their in-class education. Dave observed, “While many Trinity students want to partake in internships during the summer or throughout the academic year, their financial circumstances prevent them from being able to do so.” Lori and Dave were determined to level the playing field, ensuring all students could pursue internships, in particular, enabling them to explore their interests and gain an advantage in pursuing post-Trinity job and graduate school opportunities.
“Our gift launches a larger effort to endow all Trinity Plus opportunities for our students. I strongly urge other alums to join us! $20 million in endowment will make the Trinity Plus Curriculum a distinctive advantage of a Trinity education, added Schnadig.”
The final component of Lori and Dave’s donation involves helping to strengthen Trinity’s near- and longer-term competitive position. As a trustee and All In Campaign Co-Chair, he wanted this comprehensive Campaign commitment to demonstrate leadership through the Trinity College Fund, especially during his reunion years, and the College’s Legacy Campaign as well. Dave concludes,
“When you look at colleges and universities that are consistently top-ranked, alumni philanthropy is critical to helping them reach and maintain that level. We, as alumni, can make a huge difference in the quality of our alma mater, through our gifts today and those that will build the endowment in the future.”
In sum, Dave and Lori are continuing to strengthen Trinity, through fortifying its capital foundation, and by improving access, affordability and holistic educational opportunities to students who are seeking to develop themselves and make a meaningful impact on society.
“Dave is such a positive and effective leader on our Board. He cares deeply about fueling the potential in young people. He brings that care and business acumen to the table in all that we do. His and Lori’s impact during the All In Campaign has been truly profound. We are in their debt.”
President Joanne Berger-Sweeney
David L. Schnadig ‘86
A trustee of Trinity College, David graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Trinity, earning a B.A. with honors in economics. He went on to earn an M.B.A. from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. Dave previously served Trinity as a member of its Board of Fellows. His father, Richard Schnadig ’61 and his brother, Ian Schnadig M.D. ’91, also graduated from Trinity.
Co-President of Cortec Group, a New-York based private equity firm, Dave joined the company in 1995 as a Managing Director, was promoted to Partner in 2000 and Managing Partner in 2010. At Cortec Group, he has served as the board chair of many of the firm’s portfolio companies, including YETI Holdings, and leads all investor relations activities. Prior to Cortec, he was Assistant to the Chairman of SunAmerica, where he co-led merger and acquisition activities and managed a $350 million alternative asset investment portfolio. Prior to SunAmerica, Dave was an investment banker at Lehman Brothers and a management consultant at Cresap, McCormick & Paget.
Dave also co-founded and is the Managing Partner of YETI Capital, an Austin, TX-based venture capital firm which invests in and provides expansive business guidance to founders of start-ups and early stage U.S.-based consumer companies.
Dave serves on the Board of Trustees of East Harlem Tutorial Program, which includes its charter school network. He is also the co-founder and Vice Chair of the Kellogg School’s Private Equity Alumni Council and has worked with the Dean and leading Finance faculty to create an advanced private equity curriculum. He teaches several classes throughout the year at Kellogg.
Lori Roth Schnadig
Lori Roth Schnadig is a Senior Managing Director at Ashley Capital, a privately-held, NY-based real estate investment firm, where she coordinates all financings for Ashley’s acquisition and development projects. She has executed several billion dollars of financings during her tenure. Prior to joining the company in 1995, Lori was a Vice President in the Real Estate Group of The Industrial Bank of Japan, in both New York and Los Angeles, and an Analyst in the U.S. Corporate Banking Group of National Westminster Bank, PLC. Lori earned an M.B.A. from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management and holds a B.A., with honors, from Tufts University.
Lori serves on the Tufts Board of Trustees, chairs its Committee on University Advancement and sits on the Tufts Arts & Sciences Board of Advisors. Lori also serves on the Kellogg Alumni Council and the Kellogg Admissions Leadership Council. Lori is active in a variety of community organizations, including the East Harlem Tutorial Program and Peer Health Exchange and serves on the Board of a New York City co-operative.
For more information about the Trinity Plus Curriculum and ways to support the effort, please contact Caitlin Gasiorski ([email protected]).