2020 G O N Z AG A AWA R D presented by the Jesuit Dallas Foundation to
J.D. DELL
With an inimitable volunteer service record and a generous and missionbased philanthropic spirit, J.D. Dell has had a profound impact on the Jesuit Dallas community. In recognition of his contributions to the School, Dell has been honored as the 2020 recipient of the Gonzaga Award, which is named after the patron saint of Jesuit Dallas and represents one of the highest individual honors presented to a member of the School community. For more than a decade, Dell has provided meaningful leadership and inspired new ways of thinking as an impassioned advocate for the Jesuit Dallas mission. An experienced and successful private equity professional, Dell’s contributions to Jesuit are vast and have led to accelerated growth in the annual parent’s Challenge Drive, strengthened the endowment of the Jesuit Dallas Foundation, and helped shape the MAGIS Golf Classic into a signature philanthropic event for the School and one of the most prestigious charity golf events in North Texas. “Jesuit is unlike any other school for many reasons,” Dell explained. “First, it has a welcoming philosophy that teaches to the individual needs of its students. It’s also a school that embraces different socioeconomic, racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, and proves that young men with different life circumstances are deserving of the opportunity and can achieve great success. The emphasis on community service is also unique, and exposes Jesuit’s students to a life of privilege many of them know and may not realize, planting the seeds of social responsibility that nearly all Jesuit graduates carry with them throughout their lives.” Originally from Milwaukee, Dell relocated to Texas from the Midwest after graduating magna cum laude from the University of Illinois-College of Law while simultaneously earning a Master of Accounting Science. A member of the State Bar of Texas for more than 30 years, Dell is currently managing director and partner at Big Path Capital, where he provides investment banking and merger and acquisition services for private equity funds and companies in the impact and sustainability space. “I believe strongly in the Jesuit mission, and always wanted to leverage my gifts so that by utilizing my time and talent in addition to my treasure, I could be more well-informed and offer a more holistic approach in hopefully multiplying the overall impact to the mission. My work with the Foundation was rooted in this philosophy, particularly in knowing that the Foundation’s priority is creating opportunity for underserved members of our community.” From 2008-18, Dell served on the Jesuit Dallas Foundation Board of Trustees as well as the Foundation Investment Committee. He joined the Board during the Great Recession, and at a time when the economic downturn threatened the vitality of the Jesuit endowment. Dell, who also chaired the Investment Committee from 2013-15 before completing a twoyear term as chair of the Board of Trustees, served as a decision maker on the acquisition and disposition of investments for the Board throughout the ensuing decade, and helped secure significant gains in the corpus of the endowment while further strengthening Jesuit’s financial future. “I’m very proud of the work we began during my tenure regarding the screening of our investment portfolio. It was especially important that we were considering more than just financial performance when reviewing
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investment opportunities. The Foundation’s activities need to reflect the mission of the School. We were successful in not only securing strong financial returns, but also in ensuring that our investments remained consistent with Jesuit Catholic principles.” In addition to his invaluable leadership in the boardroom, Dell served on the steering committee for the MAGIS Golf Classic and had a formidable role in the growth of the annual Challenge Drive, which raises funds from current families to cover the difference in the true cost of a Jesuit education. He served as a class captain for seven years, and nurtured by his own competitive spirit, helped his sons’ classes and the overall drive set records for dollars raised each year. “Jesuit does a great job of blending intellectual, physical, spiritual and social components through the entire fabric of the School so that through its teachers, counselors, and administrators, delivers a truly remarkable educational experience, in the broadest sense, to all Rangers. My sons, Nick ’12 and Eric ’15, have not only gone on to perform well in college and at the start of their professional pursuits, but each of them counts a large number of their Jesuit brothers as their very best friends to this day – that says a lot!” Dell’s generous philanthropy has benefitted Jesuit in a number of ways, and in 2019, the School dedicated the Dell Performance Center. Laura and J.D. Dell served as the lead donors on the 9,000-square foot state-of-theart strength and conditioning facility, which is one of the busiest areas of campus on any given day and serves as the heart of the athletic tower. “It’s humbling to be thought of in the company of so many great individuals with deep ties to the School. I love the mission and that the people in the community are so committed to the Jesuit Dallas cause. I’m proud to be associated with Jesuit Dallas; proud of the amazing young men who are formed into Men for Others by the experience. If there are ways that I can continue to help, I will always be happy to do so.”
