Indelible Moments

Steve Byrne ’95

Most of us, no doubt, have indelible high school moments etched into our memories – good times and bad. For Steve Byrne ’95, the memories are good! Mostly! Those recollections of fruitless attempts by him and the Class of ’95 posse John Kelley, Chris Caprio, Ryan Fortier, Matty McKenna, Ryan Hardy, and Robbie Chisholm to outwit disciplinarian, Mr. Tom Arria, are mostly buried beyond retrieval! But, for sure, he’ll never forget that Thanksgiving Eve, when, with the clock ticking down under a minute, his brother Dave ’93 launched a perfect spiral into the steady hands of Dennis Wilcox ’93. The MC crowd roared as the touchdown brought us within one point of #1-ranked Xaverian, and then Jeff Turner ’92 caught a two-point conversion and sealed the deal for a 15-14 win! Jeff’s daughter Avery and Steve’s daughter Maeve are currently Lancer sophomores, no doubt with their own memories in the making!

Steve was on the sidelines as a freshman fan at that game, but his years as an interscholastic athlete in football and basketball left him with dozens of great experiences and memories. An offensive and defensive tackle on the gridiron for four years, Steve earned Agganis All-Star honors. He also played two years of basketball, volunteered for Special Olympics, and attended MCLI. It’s not unusual that student-athletes will develop a strong bond of admiration and inspiration from teacher-coaches. Steve found those role models in the fun-loving and zealous persons of Rick Mazzei and Guy Prescott. Mr. Mazzei’s “The 1960s U.S. History” senior elective could entrance even the most reluctant students (not saying that that was Steve!), and his expertise on the Lacrosse field brought home a string of Catholic Conference Championships in the ’90s. Prescott’s powerful personality, his spirit of joy on the football field and in his Physical Education and Social Studies classes were legend. Steve recalls them fondly and thanks them for teaching that one should love whatever one chooses for a profession.

Steve grew up in Malden with brothers Dave ’93, and Danny ’98, and sister Jen, who attended Pope John XXIII High School. He recalls, “After nine years at Sacred Hearts’ Cheverus, down the street, I continued my Catholic education at MC. Several friends from Cheverus went to MC. It was important to my parents for us to go to Catholic schools, and we are all still not sure how they did it financially for the four of us.” But they did, and Malden Catholic was the launching pad for Steve’s next years at Bentley University, where he majored in Business Management and played football.

For the past twenty years, Steve has been making his mark at Fidelity Investments, where he has transitioned through a variety of finance roles. He counts about seven or eight of them. “Early on,” he says, “working within Corporate Decision Support and Competitive Analysis really opened my eyes. Collaborating in numerous strategic decisions and seeing the impacts of them through our firm’s P&L, cash flow, and balance sheet informed and challenged my perspective, preparing me for all future roles.” Steve is currently Vice-President of Finance in Fidelity’s Institutional Business line, where he partners closely with their Clearing, Custody, and Intermediary business heads. When not volunteering on the Bear Hill Golf Club Board of Governors or with our Malden Catholic Alumni Association, he pursues enrichment opportunities with the Wharton Securities Industry Institute, a 3-year program, meeting 1 week annually and culminating in a SIFMA/Wharton Certificate; and as a participant in Fidelity’s GLTP -- Global Leader Tomorrow Program -- executive leadership program. Byrne lives in Wakefield with his wife of 19 years, Keri, and their three children, Maeve ’24, Delia, and Ronan. Together, they spend lots of time with family and friends. Steve enjoys opportunities to golf and to travel and, always, to follow our Boston sports teams. When his daughter Maeve was exploring the high school landscape as an 8th-grader, Steve didn’t want to be “one of those parents” who takes charge of the decision making and forces the choice. “I brought Maeve and 5 friends down to see the school one night in their 7th-grade year. I honestly wasn’t pushing MC too hard, and we were looking at 2 - 3 other schools. By the time we left that evening, Maeve stated that she was going to MC whether she knew anyone going there or not!” Perhaps unbeknownst to Steve, his years of “talking up” MC did have an impact on his daughter. When asked what influenced her decision to attend MC, she led by saying her dad talked about it “all the time,” and then went on to say that she felt a special sense of community at MC’s Open House. Maeve has been quick to throw her energies into successful academics and athletics as center on last year’s Girls JV Basketball Team and as a defender this year on our first-ever Field Hockey Team.

We hope that Maeve comes to cherish what is very clear to her Dad. “The Malden Catholic community,” he says, “creates a special place to learn, grow and push oneself and classmates to new heights. MC is all about building great friendships, appreciating accountability and learning about leadership. Most of my best friends today are from MC ’95, and we continue to push each other to do better today.” Some things are just impossible to forget!