Phi Sigma Kappa - Purdue University

2 Phi Sig Express campaign for construction of the house will close out in late summer with a full report scheduled to be presented to alumni at Homecoming. To date $2,124,141 in total pledges from 172 gifts has been received. This includes a March 2021 additional $50,000 pledge to reduce the mortgage. The average gift amount is $12,349, and we have collected 96% of the pledges to date. PLANNING FOR PHI SIG'S FUTURE Over the summer, the board will begin a five year strategic plan out to 2026. Where do we want Phi Sigma Kappa at Purdue to be? Your comments and suggestions to help shape the future can be sent to alumni@302waldron.org. Have a great summer and plan to be on campus this fall! Damn Proud! John Lendrum '80 Alumni Board President jlendrum@nciprecast.com WORKING TOGETHER TO KEEP PHI SIGS SAFE (Continued from page 1) A s a U.S. Air Force "brat," Chris O'Donnell '89 didn't have a hometown growing up. He came to Purdue from Kwajalein Island in the Marshall Islands, where his high school graduation class had 26 students, including himself (and that was considered a large class). He was understandably overwhelmed by the 50 men on the floor at Harrison Hall, not to mention lectures with 1,000 students. Back then, Phi Sigma Kappa was one of the smallest fraternities on campus and one he felt most comfortable joining. His three years at 302 Waldron was the longest he had ever lived at one address at that point in his life, an experience that left a lasting impact. His favorite Phi Sig memories include road trips; the associate class walk out to the University of Michigan; spring break trips to Florida, Washington, D.C., and Missouri; General Convention in Indianapolis; and several trips to the Phi Sigma Kappa house at the University of Illinois. Other memories that come to mind when he thinks about Phi Sigma Kappa are ones that demonstrate the true meaning of brotherhood, in college and beyond. "Being a brother in Phi Sig means you are responsible to somebody else, to a group that's not your immediate family, for maybe the first time in your life. If you flunk out or otherwise screw up while living in a dorm or an apartment, you are probably impacting, at best, one or two other lives beyond your own," he explained. "Fail on brotherhood, scholar- ship, or character as a brother in Phi Sig, and you've let down not only yourself, but all your brothers—often with real consequences in terms of house finances, leadership, relationships, etc. It turns out that is good practice for life after college." To undergraduate brothers, Chris encourages them not to stress if they don't know what they want to do after graduation. He was 29 by the time he got a job that would become his career. "I'm over 50, and I'm still trying to figure it out. The idea that you should have your future shaped and mapped out at 21 is silly. My indus- try didn't even exist when I graduated from Purdue!" he stated. "Give your first job a couple of years, and if you aren't feeling it, don't be afraid to pivot. Odds are, you will have to pivot at least a couple times in your career anyway; it's better if you pick when those pivots happen." His first job after college was with a large paper com- pany as a management trainee, and he eventually was put into a sales position to fill a vacancy. In 1996, at the beginning of the dot com boom, he joined a startup and has worked in various internet tech companies ever since, always in a sales role. While Chris has spent the majority of that time in tech sales with small companies, it's not a career path that lends itself to long-term stability at one company and has led to him having to start his career over way too many times, "usually with a stack of worthless stock options as my parting gift," he admitted. However, working in technology has put Chris in the front row for all the enormous changes that have impacted society over the last 25 years. "It's been a lot of fun, most of the time," he said. Today, Chris is the sales director for a 40-person web design agency, where he also functions as the primary proposal writer, pitch presenter, sales engineer, and has marketing and product management responsibili- ties. Simply put, Chris wears many hats in his professional life and has the skills to succeed thanks to his Phi Sigma Kappa experience. "Delta Triton being a smaller fraternity meant almost everyone had to take on a leadership role. There was too much for us to do to have slack- ers in a 20-30 guy house," he explained. "I had opportunities to take on projects such as rush chairman or Grand Prix chairman—things that were way out of my comfort zone, where I learned leadership and organiza- tional skills that I wasn't going to get in class." On a personal note, Chris met his wife, Michelle, on a blind date set up by a Phi Sig brother. "Without Delta Triton, I never would have met her!" he remarked. After college, Chris moved to Atlanta, then to the D.C. area in the late '90s, and finally settled in Richmond, Virginia. Chris and Michelle have two grown children, both of whom are college graduates, although, not from Purdue. "My one big failing as a parent," he joked. You can connect with Chris at chris@odonnellweb.com. Shaped by phi Sig Chris O'Donnell Shares Professional Path and Advice for Delta Triton Undergraduates

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