Spotlights
10 Questions with alumna Madison Summerfield
Name, grad year, current job title
Madison Summerfield '21 - Associate Director, Major Gifts/Operations
Where was your favorite place to eat on campus or off campus?
I loved grabbing food in-between classes with my friends at the Commons or Kirkhof
Favorite place at GVSU to hang out with friends?
If we weren’t at a sporting event we loved heading to the downtown campus to do homework or spend time walking around the city.
Favorite class?
My favorite class was SPM 376 when we had to put on our own event from the ground up. I was lucky enough to be a part of a group that really went for it as far as taking an idea we had and making it come to life. We put on a flag football tournament with branding, sponsorship, and honestly, anything you can think of. It was my first taste at all of the background that goes into making an event come to life, without having prior guidance on what to do from a supervisor.
Favorite internship?
Interning with the GVSU Athletic Department with what is now known as The GVSU Athletics Fund, when I was in school it was called the Irwin Club!
Favorite sports team or event?
I loved attending everything! When I was in school I had some friends on the basketball teams, soccer team, and the football team. Watching your friends compete and do what they love is such a special thing to be able to take part in.
What is your current day-to-day work like?
It fluctuates a lot depending on what’s going on! The major gift fundraising side of my job some days can consist of traveling around the country within my territory cultivating major gifts to help finance our current capital campaign. On other days I may be in the office planning those work trips and connecting with donors to put together office visits, meals, and even events. We also do a lot surrounding events when they take place at Ole Miss, whether it’s hosting donors, giving tours, or providing them with some sort of sideline access. The operations side of my job consists of maintaining the insurance for all of our coaches and vehicles we use in main athletics and the foundation, helping run the stewardship of our Vaught Society and eMpower donors, sending thank you letters to all of our donors when they place a gift, VS database maintenance, managing the roll offs and write-offs for VS, helping plan our OMAF board meetings, keeping track of our condo for newly hired coaches or special guests, and some other random things around the office!
My job is never the same from one day to the next which is why I love it so much!
What is your favorite part of your job?
I have two “favorites” of my job. One is building new relationships with the Ole Miss donor base. It’s really rewarding acting as a bridge between athletics and the community. Mississippi is a state with no major professional sports, so the love that our fanbase has is like nothing I had ever seen before. People love Ole Miss and have many special memories surrounding this university, so helping make their athletics experience special is so fruitful. Another is helping raise money for the new facilities for our various sports programs. Our student-athletes are individuals who have spent their entire lives dreaming of competing at a school like Ole Miss. So to make their time here the best it can be for the handful of short years they wear Ole Miss on their uniform makes doing my job every day easy.
How did you land your first job?
LinkedIn! Sounds cliché, but LinkedIn is such a vital tool in the sports industry.
Favorite thing you have done in your current role?
I was lucky enough to play an intricate part in launching our first-ever, Ole Miss Women’s Athletics giving initiative, eMpower , which was created in an effort to promote a generational investment of the incredible female student-athletes at Ole Miss. It is the first women’s giving initiative in the SEC that is dedicated to helping enhance and encourage substantial investments in women’s athletic facilities.
Any advice or inspiration for current Sport Management students?
You HAVE to be willing to get outside of your comfort zone. I grew up in West Michigan and it was the only thing I had ever known, but taking a job in the SEC and moving somewhere I had never really known before has changed the trajectory of my career in such a significant way.
You also have to be willing to ask questions and do all of the little things to learn and grow. It pays off to be curious.
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