Champions of Hope

Experience the Event

Presented by The Office of the President

As part of the University’s 11th annual Walk the Walk Week celebration and the 2025-26 Notre Dame Forum on “Cultivating Hope,” two extraordinary leaders joined Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., University of Notre Dame President, to reflect on what it means to lead with integrity, moral courage, and hope. Listen in to a conversation with Tracy Graham ’95, Founder and Managing Principal, Graham Allen Partners, University Trustee, and Notre Dame Football Student-Athlete (1992-95), and Byron Spruell ’87, ’89 MBA, President of League Operations, National Basketball Association, University Trustee, and Notre Dame Football Student-Athlete (1984-87, Co-Captain: ’87).

To read a recap of the event, click here.

Since its establishment in 2005, each year the Notre Dame Forum invites campus-wide dialogue about issues of importance to the University, the nation, and the larger world.

This year’s theme is Cultivating Hope. In a world where hope is too often in short supply, our goal is to invite reflection about how each of us can be “seekers of truth, sustainers of hope, and builders of bridges.”

To learn more about the Notre Dame Forum 2025-26, please visit the Forum website.

Meet the Speaker: President Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C.

In December 2023, the University’s Board of Trustees elected Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., as Notre Dame’s 18th president, effective June 1, 2024. He also serves as professor of political science. Prior to serving as president, he was vice president and associate provost for interdisciplinary initiatives.

In his role as vice president and associate provost, he oversaw the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, iNDustry Labs, the Institute for Educational Initiatives, the Lucy Family Institute for Data & Society, the McGrath Institute for Church Life, the Notre Dame Technology Ethics Center, the Office of Military and Veterans Affairs, the ROTC programs, and the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art. He also directed the approval and review process of institutes and centers more generally.

Father Dowd was previously an assistant provost for internationalization with Notre Dame International, where his primary responsibilities included leadership of the Dublin Global Gateway, Kylemore Abbey Global Centre, and the São Paulo Global Center along with planning for future engagement with Africa.

The author of the book Christianity, Islam, and Liberal Democracy: Lessons from sub-Saharan Africa, Father Dowd focuses his research on African politics, ethnic politics, and the relationship between religion, political institutions, national identity, and human development. His current research explores religion and the integration of migrants/refugees in Europe and North America and the effects of faith-based schools on citizenship and civic engagement in Africa.

He is the founder of Notre Dame’s Ford Program in Human Development Studies and Solidarity and a fellow of the Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion, the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, and the Nanovic Institute for European Studies in the University’s Keough School of Global Affairs.

A Notre Dame alum, Father Dowd earned an M.Div. from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley and was ordained a Holy Cross priest in 1994. He holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from UCLA.

Meet the Speaker: Tracy Graham '95

Tracy Graham ’95 is the Founder and Managing Principal of Graham Allen Partners, a private equity firm that specializes in investing in, and building, technology and technology-enabled companies. He leverages his long history of successfully acquiring and operating businesses to provide strategic and operational support to a growing portfolio of small and middle-market companies. Tracy earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Notre Dame and attended the Indiana University Graduate School of Education. He also has a long history of community service, currently serving on the boards of 1st Source Bank, Beacon Health System, Davenport University, the Regional Development Authority of Northern Indiana’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee.

Meet the Speaker: Byron Spruell ’87, ’89 MBA

Byron Spruell ’87, ’89 MBA is the President of League Operations at the National Basketball Association, a position he has held since August 2016. Prior to joining the National Basketball Association, Mr. Spruell spent 20 years at Deloitte LLP, most recently as its Vice Chairman, Central Region Marketplace Leader and Chicago Managing Principal. He serves on several non-profit boards, including the University of Notre Dame Board of Trustees and the Jackie Robinson Foundation, among others.