Pat And Jana Eilers Make Lead Gift For Sports Performance Investment – Notre Dame Fighting Irish – Official Athletics Website

Pat and Jana Eilers have made a $5 Million gift to endow the University of Notre Dame’s Associate Athletics Director for Sports Performance position. Pat Eilers, a 1989 Notre Dame graduate, was part of the University’s 1988 national championship football team.

The Pat and Jana Eilers Associate Athletics Director for Sports Performance will support the position currently held by John Wagle, who was hired in May of 2022 after spending four years with Major League Baseball’s Kansas City Royals as the Director of Performance Science & Player Development.

Wagle is charged with maximizing the relationship within sports performance areas to impact Fighting Irish student-athletes on a daily basis through a progressive and excellence-driven program. By enhancing the collaborative efforts between strength and conditioning, nutrition, athletic training and sports psychology, Wagle aims to increase Notre Dame’s athletic competitive excellence.

Wagle and the Notre Dame sports performance team produce outputs based on data using state-of-the-art technology, working in lock step with coaches, student-athletes, data analytics and strategy. The Eilers’ gift will allow Wagle and his team to further Notre Dame’s industry-leading efforts.

“Pat and Jana’s endowment of our Associate Athletics Director for Sports Performance position represents their ongoing commitment to our student-athletes and the ever-evolving, holistic support of our coaches and practitioners provide in preparing them to perform like champions,” said Wagle.

“We are grateful to the Eilers for not only this gift, but for being advocates of our vision to be the gold standard in sports performance worldwide.”

The Eilers hail from Winnetka, Illinois, and have a long history of supporting the University of Notre Dame. This latest gift joins previous contributions to endow the football program’s defensive backs assistant coach position and an endowment for an engineering fellowship in the Notre Dame Energy Center . The Eilers are members of the University’s Jesse Harper Council, Athletics Director’s Circle, Badin Guild and Advisory Council for the Student-Athlete.

“Notre Dame’s pursuit of excellence in the classroom, on the field of play and in the growth of our student-athletes’ spirituality is unique amongst collegiate institutions. The University’s unwavering pursuit to establish the gold standard, with John’s appointment, is central to the reason why Jana and I want to help assist the development of our student-athletes mind, body, and soul,” said Eilers.

Pat Eilers is the founder and Managing Partner of Transition Equity Partners, LLC (“TEP”), a private equity firm focused on the energy transition. He is also CEO of Power & Digital Infrastructure Acquisition Corporation. Prior to founding TEP, Eilers was a Managing Director on the BlackRock Infrastructure Platform and also worked at Madison Dearborn Partners where he oversaw the firm’s energy and power practice. Eilers played six years in the NFL. He also makes investments in human performance and sports analytics companies.

Eilers earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology (’89) and Mechanical Engineering (’90) from Notre Dame and a Master of Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Jana Eilers graduated from University of St. Thomas with a degree in Marketing. The couple have four children, each who attended Notre Dame.