Panel Discussion: In Their Own Words
Moderated by Kelley Tuthill ‘92
A conversation highlighting the unique joys and challenges Notre Dame students experienced during the earliest years of coeducation. Join us to hear the stories of these pioneering women and men. The panelists are Betsy Kall Brosnan '76, Augie Grace '76, Jack Leicht '74, and Sharon McAuliffe '74. This event is sponsored by ND Women Connect and ND Senior Alumni.
Betsy Kall Brosnan retired from the public accounting profession in 2019. Highlights of her 43 year career as a CPA include her years at a "Big Eight" accounting firm, the 21 years in which she was the co-owner of a CPA firm which earned the distinction of "Small Business of the Year" from the local business community, and the opportunity to transition the firm to a larger organization via merger in 2016.
Currently Brosnan is a member of the Working Group stewarding the grant program of the DuPage Community Transformation Partnership. This is a strategic grant making program established in 2022 through a collaborative effort by DuPage County in Illinois and the DuPage Foundation. The program supports local not-for-profit organizations responding to the lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Brosnan has a passion for community service. She was a member of the DuPage Foundation's Board of Trustees and the COVID-19 Response Fund Working Group, which was operational from March 19, 2020 through June 9, 2021 as a special initiative. She is also a past Treasurer of the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce, past Treasurer of Naperville Elderly Homes, past founding member of NACPAC (Naperville Area Chamber Political Action Committee) and past President and founding member of the Notre Dame Club of Naperville/Lisle (now part of the Notre Dame Club of Greater DuPage). She has also held various positions within the schools, church and activities in which she and her family were involved.
Brosnan received her undergraduate degree in accounting from the University of Notre Dame and a Master of Science in Taxation (MST) degree from DePaul University. She has been married to her husband Pete (ND 1976) for 45 years, has three children and four grandchildren.
Augie Grace received a B.A. in American Studies from the University of Notre Dame (1976) and a Juris Doctorate from Boston College Law School (1984). At Notre Dame Grace served as Junior and Senior Class President. As Class President he worked closely with the other class officers to plan and organize activities to guide the Class of 1976 through the first four years of coeducation. Throughout his career he served in a variety of government relations and community relations positions including serving two terms in the Massachusetts State Legislature. For twenty years, he also served as Executive Director of the National Guard Association of Massachusetts. The last four years in this position he served as an officer of the National Guard Executive Directors Associations, including one year as Association President. Currently Grace serves as the Florida Region Director on the Notre Dame Senior Alumni Board. Together with his wife Janice he has retired and moved to Tampa, Florida.
John G. Leicht has been a member of several alumni clubs including the Notre Dame Club of Minnesota the Notre Dame Club of London England where he was a member of the club’s Board of Directors. After returning to Indianapolis from London in 1993, he has been very active in the Notre Dame Club of Indianapolis as a member of its Board of Directors and serving as its President. In addition, he has chaired the Club’s annual golf and tennis outing for six years and served on its scholarship committee for five years. In 2003, Leicht retired from Eli Lilly and Company where he held a variety of domestic and international assignments in a twenty-nine year career. Currently, he is one of two principals of Edward George & Associates, LLC, an operations consulting company based in Indianapolis. In addition to the Civil Engineering degree he earned while at Notre Dame, he holds a MBA degree from Indiana University. Leicht and his wife Mary Kathryn Conaty Leicht (SMC ’74) have four children: Kathleen ’01, Kevin ’05, Amy SMC ’10, and Daniel ’13.
Sharon A. McAuliffe is an attorney and member at Bousquet Holstein PLLC in Syracuse, New York and serves as Chair of the firm's Employee Benefits/ERISA Practice Group. For over 30 years her primary practice areas have been employee benefits law and estates and trusts. She has represented clients before the Internal Revenue Service, Department of Labor and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and managed the resolution of benefit issues in numerous mergers and acquisitions. She serves as an adjunct faculty member at Syracuse University College of Law teaching Pension and Employee Benefits Law.
In addition to her employee benefit work, McAuliffe has guided clients through all aspects of the estate planning and estate administration process, with a particular interest and corresponding expertise in the areas of estate planning for retirement benefits and succession planning for vacation homes.
McAuliffe has been a member of the Notre Dame Club of Central New York since her graduation from Notre Dame, serving 15 years as the Coordinator of the Summer Service Learning (SSLP) Program for the Club. McAuliffe served on the Notre Dame Senior Alumni Board ("NDSA") for four years, originally as the Region 18 Director and then as Chair of the Board.
McAuliffe received her undergraduate degree in sociology from the University of Notre Dame, a Masters in Public Administration from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University and a Juris Doctor from Syracuse University College of Law. She and her husband, Lowell Seifter, share three children and five grandchildren.
Kelley Tuthill joined Catholic Charities of Boston as the Chief Operating Officer in December 2020. In this role, she oversees advancement, marketing and communications, government and community relations, legal, and human resources. Tuthill previously served as vice president of Marketing and Communications at Regis College in Weston, Mass. She came to Regis after serving 18 years as a reporter and anchor at WCVB-TV, the ABC affiliate in Boston. She covered the Boston Marathon bombing and led the station's Emmy Award-winning coverage of the trial, which also won three National Headliner Awards. She scored a national exclusive when a law enforcement source gave her the first photo of fugitive mobster James "Whitey" Bulger after his 2011 arrest. Tuthill led the team that won the Massachusetts Broadcasters Association's "Best Use of Digital Media" award for multi-platform coverage of the Bulger trial in 2014.
A breast cancer survivor, Tuthill poignantly shared her journey with WCVB viewers and on-line users. Her series resulted in multiple national Gracie Awards and a regional Emmy. She is co-author of You Can Do This! Surviving Breast Cancer Without Losing Your Sanity or Your Style. Tuthill has become a champion of local and national breast cancer organizations, raising both money and awareness. Tuthill received the 2017 Jimmy Award, which honors celebrities who have committed themselves to the mission of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund. She has been recognized as a "Hero Among Us" by the Boston Celtics, a "40 Under 40" by the Boston Business Journal and featured in the book Boston: Inspirational Women for her work on behalf of local and national breast cancer organizations. Tuthill serves on the advisory board of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Tuthill is also a member of the Arts and Letters Advisory Council at her alma mater, the University of Notre Dame. She also holds a Doctor of Education from Regis College and a Master of Science from the Columbia University School of Journalism.