The university welcomed alumnus Curt Krizan as the new president of the UW-Eau Claire Foundation. He took over the position three weeks ago following the retirement of former president Kimera Way.
The UW-Eau Claire Foundation is a tax-exempt, independent organization that manages money from alumni and other donors to “provide financial support for academic, cultural and professional programs at UW-Eau Claire” that aren’t fully covered by state funds and tuition.
“It is a legally recognized entity designed to solicit, keep and manage private gifts on behalf of the university,” Way said.
Way has been with the foundation since 2001 and became the president in 2007.
According to Way, the foundation’s staff is now made up of 23 people, with 25 supervisors on the board and several thousand donors. The organization has close to $7 million invested into it. Way said the president of the foundation wears many hats.
The foundation has a hand in a myriad of projects both on campus and throughout the Eau Claire community. For example, campus residence halls including Haymarket Landing, Priory Hall and Aspenson Mogensen are all owned and managed by the organization.
“As president of the foundation, you’re in charge of basically all the strategic direction of the organization, overseeing all of the projects and the fundraising,” Way said.
Krizan’s educational and professional background have connections to this role. Originally from Hastings, Minnesota, Krizan graduated from UW-Eau Claire in 1993 with a degree in accounting, or “accountancy,” as he affectionately puts it.
After graduating, Krizan worked in finance for a number of nonprofit and for-profit organizations.
He and his family moved to Arizona roughly thirteen years ago when he was offered an accounting position at the Fiesta Bowl, a football organization based out of Phoenix. Krizan said he started as chief financial officer and later became a ticket revenue officer.
“We just loved it down in Arizona,” Krizan said. “But I still stayed connected to my university.”
Around five years ago, Krizan said he reached out to the director of UW-Eau Claire’s College of Business to discuss the formation of an alumni-led seminar related to the sports industry.
“In my career, I was finding a lot of Blugolds who actually work in the sports industry, and we don’t even have a sports program here,” Krizan said. “That gave me the idea of getting alums to speak to college of business students about the industry.”
This idea proved a success. Through collaboration with university faculty, Krizan helped establish the now-annual Business of Sports Symposium, where a number of alumni speak to students each year.
“Alumni are excited to get involved, and it’s all really about networking,” Krizan said. “It’s about who you know in sports, and students have had a lot of success with this event.”
In the years following, Krizan and his family returned to Eau Claire each summer and strengthened their ties to the university. They participated in UW-Eau Claire’s Snowbird U program, which allows alumni to live in Haymarket for a few months in the summer.
Krizan went on to serve on UW-Eau Claire’s College of Business Advisory Council. There, he got to know even more of the faculty as well as the university chancellor. Krizan said after hearing about the open presidential position, the rest was history.
“Everything just kind of lined up,” Krizan said. “My heart lies here. I graduated from here, and it’s kind of in the blood.”
Krizan’s two brothers also attended UW-Eau Claire, as well as his niece. Perhaps most fitting of all, his own daughter is starting as a first-year at the university this year.
Krizan said his main goal starting out as president is to “not screw it up.” He said he wants to focus on building strong relationships with staff, donors and collaborators in the community early on.
“My first focus has been connecting with the team. That’s really been awesome and was what attracted me to the job,” Krizan said. “When I interviewed, the panel included the entire staff. It’s a very close-knit group that feels like a family. I plan to foster those relationships to build trust.”
Krizan said he is “energized” by the recent progress being made to campus and that he hopes to continue down that path in the future. He cited the foundation’s work with donors and the community to build the Sonnentag Complex and the collaboration with Mayo Clinic on the new Science and Health Sciences building.
Renee Strehlau, UW-Eau Claire director of facilities and campus planner, attested to this crossover.
“The UW-Eau Claire Foundation was very involved with both the Sonnentag Center and the Health Sciences building,” Strehlau said.
Way outlined the foundation’s work and goals for university funding.
“We have almost a hundred thousand alumni. Our goal is to engage alumni and reach out,” Way said. “Our hope is that people had a great experience here at UW-Eau Claire, so they’ll give money back to support scholarships, faculty, programming, all those kinds of things.”
Way offered the analogy of a “three-legged stool” to describe where UW-Eau Claire gets its funding.
“There’s the tuition that students pay, the allocation from state funds and then there’s the private funding that supports the value-added things the university aspires to have and do,” Way said.
Way said the university has “steadily grown” in donations over time.
“I think this past fiscal year was one of the best we’ve had in recent history,” Way said. “We have many proud Blugold alumni who believe in what the institution did for them and want to pay it forward.”
Way added that she is taking good memories with her as she bids her former role farewell.
“I’ve had a wonderful, wonderful time at UW-Eau Claire. It’s a great university and the students and alumni and everybody who works there are really passionate. It’s been a great place to work. I’m proud to have been associated with it and ready to retire and do other things,” Way said.
Way spoke positively about the decision to hire Krizan.
“The fact that Curt’s a Blugold was an important factor. He knows the university and can speak from personal experience. He has a good business background and is adding good value to the organization,” Way said.
Wojahn can be reached at [email protected].
