Pat and Jana Eilers 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.
Pat and Jana Eilers Associate Athletics Director for Sports Performance will support the position currently held by John Wagle, who was hired in May 2022 after spending four years with Major League Baseball’s Kansas City Royals as Director of Performance Science & Player development.
Wagle is charged with maximizing the relationship in 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 lockstep with coaches, student-athletes, data analytics and strategy. The Eilers’ gift will allow Wagle and his team to continue Notre Dame’s industry-leading efforts.
“Pat and Jana’s advancement to our Associate Athletics Director for Sports Performance position represents their continued commitment to our student-athletes and the ever-evolving, holistic support our coaches and practitioners provide to prepare them to be champions,” Wagle said.
“We are grateful to the Eilers for not only this gift, but also for being advocates of our vision to be the gold standard in sports performance worldwide.”
The Eilers are 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 at the Notre Dame Energy Center. Eiler is a member of the university’s Jesse Harper Council, the Athletics Director’s Circle, Badin Guild and Advisory Council for the Student-Athlete.
“Notre Dame’s pursuit of excellence in the classroom, on the playing field and in the growth of the spirituality of our student-athletes is unique among collegiate institutions. The university’s unlikely pursuit of establishing the gold standard, with John’s appointment, is central to the reason why Jana and I help develop our student-athletes mind, body and soul,” Eilers said.
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 Capitalization Prior to founding TEP, Eilers was a managing director at 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 analysis 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 studied at the University of St. Thomas graduated with a degree in marketing. The couple has four children, all from Notre Dame.
