Tom Monaghan

Founder and Chancellor

Thomas Monaghan is the founder, chancellor and chairman of the board of directors for Ave Maria University. He is known as a wildly successful entrepreneur, the founder of Domino’s Pizza, an avid collector of Frank Loyd Wright items and the former owner of the Detroit Tigers. If his story stopped there, he might seem to fit in with other savvy entrepreneurs whose hard work and ingenuity paid off. But his greatest personal achievements came later in life, when Tom decided to fully immerse himself in charitable works, Catholic philanthropy and the call to restore Catholic higher education. After divesting himself of all the responsibilities and lavish distractions from a life of success, Tom set out to build America’s newest Catholic university, in an age buffeted by moral crises and anti-Christian sentiment.

Dan Schreck

Director

Daniel Schreck joined the University as its Chief Strategy Officer and inaugural Director of The Institute in March 2024 after spending nearly 20 years working in/around New York City.  He was a partner and head of business development at Equinox Partners, a global hedge-fund firm primarily focused on emerging markets equities.

Before his time in finance, Daniel was the inaugural director of young adult outreach for the Archdiocese of New York and an international marketing consultant for Sony Music. Daniel graduated with honors from Franciscan University (BA, Biology), Regina Apostolorum, Rome (Licentiate, Bioethics), and Columbia Business School (MBA). He earned a certificate from MIT’s course in No-Code AI and Machine Learning.

Giving back, Daniel was appointed by President Trump to serve a two-year term on the National Council on Disability. He has served on the boards of The Knights of Columbus Charitable Fund, Avail NYC, The Catholic Artists Society, and was elected to two terms on the representative town government for Greenwich, CT. Daniel is the President of the Jerome Lejeune Foundation, USA. Daniel and his wife, Annie, are the parents of nine children, live in Ave Maria, FL, and are members of Legatus.

Liam O’Rourke

Senior Institute Specialist

Liam O’Rourke recently graduated Summa Cum Laude from Ave Maria University with a Catholic studies major and an accounting minor. Liam was a Resident Assistant for two years, the captain of the varsity Ultimate Frisbee team for two years, the 2022 Mr. Gyrene winner, a member of Mary’s Marines, and the recipient of both the Pier Giorgio Frasatti Sportsmanship Award and the President’s Award, which is the highest award given to an AMU graduate.
As an Institute Specialist at AMU, Liam brings to the table his unique experience in leadership, management, and research consulting. He spent 10 years as the Foreman and Project Manager at Nourishing Acres, he spent a summer as a Project Management Intern at TWG Development, and he worked for two summers as a remote Research Consultant for both KYO Interiors and Smitty’s Lanai Repair.

Mark Middendorf

President of Ave Maria University

Middendorf, a Chicago native, was educated at Northern Illinois University and holds a Master of Business Administration in Finance from DePaul University. Building on his successes as a corporate manager and marketer, Middendorf followed a special call to found Lighthouse Catholic Media (LCM), a lay apostolate that became the largest producer of Catholic audio talks on the planet before merging with Augustine Institute in 2015. Middendorf served as Executive Vice President for Mission Expansion at Augustine Institute before becoming AMU’s fourth President in February 2022. He and his wife, Christine, are the proud parents of four children.

Garrett Hallinan

Senior Institute Specialist

Garrett graduated from AMU in 2023, with a degree in Business Administration. While in school, Garrett was a member of the Varsity Ultimate Frisbee Team and a leader of the Fishers of Men Household.
Since graduating college, Garrett taught 5th grade at Mason Classical Academy, where he helped develop students’ intellectual and personal habits, values, and skills through consistent instruction. Most recently, Garrett was hired as an Institute Specialist to help build and lead AMU’s newest initiative, the Institute for Innovation and Industry.

Maria Boersma

Maria Boersma completed her undergraduate degree in politics from Ave Maria University in 2010 and her graduate degree in Literature from St. Bonaventure University in 2015. Her research interests focus on the theme of immanent critique within modern American fiction as well as the theological motifs in the fiction of Flannery O’Connor. For the past six years, she has been teaching at Ave Maria University as a faculty member in the Literature and Communications Department. Her husband, Gerald, is also a professor at AMU in the Theology Department. After living in the UK and western NY, Maria and Gerald settled in Ave Maria in 2017. They now have five children - their youngest son was born this past July.

Other than teaching and research, Maria very much enjoys business development. Boersma founded an import company for European baby formula and an international network-based florist company, modeled after successful multinationals, for the Central American market.

The Team

Tom Monaghan

Founder and Chancellor, Ave Maria University

Dan Schreck

Director

Liam O’Rourke

Garrett Hallinan

Mark Middendorf

President of Ave Maria University

5050 Ave Maria Boulevard

Ave Maria, FL 34142

(239) 304 -7140

theinstitute@avemaria.edu

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