Andrea Bendzick ’96 – One Alumna’s Reflections on Giving
June 16, 2023
ABOUT ANDREA BENDZICK
Andrea Bendzick has lived in California for most of her life. She was born in the U.S., but spent her first 6 years in Mexico, where her father is from, and then moved back to California. She is the eldest of four, with a sister and two brothers.
- Andrea went to the University of Notre Dame and graduated in 1996 with a degree in Biology.
- She went back to Notre Dame to earn an MBA in Finance and Organizational Behavior (1999-2001).
- She entered IT services with HP and started her career there.
- Fortunate enough to discover a mentor at HP who believed in her and saw her potential, she followed him to a new company where he became CEO. She worked for his organization for 15 years.
- Andrea chose to take her first CFO role with Astreya, her current company, in 2019. She started as CFO, became COO, and is now President as of February 2022.
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE NOTRE DAME?
“I feel Notre Dame called me.” Andrea’s mom and most of her family went to Stanford. She knew of the name “Notre Dame” but didn’t know much about the university. After taking a standardized test, she received a pamphlet in the mail from Notre Dame. It looked beautiful, and she learned more about it at an information night she attended with her grandmother. They didn’t have the money to go visit, so that information night and the pamphlet were Andrea’s only exposure to Notre Dame.
“I read the pamphlet, and I remember thinking that just kind of feels Like it would be a school that I want to go to, and it became my number 011e … Because of my financial need, my high school counselor told me that maybe I should reconsider where I was applying. I came home crying and my dad said ‘your job is to get the grades, my job is to figure out how we’re going to pay for it.’ Once we found out that I got in, we ended up getting 100% need aid from Notre Dame alums and whoever else had given. I took out some student loans, but in the context of the cost of the overall education, the amount was fairly small. So I was able to make that a reality. My dad was right, I got the grades and I got into Notre Dame and they met the need so that I could attend.”
Once she was at Notre Dame, Andrea was very active. She played intramural soccer and was able to play flag football at Notre Dame Stadium. Rudy was also filmed during her freshmen year, a fun memory for her. During her spare time, Andrea lifeguarded to help pay for school as well as worked and helped volunteer at the Latino Affairs Office and helped out at the local homeless shelter.
DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE MEMORY?
“The first day that I arrived campus. I arrived by myself for a free summer program to prepare that I had been invited to. I was coming to campus for a few weeks, so I flew on a plane for the first time by myself from California to Chicago and then to campus. I just remember walking onto campus and just had this feeling come over me, like a complete sense of belonging and intense calm and just knowing this where I’m supposed to be, this is where I was called to be, it was not an accident. I was supposed to be here.”
WHO WOULD YOU SAY HAD THE GREATEST IMPACT ON YOUR LIFE?
“The two that stand out the most are probably my father and my grandmother. Both of them in different ways, but my dad being an immigrant from Mexico, he and my mom made the decision to come to the US and wanted to raise us here. Because the great thing about the US is that if you put in the work you can become almost anyone that you want to become. That decision for him meant that he had to give up his career of being a doctor and giving up his own dreams because he thought it was more important to give us the opportunity to pursue our dreams. That decision and love for family, to want to do that for them and sacrifice that for them, always sits with me, especially as a parent.”
“My grandmother was very bright, very strong. She just had a way of coming across as confident, but not arrogant. She was also so kind and funny. When you were with her, you felt like you were the most important person in the world. Always feeling loved and never questioning whether you ‘-re loved is a pretty powerful thing to have and even to me as I get older, it’s just that love, the kind that I felt, I still feel with my family. There’s a lot of confidence that comes from being able to pursue what you want because you almost feel like you can’t fail because of the important stuff like that you have taken care of. Those two people and concepts haue had a huge impact on my ability to be where I am today.”
WHAT IN YOUR LIFE INSPIRED YOU TO BECOME A DONOR?
“I think that really came from both of my parents, particularly my father. We weren’t financially well off, but we’d go down to Mexico once a month and we would go to the farming camps and
he would provide care there and then he stated his own
construction business. He would always give even though he didn’t necessarily have much from a financial standpoint, he gave his time and talent, and they [my parents] always gave what they could. True generosity, it’s more than just what you can write in a checkbook, it’s what you give in terms of your time and commitment to people and how you make them feel, and how you support them. To me, that’s where true philanthropy comes from. The desire to want to make a difference, no matter what the means, in any way possible. That is all that matters.”
Andrea was able to start a scholarship with her siblings named after their parents to continue their legacy and honor their sacrifice: The Carlos and Anne Odicino Scholarship. The scholarship provides need-based aid with a special focus on supporting first-generation students.
In addition to her philanthropy, Andrea remains eager to find areas of impact, especially in empowering women.
“I was always one of the only females wherever I worked and there is still a lot to do when it comes to women and their ability to have the confidence to re-engage and stay in the workforce and have careers, in particular in business and leadership positions, as that’s where decisions are made.”
