1. What was your favorite part of Reconnect this year?
Catching up with my classmates!
2. How did your time at Chicago Booth impact you?
My time at Booth expanded my knowledge, deepened my process, and elevated the way I think while developing incredible friendships.
3. How have you stayed involved with the Booth community as an alumnus?
I have hired Booth interns and alumni, volunteered for reunion committees, and contributed to the Booth Annual Fund.
4. What three traits define you?
Positive attitude and energy, strategic and analytical approach, being open to new experiences.
5. What are you most proud of?
My family.
6. Who or what inspires you?
I am inspired by everything around me. The 5th grader facing insurmountable odds who finds her path to success. The entrepreneur that battles off the doubters and naysayers to grow a business. The beauty of our natural world from impressive mountains to waves lapping the shores. The friends facing cancer with grace and style. Traveling and exploring new places. I believe the more to you truly look around and live in the moment, the more inspiration you find.
7. What is the last book you read?
Being Mortal by Atul Gawande
8. Why do you give to the Booth Annual Fund?
My experience at Booth made me a better person, and I want to support that experience for others.
Deirdre helps companies, organizations, and individuals show their best selves through her application of strategy, marketing, analysis, and communication.
Deirdre worked at McKinsey, where she focused on retail. Following her graduation at Booth, Deirdre completed the management development program at Abbott Labs and worked on pre-launch efforts for a drug in late stage development. She led brand positioning, marketing, and PR efforts as the director of marketing and community engagement for AUSL, a Chicago nonprofit focused on teacher development and school turnaround. Deirdre chaired fundraising efforts at her daugthers’ school helping double the money raised. She served on the Blaine Local School Council, the elected school board providing fiscal and leadership oversight. Currently she is focused on supporting her daughters to be their best selves.
Deirdre graduated from Agnes Scott College with a major in chemistry and from University of Chicago Booth School of Business with a focus on strategy, marketing, and finance.
Deirdre loves to travel, cook, and bake and be a source of organized calmness for her family.
A generous commitment to the school will support the center’s groundbreaking research on applying human intelligence to AI.
Chicago Booth’s Center for Applied Artificial Intelligence Receives a $21 Million Gift
Prior to this gift, Kilts committed more than $12.5 million to advance the study of marketing at the school.
James M. Kilts, ’74, Makes $10 Million Gift to Booth
Awareness of disparities in income, support, and opportunities in her childhood neighborhood of Hyde Park is part of what led Judy Maley, ’84, along with Gayle Haller, ’87, to found Booth Alumni Nonprofit Consultants (BANC).
Giving Back to the Community
