Welcome
The Northwestern University Club of San Antonio is the official home for NU alumni, family and friends in South Texas.
The Northwestern University Club of San Antonio's mission invites all members of the NU family—alumni, current students, parents, and friends—to connect with the university’s alumni community. This powerful network of doers spans the globe and includes virtually every profession. Here, you’ll find events, ideas, and friends that will matter to you. So, take a look around and browse. We hope you’ll come back often!
Become a member of the NU Club of SAT -- check out your membership options HERE.
To stay up-to-date with club news and events, make sure to subscribe to our newsletter!
Feeling social, join our Facebook group! This group is designed for club members to interact with other club members.
Are you finding life to be a little too busy to join the events, but still want to donate $ to the club (tax deductible), you can do so HERE.
TO NAVIGATE OUR SITE:
We hope you'll explore our website and reconnect with other NU grads from the greater San Antonio area and South Texas, which includes Corpus Christi. While much of the drama connected with overnighters and exams may be forgotten, the overall excellence of our NU experience and the friendships we made along the way will long be remembered and cherished.
NU VISITS SAN ANTONIO
Augie Bossu, Associate Director, Gift Planning, visited Northwestern alumni in San Antonio on Feb. 9 to discuss planned giving.
Bossu met with Club President Derek Martinez, treasurer Sandy Gulledge and her husband, Hal, and board member Nick Coates at El Mirasol-Alon Mexican restaurant.
After the meal ended (courtesy of NU), Bossu distributed information about gift planning -- but Nick Coates, with guide dog Hercules by his side, surprised him with a check for a substantial contribution to the university.
Photo: At right, standing: Derek Martinez, President; Augie Bossu, Associate Director, Gift Planning; seated, Nick Coates.
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY CLUB OF SAN ANTONIO, INC.
We went to Northwestern.
Here's what we're doing NOW.
Loving the library...
CLUB president
Derek Martinez -- THEN
Derek Martinez was a 6-foot. 177-pound quarterback at New Mexico when he committed to the Northwestern Wildcats in 1999. Thus began a "Hail to Purple" career that led NU's team to San Antonio for the 2000 Valero Alamo Bowl against the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
That year, Northwestern racked up a 6-2 Big Ten Conference record (8-4 overall) under Coach Randy Walker. Some 65,000 fans jammed the stadium, hoping to see the Wildcats trounce the Huskers.
Unfortunately, in a long-standing NU tradition, the Huskers creamed NU 66-17. The 66 points were an NCAA bowl record, along with the Husker's nine offensive touchdowns. But it looked promising for a while. After Nebraska's 15-yard touchdown run, the Wildcats came right back with a field goal and a touchdown, and it looked like the game would be close, with Nebraska trailing, 10-7.
But Nebraska had a 50-yard touchdown run and managed to score 24 points before NU's Damien Anderson ran for a 69-yard score, cutting the Huskers' margin to 31-17 with 1:10 left in the half.
Wildcats fans cried as Nebraska answered with a 58-yard touchdown pass 20 seconds before halftime, and the Husker defense shut out NU in the final two quarters.
At Bollarmine Prep high school in San Jose, Calif., Martinez served as weak-side defensive end. He was quarterback for the New Mexico Lobos before signing with NU. He was one of many NU grads who flew to Ireland for NU's kickoff game last year.
Derek Martinez -- NOW
Derek - NOW
Derek serves as Lead Analytic Consultant - Financial Crimes Analytics at Wells Fargo Bank in San Antonio. Since January 2020, he has specialized in financial crimes such as fulfilling data requests for government investigations and requests for special bank investigative units.
Previously, he served five years, from 2015 to 2020, as a risk analyst for USAA. He also worked for JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo in other capacities.
He attended Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business, earring his MS degree in finance in 2016. He earned his bachelors degree in political science from Northwestern in 2003. His general diploma came from Bellarmine College Preparatory School in San Jose, Calif.
Nick Coates with his first wife, fellow NU grad Robbie Gibbon, in their college years
VICE PRESIDENT-MEMBERSHIP
Nick Coates -- THEN
Born and raised in Kansas City, Neligh (Nick) Coates attended high school in New Jersey and graduated from Northwestern with a business degree. At Northwestern, he serve as president of Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) fraternity as well as president of the Interfraternity Council.
After graduating, he went to work for his father, a successful business man who invented the masonry saw. He lost his job when his dad sold the company to a large New York Stock Exchange Company. However, a friend of his urged him to invest in real estate development of condominiums, offices and homes in Aspen, Colorado. In 1967, he moved to Aspen to raise three children. He continued with real estate development in Mexico.
During his second marriage of 35 years, his wife Betty and he spent nine months of the year (for 12 years) sailing on their 44-foot sailboat, named “Expectation,” seeing beautiful sights, meeting interesting people and experiencing unforgettable adventures.
While traveling the Sea of Cortez, the clear blue waters of the Caribbean, among many other beautiful places, they encountered fierce storms, ravaging waves, unexpected illnesses and other hardships that come with only two people sailing a 44-foot boat.
"In retrospect, I have forgotten the rough passages, the rolling anchorages and the hardships of the cruising life; instead, I remember the incredible people we met and the unbelievable sights we experienced," he said.
Nick Coates -- NOW
Nick lost his eyesight unexpectedly 12 years ago. Hercules, his seeing-eye dog, has been by his side for three years. He may have lost my eyesight, but not his vision for life. "I continue to cruise through life as I travel and invest in business opportunities," he said.
"My most recent business venture is a partnership to bring a fine whiskey distillery to downtown San Antonio. Quality is our habit -- it’s not something that we just strive for – we live by this principle every day."
"While most of the things about the creative process will be forgotten, the excellence of our products and services will be remembered," he said.
You can learn more about Nick's life at: https://www.coatesadventures.com or click the button to the left.
SOUTHEASTERN GUIDE DOGS
Guide dogs -- Forever
"Four years ago I went to Southeastern Guide Dogs and was introduced to Hercules, who has changed my life. Hercules is my guide and my faithful companion (right)," Coates said.
"Each year Southeastern has a walkathon fundraising drive to provide guide and service dogs to those in need. Although I have set an ambitious fundraising goal of $10,000 because I want to help this wonderful organization, every donation you make today makes a huge difference," he continued.
"Please take a moment to visit my personal fundraising web page at the following address: http://participate.guidedogs.org/goto/NCoates and make your donation today," he said. If you prefer, you can mail a check directly to Southeastern Guide Dogs at 4210 77th Street East, Palmetto FL, 34221. Please be sure to write "Nick Coates Walkathon" on the check.
He concluded: "Your donation will help Southeastern Guide Dogs breed, raise, and train these beautiful dogs and then match them with people with vision loss, veterans with disabilities, and children with significant challenges. All dogs are placed at no cost to the recipient. You can learn more about the great work that Southeastern Guide Dogs does at www.GuideDogs.org."
We thank you in advance for your generous support!" -- Nick Coates and Hercules
BOARD MEMBER - PROGRAMS
Leslie Turner -- THEN
Leslie earned a bachelors degree in political science from Drew University, and minors in French and studio art. She earned her masters degree in advertising from Northwestern. Her first job was as an art director for Ogilvy & Mather Direct in London, England, where she worked on accounts such as TWA, American Express, British Telecom and Fidelity Investments. She designed trilingual brochures for the Forma Gruppen Advertising Agency in Linkoping, Sweden (for SAAB Scania and the SAAB Fairchild 340 executive jet). Leslie drafted tech papers for La Society ITEP, a technical publications company in France, which is today's Sonovision Ortec Group.
For 14 years she worked in the drone industry as a consultant in marketing and advertising to Mission Technologies, Inc. Together with her father, Thomas Turner, she engaged in Congressional liaison, preparing requests for proposals, and developed brand image and advertising collateral material.
She is currently an adjunct professor at The Art Institute of San Antonio, teaching art direction, account planning, interactive advertising, copywriting, public relations, media planning and buying and brand strategy, among others.
She has been active in Rotary International, serving on the board at The Rotary Club At The Dominion. In addition she served as Rotaract District Chair from 2014-1017. Rotaract brings together adults, ages 18-30, to take action in their communities and develop their leadership and professional skills.
AN ORIGINAL BOARD MEMBER
Leslie Turner -- NOW
Since 1988 Leslie is the president and owner of Turner & Turner Advertising, Inc., bringing home gold and silver Addy awards from the San Antonio Advertising Federation. For more than 33 years, Leslie has developed direct marketing, advertising and public relations for a variety of clients such as Methodist Health Care Systems, Mission Technologies (unmanned aerial systems), Boeing, Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort, San Antonio Tennis Association, Texas Military Institute (TMI) and many others.
Those who know Leslie marvel at her motivation, professionalism, integrity and desire to produce accurate and amazing material for her clients.
Her interests include animal welfare, education, health and politics.
BOARD MEMBER - TREASURER
Sandy Gulledge -- THEN
Sandy earned her journalism degree from Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism and her masters degree in Communications Management from USC's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. She worked as a newspaper reporter and editor before joining the education field, serving as public information officer and substitute teacher for elementary through university levels.
She spent 10 years editing high-tech magazines and newsletters for GTE (now Verizon) during the acquisition of Contel Corporation in 1990, which nearly doubled GTE's Mobilnet cellular operations, making it the second-largest provider of cellular telephone services in the U.S., with over two million customers. Later she provided marketing materials for USAA's alliance partners such as Sprint, ADT, Teleflora and car rental companies. Her biggest project was heading USAA's production of 5 million USAA member cards, many tied to Sprint calling-card capability.
She earned many awards during her career from the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), the Public Relations Society of Texas, Dallas Advertising League and Press Club of Dallas. She won a Women Helping Women Award from Soroptimist International in Los Angeles and the John Swett Award for educational reporting from the California Teacher Association.
In 2002 she published “Abandoned on Bataan: One Man’s Story of Survival,” by Oliver Red Allen, as told to Mildred Allen, which earned an Honorable Mention Award for Lorraine Shirkus' cover design from the San Antonio Professional Chapter, Association Women of Commissioners (AWC).
THEN (above) With date Bob Nissen in 1971
NOW (right) Reminiscing with Nissen at her 50th reunion in October 2021
She is owner and publisher of Crimson Horse Entertainment & Publishing Co., LLC and conducts market research as an independent contractor. She substitute teaches in the Northside and Boerne school districts. She earned an Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018.
She operates a private Off-the-Track Thoroughbred (OTTB) horse and feral cat rescue in Boerne and has written a children's book about community cats.
Sandy Gulledge -- NOW
Shown here with the British racehorse, Meringue Pie
PAST PRESIDENT-- UPDATE
Lindsay Hurt, attorney
Lindsay Leigh Schafer Hurt, 35, joined the San Antonio club, served as president, hosted events at her home, moved several times, got married and had a baby — all since moving to San Antonio. The statuesque blonde successfully pursued television broadcasting in Dublin and Macon, Georgia, but eventually chose law as her future career field.
Lindsay graduated from Northwestern University in 2009 with a bachelors degree in journalism. She earned her J.D. degree from the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University in 2013, cum laude, and was admitted to the bar in 2016.
She was recently employed as an attorney by Plunkett, Griesenbeck & Mimari law firm, located at 1635 N.E. Loop 410, Suite 900 in San Antonio. The firm's primary areas of practice include civil insurance defense, wrongful death and catastrophic loss, medical malpractice defense, personal injury, arbitration and mediation, commercial litigation, appellate law, bankruptcy, legal malpractice defense, and labor and employment law. She has since joined a title firm as attorney, a job she says she loves.
News from the Field
LEEZIA DHALLA
Leezia Dhalla, former NU Club communications chair, assumed a new position last fall as Communications Director for Define America in Washington, D.C. The goal of the organization is to humanize the immigrant narrative, one story at a time.
She worked at the San Antonio Express-News as a crime beat reporter and at Rackspace as Executive Communications Program Manager before joining FWD.us. She served the DACA immigration lobbying group in the Capitol in various media capacities before forming her own firm, Ask Leez.
While still in San Antonio, she gave a talk, "Hiding in plain sight -- my life as an undocumented American," at a local TEDx event. She is a first-generation American, of African and Indian descent, who immigrated from Canada to Texas in 1996.
At NU she earned her bachelors degree in journalism, political science and gender studies.
MEMBERSHIp - JOIN US!
Created with you in mind
We all want a chance to connect with each other with little or no effort -- an online web site as well as other outreach networking opportunities. The NU Club of San Antonio offers you a chance to get to know all the other NU grads in the are -- whether at our fun mixers or through this web site. Join us!
