Bonnie Hoff and Geoffrey Madden
This month, we are bringing you a special edition of the Alumni Spotlight series. We are delighted to present two alumni from the 1978-1979 class of Presidential Fellows: Bonnie Hoff and Geoffrey Madden. Bonnie joined the program as a senior at Northern Michigan University while Geoffrey became a Fellow as a senior at Iona College in New York. They became fast friends during their Fellowship year and stayed in touch as they moved on to law school and the workforce respectively.
Over the years they lost contact, but in 2015—more than 35 years after they first met—a business opportunity reunited the pair. Geoffrey’s namesake investment banking firm was advising a client on a real-estate transaction on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Remembering that Bonnie had returned to the Upper Peninsula after working at a law firm in Chicago, Geoffrey reached out to see if she still lived in the area and could offer some advice. She happily agreed.
Despite three decades without contact, the two picked up right where they left off, according to Bonnie. They shared memories of their time in the Fellowship program and provided updates on their lives in the intervening years. After returning to northern Michigan, Bonnie represented a variety of cities and townships including the city of Marquette for twenty years as a municipal lawyer. She now spends time giving back to her community by doing pro-bono legal work in the mental health field. She is also presently acting as local legal counsel for a group including Geoffrey's firm, certain of the firm's clients, and other investors on another real estate investment and development project in Marquette.
Like Bonnie, Geoffrey also had plans to attend law school, but they were interrupted when he met the president of Citibank, Bill Spencer, while volunteering for Texas Governor John Connally’s 1980 presidential campaign. While the bid was unsuccessful, Spencer, who served as Governor Connally’s chief fundraiser, was so impressed with Geoffrey that he offered him a job at Citibank. Geoffrey jumped at the chance and began a life-long love affair with banking. He soon went to Columbia Business School for his MBA and eventually founded his own firm.
When reflecting on how the Presidential Fellows program impacted their career paths, both agreed that the Fellowship played an instrumental role. For Bonnie, it served as a motivational boost to apply to a prestigious law school. As a self-described small town girl, she contends that the Fellowship opened her eyes to new possibilities. She took her first ever plane ride to Washington, D.C. and flourished in the program. Geoffrey recalled, “Even among a group of highly intelligent overachievers, Bonnie stood out.” She firmly believes that the Fellowship was an important factor in her admission to the honors program at the University of Michigan’s law school, which was only about 20% women at the time.
Geoffrey similarly credits the Fellows program with providing early guidance in his career and inspiring his participation in the Connally campaign. He contends that the Fellowship gave him a real education in politics remarking, “It’s one thing to learn political science in a classroom. It’s another thing to talk to people who actually work in government and in Washington.” He adds, “For a 21 year old college student, the experience was so wonderful.”
When asked about her advice for recent graduates of the program, Bonnie urged Fellows to, “Reach out to your peers, make contacts, and maintain friendships. Those are invaluable wherever you end up.” Geoffrey concurred adding, “I hope that each and every one of them got just as much of the program as I did.” Bonnie and Geoffrey’s lasting friendship represents the best of what the Fellowship has to offer. We are grateful for their continued support and engagement with the program.
Originally published May 4, 2020.