Diane Oakley '75, a longtime supporter and former player of the Fairfield University women's basketball team, has established an endowment in honor of the program's 40thanniversary. In addition, she is challenging individuals to contribute to the women's basketball program and will match dollar-for-dollar all contributions up to $25,000.

The gifts received from the challenge will be used to cover costs associated with new equipment, pre-season practice expenses, travel expenses for out-of-region competitions, recruiting, and additional coaching staff needs.

After graduating from Fairfield with a degree in mathematics, Oakley started on the technical side of the natural path that math majors often take — doing actuarial work — but her professional journey took a number of turns as she worked for TIAA-CREF for 28 years in marketing and consulting, lobbying, and management.

In 2014, Congressman Earl Pomeroy (ND) persuaded Oakley to work on his staff as his senior policy advisor on pensions, Social Security, taxes, and financial services. Working for a member of the powerful Ways and Means Committee and chairman of the Social Security Subcommittee, Oakley played an inside role protecting Social Security and developing legislation to expand pension coverage to more working Americans.

In her current role as the executive director of the National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS), she draws on all of her experience as NIRS conducts economic research on the value of pensions and retirement savings. “With 10,000 baby boomers reaching retirement age each day,” Oakley said, “there is a lot of interest in our work.”

A member of the second class of women at the University, Oakley is credited with being a founder of Women's Basketball at Fairfield. She was a key leader the year the team was organized, and played on the squad that went undefeated in 1974-75. She served as a University trustee from 1997 to 2004, and lives in Bethesda, Md.