Not bad for a man who expected to become an athletic director.
Born in Grand Island, DeFreece graduated from Columbus High School and from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He went to graduate school at the University of Richmond, earning both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in management.
“But I kind of got into fundraising, which is part of being an athletic director, and I found that I enjoyed it,” he said.
He worked in Virginia and at the University of North Carolina, but he missed being closer to family in Nebraska, so “I pestered Roger Jones to hire me at the University of Nebraska Foundation, located in Kearney. That’s what got me started.”
That was 30 years ago — in 1991. Ten years later, in late 2001, he began working at the Good Samaritan Foundation and never left.
Among reasons for his success, he said, are the “very supportive” administration, from hospital presidents such as current President Mike Schnieders, and members of his staff, including Cindy Walker, Leslie LeFile, Joanie Paulson and Stephanie Peterson.
“This is never about one person, but about the team. It’s about us collectively working together,” DeFreece said. “I am part of a group that has an impact on the hospital. That’s what I like about it. Over the last 20 years, I could go to anyplace in the hospital, anywhere, and see that the hospital has touched people,” he said.
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