I Came to the South Bend, Indiana, Region for College and Stayed for My Career
Learn about a University of Notre Dame grad who made the region his home and is now thriving.
The South Bend, Indiana, region might not have the population of Indianapolis or nearby Chicago, but it’s home to the country’s most illustrious Catholic university, the University of Notre Dame. And while the region is a top-notch place to obtain a quality education, it also offers a variety of great career opportunities.
Lex Dennis is a perfect example. He attended the University of Notre Dame from 2009 to 2013, where he was involved in community-building programs. After graduating, he put down roots, marrying his wife, Jessica, and continuing his work in the South Bend area, eventually opening his own consulting firm. Ahead, he shares how he built his business in the South Bend region and why it was the right decision to make this city home.
Where are you originally from, and how did you end up in the South Bend region?
I grew up in southern New Jersey, close to Philadelphia. I came to South Bend to attend the University of Notre Dame and ended up never leaving. I studied political science and Spanish.
Give us a little background on how you got to where you are today. And how did being in the South Bend region help shape your experience?
When I was a senior in college, I was the first intern for an organization called enFocus, which had the goal of impacting the community by getting talented young people to stick around in the South Bend region after graduating. By the time I graduated, they had accepted me into their fellowship program.
When I started, there wasn’t a lot of structure or a management team, and everybody was on a one-year contract. I became the second staff hire, and from that point forward, I was a permanent fixture at enFocus for the next six years. My roles included fundraising, talent recruitment and development, and I became the chief strategy officer, where I helped design and execute the major strategic initiatives for the organization.
One of my colleagues and mentors, Lawrence Greenspun, worked for an organization called the Drucker Institute (based in California), which was founded to carry on the legacy of Peter Drucker (the noted management consultant and author). They came to town and said, “How might we make South Bend into a city of lifelong learning?” That idea fascinated me, so I stepped in to manage a project with the Drucker Institute on behalf of enFocus. They brought me on as their director of lifelong learning and we developed a platform called Bendable. It’s like Netflix but for learning resources. Bendable spun out of the university that the institute was a part of, and I saw that as an opportunity for me to spin out into my own consulting firm, Lex Dennis Consulting.
What would be your ideal Saturday in the South Bend region?
We live in a neighborhood called East Race that is very close to an up-and-coming market district that has the farmers market and is right across the river from Crooked Ewe Brewery & Ale House. On our ideal Saturday, we would walk and get coffee at Cloud Walking Coffee, which is less than a mile away, then hit the holy trinity of foodie shopping: Bamber’s Superette Food Market, an Italian supermarket with different specialty items and delicious produce and meat. Then we would go to Oh Mamma’s on the Avenue, a cheesemonger, and get some cured meats and cheeses, and then we would go to the South Bend Farmers Market for produce. Then we would walk home with the ingredients for a charcuterie board and a homemade pizza or something like that.
Do you feel like the South Bend region is affordable?
My reasons for living in the area have evolved over time, and since I’ve grown up and become an adult with a capital A, I would say that affordability is probably the No. 1 thing that’s kept my wife and I here, apart from our network we’ve developed and the university being here.
To put it into perspective, I’m 32 years old, and I own a 2,000-square-foot townhouse in the best part of the city, and my mortgage is half of what my friends and former classmates pay in larger cities. My brother’s rent in Philadelphia is more than double what I pay. If you’re looking for a place to buy a home, and I know that a lot of millennials struggle to do that, the South Bend area is a great place.
What resources can people utilize to help them start their business?
When I first left college, one of the most appealing things to me about the area – and I find that it still is – is the ability to directly influence the community and to be tangibly, appreciably involved in the economic development and community development of this place.
I don’t think many of my friends who went off to other cities or other communities have had that same opportunity. They were often working as analysts, crunching numbers in an office somewhere, whereas myself and my colleagues at enFocus were directly involved with the cities, the counties, the schools, the hospitals and the organizations that are the civic infrastructure and the heartbeat of a community. That’s one thing that attracted me and that still shapes my work to this day.
If you’re a Notre Dame alum or have ties to the university, the IDEA Center is a great place to find offices or co-working space, a bunch of resources like a makers lab, and things like that.
In terms of resources, we have Startup South Bend-Elkhart, which is a part of the South Bend-Elkhart Regional Partnership and provides resources for entrepreneurs to help unite and align other entrepreneurial support organizations in the community and runs a couple of training programs. Their Hustle program is for minority and women entrepreneurs – a great resource for business startups.
This article was sponsored by the South Bend Regional Chamber and Visit South Bend Mishawaka.