Dzenan Berberovic M’17, chief development officer and foundation president of Avera Health, was about 3 years old when he and his mother fled the Bosnian war. They spent the majority of the next six years at a refugee camp in Germany, run by Sisters.
“When I show up to work each day, it’s extra special for me because I get to live out my life’s work, and I also get to honor and pay homage to the Sisters who cared for me at the most horrible time in my life,” he said. “At that time, my mom unfortunately was widowed, because my dad passed away in the war in Bosnia, and so it was the two of us, and the Sisters took amazing care of me, and that still remains with me until this day.”
At 9, he and his mother immigrated to Sioux Falls, S.D., through refugee resettlement, which is where Berberovic continues to serve his community — devoting his career to further Avera’s mission to care and serve those in need of hope and healing and their loved ones.
Two Saint Mary’s degrees are helping him reach his goals.
He earned a master’s in philanthropy and development from Saint Mary’s in 2017, and he is currently finishing his dissertation for an Ed.D. in Leadership.
“Saint Mary’s met me where I was in life,” he said. “I was looking to gain additional expertise in philanthropy and was looking to obtain a graduate degree at that time. I did my research and looked at who had graduated from the program, who was serving on the faculty, and then what especially drew me to the Saint Mary’s experience was the smaller setting of a private, faith-based institution.”
Berberovic said the best aspect of the philanthropy and development program are the people — the faculty and then the other professional colleagues in cohort 25, and he’s currently serving on the philanthropy and development advisory board. “We had an amazing group of individuals who represented healthcare, higher education, social services, faith-based organizations, and international causes. The greatest gift from Saint Mary’s is those relationships that are still with me,” he said. “It’s such a special place.”
While in the program, Berberovic was working at his alma mater at the University of South Dakota and found that what he was learning was very applicable to his work. “I remember coming back after the first summer session, and I was able to apply the hands-on pieces that we were doing in the courses,” he said, adding, “To this day, I apply what I learned because it was so specific to fundraising. The program is specific to philanthropy. It allowed me to apply the coursework to my organization.”
Berberovic had always desired a terminal degree, and started down a path toward a leadership degree at another institution but found the structure of the in-person courses didn’t work well with the demands of his professional role, so he transferred over to Saint Mary’s.
“The program is 100 percent virtual, and I have been able to build it into my work and my life, and that was important to me,” he said. “I have appreciated that I could tailor my research and my capstone to my role at Avera.”
Berberovic has worked at Avera for the past nine years and says he has the best job because the team serves and leads supports patients, residents and families served in every corner of Avera.
“On any given year, we have 20,000-plus individuals and organizations who support our organization, and we believe that, through philanthropy, you can change people’s lives as they receive care at our organization, recognizing that oftentimes people come to us during the most challenging and during the darkest days of their lives,” he said. “Of course, there are many happy moments that happen in healthcare — when you welcome a new family member or when you hear amazing news. But there are also really challenging and emotional times that take place, and so we get to be the stewards of incredible generosity to our organization.”
As part of his role, he leads the foundation, and also supports enterprise-level partnerships, relationships that Avera has with other organizations that are helping to advance their mission.
“I love the mission, the culture, and the people of Avera, which of course includes our community of supporters who never cease to amaze me,” he said. “One unique fascet about Avera is that we have one of the highest employee giving rates of any organization in healthcare. More than 30% of our Avera colleagues give back to our organization. In some years, their philanthropic generosity through Avera Foundation has exceeded $7 million.
“Avera means the world to people, to our employees, because they get to come here and be who they are meant to be, and it should not surprise us that we have a culture like that at our organization, because 130 years ago, when the Sisters began providing healthcare to our region, they made one promise, and that promise was to God that they would take care of every person that He sends to us. That still is true today. We serve every person, especially our neighbors who are poor, underserved and most vulnerable. I still pinch myself that this is where I get to show up at and do the work I get to do.”
