{"id":118189,"date":"2024-01-24T17:01:35","date_gmt":"2024-01-24T23:01:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/?p=118189"},"modified":"2024-01-24T17:01:35","modified_gmt":"2024-01-24T23:01:35","slug":"board-trustees-dolan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/psychology\/board-trustees-dolan\/","title":{"rendered":"Making a \u2018World\u2019 of Difference"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1997, Victoria Dolan moved to Costa Rica with her husband, two kids, and two cats. A mid-level manager at The Coca-Cola Co. since 1991, she\u2019d been assigned a new role as finance director for Coke\u2019s Central America and Caribbean division.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a completely different job, in a completely different country, speaking a completely different language,\u201d Dolan recalls. \u201cIt was a really phenomenal experience, and probably the biggest, most pivotal thing that ever happened in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dolan was part of an all-new management team charged with conducting a turnaround of the ailing division. During her two years in Latin America, she sniffed out kinks in the business like a bomb dog sniffing for explosives. The experience left a permanent impression on her\u2014and by extension, everyone she\u2019s worked with since.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Costa Rica is where I first learned one of the most important lessons in my career, and that is the importance of respect. Regardless of age, gender or culture, people want to know that someone cares about their point of view. They want to be heard,\u201d continues Dolan, who recalls asking an older gentleman in his fifties or sixties what he thought the division needed to do differently to be successful. \u201cHe didn\u2019t speak English, and my Spanish was rocky. But I had my translator there, and he started to cry. He said that in all the years he\u2019d worked there, no one had ever asked his opinion before. To me, that was such a powerful moment. It taught me that leadership is about people\u2014working through people, and helping people do things they never thought they could do before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nearly 30 years later, that lesson is a North Star for Dolan in her work as a member of the Board of Trustees at The Chicago School, which she joined in 2016.<\/p>\n

\u201cI recently retired and I\u2019m now doing primarily board work,\u201d says Dolan, whose career in corporate finance spanned more than 35 years; included stints not only in Costa Rica and the U.S., but also Japan and Switzerland; and encompassed senior positions not only at Coca-Cola, but also at Marriott International, Colgate-Palmolive, and, most recently, Revlon, where she was CFO from 2018 until 2022. \u201cAt this point in my life, there\u2019s nothing more valuable than the time I have. I want to use that time to leave a legacy, using all my years of experience to help people and organizations think through challenges and fulfill their strategic objectives \u2026 Because it\u2019s not about me; it\u2019s about making sure that people and organizations are better when I leave than when I arrived.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Dolan is neither a mental health professional nor an academic, she seized the opportunity to work with The Chicago School because she believes so strongly in its mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cIts focus on community and whole health has such a positive impact on society and \u2026 feeds such an important need in our country right now,\u201d Dolan says.<\/p>\n

Fundamental to The Chicago School\u2019s mission, of course, are its students, the majority of whom are minorities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you consider the diversity of the student body and the different dynamics that creates within the school, and the fact that the board itself has become more diverse, I think my experience working in other countries and in global companies with diverse groups of people is really important,\u201d continues Dolan, whose unique perspective has helped the university tackle challenges as varied as recruitment, financial planning, marketing, and technology\u2014including the transition to e-learning, which made The Chicago School particularly resilient during the COVID-19 pandemic. \u201cI have limited exposure to students directly. But from a governance standpoint, my ability to influence the strategic direction of the school allows me to influence student outcomes \u2026 When The Chicago School is fulfilling its mission, it\u2019s enriching the lives of the people who are enrolled there. And that\u2019s extremely important to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dolan is particularly passionate about the opportunity to help women, who constitute more than 80% of The Chicago School\u2019s student body. \u201cWhen I graduated from business school in 1985, one-third of my class was women. Today, about 10% of CEOs and CFOs in publicly traded companies are women. So, we\u2019re losing women along the way,\u201d says Dolan, whose advice to women leaders goes back to her formative experience in Costa Rica. \u201cThe best lessons I have learned as a woman in corporate America are to not pigeonhole oneself and to seize opportunities that you didn\u2019t previously imagine. When I moved to Costa Rica with two children and two cats, that required a certain amount of risk. You need to have the self-confidence to try something new that you\u2019ve never done before.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1997, Victoria Dolan moved to Costa Rica with her husband, two kids, and two cats. A mid-level manager at The Coca-Cola Co. since 1991, she\u2019d been assigned a new role as finance director for Coke\u2019s Central America and Caribbean division. \u201cIt was a completely different job, in a completely different country, speaking a completely different language,\u201d Dolan recalls. \u201cIt was a really phenomenal experience, and probably the biggest, most pivotal thing that ever happened in my career.\u201d Dolan was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":118193,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[113],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1033],"class_list":["post-118189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-psychology"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMaking a \u2018World\u2019 of Difference - Insight Digital Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Retired corporate CFO Victoria Dolan, MBA, brings a global perspective to The Chicago School\u2019s Board of Trustees.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/psychology\/board-trustees-dolan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Making a \u2018World\u2019 of Difference - 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