Interview Questions

• Could you give us a brief summary of your occupational history?
• How did you first get involved with DukeConnect? For how long have you been a volunteer mentor?
• What has been your most rewarding experience with DukeConnect?
• How often do you get an email from students who found you through DukeConnect? What types of questions do they ask you?
• Do you have any general career advice you would like to share with students?
  

Could you give us a brief summary of your occupational history?
I have spent most of my working life in Latin America and Asia. After graduating (BSEE '67) from Duke, I entered the Peace Corps in Ecuador to build rural village electrical distribution systems. It was my first taste of working internationally and becoming fluent in a foreign language and I was determined to find other opportunities.

I joined the E.I.DuPont Company and after several years working as an engineer and various supervisory positions, I asked to join a small team in Brazil who were going to build and operate a large chemical plant in the under-developed northeastern region of that country.

In 1979 I was fortunate to land the position of Asia Regional manager for one of DuPont's business lines. Until this time, I had concentrated on the technical side of business, but now I was responsible for sales, marketing, and technical service for this product which required a completely new set of skills.

Over the following years I progressed up the management ladder alternating between manufacturing, functional, geographic and business management positions. I held positions of country manager, regional manufacturing director, global manufacturing director, and regional vice president.

My last five years with DuPont in Shanghai, China, were the best years of my career. I was President of the company in China and we grew our businesses at double-digit rates every year and by 2003 we had reached $1.3 billion in local sales. The most satisfying aspect of my job was to see our young, talented, motivated Chinese team adapt to our business culture, grow, and succeed.

In my last year in Shanghai, I was also the Chairman of Shanghai American Chamber of Commerce, one of the largest in Asia. I had the honor of receiving the Magnolia Award from the Shanghai municipal government for contributions to that city's development. Since graduating from Duke, more than 27 years were spent working outside the USA. I am now retired.
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How did you first get involved with DukeConnect? For how long have you been a volunteer mentor?
I was contacted by Duke several years ago to see if I would have any interest in participating in DukeConnect. I have given advice to undergrads and graduates from Duke and other schools for a number of years. Within DuPont, mentoring was encouraged and I found it a valuable way to pay back the help I had received in my career.
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What has been your most rewarding experience with DukeConnect?
The most rewarding experience has always been to get feedback that the person seeking advice found it useful and successfully achieved their goal. To be honest, since most of my mentoring has been with people interested in developing careers in China or other international openings, it is a challenge to overcome the many barriers.
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How often do you get an email from students who found you through DukeConnect? What types of questions do they ask you?
My experience has been that a student will find me and initiate a contact which sets off a rapid exchange of multiple emails or phone conversations as we zero in on a potential solution which last several weeks. After that point, contact is more sporadic as the individual pursues their plan. I am open to working with someone as long as it takes.
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Do you have any general career advice you would like to share with students?
Your work must make you happy, so it is more important to do what you want than to chase salary or position. Living in other cultures and languages is a priceless opportunity with unforeseen benefits that I would advise anyone to try.
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