Donna McNamara
Hall of Fame Class of 1998
Donna McNamara is Director of Global Education and Training for the Colgate Palmolive Company, a multinational corporation with sales of $9 billion, 38,000 employees, and operations in more than 100 countries throughout the world. In this position she leads the company’s initiatives to provide all employees with the skills and expertise to compete effectively in the global environment. This includes her implementation of a comprehensive Global Curriculum to build excellence in key leadership, management, and technical competencies and her championing a strategy of line ownership for continuous learning, worldwide transfer of best business practices and disciplines, and performance-relevant training investments. She joined Colgate Palmolive in 1988 as Director of Human Resources, Global Technology Group.
Dr. McNamara also spent 10 years with AT&T where, among many accomplishments, she led the creation of the AT&T Business Directions Series, one of the most successful education programs in the company’s history and was personally selected to the fast-track executive development program.
Over the past several years, she has served in a number of leadership roles in the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD). In 1989, she was elected President of this 58,000-member organization, and, in that position, she led the creation of ASTD’s “Vision 2000" and the development of an international strategy. A former member of the Board of Directors, she is currently a member of ASTD’s Board of Governors. She has been honored by ASTD with the Torch Award (1992) and the Gordon M. Bliss Award (1993), the latter being the highest award given by this association.
She received her bachelor of arts degree in English (cum laude) from the College of St. Catherine, her master of arts in counseling from the College of St. Thomas, and her doctorate in human resources/education from Vanderbilt University.
The author of numerous professional articles, Dr. McNamara is regularly requested to make presentations in her field for national and international audiences.