Board of Trustees welcomes McDougall as chair

By Caroline Haviland

Rider  alum and newly elected Board of Trustees Chair Joe McDougall, ’93, never planned to return to Rider. Though, despite a successful business career, traveling to 46 countries and running a multi-billion dollar company, McDougall found his way back to Lawrenceville. 

The Hamilton Township native grew up in a middle-class household where both his mother and father worked full time. No one in his family had attended college, but everyone expected McDougall to be the first. 

After attending Mercer County Community College for two years, he transferred to Rider, the place he remarked as the beginning of it all.

“I’m a big believer that education is a great equalizer in the world,” McDougall said. “Rider is where things really started for me.”

McDougall fondly reminisced on his days at Rider and even specifically recalled Thursday nights at Muller’s Pub “when your feet still stuck to the ground before it got super bougie.” 

Even as a political science major, McDougall found his footing in the business world as the national president of Phi Beta Lambda, a college-level division of Future Business Leaders of America. 

His role in the business organization during his senior year required him to travel all over the country for conferences on the weekends while working full time and being a student.

“I didn’t sleep a lot,” McDougall reflected. 

He planned to take a year-long break after college before attending law school, allowing himself time before another rigorous few years of schooling. 

“I’m still on that break from law school,” McDougall joked over 30 years later.

The world traveler returned to Lawrenceville 

After graduating, McDougall pivoted from his law aspirations and went into consulting for about 10 years before landing a job in human resources and communications at Honeywell International for 15 years. 

This job only added to the list of countries he’s traveled to over the course of his career, including parts of Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Two career changes proved to not be enough for McDougall, as he transitioned out of human resources to take a stab at running a multi-billion dollar company. During this phase of his career, McDougall lived in Switzerland part-time, splitting his days between the eastern region of the United States and northern Switzerland. 

Life brought him back to his alma mater, however, when he was asked to join a human resources council in Rider’s business college in 2014. 

Norm Brodsky College of Business Dean Eugene Kutcher, who at the time was a faculty member in the management department, was spearheading the development of the council when McDougall was recommended by a fellow colleague.

“Just from the first couple of emails, he had ideas, he seemed cooperative and wanted to jump right in,” Kutcher said. “From the beginning of our HR advisory council, as long as it ran, he was just one of those reliable people.”

From there, McDougall’s involvement at Rider only grew. He joined the business school’s executive advisory board in 2019, and two years later became a member of the Board of Trustees, the group of people that serve as the ultimate oversight of the university.

McDougall’s transition to the Board of Trustees 

After sitting on the board’s governance committee for three years, McDougall was voted by the full board as their new chairperson following the retirement of former Board of Trustees Chair Joan Mazzotti this past summer. 

Mazzotti, who returned to Rider as a Board member in 2018 upon request by former Rider President Gregory Dell’Omo, felt that it was “a perfect time for an overall refresh,” as newly appointed President John Loyack stepped into his position this year, according to McDougall.

Mazzotti did not respond to a Sept. 4 email from The Rider News seeking comment on her departure.

“Loyack is a super unique blend of skills that Rider needs right now. If you look at his career and the different things he’s done in his career, the type of insight, that business-minded headset, is really just exciting,” said McDougall, who led the presidential search committee for Rider’s 8th president.

As the new chair, McDougall sits on all of the board’s five committees that are aligned to different parts of Rider; the governance committee, the mission identity and enrollment committee, the diversity, equity and inclusion committee, the organizational sustainability committee and the educational excellence committe all of their meetings and ensuring the Board is operating properly.

 His time as chair is up to two years with a chance of reelection for another two year term. 

Kutcher, who served alongside McDougall on the presidential search committee, spoke highly of the new Board chair’s leadership capabilities.

“I was really excited when I heard Joe was selected as the new Board chair. During the search for the next president, he was organized, he was fair, he wanted to make sure that everyone was heard — all the facilitative types of things that you want from someone that’s leading an initiative like that, it’s so important,” Kutcher said. “He’s balanced. He thinks about the big pictures, the practicalities, the risks and the people. That’s not something you always get.”