Kathy Donica (1980)

I am an Alum from the class of 1980. I think the class of '80 was the second class to produce graduating Computer Science Majors...all 5 of us...so I am ancient. There were really only two Professors who led us through the dungeon in those days......Professor Wally Roth and Dr. Leon Adkinson. (I saw reference on the web site to "Adkinson" . He must REALLY be ancient or is it one of his kids now??)

In case you are wondering how this Grad has fared in the dog eat dog world since graduation, I am happy to say that I have stayed gainfully employed in the field for the past 22 years (Holy Smokes! I really am ancient...It seems like only yesterday I was riding my bike from the dungeon over to Ivan Hoes for a milkshake.)

My career has taken me all over the place and through a variety of business industries. I started out at a management consulting firm that used to be known as Arthur Andersen & Co. I stayed with them for about 8 years. They sent me all over the world. I somehow became a specialist in large international networks. I got to build some pretty interesting... very big... hard to manage beasts called "corporate networks" for folks like The United States Marine Corps, Visa Card International, Solomon Smith Barney and etc. I finally decided I needed some roots because I was traveling way too much. So, I took a network management position with a little company called Burger King Corporation and ran their global network. There's nothing like having responsibility to collect data everyday from 6,000 restaurants, and make sure orders from 22 global distribution centers got across the network so that the pickles and buns arrived at the restaurants before they ran out. (Whoppers without buns is not a pretty sight...They are messy enough with buns).

After I had done this for a few years, the unthinkable happened. A very large British conglomerate bought Burger King Corp. (Bet you didn't know that Whoppers have an English accent).

One thing led to another and before I knew it, I had responsibility for running all the networks in the Americas for this global company. I had responsibility for all voice and data networks for Pillsbury Corporation, Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream, Pearle Vision, Alpo Pet Foods, Heublien Distillers, as well as, Burger King. (Sometime I will tell you a hair raising story about how to build a network node in Mexico in a forsaken area where we had a broccoli plant.... Yes, Green Giant Broccoli farmers are "on the net".) After a while, I found myself TRAVELING way too much again and changed jobs to try to find some roots.

I wound up in a private bio-med-tech company in Florida that manufactures blood diagnostic machines. If you ever had a blood test, it is one of those machines that counted your red blood cells as well as that nasty stuff called cholesterol. I had expanded responsibilities there. Not only did I oversee their complex lab and corporate networks, I also ran their data centers. They had every flavor of machine under the sun (Apple, IBM, DEC, Sun, HP, and you name it). You could probably guess that integration of systems was a nightmare. One thing to remember when you get out into the dog eat dog world.....STANDARDIZE!!! The other piece of advice that I would pass along to anyone who works in a Hi-Tech kind of company....never never ever call a scientist an engineer or visa versa. It is a sub-culture kind of thing. I truly believe they hate each other.

The lack of standardization finally drove me nuts and I moved on to another little company that is probably a household name. For a couple of years I ran the global networks for Blockbuster Video Group. It was a fun place because I got free movies and actually got to meet movie stars who stopped in our headquarters while they were on promotional tours. Blockbuster is a subsidiary of Viacom. The next thing I know, I was being loaned out to Viacom and found myself managing quite complex network projects for Showtime, VH1, MTV and Paramount Studios. I think I can actually claim fame for putting in the first ATM backbone in the United States. It was a nifty project at Paramount where they wanted to be able to do "real time editing" so they would know if they could tear movie scenes down or film again the next day doing re-takes with the same scenes. A high-speed backbone between the filming location and the editing booth was in order. Any way, all good things eventually come to an end. Blockbuster decided to relocate their headquarters and I really didn't want to move out of Florida. So I bid them good bye and wound up at my current place of employ.

I am currently Vice President of Technology Planning and Architecture for an $8 billion private company. I have been here almost 6 years now and of course, started my tenure here as the "network executive". It has been a fun but wild ride in my professional career. I never really did settle down. I am still single. Between all of the hard work I have managed to acquire some fun hobbies. My out-of-work passion is sailing. I have sailed all over the world. I somehow managed to get my Captains License. I also managed to get a private pilot's license, but don't have time to fly anymore. I still ride a motorcycle. (I had a motorcycle while at Taylor ). Last year I rode across the country from California to North Carolina with a bunch of NASCAR drivers for a very worthy charity event. I bet you can guess that they ride their bikes almost as fast as they drive their cars. The countryside was a blur most of the time.....but at least I did it.

I guess my 22 year history since graduation would not be complete without saying that I am still walking with the Lord and expect his return is very soon.....at least I hope he comes soon. Those of us who are believers surely see the signs of the times.

Go Trojans!

[Editor's postscript: Kathy Donica died from a sudden cancer attack in November of 2002, just four months after sending us her story. I can think of no greater memorial than to post her story. It is a fitting tribute to an incredible person. -sb]