USA Leadership Corps - Sydney Dugan

Sydney's Story

During Sydney's successful 10-year career she has led several organizational improvements, contingency planning efforts, and merger and acquisition projects. Her success was anchored by the Masters in International Management she earned from Portland State University.

Currently Sydney is a Product Manager for Dell Inc. Her responsibilities include developing new product applications and processes for international markets by collaborating with Dell's internal sales, marketing, and IT teams.

Sydney & The Corps

Throughout her career Sydney has maintained a strong commitment to giving back to the community. Most recently she was a mentor for Committed Partners for Youth (Eugene, Oregon), a non-profit agency that pairs at risk youth with caring volunteers.

One day while browsing the internet, Sydney came across the Corps website. She was immediately intrigued. "The Corps seemed like an ideal way to give back because business is both my passion and my expertise... Further, I have always had an interest in becoming a business consultant and the Corps seemed like the perfect place to practice and acquire more of these skills."


	Sydney Dugan
	. .

Austin Free-Net (Texas) . ..

Fortunately, the Corps' two-hour per week time requirement was not a problem for Sydney. Her employer places high value on community service and her current role provided some flexible during her workweek.

Sydney's Client

After Sydney aced the Corps' application and interview process, she was immediately matched with a local non-profit, Austin Free-Net (AFN). AFN provides technology training and access for the Austin community. Their computer labs and classes foster skills that help community members obtain jobs, improve their lives, and participate as active citizens.

The Executive Director was facing a very challenging problem: she, her staff, and her Board of Directors were not aligned regarding their goals, priorities, and decision-making. "I've heard complaints over the years about how we operated as a team... Our problems were affecting our productivity and our ability serve our community."

"I have always had an interest in becoming a consultant and the Corps seemed like the perfect place to acquire these skills."

Sydney's Success

Sydney soon went to work leading meetings, planning surveys, and creating action plans with the Director and her Board. "Our goal was to improve the dialogue, strategy, and vision for the organization... The E.D. accurately assessed the problem: the organization's resource constraints and board member turnover was negatively impacting the situation and creating disparate priorities."

By the conclusion of the project, Sydney and the Board had developed several strategic materials. "AFN now has great alignment regarding its goals and mission, a new protocol for conducting Board meetings and action-tracking, and a new process for organizational communications... This will help them to be a more cohesive and effective team."

Not only was Sydney pleased with the results, the Executive Director had many positive comments to share. "We cannot express how wonderful this project has been," she explains. "Everything we hoped to accomplish through this project came true beyond our wildest expectations!"

"Our goal was to improve the dialogue, strategy, and vision for the organization."

Finally, to show their appreciation for Sydney's guidance, AFN featured the project on the second page of their Quarterly Newsletter (pdf).