Honorable Robert A. McDonald
Nonprofit Director of the Year
Boards: Audia Group, Elizabeth Dole Foundation, Every Cure, West Point Association of Graduates.
Robert McDonald is committed to values-based leadership and improving the lives of others. He is currently a director of the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, board chair of the West Point Association of Graduates, and on the advisory boards of the Audia Group and Every Cure.
McDonald served as the eighth secretary of Veterans Affairs under the Obama administration, leading its transformation to provide veterans with consistent, high-quality care.
From 2009 to 2013, he was chair, president, and CEO of The Procter & Gamble Co., during which the company significantly recalibrated its product portfolio and saw impressive growth in its global customer base, organic sales, and stock prices.
He received the Singaporean Public Service Star in 2014 for his international business development work and the American Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s President’s Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2021.
He graduated from the US Military Academy at West Point and later cofounded its McDonald Conference for Leaders of Character with his wife, Diane. He served with the 82nd Airborne Division, receiving the Meritorious Service Medal. He also received the West Point Association of Graduates’ Distinguished Graduate Award, and the New England Center and Home for Veterans’ Distinguished Service to Veterans Award, and he became the George W. Bush Institute’s April and Jay Graham Fellow in 2021.
He earned his master of business administration from the University of Utah and was recognized as a Distinguished Graduate by the alumni association in 2010.