Experience Speaks: Dhuanne Dodrill

Published: October 01, 2009

• President of Rollprint Packaging Products Inc.

• Management style | Promote a culture of collaboration.

• Hobbies | Reading, travel, and for my creative side, quilting.

• How did you get into this business? I was fortunate to be born into it. My father spent his entire career in packaging and shared his excitement over the technology that goes into the packaging we see every day. As a result, I was the only child in my kindergarten class that did not associate the word “film” with cameras. Instead, I thought of packaging. I had the opportunity to work at Rollprint during summers while I was in college. In addition to providing background that made my polymer engineering courses much easier, I saw that packaging was a rapidly evolving field that could provide fascinating challenges. When I received my degree in chemical engineering, I began working full time at Rollprint.

• How have management styles changed over the years? Management styles used to be much more dictatorial. Today, it is understood that if employees have a clear understanding of the company goals and can be involved in shaping the process to get to those goals, success is more easily and efficiently achieved. The acceptance of women in business has also changed dramatically. A woman starting out may have to prove herself because she's young but should no longer need to prove herself simply because she is a woman.

• What is the best advice you ever got? “If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right.” There is a lot to be said for putting forth your best effort the first time.

• What is the worst advice you ever got? “Don't sweat the details.” That is a recipe for making mistakes. The key is to understand the level of detail that is important and appropriate for the particular project or task.

• What is the biggest mistake you made and how did you fix it? I had to learn that managing everyone in the manner I preferred to be managed is not going to be successful. Management styles need to be fluid depending upon the particular individuals involved and the specific situations encountered. While autocratic styles tend to make me cringe, sometimes it is appropriate.

• Who is your personal hero? My father grew up poor in a rural area. After putting himself through school, he began a successful career at DuPont. In the mid-1970s, recognizing the opportunities that the just-emerging single-use sterile medical device industry presented, he took a gamble by buying into the then-struggling Rollprint. He reinvented the company, shaping it into the successful, technology-driven company that we are today. I am extremely proud and fortunate to be his daughter.

• What is the key to retaining a good employee? Make sure all employees know they are part of the team, their contributions are important to the company's success, and their voices count.

• Any recommended reading? Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China. This book is not a traditional “business” book. However, by tracing three generations of women in one family, it provides a wonderful overview of the tremendous cultural changes that China has undergone in a very short period of time.

About Rollprint Packaging Products

• 320 S. Stewart Ave., Addison, IL 60101; 800-276-7629

• www.rollprint.com

• Founded as Schenker Printing Co. in 1933

• Specialty | Flexible packaging for the medical, industrial, consumer, and food industries

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