Rotary Club of Seattle’s Post

New Member Introduction of Andrew Doran by John A. Kilpatrick, Ph.D. Please join us as we welcome Andrew Doran, one of The Rotary Club of Seattle’s newest Rotarians, who was proposed by Past President Jonathan Bridge. Andrew is the Assistant Dean for Development and External Relations at the University of Washington School of Law. In that capacity, he provides leadership for the school’s fundraising development and external relationships. Andrew’s path to Seattle is a fairly circuitous one. He hails from upstate New York, near Rochester, but knew from an early age that he wanted to get away. He went to college in South Carolina, at Clemson University, and embarked on a very successful career in corporate marketing.  Andrew spent most of that career with Coca Cola, ending up as VP of Sales for the Western U.S. That job took him to Las Vegas, where he met his wife Heather on a blind date. She was from Idaho, but had gone to school at the University of Puget Sound, and like Andrew, she was in marketing with M.G.M. Las Vegas. Andrew and Heather will celebrate their 14th anniversary on October 1st, 2025. After Las Vegas, Coca Cola moved Andrew to Bellevue, then down to Irvine, California. In 2018, Andrew moved back to the Puget Sound, specifically Redmond, when Andrew joined Keurig to take over management of the important Keurig-Starbucks relationship.  Andrew and Heather have two children, a daughter, age 11, and a son, age three-and-a-half. Andrew and Heather were building their family when the COVID Pandemic hit, and it led to some very real introspection about where Andrew’s career was headed. He decided it was time to take his hard-earned business skills and put them to work in a more rewarding not-for-profit role, which led him to his current position at the University about a year and a half ago. He describes his new job as the Ambassador for the School of Law. I asked Andrew how the transition was working out, and he told me how much he has been able to leverage what he learned in business. He used words like ‘gratification’ and ‘fulfillment’ to describe the feeling he now gets helping people, particularly developing the resources for scholarships and financial aid for deserving students. Much of Andrew’s work is outreach to the school’s alumni. The U.W School of Law has about 9,000 living alums, and about 70% of them live in the State of Washington. As a result, Andrew’s travel schedule is no where near as onerous as it once was – he works from home about two days a week and is on campus about three days a week. In prior years, Andrew has been active as a Professional Mentor with American Corporate Partners, as a Mass Responder with the American Red Cross, and as Chair of the School Commission for the St. Louise School. Right now, however, Andrew’s non-work life surrounds playing with his kids and playing golf. Please join us in welcoming Andrew Doran.