Redefining Retirement … Naturally
Former Booz Allen Hamilton partner is now vice chair of the National Parks Conservation Association
In high school, Joyce Doria wrote a report on global warming. During her 33 years as a management consultant, the former Booz Allen Hamilton partner worked closely with clients in the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency. Now retired from the profession, Doria serves as vice chair of the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), a 350,000-member, non-partisan, non-governmental advocacy group whose charter is to preserve and protect national parks.
It's tempting to agree with Daoia that her transition into retirement was "natural" … yet the word "retirement" seems less and less applicable the more she explains her current activities.
She insists her decision to retire was an easy one after working "flat out, sometimes 24/7" for decades. "While I never tired of the business, clients, staff and problems," she explains, "I had longed for more freedom to do simple things, like reading a spy novel without feeling guilty, or taking a vacation without Fed Ex chasing me down in Africa or the Amazon … or spending more time with family and friends. I was ready to kick back. Although, many people were surprised that I could actually disengage."
It all depends on the definition of "disengage." In addition to her service with NPCA, Doria serves on the boards of two other organizations. As a member of the advisory board to The McLean Group, an investment banking organization with members around the U.S., Daria assists with general strategy, idea generation and the identification of potential opportunities. As an advisory board member to SEVATEC, a small, minority-owned government contracting firm, she provides counsel to the CEO and managers as needed.
Once Doria decided to retire, she assessed her options and decided that board work would give her "maximum flexibility" while still working out the muscles she loved to engage at BAH. During her 28 years there, she built and ran the firm's Organization and Strategy business from scratch. When she left, the functional business consisted of 1,300 staffers and 11 BAH partners. Doria also served on the Booz Allen Board of Directors for six years and as chair of the firm's worldwide audit committee.
"I had an outstanding range of experiences at Booz Allen," she recalls, pointing to the fact that her clients included corporations, all types of governmental agencies and associations. "One day, we would work with the CIA, the next day we would be at the FAA. I learned how these entities worked."
Each of Doria's current board assignments offers a unique set of conditions that various aspects of her broad consulting career provided.
The NPCA work, for example, features a national-level portfolio of issues—climate change, air pollution, commercial development, a staggering $8 billion maintenance backlog and other challenges confronting U.S. National Parks—and appeals to her lifelong interest in ecology.
The McLean Group benefits from Doria's business experience and market instincts while, she says, tapping "some of my competitive, creative nature."
And SEVATEC contends with some of the same start-up challenges Doria dealt with while growing the Organization and Strategy business within BAH.
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