Kerry Donovan Cummings, ’77: A Leader Through Trying Times
Written by Doug Goodnough
She jokingly calls it “the presidency that wasn’t.”
When Kerry Donovan Cummings, ’77, was elected president of the Hillsdale College Alumni Association in 2019, she did not anticipate that a worldwide pandemic would nearly eliminate any in-person interactions during most of her term.
Relying on her past leadership experience at various organizations, including two terms as president of the Village of Glenview, Illinois, she said she did what she always has done—make the best of the situation at-hand.
“We quickly changed to having remote meetings and getting people adjusted to those types of things,” Cummings said of having to adhere to COVID-19 protocols. “I’ve been in leadership roles to know that there are times where you can push an agenda, you can move things forward, you can get things done. But timing is everything, and everything takes time.”
Before she became a leader, she was a very good follower.
Her father, Robert, ’53, and mother, Virginia, ’52, both graduated from Hillsdale, as did her older brother, Mark, ’75. In fact, her father was an Alumni Award winner and very active in Hillsdale’s Chicago area alumni chapter, while her mother was the class valedictorian and president of the Pi Beta Phi sorority.
Although Cummings said she had some initial reservations about attending the same college as her brother, those feelings dissipated when she visited Hillsdale and made quick friends. She decided that “campus was big enough for the both of us.”
An English and math double major, Cummings said her introduction to leadership came when she was elected president of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. That eventually led to her being chosen as senior class president.
After graduating from Hillsdale, she earned her law degree from Chicago-Kent School of Law, where she met her husband, Richard. They settled in the northern Chicago suburb of Glenview. She was working for The Northern Trust Co., handling estate tax and trust and probate administration, but eventually decided to leave her job to raise their four children.
However, Cummings soon got involved in her church’s nursery school board, serving as president. She then was encouraged to run for her local school board.
“Of course I ran in the first contested election in 20 years,” said Cummings, who is back to work at Northern Trust, where she currently serves as a vice president. “I sat at my dining room table and it felt like I was running for junior high president. You’re just trying to think of ways to reach out to people. In those days, there was no social media. You’re out in the train station shaking hands to try to win this volunteer job.”
But she succeeded, and eventually became board president. Then village politics came calling.
“I’m really fascinated by property rights, and I was asked to consider running for the village board,” Cummings said.
After serving as a trustee from 2003-2005, she was elected to two terms as village president from 2005-2013. She said in this role she got a “first-hand view” of state politics, and is still involved in helping her party with political races.
But it was her brother who again pulled her back to Hillsdale College.
“My brother was on the (Alumni) Board. He called me one day and said, ‘There are some openings on the board. Have you ever considered serving on the board?’” Cummings recalled. “He always paves the way for me. I said, ‘Sure, tell me about it.’”
Despite the challenges the pandemic presented, Cummings said her time as board president was meaningful. She said one of her accomplishments was helping get the board “in sync” with the fiscal year of the College. She also said the board has “sharpened up” its constitution.
“I hope we made our board members feel connected to the College,” said Cummings, who currently serves as the board’s immediate past president. “It was an interesting time, but time well-spent. I feel good about it.”
Doug Goodnough, ’90, is Hillsdale’s new director of Alumni Marketing. He’s looking forward to connecting with fellow alumni in new and wonderful ways.
Published in June 2022