Logan Endowment To Amplify the Power of Career Mentorship at Whitman
By Jodie Nicotra
More than anything else, his time at Whitman College helped Dave Logan ’80 learn to think outside the box. Those creative problem-solving skills have served him well throughout a thriving career that has spanned leadership roles in the business, entertainment and finance industries.
“The edge I always had was being able to bring cross-functional thinking into a problem and help find the solution,” Dave says.
And that’s how he’s approaching his latest endeavor. Through the David S. and Holli S. Logan Career Mentoring Endowment, he’s bringing his wealth of experience as a business leader, board member and mentor to help Whitman students prepare for today’s rigorous job market.
Meaningful Mentorship
Dave first discovered a passion for mentoring students during his time on the Whitman President’s Advisory Board. He was searching for ways to make contributions when it occurred to him that he needn’t look further than his own career experience.
“During my career, I’d done hundreds of interviews, including case-study interviews screening candidates to be consultants,” he says. In case-study interviews, applicants are presented with complex real-world scenarios and asked to propose solutions on the spot. “I realized that maybe I had some value to add in that I could help students prepare for these kinds of interviews.”
Through Whitman’s Career and Community Engagement Center (CCEC), he started connecting with juniors and seniors looking for careers in finance, private equity or business who needed help with resume preparation and the basics of job searching.
One of Dave’s mentees, for instance, was nervous when a Seattle consulting firm invited her to do a case-study interview. Dave came up with some model case studies, and they did a couple of practice interviews together. When it came time for the real interview, the student passed with flying colors and got the job offer.
“I wish I’d had something like this available to me way back,” says Holli Logan ’82, who volunteers and manages the couple’s properties. “When you graduate, you’re kind of thrown out on your own, like you’re supposed to know what to do. I’ve seen the success the students who are working with Dave have, and it’s pretty impressive. And when they get great jobs, that speaks really well of Whitman and a Whitman degree.”
The Logans have also hosted international students at their home in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and Dave hired one for his startup business.
“You end up building valuable relationships over time,” he says. “I don’t think I’m doing anything special other than sharing things I’ve learned over the course of a career. But if you haven’t had that 40-year career yet, talking with someone who has can be really valuable.”
A Little Support Can Bring Big Results
When one of Dave Logan’s mentees, an international Whitman College student, became interested in finance, he borrowed $500 from a relative to see if he could earn anything by investing. By the end of the summer, he’d made $3,000. He found Dave through LinkedIn and messaged him to ask for help interviewing with American companies.
“This kid’s a genius—he’s going to be a major financier someday,” Dave says. “Anybody who picks up investing on his own and increases his investment by six times over the course of the summer is incredible.”
The two worked on culturally appropriate interview skills, as well as how to tell his story. The summer investment scheme went on his resume.
Now the student works in Seattle for a company that builds investment portfolios for institutions and individuals.
“He’s basically on the first step toward becoming a client manager of some pretty significant funds,” Dave says.
Connecting the Dots
Over the years, Dave talked with a lot of alumni who wanted to help students, but weren’t sure how—without a large time commitment. He recognized the potential for a program that connects students and alums in a more low-key, technology-enabled way.
“Especially if you’re mid-career, you come home at 5 p.m., and your 5-year-old and 3-year-old want your attention, and you’ve got 60 emails to answer, and so on. It isn’t as easy to make big chunks of time available,” Dave says. “But this kind of mentoring takes an hour here, an hour there, and that’s more manageable and controllable.”
Improvements in communications technology over the past decade have also made career mentoring more accessible than ever.
“Zoom means that someone who’d like to help a student for an hour on resume writing or interview preparation can do it at 7:30 on a Tuesday evening, and all that’s needed is a Zoom link and an advance email with the student’s resume,” he says.
He’s hopeful that the new endowment can create more mini mentorship opportunities like these.
“If you haven’t had that 40-year career yet, talking with someone who has can be really valuable.
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—Dave Logan ’80
Thinking Ahead
True to form, Dave found a creative solution when it came to structuring the couple’s gift to Whitman. He considered making an immediate, one-time gift to establish the program, but after some discussion with one of Whitman’s Gift Officers, he realized that an endowment could have a more lasting impact. So he designated Whitman as the primary beneficiary on one of his 401(k) retirement accounts.
Creating an endowment allows the college to secure donations from others with the same goal—ultimately creating more impact for the future program.
Giving through his retirement account gives Dave the opportunity to see his gift at work during his lifetime. When he turns 70.5 (he’s 67 now), money from Dave’s retirement fund can be donated to the college tax-free. In the meantime, Whitman has some time to plan for the program, something Dave looks forward to helping with.
“I know it takes time to set up a program,” he says. “You have to think about it in an academic world. People debate it and discuss different alternatives and so on. I thought that was a good, healthy way to set it up.”
Kim Rolfe, Director of the CCEC, is excited about the possibilities. “Dave has been a go-to referral for many students we work with who are pursuing jobs and internships in finance, consulting, tech and startups,” she says.
“His commitment to supporting Whitman students and recent grads as they take their first steps into these professional realms expedites their trajectories in a very organic way. We are so grateful that Dave and Holli’s gift will allow us to scale up these kinds of interactions so more students and young alumni, across an array of professional fields, can have this same type of connective experience,” Rolfe says.
Make Your Mark
To learn more about planning a future gift to Whitman College, reach out to Jamie Kennedy ’96, Senior Director of Gift Planning, at 509-527-5989 or kennedjj@whitman.edu.