Associate Vice President for Ethics, Compliance and Risk and Data Privacy Officer Dorinda Tucker will be retiring from the George Washington University on Dec. 2 following nearly two decades of service to the institution.
Ashley Fountaine, current executive director for ethics and compliance, will serve as interim associate vice president upon Tucker’s departure.
In 2019, Tucker built and then led GW’s Office of Ethics, Compliance and Risk, establishing a top-tier compliance and enterprise risk management program that mitigates risk, applies compliance best practices and provides oversight of the university’s policies, ethics program and internal audit.
Much of her work is done behind the scenes, proactively seeing around corners to address potential concerns before they ever materialize.
Oftentimes, the best possible outcome for her office, which works tirelessly to establish policy compliance and reinforce the university’s ethical code, is resolving a problem that never ends up existing. In Tucker’s line of work, “no news is good news” is the ultimate compliment.
“It can be sort of thankless because you only know you’re doing a good job if you’re not noticed,” Tucker said. “But you need to pay attention to compliance and our ethical code of conduct, because you don’t want to be in the news in a negative fashion.”
Additionally, Tucker has supported Board of Trustees committees and task forces. She helped establish the Committee on Audit, Risk and Compliance when it was created as a stand-alone board committee in 2018 and advanced its mission of providing oversight of the university’s system of internal controls, sound business practices and ethical conduct.
Tucker has also managed the Conflict of Interest program for both the Board of Trustees and university leadership, aiming to ensure that all community members uphold the highest standards of integrity as they advance the mission of the university without outside influence.
“In seeing all that Dorinda does, I have been struck by her consistent commitment to high quality and effective compliance mechanisms,” said President Ellen M. Granberg. “She sees the big picture, but she also keeps track of all the details. And in this arena where risk and compliance have the potential to create conflict, Dorinda has cultivated relationships as a trusted partner on campus. She is always looking out for the best interests of the university.”
Tucker arrived at GW in 2008 after working two decades at IBM, where she was a business operations manager responsible for high-level contracts.
Excited for the opportunity to start something new and to have more time with her young family after a demanding run in the corporate world, Tucker began her tenure at GW working in Information Technology as a special assistant to the chief information officer.
Less than a year later, she transitioned to work for former Executive Vice President and Treasurer Lou Katz. She spent the next decade working with him, eventually serving as his adviser when he retired in 2018.
When Katz’ replacement, Mark Diaz, assumed his role in 2018, Tucker saw an opportunity to resurrect the compliance office.
GW, she said, was facing non-compliance with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the first comprehensive privacy regulation with real consequences. And the compliance program, she felt, was “in shambles.” So, she came to Diaz with a proposal.
“I marched into [Diaz’s] office and said… ‘We don’t have a compliance office; we need to stand that back up, and I’m the gal to do it,’” Tucker said. “I recognized that I didn’t have the on-paper qualifications for this job, but I was going to go get them.”
Starting as an assistant vice president under Diaz, she earned her Certified Compliance and Ethics Professional certificate and learned all she could. Within about six months, she was an associate vice president. That was in 2019, and she hired her first two employees—Fountaine and Cristina Grigore—to help her officially launch the Office of Ethics, Compliance and Risk and GW's Privacy Office. Seven years later, that office—which also includes Senior Compliance Associates Aaron Howell and Julia Duff and Grigore, director of privacy—has contributed greatly to addressing unprecedented challenges in higher education.
“I’m very proud of the program we’ve built,” Tucker said.
While her office’s job is to mitigate risk, it took a bold risk from Tucker to stand it back up and subsequently build the reputation it has today.
She has interacted with many stakeholders, leaders and community members in her 18 years on campus. Through it all, she said the people at GW are defined by their dedication to the values of the university and commitment to excellence.
“The people who come and go are still very dedicated to doing good work and supporting the mission of the institution,” Tucker said. “I’ve always been very proud of being at GW because of who we are as an institution. I think the people here reflect that, and they want to support the mission.”
In her next chapter, she looks forward to pursuing a newfound hobby—driving race cars.
She and her partner recently joined the world of 24 Hours of Lemons, an endurance racing series. “We’ve had two races under our belt, and we’re both just in love with this,” Tucker said. They hope to go to Daytona in April and race their “junker” cars on the fabled race track in Florida.
She also is eager to continue with CrossFit as well as perfect a protein muffin, a personal white whale she is hoping to finally chase down. Above all, she is looking forward to spending more time with her family and friends.
“I am just excited to do all of the things.”