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The following feature story appeared in the campus publication MOSAIC in October, 1997.
Nancy McDermott '78
Putting together a new game plan at Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc.
While she was captain and center of the Trinity women's varsity basketball team from 1974 to 1978, Nancy McDermott '78 racked up on average more than 20 points during each game and grabbed over 10 rebounds per contest. When her college play ended, she had more than 620 career points to her credit. Off the court and in the classroom, the 5-foot, 9 1/2-inch basketball standout's drive was equally impressive. Elected a member of the international honor society in social science, Pi Gamma Mu, in her junior year and inducted into Phi Beta Kappa as a senior, she went on to graduate with honors in economics.
McDermott's drive has not abated. Less than two weeks after graduation, she headed to Northeastern University, where she went on to earn a master's degree in accounting in 1979. After spending two years working for a "Big Eight" accounting firm, she joined the $1.4-billion growers' cooperative Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc., and is now vice president of human resources for the 67-year-old beverage giant headquartered in Lakeville, MA.
To McDermott, the skills and knowledge she acquired while a stellar basketball player and scholar at Trinity mirror the skills that she uses in business today. "There are a lot of analogies between preparing for athletics, preparing for academics, and ultimately preparing for business. With preparation and practice, you can perform beyond where you might have expected. There are quite often setbacks," she observes. "You don't always win. But you can come back, put together a different game plan, and move forward."
Balancing athletics with academics
The Westwood, MA native, who grew up in an athletic family and who played basketball in high school, had a game plan in mind when she came to Trinity. "I wanted to be able to play basketball and yet balance it with my academic studies," she notes. McDermott planned on becoming a history or political science major, but in her sophomore year she took two courses in macro- and microeconomic theory and decided to major in economics instead.
She looks back on her academic and athletic achievements at Trinity more for their cumulative effect than for isolated incidents. "Athletics, like academics, are a series of experiences that help to build your confidence, help you to believe in yourself, help you to believe you can achieve the next step and go somewhere you hadn't thought about," she contends.
"A terrific leader"
One place that McDermott had not thought about going while at Trinity was into a philosophy course with Charles A. Dana Professor of Philosophy Drew A. Hyland. After getting to know Hyland as the unofficial assistant women's basketball coach, however, she took his "Philosophy of Sport" course. One of McDermott's fondest memories of her former coach and professor had nothing to do with philosophy, however. "A group of students used to play basketball informally with Professor Hyland and other faculty members at lunchtime. We muscled it around pretty good," she says. Hyland vividly recalls his former student. "Nancy was Trinity's first really good women's basketball player," Hyland says. "She was tough as nails. She threw her heart and soul into the game. She was a terrific leader and very smart."
Becoming part of a company's growth
After working at Ernst and Whinney as a senior accountant, McDermott decided to leave the often grueling world of public accounting and to become part of the long-term growth of Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc. Joining the company in 1982 as an internal auditor, she progressed through a series of positions with increasing responsibility and was named vice president in charge of controller/information services in 1993. She assumed additional responsibility for human resources in 1994 and for communications in 1996. Last year, she became responsible solely for human resources and took charge of a two-year examination of Ocean Spray's operational infrastructure to make certain the company is well positioned for future growth.
Balancing corporate and maternal challenges
Today, McDermott no longer chases a basketball around the court. Instead she now chases her three-year-old twin sons, Connor and Matthew, around the Plymouth, MA home that she shares with her husband Robert O'Keefe. What does the future hold? She plans to continue balancing her family life with her latest corporate challenge. In so doing, McDermott says she will continue to draw upon the skills she acquired at Trinity. "Since leaving Trinity, I've combined the ability to think broadly and 'outside the box,' which I developed at the College, with my knowledge and expertise in accounting. I'm able to look at issues from different perspectives." As she reflects on her achievements since her time at the College, she says, "There's no question that Trinity was the right choice for me. Trinity provided me with a good springboard to move forward. And here I am."
--Suzanne Zack