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Before becoming senior vice president and chief communications officer at The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company in Akron, OH, Laura (Plumb) Duda MBA ’99 spent almost two decades doing communications work for major energy companies like Tampa-based TECO Energy Inc. and Chicago-based Exelon Corp. – which taught her how to stay calm in a crisis.

“The power could be out. There was the Y2K situation and fears about the grid. There can be skirmishes with labor unions. Power lines and power plants can be placed where people don’t want them. And I had to answer environmental questions and learn about the Environmental Protection Agency on the largest stage in the U.S.,” says Duda.

Now she’s on a global stage at Goodyear, managing a team of about 80 communicators around the world and, in a non-pandemic year, regularly traveling for work to cities such as Shanghai, São Paulo and Brussels. Duda manages public and media relations, employee communications, corporate reputation management, philanthropy and – get this – even the world-famous blimps.

“The blimps are a huge component of the Goodyear brand and have provided aerial coverage for sporting events since the 1950s,” says Duda. “We also support lots of local charities by providing blimp ride certificates for use at silent auctions. Community engagement is a big part of my role.”

And it’s easy to see why she’s good at it. Duda, a native of St. Petersburg, FL, describes herself as a “servant leader.” “I enjoy enabling the team to be successful more than I enjoy being successful on my own,” she says. “I’m here to share the credit and take the blame. Provide resources, develop talent, remove obstacles and step in only if something can’t be resolved. I’m not here to micromanage. I take enormous pride in the people who have worked for me who have gone on to senior roles of their own.”

Her achievements have not gone unnoticed lately. Duda earned a “2021 Woman of Note” distinction from Crain’s Cleveland Business and was named to PR Week’s “2021 Hall of Femme” (recognizing inspiring women who set the bar higher within their organizations). The National Diversity Council included her in their “Power 50” in 2021 and 2020, as well as named her one of their “Top 100 Women in Business” for 2022.

One thing she credits for her success is the UT MBA she earned at night after working as UT’s director of university relations during the day (she didn’t even have to leave Plant Hall). “The MBA gives you more credibility in a business setting than other graduate degrees – it’s a ticket to conversations that you might not be included in if you didn’t have it,” says Duda. “I’m not a finance person. Or an accountant. Or an economist. Or a marketer. I never will be. But I know enough about all of those things to be really dangerous.”

By Madeline McMahon

Photograph: Courtesy of Laura (Plumb) Duda MBA ’99