Leslie Dwyer '90 Profiled in Charlotte Observer

May 10, 2005

May 10, 2005, Greencastle, Ind. - "Leslie Dwyer is one of those independent, super-articulate professionals who speaks at a staccato clip when she speaks her mind," begins a profile in the Charlotte Observerof the 1990 DePauw University graduate. "Her thoughts are organized, yet their expression spontaneous, the characteristic of a math whiz who thrives as a people person." Dwyer is operations manager for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Workforce Development Board and JobLink Career Center System.

The article states, "She earned a B.A. in economics, then a Master's of Public Administration with concentrations in municipal finance and quantitative policy analysis, to steer clear of the retail path. She worked at the Indiana Department of Commerce and under the tutelage of then-Lt. Gov. Frank O'Bannon. Then moved into the private sector in municipal bond origination. All that didn't prevent her from being laid off from First Union in Charlotte a few years ago, prior to itsmerger with Wachovia. To keep her house, she took jobs painting houses, cutting grass and even working in a mail room. She's now in a leadership position at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Workforce Development Board and JobLink Career Center System, where she helps displaced workers find jobs."

The text continues, "Dwyer sees the faces of the downsized, some of whom consider and some who actually take entry-level retail jobs to make ends meet. 'I've been there. That's why I feel so strongly about helping people who run out of unemployment. I understand the plight of baby boomers looking for new jobs and careers.'"

The feature notes Dwyer's DePauw degree, and she lists her greatest accomplishment as: "Leading 20 college students to the Amazon of Peru for a month my senior year in college. We built four homes and taught health education to two tribes of women who had been hunter-gatherers 20 years before."

Read the complete profile at the newspaper's Web site.

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