David Donaldson is a retired business executive and civic volunteer based in Birmingham. He retired from Vulcan Materials Company (NYSE:VMC) in February 2020 after a decades-long career, and now has a private consulting business, Donaldson & Associates, serving clients on matters concerning sustainability, strategic communications, and public affairs. He also serves as senior advisor to Summit Strategy Group, Los Altos, California. At Vulcan, he served as senior advisor to the chairman and chief executive officer and as vice president of external affairs & corporate communications, with responsibility for the company’s community and governmental relations initiatives in the United States and Mexico. Additional responsibilities included the company’s sustainability initiatives and its charitable giving program through the Vulcan Materials Foundation.
In addition to serving on the Advisory Board of the Blackburn Institute and as a member of the Blackburn Society, David is the current chairman of the board of directors of the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama (PARCA). He also serves on the board of the National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ) – Alabama. A partial list of past responsibilities includes chairing the Board of Trustees for The Nature Conservancy – Alabama Chapter, and serving as a Director of the Alabama Humanities Foundation, the Wildlife Habitat Council, the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, the Alabama Governor’s School, and Teach for America, Alabama Chapter. He is a graduate and on the regional members’ council of Leadership Alabama, past president of Leadership Birmingham’s member’s council, and is a member of the Birmingham Kiwanis Club.
David holds a bachelor’s degree in English from The University of the South and a master’s degree in public and private management from Birmingham-Southern College. He studied Renaissance history and literature at University College, Oxford University, and completed Harvard-MIT’s executive Program on Negotiation. David and his wife Debbie live in Homewood and have two sons, Walker, (Blackburn Fellow, Class of 2012), who lives in Denver with his wife Jess and new daughter, Merritt Elle Donaldson, and Ben, who lives in Nauvoo, Alabama where he and his fiancée Meredith work at Camp McDowell.