Name: Wesley E. Donahue
Title: Teaching Professor of Education (Workforce Education and Development)
Department: Learning and Performance Systems
Phone: 814-865-7074
Email: wed105@psu.edu
Office address: 303 Keller Building
Directory entry: https://ed.psu.edu/directory/dr-wesley-e-donahue
Donahue teaches, serves on graduate research committees and is responsible for leading a team of fixed-term and tenured faculty for the College of Education’s online MPS in Organization Development and Change degree. The students he teaches and advises represent organizations in business, industry, government and nonprofit sectors. These linkages provide a mechanism for faculty and graduate students to pursue scholarly research. Donahue is also associated with the College of Engineering, where he teaches and mentors both graduate and undergraduate students. Donahue has authored over 100 short courses for working professionals and recently authored two books: “Building Leadership Competence” and “Unlocking Lean Six Sigma.”
Donahue brings over 30 years of technology management, sales and organization development experience to his position at Penn State. Formerly, he worked with the Fortune 500 company Brockway Inc., now Owens-Brockway, where he began as a project engineer and rose to manager of technology for the corporation’s international division. Subsequently, he co-founded and served as executive vice president of Leffler Systems of New Jersey, a manufacturer of plastic containers and specialized machinery, after which he moved on to become regional vice president of sales for Marketing Plastics in Kansas City, Missouri. In addition, he served as a professional associate of MGA Inc., a worldwide provider of technical management professional services to the packaging industry. He also owned a successful retail business for over 10 years.
In these endeavors, Donahue was involved in all aspects of general management, including operations, human resource planning, finance, engineering, sales, marketing, strategic planning and international ventures. Additionally, he has worked as a management consultant for several major international packaging companies.