Doughty plans to secure stability and more funding

Mt. Hood’s new vice president of admininistrative services was very busy this past summer preparing for his position.

Normally, administrative positions have many duties assigned to them that do not fall under any particular category. And, such was the case for Rick Doughty, who replaced Bill Becker, pinch-hit financial adviser for MHCC President Debbie Derr.

“As a V.P., trying to get your hand around all the areas you are responsible for is the first thing you do,” he said.

One of the important areas a vice president has to worry about is the institution’s budget. Doughty said his job is to find diverse ways to gain MHCC money that is compatible with the college’s mission. Mt. Hood’s KMHD radio station exemplifies, this by generating a profit for the school while helping teach students to be radio broadcasters, he said.

“I’m trying to work with the talented people we have working here to find opportunities that I can make the college money,” he said.

When it comes to budget matters, Doughty has to focus a lot of his attention on the institution’s resilience. “I have to ask the question: ‘Is Mt. Hood a thriving place, economically sound, a safe place to be, developed appropriately, constantly changing?’ ” he said. He then decides what he should be doing from day to day to ensure this environment for everyone at Mt. Hood, he said.

Doughty also has to focus on the school’s sustainability. His experience working for corporations such as the Iams Co. (pet food manufacturer) and the Oregon National Primate Research Center (health sciences) qualify him for the task, he said. He said that in a lot of other companies, sustainability is limited to what is immediately profiting them. But acting from an administrative perspective, the institution’s resilience comes in to play. Mt. Hood has to be sustainable while being strategic, and constantly be looking towards its next five- and 10-year plans, he said.

Doughty said, “My presence in the sustainability effort here will allow us to make sure we are more strategic.”

Coming from corporations to a collegiate atmosphere was difficult switch for Doughty, but it has been “a learning process that I have come to enjoy and love,” he said.

He previously had to do a lot of command control for Iams, but it was hard for employees to proceed without upper management. In a collegiate atmosphere, he said, “you have to work with people and build a strong team together.”

Doughty enjoyed being apart of a research institution at the Primates Center, he said. Now, returning to Oregon and an undergraduate program (the Iams job was in California), “is very cool. We (his family) are very happy to be back,” he said.

One issue that arose when Doughty was hired by Mt. Hood last spring was his lack of experience with publicly funded bonds. He enthusiastically explained how he met with specialists all summer learning everything he could, so that when the topic comes up he can hold his ground. He is “going to provide good help here,” he said.

“When I come across something that I don’t have experience with in my background, I find out who does, who needs to be on my team, and how we need to pull this together.”