Meet Donald Woolridge

Donald Woolridge, Sr. has over 30 years of leadership development with the following corporations: Kentucky Trailer Group, Katayama American Company, Aleris Corporation, and Toyota Motor Company. His career also includes human resource leadership roles as owner of D&E Consulting LLC., Human Resource Director for the International Headquarters of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., and for former Louisville Metro Government, 3rd District Councilperson Mary C. Woolridge, serving as her campaign manager.

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Donald joined Kentucky Trailer Group in October of 2021, serving as Director of Talent Acquisition and Training & Development. He created new systems for staffing and onboarding as well as an original leadership model for management throughout the organization called the KT Approach.

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From 2019 to 2021, he served as the Senior Director of Human Resources for Katayama American Company, Inc. While there, he was tasked with a turnaround, aligning the HR department with the new direction of the company. In addition to reorganizing and staffing the HR department as well as the management team, he led a regional and global effort developing and teaching leadership techniques and disciplines for all of the company’s senior executives as well as mid-level and frontline leaders in Japan, Mexico and the United States.

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Donald worked at Aleris Corporation (now Commonwealth Rolled Aluminum Products) from 2014 to 2019, where he served as the Human Resource Manager for Training & Development. He was initially responsible for the development and implementation of the pre-hire testing, recruitment strategy and onboarding/orientation program for the C.A.L.P. expansion project. He would go on to become responsible for the strategic development of all frontline and mid-level leader’s skillsets throughout the organization, blue collar recruitment, onboarding and retention as well as assisting with the launch and teaching of Aleris’ Core Values as the company grew in its partnership with the automotive industry.

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Prior to working at Aleris, he worked at the Toyota manufacturing plant in Georgetown, KY for 20 years in both operations and Human Resources departments, where he learned various aspects of the Human Resource profession as well as operations and logistics. Among his many accomplishments he was a project leader for the Lexus Assimilation training course, where he developed a majority of the sessions for a three-day training program all new team members had to graduate before joining the Lexus team.

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Donald is the founder and owner of D&E Consulting LLC. Founded in 2018, he and his wife, Erica, ventured into the world of entrepreneurship, starting an organizational & leadership development consultant firm offering executive coaching and consultation for frontline, mid-level and senior leaders to solve organizational problems at the source.

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Donald is a graduate of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, earning his M.MIN in ministerial effectiveness with a focus on organizational development and Indiana Wesleyan University earning an MBA in Human Resource Management.

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Donald has also served as campaign manager and speech writer for his mother, former Louisville Metro Government 3rd District Councilwoman Mary C. Woolridge during her 2001, 2005, 2009 and 2014 campaigns.

Donald is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., currently serving as the South Central Province (region) Polemarch (President) for the states of Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi. In this role, he oversees the leadership development of undergraduate members, coordinates annual training seminars as well as addresses brotherly needs as they arise. Furthermore, he serves as the Director of Human Resources for the International Headquarters of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. located in Philadelphia, PA.

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Lastly, Donald is married to Dr. Erica Woolridge (28 years), an elementary school counselor with Jefferson County Public School (JCPS) system and they have two children: Daphne, a middle school teacher within JCPS system, and Donald Jr., a graduate of Northern Kentucky University, and three grandchildren (by Daphne), granddaughter Sevyn Rose Marie Hill (3 years old), and a set of twin grandsons, Kingston-Phillip and Kyre-David Hill (1 years old).