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Philanthropist and Volunteer
Age: 73
Hometown: Indianapolis
Family: husband; stepdaughter and son-in-law; six grandchildren; nephew; niece; three great-nieces
Achievements: Deborah Tobias retired from Juniper Networks in 2001 in London after spending 20 years in the technology industry in California and London in sales management positions. In retirement, she is chair of the University of Dayton Board of Trustees, a board member of the Indiana University Health Foundation and The Second Presbyterian Church Endowment, and a member of the Red Cross Tiffany Circle. In her professional life, she was always responsible for sales revenue. In her volunteer roles, she spends her time on fundraising and organizational oversight. At the University of Dayton, she chaired the just-completed We Soar comprehensive fundraising campaign, which exceeded its $400 million goal by $53 million and was the university’s most successful campaign ever. This spring, she and her husband, Randall Tobias, committed to a $10 million estate gift to help create the Tobias-Lechleiter Institute for Clinical Innovation at IU Health (John and Sarah Lechleiter also committed $10 million). The combined gift is the largest to be received by the IU Health Foundation.
Career track: Tobias started her career as an English teacher at Bishop Chatard High School. After teaching for three years, she joined Random House Educational Division in St. Louis, where she was regional sales manager for five years before taking an opportunity with a small startup in the burgeoning data-com industry. There, she was promoted to Silicon Valley to manage the integration of a company acquisition before becoming Silicon Valley sales manager at Cisco Systems. Next, she joined Juniper Networks as sales manager responsible for the U.S. carrier business. She was Juniper’s first international employee and opened its first international office, in London. “I went from the only international employee to a European team of several hundred employees five years later,” she said. “It was thrilling and exciting.”
Influential moments: Securing a deal with United Airlines’ ticket reservation system for her small startup Silicon Valley company, Stratcom. “It changed the trajectory of our company and allowed us to secure our success in the competitive Valley landscape,” she said. In addition, she opened Juniper Networks’ first international office in London, “a game changer for the company’s trajectory.”
Advice for young women: “Be kind to yourself. Know yourself and focus on what you hold dear. Do your very best every day.”•
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