folio but its in-house position offered the most potential for career growth, which cemented her decision to pursue it. Her Tokyo experience—her law firm sent her there as its secondee— had taught her how to navigate an unfamiliar culture. As the lone woman and African-
American at many of Harsco’s executive meetings, Dorch grew uncomfortable by occasional jokes from male colleagues who seemed to question the validity of her input and her credentials, which also included a J.D. degree from Harvard Law School and senior positions at firms in Boston, New York and San Francisco. Dorch figured they were testing her, so she took them aside, privately and individually after the meetings, to explain why the comments were unsettling. By building relationships with these men, the comments quickly subsided, she says. She climbed the rungs of the law
department and by 2012, was named Harsco’s vice president, general coun- sel and corporate secretary, replacing a man. “With the right mind-set, women
can grow and thrive,” Dorch says. “We can step in and do well.” Ivonne M. Cabrera agrees. Four
years ago, she followed her colleagues when Dover Corporation moved its headquarters from New York City, where she had lived for 20 years dating back to law school, to the Chicago suburb of Downers Grove. Although Cabrera was nervous
about moving to the Midwest, she reminded herself about her family’s risky, immigrant journey from Cuba. Shortly after Fidel Castro’s rise to power in the late 1950s, Cabrera’s maternal grandmother left for Florida with merely five dollars and her mother and teenage daughter in tow. If her family could start over and eventually thrive despite such circum- stances, Cabrera was confident she
Ivonne M. Cabrera
Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Secretary
She cautions women not to pass up jobs, regardless of industry, simply because their spouses have entrenched careers or their children are in school, common reasons why women often feel professionally hemmed in.
would find ways to succeed, too. In Illinois, she was tapped to
become legal chief for one of the company’s electronics subsidiaries. Last year, she was promoted to senior vice president, general counsel and secre- tary of Dover, which has $8 billion annually in sales. Cabrera’s cross-country move wasn’t
the first career choice outside her com- fort zone. In 2004, she applied for an in-house job at Dover, which was then just a few blocks from pharmaceuti- cal giant Bristol-Myers Squibb, where Cabrera was part of a 100-member legal team. She had never heard of Dover until a friend told her about the job. It turned out Dover’s entire corpo-
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MCCA.COM
JULY/AUGUST 2014 DIVERSITY & THE BAR®
Photo courtesy of Dover Corporation
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