Della McGrath
Della McGrath and Associates
Owner
Della’s passionate feelings for building strong independent women come from a very strong mother who raised two daughters alone after Della’s father died of ALS at age 49, when Della was 12 and her sister 10. They lived on a farm in northern Iowa, and the family stayed on the farm after her father’s death, renting out the land but continuing to raise farm animals, milking cows, and raising pigs, chickens and beef cattle. She attended a two room (which grew to three before it closed) country school through eighth grade. Della always had the desire and inclination to blaze new trails for women.
She majored in Business at UI when the student population there was NOT 52 percent female as it is now. She then worked as the fleet sales manager at an Oldsmobile dealership in Phoenix for 5 years before moving back to Iowa City. There her position at the UI Foundation as Director, Support Services, Operations and Project Management grew to include facility management. She moved to the fundraising side of the organization for her last three years with the Foundation and directed the Campus Campaign segment of the Foundation’s first billion dollar fundraising campaign. This was where and how Della met Madgetta Dungy, then president of IWF, leading to Della’s increased involvement with IWF. She retired from the UI Foundation in January 2004 (after 25 years with the organization and when the Campus Campaign was successfully completed) and started her own consulting business in fundraising, facility management and project management.
She and her husband G.M. “Duke” McGrath have one son who graduated with a B.A. in Russian and History from the University of Northern Iowa in December 2008. Della is anxious to see Iowa lose its notoriety as one of two states that has never elected a female governor nor a female senator or U.S. Representative.
Committees:
Development
Luncheon
Nominating
Education:
University of Iowa, BBA in Office Management, 1968
Completed UI Entrepreneurial Fast Trac course
Completed two UI graduate courses in Nonprofit Management
Other Affiliations:
Pilot Club of Iowa City (past officer and past Midwest District Governor) (helped organize Noon Pilot Club of Johnson County and Cedar Rapids Metro Pilot Club)
Johnson County Area Women’s Network (JCAWN) founding member
Chamber Leadership Program (CLP) Alumni Board member
International Facility Management Association (IFMA) Eastern Iowa Chapter (Founding Member and Board Member) Member of IFMA Consultants Council
Iowa City/Coralville Chamber of Commerce member
Iowa City Foreign Relations Council/CIVIC member
Johnson County Historical Society (past board member and current volunteer)
Past Board Member Visiting Nurses Association and Iowa City Public Library Friends Board
Long time member of American Business Women’s Association, Grant Wood Chapter