Dianne Fuller Doherty

Co-founder, Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts; Former Director, Massachusetts Small Business Development Center’s Regional Office

Now Retired, She’s Still Making a Deep Impact on the Region

Photo by Leah Martin Photography

Dianne Fuller Doherty considers herself perhaps this region’s biggest cheerleader.

Indeed, while technically a transplant (although she earned a bachelor’s degree at Mount Holyoke College), she is forever extolling the 413’s virtues and promoting it as a place to live, work, and put down seeds for a business.

But ‘cheerleader’ doesn’t begin to explain why she’s been chosen as a Woman of Impact for 2024. This is not a knock on cheerleaders, but they essentially stand on the sidelines and cheer those in the game — and Fuller Doherty has never been one to stand on the sidelines.

She’s always been involved, and on many different levels — from being a business owner to becoming a co-founder of the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts; from leading one of the key engines in the region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, the Massachusetts Small Business Development Center’s regional office, to serving on the boards of several area institutions and nonprofits; from serving as a mentor to countless small-business owners, especially women, to acting as a role model — to her own children and many of those she mentors.

Her contributions of time, energy, and talent have been spread across a wide spectrum, but there has always been a special emphasis on the broad realm of education due to its obvious impact on the future of the region.

“If we don’t have strong educational institutions, we don’t have a future, and one of my big beliefs is helping the public schools of Springfield — because that is central to the success of our region.”

“Paul and I made a commitment to education, starting with our own schools and now some of the local schools, which we believe in, because they’re central to the future of Western Mass.,” she said, referencing her husband, who passed away several years ago and was equally involved in the community. “If we don’t have strong educational institutions, we don’t have a future, and one of my big beliefs is helping the public schools of Springfield — because that is central to the success of our region.”

The founders of the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts were honored at an event in 2019. From left: Donna Haghighat, Dianne Fuller Doherty, Martha Richards, Kristi Nelson, Mimi Goldberg (accepting for late founder Sally Livingston), and Haydee Lamberty-Rodrigues.

Beyond education, Fuller Doherty has been, or still is, involved with agencies and institutions ranging from the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts to Tech Foundry; from the World Affairs Council to the Springfield Public Forum. At each one, she has left others impressed with her desire to dig deep and work hard to advance their missions.

“Dianne Fuller Doherty is a role model for what it means to be dedicated to community,” wrote Megan Burke, president and CEO of the Community Foundation, in nominating her for the Woman of Impact award. “In her life’s work and volunteer activities, she embodies the spirit of wanting to make her home (Western Mass.) a better place for all who live in it.

“Now that she is retired, she continues to work full-time to connect community members and lift the efforts that will move our region forward,” Burke went on. “While she is inclusive in her efforts to lift up the community, she is especially dedicated to developing and supporting women and women’s leadership. She keeps her ear to the ground to know where she might be needed, who might need a hand up, or where a connection might need to be made.”

“While she is inclusive in her efforts to lift up the community, she is especially dedicated to developing and supporting women and women’s leadership. She keeps her ear to the ground to know where she might be needed, who might need a hand up, or where a connection might need to be made.”

Making connections, providing a hand up, or often just listening and providing sage advice … these are just some of the many reasons why Fuller Doherty is a Woman of Impact.

Answering the Call

When she was called by BusinessWest in January 2020 to let her know she was being honored as one of its Difference Makers that year, Fuller Doherty had to be talked into it.

Indeed, she argued at length that there were others more worthy, and that she had already won enough awards — which, well, she has, including the William Pynchon Community Service Award, the 2016 Unsung Heroine of Massachusetts Award, and the 2004 Girl Scouts of Pioneer Valley Woman of Distinction Award.

She eventually acquiesced and was honored with several others at a COVID-era ceremony before a crowd that could not exceed 25 people (you remember those days).

This time around, she offered less resistance (although there was some) because of the nature of the award and its mission to honor women. The issue this time was finding room in her schedule for an interview, between a trip to Iceland and events on her schedule ranging from a World Affairs Council lunch to a gathering at Tech Foundry to the ribbon cutting for the new Kevin S. Delbridge Welcome Center at Western New England University.

This crowded schedule speaks volumes about how Fuller Doherty likes to keep busy, but not just busy; she wants to get involved and use her experience and insight to help others and assist institutions as they carry out their various missions.

It’s been this way since she settled in Western Mass. with her late husband, Paul, a lawyer who already had roots here. She quickly put down some of her own, getting involved with institutions including the Springfield Regional Chamber, YMCA, Glenmeadow, the World Affairs Council, Bay Path University, and the National Conference for Community and Justice.

Doherty Fuller Doherty calls herself a cheerleader for the region, but throughout her career, she has rarely been on the sidelines.
Photo by Focus Ashely Photos

Seeking to be a role model for her daughters, she returned to school to earn an MBA at Western New England, then went looking for a career. After working briefly as a volunteer with the grants manager for the city of Springfield, she took a job with a marketing agency in Hartford and then became part of an initiative called Downtown Marketing to promote Springfield’s Central Business District.

“It was sponsored by MassMutual, Steiger’s, and SIS,” she recalled, “and it was focused on promoting the city and bringing people downtown because, then, as now, we have a lot invested in bricks and mortar downtown, but not a lot invested in changing attitudes about downtown, and it was necessary.”

Later, with partner Marsha Tzoumas, she started a marketing firm that would find a home in Springfield’s downtown and thrive for several years before it failed to survive the recession of the early ’90s.

Looking for a different career turn, she eventually won the job leading the regional office of the Massachusetts Small Business Development Center, where she specialized in providing the honest feedback and tough love that entrepreneurs need as they strive to take concepts off the drawing board or to the next level.

Her initial plan was to be in that job for just a few years, but she stayed for more than 20, helping countless individuals across Western Mass. — and, while doing that, gaining an even deeper appreciation for this region and its many different assets.

“I loved it because I spent half my time working one-on-one with small businesses and helping mostly early-stage startup companies, which is great, because they’re energetic, they’re hardworking, they’re idealistic, and they care,” she said. “The other half was economic development for the region, and I totally believe in the region; we are a regional economy.”

Giving Voice to Others — and Using Hers

One of Fuller Doherty’s many contributions to this region, and an example of her lifelong focus on women and helping them succeed in work and in life, was her involvement in the creation of the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts.

This is an agency that is, well, a lot like her. It supports women, it educates them, it mentors them, and it promotes them.

Scanning the horizon, Fuller Doherty noted that, while there is some work to be done when it comes to women advancing and breaking through whatever glass ceilings remain — she said the corporate boardroom is one of them — she’s proud of what has been accomplished.

“The Women’s Fund has played a small role in elevating the voices of women,” she said. “I’ve watched the boards — not just the nonprofit boards, which have always done their part for women, but some of the for-profit boards as well — recognize the value and importance of having women on them. That in itself — just having women’s voices heard — is so important. I truly feel that, if women had been more involved in national and global issues, we would not be in the state we’re in globally.

“Women are good listeners, and we need to have their voices heard,” she went on. “And I’m so happy to say they are being heard, but there is still room for growth.”

While Fuller Doherty has always been involved, and has always had an impact, she has also never been shy about using her own voice and expressing opinions on a wide range of topics.

“I totally believe in the region; we are a regional economy.”

On UMass Amherst, another institution she strongly supports, she told BusinessWest, “there is so much potential for that university, and I’ve watched it go, particularly the Isenberg School of Management, from here to here,” she said, moving her hand from her knee to over her head. “And there is so much more growth potential.”

On the merits of exercise and staying active, especially for people her age (which she did not reveal), she said, “I gave myself a gift … I don’t know how long ago, maybe 30 or 40 years ago, of an hour of exercise a day, and I’ve really lived up to it. I’ll bet I haven’t missed 10 days over that whole time.”

That activity has included yoga, Pilates, skiing, walking, running, biking, swimming, and more. “I swim in the summer,” she said. “I’m going to have to start doing it year-round because it’s such good exercise, but I don’t like it; I’m not a good swimmer.”

Then, of course, she has opinions on this region. And here, again, she doesn’t mince words.

“I think it’s a fabulous place to live, a fabulous place to raise a family … we’re so ideally located geographically, and I don’t think we’ve ever maximized that,” she said. “I think that is still to come, and it will come. We have so many cultural advantages that most small cities don’t have, we have so many educational advantages … the sky is the limit for this region.”

As we said at the top, Fuller Doherty is certainly a cheerleader for this region. But she is much more than that. She’s a leader who makes sure her voice is heard, while also making sure other women’s voices are heard.

In short, she’s a Woman of Impact.