Carla Dore, ’83, president and CEO of Workplace Resource, is enthusiastic about supporting students at Colorado State University.
“I think preparing the students of today for what is ahead in their world is vitally important,” she said. “Developing programs and furthering educational opportunities, especially for students who might not otherwise be able to go to school, is going to make a better world for all of us.”
Dore’s passion for CSU and interior design education led her to make a significant contribution in support of the Richardson Design Center, a brand-new building on campus currently under construction.
CSU education important to success
Dore has led a successful career since graduating from CSU in 1983 with a degree in interior design and a minor in construction management.
After graduating from CSU, she worked at major design firms in the Chicago and Metro Denver areas before she started with Workplace Resource in 1991, holding a variety of positions before becoming president in 2002. In 2011, she purchased the organization from Herman Miller Inc. at which time she applied for and was accepted to receive her Women’s Business Enterprise National Council Certification. Workplace Resource is recognized as one of Denver’s largest office furniture dealers with over $50 million in revenues.
Dore says her time at CSU was essential to her success.
“There is no way I would have been prepared without my CSU education. Not only my major and minor, but the overall experience helped me prepare for my work and career,” she said. “I think the quality of graduates coming out of CSU is amazing. I get to work with a number of people every day that graduated from CSU and I am constantly amazed at how smart they are and what a great and well-rounded education they received. They are genuine, kind, incredible people.”
Active in the community
Currently involved in community and charitable life, Dore serves on CSU’s College of Health and Human Sciences Executive Leadership Council. She is also a member of the Executive Committee for the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation.
She takes an active role in supporting several organizations, serving as co-chairperson of the executive committee for the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp., a board trustee for the Metro Denver YMCA and, previously, as a board chairperson for The Rocky Mountain Children’s Law Center. Dore also supports several other organizations including Denver Kids Inc. and Project Angel Heart.
Empowering students
Dore has decided to support the Richardson Design Center because of her passion to see the interior design program grow.
Supporting the project is one way that Dore hopes to empower students to build a better world. The RDC is the culmination of a vision that gives CSU the opportunity to have a world-class facility dedicated to all students on campus. She hopes the RDC will become a place where students can find out things about themselves that they didn’t know they had in them.
“There is a creative part to everybody,” said Dore. “No matter what your future vocation is, there is likely something at the center that will foster and bring that out in a way that you didn’t even know about.”
Dore has some advice to students: “You shouldn’t expect to come out of school knowing exactly what you’re meant to do. Embrace the opportunities that come up and understand that there is a great path ahead of you. You have to be patient as you walk down that path, because your next opportunity will lead to the next, which will lead to the one after that. Leave your mind and heart open to what comes so that you can find your future.”
The Richardson Design Center, a $19.5 million interdisciplinary space for design instruction and creative collaboration, is scheduled to open in January 2019.
The Department of Design and Merchandising is part of CSU’s College of Health and Human Sciences.
