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Carolyne Turner, ΣFounder and CEO, Information Development Consultants Founder and chief executive officer of software development firm Information Development Consultants (iDC), Carolyne Turner McPherson, Σ , attributes the finesse with which she is able to work with both individuals and government organizations to the networking skills she learned as a Phi Mu at Knox College. “When you are in a sorority during college, you become used to dealing with friends in leadership positions, but what you are really doing is transitioning to the adult world of operations,” said Carolyne, who served as social chair for two years. “You are still in the college environment and you are trying to learn, but you are really positioning yourself so that you have the confidence and poise to work with people when you get out.”
The mathematics major said she realized early on in her career that the social skills she honed in college could work to her benefit in the business world. She started work at the University of Florida writing code for a NASA-related project and then joined a Chicago bank, where she worked on business development projects. At the time, she said, most bankers were not accustomed to dealing with technicians.
“I was working with these executives and I could talk and walk and think a little bit more, so I was put into a position of not just being a technician, but someone who could deal with people,” she said.
Eventually, Carolyne began designing computer systems and decided that she could put her skills to work for herself. She and a partner, now husband Daryl McPherson, founded the Chicagobased iDC, which she has led from a government and not-for-profit consulting
firm to a leading commercial software company in 30 years.
Carolyne is a member of the National Association of Women Business Owners and the Government Finance Officers Women’s Committee and is often asked to serve as a guest speaker at women’s forums and business conferences.
In addition, her firm, iDC, has won the Better Business Bureau Torch Award for Ethics in Business Practices for Chicago and Northern Illinois, and it was awarded a technology innovation grant from the State of Illinois for Homeland Security, for which Carolyne is the leading proponent of the portable finance department “so that governments can operate before, during and after a disaster,” she said.
Always relying on her Phi Mu experience, Carolyne said, “I had a good time with Phi Mu, especially working with other sororities through Panhellenic. I learned that you want to be a person respected for what you do.”
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