He served as Under Secretary of State for International Security Affairs in the Nixon Administration, as a special adviser to Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, chairman and CEO of the New York Stock Exchange, and chairman, President and CEO of Aetna.
[3][4] He served in the United States Marine Corps as a first lieutenant in Japan and Korea (1953–55), as a rifle platoon commander and later as aide-de-camp to the Commanding General of the 1st Provisional Marine Air Ground Task Force.
[5][6][7][8] Donaldson began his career at G. H. Walker & Co., a banking and brokerage firm.
[10][11] According to Lee Tom Perry, a former Brigham Young University professor of strategy and organizational behavior, Donaldson had a vision of Yale's management program forming students who could easily and seamlessly flow between public and private management roles.
[12] The first graduating class almost all took positions in business, with almost none taking jobs with government.