Keeping Your Eyes Up with Dotti Bechtol '97
Dotti G. Bechtol '97 had already worked her way up to a Vice President role at a highly successful steel company when she decided to attend Chatham to earn her Bachelor’s in Psychology and Economics in the late 90s. While working at the Levinson Steel Company, Dotti co-oversaw mergers and acquisitions. She traveled around the country to negotiate agreements that would help the once small company grow to 24 locations and $250 million in sales during her tenure. What’s the draw of college at that point you might ask? “I felt like I didn't have what everybody else had. It was awkward in certain circumstances when people started talking about college; I was at a VP level and didn’t have a degree. That was one of the things that influenced me going back. I wanted to know that I could do it, and I wanted to have the paper,” says Dotti.
As a gateway student in her late 30s, Dotti had quite a unique Chatham experience. Despite attending part time, she was able to graduate in just three years thanks to the experiential learning credits she earned via her life and career experience. She also formed a pretty epic bond with retired Chatham Psychology Professor, Tom Hershberger: “He was my mentor at Chatham. As I was doing my tutorial, my mother had an accident. I went to him and said, ‘I can't finish the tutorial, I'm going to have to drop out.’ And he said, ‘Oh no, you're not going to drop out. We're going to get you through this.’ He also liked cars so we started most conversations talking about cars. He had never done any racing, and I told him, ‘When you're ready, call me and I'll teach you how to race.’ So I did and now I race with him.”
Not to bury the lede but, yes, Dotti is also a race car driver.
“[Chatham] gave me confidence and broadened my view of things. I learned that I could step out of my comfort zone and be okay. It was right after Chatham that we got more involved in racing. [I started to] feel more confident that I could learn to race. Other people do it. Why can’t I?”
As a girl, Dotti’s parents both had an affinity for cars, particularly her father, who gave Dotti the task of scrubbing his cars’ whitewall tires with a pad. Dotti learned to drive in her mom’s 1968 Mercury Cougar and when she met her husband, John, he had just sold his Jaguar to afford law school. Together, they started auto-crossing every summer and then, in an effort to get more “seat time” or time racing on the track, they opted to start vintage car racing. First, they joined a car club and took a series of driving instruction courses followed by race track courses. Ultimately, they earned their racing licenses at a multi-day class in California and have since raced everywhere from Canada to Florida.
Dotti drives a 1972 Alfa Romeo and is often the only woman on the track: “I think women carry a lot in their minds and are forced to do a lot of multitasking. Racing becomes relaxing to me. I can only concentrate on what I'm doing. I can't let another thought or thing on my to do list come into my mind because things happen very quickly on the racetrack. My car goes up to 135 miles an hour.” As a racing instructor and board member of Pittsburgh’s beloved Vintage Grand Prix Race, Dotti is motivated to bring people of all genders to the sport. In fact, training novices at Pittsburgh’s International Raceway is her favorite: “There's a saying in racing that you have to learn to go slow before you go fast. You get the skills down, and then you can gradually put the accelerator down a little bit more every time you go around the track. You can go at your own speed based on how you learn.”
Racing mantras have served Dotti well both on and off the track. As an executive consultant who serves on various nonprofit boards throughout Pittsburgh, including Family Links and a subsidiary of the women’s shelter called Civil Law Project, Dotti has used the second half of her career as a vehicle to improve her community. Helping to make Pittsburgh a better place is crucial to Dotti and its one of the goals that has helped pave the way for her wide-ranging and ambitious adventures: “I think your goals should motivate you; it's okay if they seem lofty. It’s like racing. You're taught when you're driving the track to keep your eyes up. You don't want to look straight down over the hood of your car because then you have no time to change what you're doing, but if you can keep your eyes up and take little bites out of the track in front of you, you have time to make adjustments. In the end, you cut your time down and achieve what you wanted to achieve. I worked really hard at Chatham, and I worked hard in my career. When I make a commitment to help somebody, I do it. I find it pays off. You get to your goal and it's rewarding.”
Special thanks to Dotti for giving us a glimpse into her world! To learn more about getting involved as a Chatham alum, visit our Alumni Relations website. If you’re interested in exploring Chatham’s Gateway program, check it out here.