Colleen Dimitroff on the strength of a team, innovation in the manufacturing field, and strategies for success

Colleen Dimitroff is a partner in Deloitte Tax LLP’s Global Employer Services practice, specializing in the industrial products and construction industry. She has more than 26 years of experience at Deloitte, and she credits her ongoing passion for challenges to her continued success and growth.

A leader wearing many hats

Colleen’s favorite part of work life is how many roles she can step into and how different each day looks. She previously served as the deployment leader and the deputy operations leader. Currently, Colleen serves as an international operations leader for her service line, where she serves clients and has visibility into internal operations.

“It’s the best of both worlds getting to work internally and with clients,” she states. “I get to work with clients, and when I wrap up a meeting, I never know what country I will be on a Zoom call with next.”

She also loves to travel. She believes diversity, equity, and inclusion and travel are key elements in building a successful career. She affirms that diversity of thought, people, and leadership are important factors across industries, not just manufacturing.

“Diversity, equity, and inclusion allows us to serve clients better.”

Managing expectations

Colleen, apart from her many roles at work, is a wife and a mother of four boys. Early on in her career, she explained how it could be overwhelming at times trying to manage it all. Over time, she learned how to strategize the priorities in her life.

“I realized after some time that you don’t have to say yes to everything,” she admits. “Looking back, I can say I was still able to do everything I wanted to do while maintaining balance and raising four kids.”

Colleen and her husband bring their children into their work lives. For them, work and life balance meant merging the two.

“All of my kids know what my husband and I do for our jobs,” she explains. “I bring my children into my work life, and I’m excited to say I have one of my four currently enrolled in college within the accounting profession.”

Staying authentic

Colleen describes how in every meeting, there is a mix of people and personalities, and she doesn’t change her delivery or demeanor based on the audience. She does recognize that not everyone is like her and flexes accordingly—but she remains true to her authentic self and brings it to work every day.

I walk into every meeting being myself. You must keep your morals and be true to yourself.

She understands a common stumbling block for some can include getting talked over by peers, but she advises people to stay strong and courageous.

“If you have something to say, say it,” Colleen encourages.

Early in her career, she admits she would overly stress about how she was perceived and what people thought of her. As she grew in her career and the breadth and depth of her knowledge matured, she found herself more self-assured and wanted to pass along that advice to other women entering this industry.

“My exercise bike’s name is KarmaVibe because I truly believe you have to be yourself no matter what it is you do,” she said. “My personal philosophy is to be your core self.”

Apart from riding her exercise bike, Colleen loves the outdoors. Her family has dirt bikes and quads that they enjoy using any chance they get.