Meet Dina Trainor

“I have been out of my comfort zone my whole life—and I like it. That may sound weird but that’s how I feel. It’s helped me become a better problem solver and leader.”

“I think about what it must have been like for my parents,” Dina Trainor muses. “Starting over with two kids in a new country, not knowing the language, having two suitcases, and $500 dollars in their pockets. In those days, you could only take what you could quickly pack up; you had to leave everything else behind.”

Dina’s parents came to the United States from Russia as Jewish refugees in the 1980s to pursue religious freedom and their careers as engineers when Dina was two and a half years old and her brother almost 20.

As the old saying goes, as the twig is bent so grows the tree, and it seems true of Dina as she recalls her childhood. Now, as a married mother of two children, she traces her approach to life and work back to her roots in a Michigan suburb in the 1980s. “While I can’t imagine starting over at this point,” she says, “my curiosity and being a problem solver has a lot to do with being exposed to that life.”

Such challenges had the effect of launching Dina on her own path toward assimilation, particularly since her brother—being 17 years older—was on his own journey.

“My parents didn’t know American traditions and how it is for a child here. For them it was about food, a home, and a good education for their children. The rest wasn’t a high priority. And all around me were these American mothers and their daughters—who I remember had their hair in French braids. So, I would ask my mom to braid my hair like that, and instead she’d hurry me out the door so she could get to work. I couldn’t really go to my parents with a lot of the questions that a girl would naturally have about school, friends, clothes, and all of that. I had to figure out a lot on my own.”

Perhaps it was those qualities that caught the eye of recruiters at Deloitte, who approached Dina in her junior year at college.

“I went through the interview process for an internship,” Dina recalls, “and they liked me and my background, but weren’t entirely sure. So, I was given a case study to analyze and present, which was a very new thing for me. All of a sudden, I had an offer to join the audit practice. I must have done something right!”

Later, when she was about to be promoted to an audit manager, Dina was asked to lead a new audit, which she had never done before, and she agreed. She soon sought out engagements that took her into new and unfamiliar territory.

This has carried over into her approach to leadership. “When people are challenged, their true selves come out. In the right environment, people being challenged feel empowered and not judged as they try something new. They feel okay asking questions they might otherwise feel judged for asking.”

Dina also notes that showing her own humility and authenticity contributes to a culture in which people feel trusted and valued. She has found that kind of culture at Deloitte.

“I had our first child, Kira, when I was transferring from Audit to the Risk & Financial Advisory business. I went from having a predictable busy season with local clients to traveling three or four times a month. My husband stepped up and went back to bartending. I worked Thursday through Saturday. Since he was able to stay at home a couple of days a week, we got it all to work. That lasted until late 2019, at that point I was uber pregnant with our son Ethan—and I was up for managing director. The timing of that definitely put me out of my comfort zone!”

Ethan was born in January 2020 and, after parental leave, Dina returned in August 2020 with two kids and no clients; they’d been reassigned while she was on leave. “With daycare closed because of the pandemic there were some struggles,” Dina recalls, “like video conferences while your infant son is running around making a mess as you're trying to discuss an issue with a client.”

“For example, in California, there are new regulations for companies to disclose their material climate-related risks,” Dina says. “In Europe, the regulations are even more expansive, and the global supply chain in general is becoming far more regulated.”

Some may look at the newly announced SEC regulations and the onerous sustainability reporting that will come with it and be concerned, but Dina leans into her empathy. She understands the discomfort leaders face due to the potential high cost involved in reporting readiness.

“My first job is to help our clients resist the temptation of business as usual,” Dina says. “We help them understand the potential cost of inaction or mere compliance—loss of next-generation investors, customers, stakeholders as well as company reputation.”

Dina helps her clients develop strategies through a step-by-step approach.

“By implementing change that is bite-sized and tangible, sustainability reporting transformation may not feel as overwhelming,” Dina says. “In the ever-growing maze of regulations, we help finance leaders sort through them and understand how to comply. We offer practical ways clients can offset the initial costs of transformation—leveraging tax incentives, investments into new technology, and finding creative ways to move more funds into their budgets for sustainability.”

Most importantly, Dina and her team help shape a vision where the potential rewards for innovation accelerate during a time of great change.

For Dina it’s all come full circle; uncomfortable, unrequested change has been a hallmark of her life and has brought with it unexpected gifts. As her parents not only emigrated but had to keep moving, it built steel in her spirit—and made Dina who she is. And now she gets to impart that resilience to clients who themselves are facing the upheaval of change.

“I have been out of my comfort zone my whole life—and I like it,” Dina says. “That may sound weird but that’s how I feel. It’s help me become a better problem solver and leader.”