Made In China

In Shanghai at the onset of the covid-19 outbreak, donaldson vice president asia–pacific Andrew Dahlgren found himself on the front line of the filtration engineering giant’s pandemic response. Backed by a solid team and a strong company culture, he stepped up to the challenge.

- Michael Wayne

IN FOCUS

NAME: Andrew Dahlgren

COMPANY: Donaldson

POSITION: Vice President Asia–Pacific

LOCATION: Shanghai, China

Just a little more than a year ago, Andrew Dahlgren stepped into the role of Vice President Asia–Pacific at Donaldson. That’s one year since he assumed responsibility for all aspects of the US$550 million group of businesses, including 2,900 employees across 10 countries. It’s also been a year since normalcy.

“We had a staff meeting in December 2019 and everything was great,” he says from the Donaldson AsiaPacific office in Shanghai. “I already knew a number of the staff so we had a good mid-financial year update. Then I went home for the holidays.” When he returned in mid-January, staff were called to an emergency meeting. “It was about a mysterious virus about 800 kilometres up the Yangtze River. We decided to shut down early for Chinese New Year.” Donaldson’s China operations would remain closed for the next three weeks as the virus ushered in a new reality.

For Andrew, the year to come proved to be a blessing in disguise. “I certainly wouldn’t wish it on anybody, but I think having gone through that accelerated my interactions with my team,” he says. “Anybody can sail a ship with calm seas and a tailwind, but you learn a whole lot more when your ship’s getting battered by a typhoon. My team did a phenomenal job.”