Donna Dubinsky

Born in Cleveland, Dubinsky grew up in Benton Harbor, Michigan, where her father, Alfred Dubinsky, worked as a scrap-metal broker. Her grandfather was a Russian immigrant. While attending high school, Dubinsky worked as a sales clerk at a embroidery store, a job that started her interest in business. She later attended Yale University where, as a student in Jonathan Edwards College, she majored in history and earned her bachelor's degree in 1977. Dubinsky then worked for the Philadelphia National Bank before obtaining an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1981. At one Harvard Business School class, Dubinsky saw a demonstration on an Apple II of VisiCalc, an early computer spreadsheet program. That demonstration inspired Dubinsky to apply for a job at Apple Computer.

After graduating from Harvard Business School, she worked as a customer-support liaison at Apple. By 1985, she managed multiple divisions in Apple, including customer service and product distribution.

In 1986]7, Bill Campbell recruited her to a senior position in Claris, a software subsidiary of Apple. Dubinsky was responsible for international sales and marketing, and within four years, her group was responsible for 50% of Claris's sales. However, Dubinsky decided to leave in 1991, when Apple did not allow Claris to become an independent company.