Remembering Don Duckworth, 1945-2024
Don Duckworth, past chairman of The CWD Group, a management consulting and investment firm, served as senior advisor to JAMAS Capital Management and Ben Turnage for more than 20 years. Earlier in his career, he held senior executive roles, including senior vice president of BP America and vice president (United States) of Standard Oil of Ohio. He also served as chief executive officer and chairman of two top 20 global executive search firms.
A graduate of the University of Georgia and the Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia, Don served in the U.S. Army with the 3rd Armored Division from 1971 to 1973 as S-2 of the 2nd Brigade stationed in Gelnhausen, Germany.
One of Duckworth’s favorite quotes:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory and defeat.”
Theodore Roosevelt,
April 23, 1910
True to these words, Duckworth lived “in the arena,” daring greatly and leading with purpose.
We remember and honor Duckworth and the lasting legacy he has left with JAMAS.