{"id":3771,"date":"2020-12-09T13:06:07","date_gmt":"2020-12-09T18:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/?p=3771"},"modified":"2025-01-28T09:18:27","modified_gmt":"2025-01-28T14:18:27","slug":"the-change-agent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/2020\/12\/the-change-agent\/","title":{"rendered":"The Change Agent"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Alice Milligan, M.A. \u201901 works to bring a new perspective and make her mark in the companies she has helped lead.<\/em><\/h6>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

When Alice Milligan, M.A. \u201901 was pursuing her master\u2019s degree in corporate and public communications at Seton Hall, she wrote her thesis on \u201cDevelopment of a Line of Greeting Cards for Alcoholics and Those Impacted by Alcoholism.\u201d She says the topic was personal. She had seen people she knew struggle with addiction and understood the pain and isolation it could impart.<\/p>\n

For such a critical assignment as a master\u2019s thesis, it was a nontraditional subject. But Milligan\u2019s choice of topic spoke volumes about her willingness to bring a new perspective to any conversation. She\u2019s applied the same approach throughout her 35-year career in the corporate world, in which she\u2019s often been the rare woman in a leadership position. Today, as an executive vice president and the chief customer officer at E-Trade, the online brokerage and financial services firm, she\u2019s one of just two women on the company\u2019s executive committee.<\/p>\n

All of which might explain Milligan\u2019s insistence on mentoring younger female colleagues. \u201cWhen you are a minority in a particular area, a couple of things are important,\u201d she says. \u201cOne is paying it forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andrea Zaretsky counts herself among those who have benefitted from Milligan\u2019s counsel. They first worked together at American Express nearly 15 years ago, and last year Zaretsky leaped at the opportunity to reunite at E-Trade, where, as chief marketing officer, she reports directly to Milligan. Asked to assess her boss\u2019s strengths, Zaretsky does not hesitate. \u201cShe\u2019s fearless,\u201d Zaretsky says. \u201cThat is her defining characteristic to me. She\u2019s willing to be the lone dissenting voice in the room, and it\u2019s usually a room full of men. I think that people really respect her for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Much of Milligan\u2019s career has focused on the customer experience. In 15 years at American Express, she rose to senior vice president for American Express Interactive, responsible for digital sales and service across the company\u2019s web, mobile and e-communications platforms. Before joining E-Trade in 2019, she served five years as chief digital client experience officer for Citibank\u2019s North America Consumer Bank.<\/p>\n

She has relished the role of change agent, often questioning the status quo and pushing for innovation, all in service to the customer. It\u2019s a role for which she credits her Seton Hall education.<\/p>\n

At E-Trade, which was recently acquired by Morgan Stanley, it\u2019s Milligan\u2019s job to ensure customers make the most of the company\u2019s website and mobile app. \u201cThat is where the brand comes to life today,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s often the only place people interact with your brand. If you can make that easy, seamless, make them understand your products and services, how to make an investment, how to find out what their return is, it\u2019s extremely rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Milligan got her start in secretarial school before going on to complete 12 years of night classes at The College of Saint Elizabeth (recently renamed Saint Elizabeth University) to earn a bachelor\u2019s degree in business administration with a concentration in marketing, all accomplished while she held a full-time job. She followed with four years of night classes at Seton Hall to earn her master\u2019s degree. When Milligan mentors younger colleagues, perseverance is a common theme.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe degree I got from Seton Hall, a master of arts, gave me a more well-rounded background,\u201d she says, \u201cso when I started bringing things to the table, it was about how customers would react emotionally and not just rationally. I think that difference has helped me, from a business perspective, bring a different point of view. And from a leadership perspective, it makes me seem more approachable. I\u2019ve always had an attitude that everybody\u2019s viewpoint is valuable, so don\u2019t be afraid to share it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nearly two decades ago, Milligan\u2019s thesis adviser at Seton Hall, Michael S. McGraw, displayed a similar attitude when she approached him with her idea for an unconventional line of greeting cards. \u201cI was really questioning whether I should bring it up,\u201d Milligan recalls. \u201cBut the willingness to customize the master\u2019s program to a student\u2019s needs was a great experience. I feel like the experience I had at Seton Hall really helped equip me and give me the confidence to make my mark in the industry I chose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Christopher Hann is a freelance writer and editor in New Jersey.<\/em> <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alice Milligan, M.A. \u201901 works to bring a new perspective and make her mark in the companies she has helped lead.<\/p>\n

Continue ReadingThe Change Agent<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":4972,"featured_media":3772,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,259,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-articles-2020-2024","category-leadership","entry"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4972"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3771"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3771\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3850,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3771\/revisions\/3850"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}