Four Questions with Lisa Milne

Hi all! Kim Infanti here. After a bit of a summer hiatus, we're back with our "four questions" series as we get to know members of the CMAC community! We're kicking things off with someone who had a truly exciting summer. She's Lisa Milne and she's Director of Alumni Relations for the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee. 

"Four Questions" is BACK with Lisa Milne!

First: tell us about PARIS! How was your experience and what was your primary role while in France?

My time in Paris was everything I could have hoped for, and so much more! I was able to check off a bucket-list item – watching Olympic rowing – and be a part of supporting an outstanding group of TeamUSA athletes and alumni! I was able to share in the highest highs of elite athletics and learn what it means to support an elite athlete during their lowest lows. It was so fun to see fans meet their idols….and their idols meet their idols! It was truly surreal.

My role for the Olympic Games was as a member of the access allocation team at TeamUSA House. The position entailed ensuring that alumni had the proper credentials to access the House as well as distributing the *FIRST EVER* USOPA-specific pins. Having never gone to a Games before, I had no clue how popular pin trading is. Needless to say, the pins were a hit! (USOPA stands for United States Olympians and Paralympians Association.) 

How do you incorporate the strategies you used in traditional alumni engagement into your role with the USOPC? What's most fulfilling?

The USOPC has only focused on alumni engagement for the last 30 years. That's mind-blowing if your background is in higher ed – where alumni associations have been around for well over 50-100 years. During those 30 years, the focus was solely on Olympic and (starting in 2001) Paralympic athletes. While a big part of my role is supporting USOPA, there is also portion of what I do that is trying to think bigger than that – building a strategy to support and represent ALL TeamUSA alumni. We have so many amazing alumni out there that maybe didn’t make it to an Olympic or Paralympic Game, but represented the red, white, and blue at other international competitions like the PanAmerican or Para PanAmerican Games. And we want to bring those alumni back into the fold to ensure that they feel like part of the TeamUSA family. After all, many of our Olympians and Paralympians wouldn’t have made it to a Games if it wasn’t for being pushed by our elite TeamUSA athletes and alumni. This strategy will also help our current TeamUSA athletes by building better pipelines for mentorship, job opportunities, and network development. You get more with more, in this case, and I’ve been having a wonderful time bringing this vision to life. 

What are the benefits of organizations/businesses/corporations doing alumni engagement? Do you think we'll continue to see roles similar to yours pop up?

The benefit to having an alumni engagement strategy, whether at a university or organization, is really about that grassroots appeal. Well-organized alumni can help in a myriad of different ways dependent upon the desired outcome. The first being work culture enhancement – if you feel great about where you work you won’t want to leave, but if you do leave, you will always be tied to this community in some way. Which leads to a very important number two – alumni who love you will rep you, sell you, cheer for you, and stand by you. In a world that is trying to find unique ways to build an audience, having a captive one that already subscribes to your pitch is a great asset to have in promotion.

The younger generations are forcing universities and organizations to up their game. They thrive in places that feel welcoming and are doing good work. Organizations would be crazy to not look at alumni engagement strategies as an option to cultivate a better workplace atmosphere. The hard part, however, is that just like at universities, resources are finite. An organization is really going to have to ‘want it’ badly enough to invest in something like this. 

And finally, a question we ask everyone, what one app (or platform or website or book or other 'life hack' type tool) can you absolutely not live without? 

While tech is important, I really think I could live without all the apps….lol! What I can’t live without, though, is healthy work/life boundaries. I know that I cannot do my best if I’m not at my best. And for me that means ensuring that I get enough time to have a life outside of the work. Alumni relations can feel like an always-on type of role (don’t get me wrong, sometimes it has to be!). Being empowered (and empowering others) to say no or to pass on something without an undertone of guilt is more important to me than any professional development conference you could send me to. So, my life hack truly is my life saver – putting myself and my health and well-being first.

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BRAVO for that, Lisa. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 We couldn't have said it better ourselves. If you'd like to connect with Lisa Milne, be sure to find her on LinkedIn. 

And if you'd like to be the next CMAC community member featured on our page, let me know. Until next time!