Megan Gillam had a goal when she started at Ford Motor Company in 2011: To be part of rebuilding an iconic luxury brand – The Lincoln Motor Company.

Recently, as marketing manager for Lincoln, Gillam has led a team of brand managers in bringing new products to market, including the 2017 Lincoln MKZ, 2017 Lincoln Continental and the upcoming 2018 Lincoln Navigator.

Gillam has a Master of Business Administration from the University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business, and she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan. During her time at U-M, Gillam was co-captain of the swimming team, a nine-time NCAA Division I All-America and Michigan Scholar athlete. She also is a two-time Olympic trials participant.

She says her athletic career has helped her immensely in her professional career today.

“I pull as much, if not more from my athletic experience as I do from my education, because the things I learned as an athlete at that level are things I deal with in my professional career every day,” she said. “Balancing multiple priorities, working together with various types of people and personalities, setting goals and picking yourself up if something doesn’t work out are all life skills applicable to my job today.”

Her athletic career isn’t the only part of her pre-professional life that gave her skills she uses in her job at Lincoln. Gillam attended grades 9 through 11 in Japan.

“It gave me very unique opportunities to travel extensively and learn to understand and respect cultural differences,” she said. “I also gained an open-minded perspective and tolerance I might not have had otherwise, which helped prepare me to work at a large, global company.”