Southwestern Magazine | Fall 2019

effectively, connect with people, and see things from other perspectives—a lesson hammered home during her “hugely transformative” experience with SU’s London Semester—McMillian quickly rose through the ranks, eventually serving on the company’s executivemanagement teamas the chief legal o«cer. For McMillian, leadership includes being able to demonstrate empathy, to show that “you’re listening for understanding and engaging in a constructive manner.” She says that skill of empathetic listening is key to productive dialogue in both personal situations and professional environments. That mantra helped the SU alumna achieve her position as Anadarko’s top legal executive at the intersection of twomale-dominated fields: the energy industry and the law. In 2015, an Ernst & Young study revealed that women represented only 5% of board executives and only 13% of senior management positions (e.g., chief executive o«cers, chief financial o«cers, and other C-suite roles) across the power and utilities sector. Similarly, in 2006, women accounted for only 15% of equity partnerships, the top leadership positions in lawfirms, across theU.S.; by 2018, that percentage had increased by a mere 5%. SoMcMillian is something of a rare bird. However, positive change is being ushered in by business leaders who recognize that “diversity of experience, background, and thought is valuable” and improves decision-making. Achieving a diverse and inclusive workplace where everyone has a greater sense of belonging, she says, also requires courageous individuals to engage in conversations with thosewhose actionsmay reflect their unconscious biases and to bring those biases to light. For her, “creat[ing] a spacewhere people felt comfortable bringing their ideas and perspectives” was particularly important. “Doing that creates a better environment for decision-making in any setting,” she remarks. “If we could do that—and I do think we’re making progress—that’s going to make us a better society at the end of the day.” Amid these larger cultural shifts, McMillian is now considering how her own life is again transforming. Earlier this year, she helped negotiate the $38 billion acquisition of Anadarko by Occidental Petroleum, which leaves the Southwestern alum reflecting on what’s next. Part of that agenda will be serving as the chair of the Presidential Search Advisory Committee, which is assisting in identifying Southwestern’s 16th president (see “President Burger’s Paideia Moment” in this issue). Otherwise, she’s “taking a break” over the next several months so she can spend some extra time with her family, dust o” some old hobbies, and continue her nonprofit work. She currently serves on the boards of the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center and the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, and since 2016, she has been amember of the SouthwesternBoard of Trustees. Her interimretirement, she says, will allow her to “think deeply and expansively about what I want to do with the rest of my life,” including how she can best serve the broader community. She compares this time of reflection to her college days, whenSouthwestern provided an environment “to really explore not just who I was as a person but who I wanted to be.” McMillian says that such exploration continues, even 25 years after graduation: “Having the opportunity to do that in ameaningful way at this point in my life is a gift, and I want to make sure I take advantage of it.” Alumni Spotlight continued from page 9 Class Notes continued from page 49 Martin Guillermo Lopez , Brownsville, TX, earned an internationally competitive fellow- ship from the Congress–Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals (CBYX). CBYX was created by the U.S. Congress and German Bundestag as a public diplomacy program to promote understanding between the people of the U.S. and Germany. Associate Professor of German Erika Berroth served as advisor and mentor throughout the application and interview process. Shannon Walsh , Grapevine TX, presented “Unraveling the Mystery: Genetic Identification of Nonnative Asian Mysterysnails, Cipangopaludina chinensis and C. japonica ,” coauthored with Hannah Winkler ’19, Nicole Kelly ’21, Shannon Odell ’21, and collaborator Russell Minton of Gannon University, at the Texas Academy of Science meeting at Howard Payne University in March. Justin White , Round Rock, TX, together with Assistant Professor of Psychology Carin Perilloux, published a review of Gil Rosenthal’s book Mate Choice: The Evolution of Sexual Decision Making from Microbes to Humans in the journal Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture . Erin Hobbs , San Antonio, TX, and Assistant Professor of Kinesiology Ed Merritt presented their coauthored work “Making a Case for Using Simple, Nontechnical Language and Analogies when Using Technology to Teach Physiologic Concepts” at the PanAm Physiological Society meeting, in Havana, Cuba, on May 29, 2019. Will Price , Austin, TX, presented his coauthored research paper with Assistant Professor of Computer Science Jacob Schrum ’06, “Neuroevolution of Multimodal Ms. Pac-Man Controllers under Partially Observable Conditions,” at the Congress on Evolutionary Computation, in Wellington, New Zealand. The paper was based on his SCOPE 2018 research, which resulted in a first-place entry in the Ms. Pac-Man vs. Ghost Team Competition. Hannah Winkler , see Shannon Walsh ’18. 2019 50 SOUTHWESTERN For McMillian, leadership includes being able to demonstrate empathy, to show that “you’re listening for understanding and engaging in a constructive manner.”