Meredith MacLean ’12 works for Damco as an International LEAN Consultant, or, as she puts it, “a professional nomad.” Damco specializes in supply chain, freight forwarding, customs brokerage, and warehousing and distribution. “We go in and we optimize customer service offices by focusing on 5 different elements: mindset and behavior, organization and skills, performance management, process efficiency, and voice of the customer,” MacLean said.
She received her degree in Supply Chain Management and after only two weeks on the job, she found herself in Dubai. Since then, MacLean has spent 100 percent of her time on the road, living in Brazil, Mexico City, Guatemala, Chicago, New York, New Jersey, and North Carolina.
“I realized how big the world is and how small my world had previously been,” said MacLean, who spent her childhood in Chattanooga and worked between Atlanta and Birmingham.
“I didn’t have a huge desire to travel, [but] I was meant to see the world.”
At each new job site, MacLean and her team train and observe staff, coach management, work on global initiatives and build solutions.
Although she is not rooted in one place, she considers Auburn her home. “When I think back about why I love Auburn, I see all these people in my head — friends, loved ones, classmates, athletes — that I have grown to admire; It’s all about the people and the family.”
Her freshman year began with her roommate, who she coincidentally shared the same name, hometown, and car-make with. “We set a goal that every day we would have lunch with one new person. It’s funny to think that the two Merediths who, when they started, knew nobody and now that is the one reason why I love Auburn so much,” she said.
From the beginning to the end of football season, MacLean still attends every home game. “The more I invest in Auburn, the more Auburn gives back to me,” MacLean said.
She is just as involved as an alumna as she was during her undergraduate years. As a Tri Delta, she worked to influence and promote the Panhellenic community, eventually becoming their President. Now she is a career mentor to students from the Raymond J. Harbert College of Business. MacLean advises her mentees to know their anchor and to use it “to weather the storm when the storm comes.” For her, faith and community are what keep her grounded.
She is connected to friends, family, and professors alike and despite the many miles put between her and Auburn, she will always have a family to return to.
“Auburn taught me loyalty,” MacLean said. “I see that when I go back and pick up right where I left off when the season ended the year before.”