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Melissa Wilson MacGregor ’98 left St. Lawrence equipped to handle anything. “My St. Lawrence experience gave me the tools I needed to be a contributor in pretty much anything I do,” says the assistant vice president and assistant general counsel at the Securities Industry Association in Washington, D.C.  “These tools are much more than academic but social as well. Being able to carry on a conversation with anyone is a valuable skill that is not easily taught, but somehow St. Lawrence does just that, innately.” 
MacGregor’s job is one that combined several liberal arts attributes. After working in two different law firms, she says “I love the mix of law, finance, and government affairs.”

Looking back to her college days, the government and history says it was the “combination of experiences” that prepared her so well for the future. She was in several leadership and academic honorary organizations, and was active in student government and the Association for Campus Entertainment (ACE), which arranged films, speakers, comedians and so on. She was also a resident assistant (RA) in a campus residence hall. “Now,” she adds, “being a trustee is just furthering my education in a different way.

“St. Lawrence alumni always seem ready to step up to pretty much any challenge,” she says. “That’s why SLU, a relatively small school, has so many very successful alumni in various walks of life.”  One of those is her husband, Jim ’98; one of her favorite college memories, she says, is meeting him on the first day of their first year at a barbecue.