College of Business

Reflecting on her decision to move to New York after graduating from Oregon State University, Alicia Miller (’05) still can’t believe she did it.

“It all worked out better than I could have ever imagined, but looking back I don’t think I could do it again,” Miller said.

Miller packed up her stuff and moved to New York City with no job, and no place to live. Now, just more than six years later, she’s returned to Oregon as a senior financial analyst for Nike and is on track to make the rest of her dreams reality.

A native of Bend, Ore., Miller decided to attend Oregon State after a trip to Corvallis during her senior year at Mountain View High School.

“It was a really easy decision for me,” she said. “I knew I wanted to stay in state, and as soon as I visited campus, I fell in love. Granted I did visit in the beautiful spring weather.”

Miller wasn’t sure what she wanted her career to be originally, but a lifelong love of math—and some prodding from friends—led her to business and accounting.

“I always had an interest in numbers and finance, so it seemed like the most natural choice for me was to go into business,” Miller said. “And I had a lot of friends in the College of Business, so they were kind of in my ear.”

After graduating in 2005 she went to work with a small leasing and loan company in Portland, but a visit to friends in New York changed her plans.

“I fell in love with the city,” she said. “I ended up coming back to Oregon and getting a second job to save money to move to New York.”

Miller moved in October of 2006, sleeping on friends’ couches while she lined up job interviews around the city.

At first looking for work in the banking industry, Miller eventually accepted a position as a financial analyst with luxury retailer Coach, Inc. The company was looking for someone willing to work hard, learn and grow into the position, and Miller jumped at the chance.

“I look back at it now and think I was young and stupid,” Miller said. “But I didn’t have anything to lose, either. It was the type of thing, if you don’t do it now you’ll never do it and potentially regret it for the rest of your life. It was scary, very scary, but it all worked out.”

During the next six years Miller steadily progressed at Coach, eventually moving to senior planner for global inventory management.

In the role, Miller worked to support Coach’s expanding international markets, becoming a key contact for the company’s Asian clients in particular.

“I always had a strong interest in international business, so it was exciting for me, especially seeing how the international business was growing,” she said. “We went from such a small business to expanding in five or six countries and taking over the business from a wholesale channel we had there.”

Despite Miller’s professional success, she was starting
to long for the West Coast. It became harder and harder to return to New York after visiting family, and she knew it was time to return to Oregon.

She started exploring the job market and quickly connected with Nike. A Friday interview turned into a Monday job offer and three weeks later she was organizing a move west.

In October, almost exactly six years after leaving for New York with no guarantees, she came back to Oregon, joining Nike in her current role.

“I was so excited,” she said. “I really liked Coach, but I was also very ready for a change and ready to get back to Oregon. I’m an Oregon girl at heart.”

While still getting to know the ins and outs at Nike, Miller has enjoyed the positive atmosphere on the Beaverton cam- pus, and is looking forward to growing with the company.