Leadership Profile: Maggie Wilderotter (Part 1)

Maggie Wilderotter is the current CEO of Citizen Communications (CZN). Citizen is an industry leader in rural telecommunication services with 2006 revenues of $2B. It offers ILEC services under the Frontier name in the United States. I was introduced to Maggie as one of the most impressive women executives. [Bio]

SM: Let’s start with your background. Where do you come from, and what aspects of your youth do you think gave you the foundation for such an incredible career? MW: I grew up in New Jersey; I am one of four sisters. My father was an executive with AT&T in the Bell system throughout his career. My mom was a stay at home mom until we were in High School, then she became one of the top real estate agents in the state of New Jersey. I had a great childhood. As a family we were brought up, all four of us, to be very focused on education; I was taught that if you earned a college degree you then had freedom and flexibility to actually do whatever you wanted in life. My parents instilled discipline in us at a very early age. We were taught that hard work pays off, with a focus on “if you deliver your personal best, the world is your oyster”. I have had great success in my career which I really believe is based on a childhood where there were no limits placed on what I could accomplish.

I also worked at a very early age. When I was 12 I got my very first job at a candy shop on the Asbury Park Boardwalk, and I worked there until I was 14. When I was in Junior High School I was very civics oriented as well; I sat on the city council. When it came to school, I took electives in typing and stenography – business oriented classes – where I could get a job in an office during High School instead of working in a fast food location or continuing to work in an arcade or a candy shop on the board walk. I wanted to get myself involved in the business setting, and the best way for me to do that, back in the 70’s, was to use secretarial skills to get a part time job in the summer and after school.

I went to Holy Cross College in Worchester Massachusetts. I am still involved with the school today as a member of the board of trustees. I have a great degree, a liberal arts degree, which is a terrific foundation for any high school student thinking about college because liberal arts gives you the opportunity to learn how to think, how to make decisions, to have a variety of background in the arts, sciences, English and math. It gives you context no matter what you decide to do with your career.

(to be continued)

This segment is part 1 in the series : Leadership Profile: Maggie Wilderotter
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