These days, he’s Michael Redington, finance director for The Walt Disney Co.
But back in the ’90s, the two-degree Illini had an even more coveted title.
“My friends would introduce me as ‘the guy who lived in a sorority house,’” says Redington, who earned his bachelor’s in civil engineering, his MBA in finance and his Ph.D. in most enviable part-time job ever.
“I had applied to be an RA at Newman and that never materialized. Yet this house mom was looking for a live-in handyman to help hang banners for homecoming, do minor electrical work and other maintenance tasks. I applied and was selected to live in a house with 60 to 70 females.”
The experience was, in a word, “great” and at least partly responsible for Redington’s rise, post-Illinois — from IDOT engineer, to American Water VP, to MasterCard VP/finance, to the Magic Kingdom.
“Thanks, Illinois, for equipping me to be the leader I am today,” he says.
