Alumni Profiles

Megan Hanley '04 had been on the job only a few days when she found herself deliberating in front of the lunch buffet. "The pastrami looks pretty good," suggested a deep voice behind her. "Why don't you try it?" The sandwich advisor turned out to be Hanley's new boss, Donald Trump himself. Hanley took his advice. (He was right.) Now, two years later, Hanley has almost gotten used to the fact that she goes to work each day for one of the wealthiest men in the world.

How does a just-graduated psychology major wind up working down the hall from Donald Trump? Apparently it was a combination of serendipity, pluck and talent. "I was just faxing my resume to lots of different numbers," she says, "hoping to land a research study associate position in the psychology department at a hospital." But then she ran across an ad for an accounting and finance associate with at least two years of experience. Why not? she thought. It couldn't hurt. In fact, she'd started out as a business major at UNH and loved it.

It wasn't until she stepped from the elevator onto the 26th floor of the Trump Towers that Hanley realized that she was about to interview for a position in the Trump organization itself. "They liked that I was motivated to learn and that I was prepared with questions," she remembers. They also liked the fact that she was a psychology major. "Two previous employees in my position had been psych majors," she says. "They hired me on the spot."

Hanley bubbles with enthusiasm when she tries to describe the somewhat surreal experience of working in Trump Land. She loves learning about the inner workings of a multimillion dollar business. Each day, she deposits checks with strings of zeroes into Trump bank accounts. She's also responsible for compiling portfolios for potential buyers. "When someone is interested in one of his properties, they're handed something that I put together," she says. "That's pretty cool."

Hanley even loves the fact that she has to look meticulously put together each day. "It's a great excuse to go shopping!" After all, you have to look your best if Prince Andrew, Duke of York, happens to stop by. Which he did, not too long ago. So did New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, singer Gwen Stefani and a slew of Yankees baseball players. And then there are the over-the-top Christmas parties at the Rainbow Room in Rockefeller Center, "Apprentice" parties and trips to Las Vegas to check up on the latest Trump property.

Still, the work environment can be stressful at times, she admits. So her knowledge about psychology comes in handy. "It really prepared me to see how people act and react to each other," she says. "I'm able to look at things more objectively." Which is no small feat when you're working 26 floors up in the heart of the Trump family empire for a man who has a personal bodyguard and a passion for the color gold. "Mr. Trump also believes you should love your job so much that you'll never need more than three days of vacation," Hanley reports. Does she love her job this much? Hanley chuckles. "Ask me again when I'm making a million dollars!"