Alumni Spotlight: Anne Gale

Anne Gale (she/her)

Major: PSY BS (Spring 2015)
Position: Customer Success Manager
Employer: Qualtrics

What is your work like? What are your duties?

At Qualtrics, we create software the world’s best brands use to deliver exceptional frontline experiences, build high-performing teams, and design products people love. But we are more than a platform—we are the creators and stewards of the Experience Management category serving over 18K clients globally. Building a category takes grit, determination, and a disdain for convention—but most of all it requires close-knit, high-functioning teams with an unwavering dedication to serving our customers. 

The Customer Success Team is at the heart of Qualtrics. From the initial onboarding to ongoing adoption, we assist customers throughout their lifecycle, helping them unlock the most value from our products and services. We understand their goals and, as trusted advisors, will help them deliver on their business objectives and recommend solutions to the challenges they face.

I help Fortune 500 companies realize their experience management goals by providing strategic and tactical guidance tailored to their individual challenges.  I work in the tech side of experience management, so a big part of my role is helping my clients understand how to use technology more effectively to gather data, analyze and understand that data, and drive action in their organizations. Working in experience management is very motivating for me as I believe this is some of the most important work that businesses can do to drive loyalty and growth.

How would you say your psychology degree has helped you with your current job?

Before working in customer success at Qualtrics, I was a user of Qualtrics software in consumer insights and customer experience roles. In my time at the U of M, I volunteered in a psychology research lab all four years of school which was instrumental in launching my career as a researcher in corporate settings. After college I worked in market research, consumer insights, and customer experience for Fortune 500 companies. My psychology degree gave me a solid foundation in research methods and statistical analysis and volunteering in a research lab gave me the practical skills needed to start my career in corporate research and insights.

In what way has your major complemented your current job?

Problem solving and critical thinking are key to working in customer success.  On a daily basis, clients will come to me with new questions or challenges that I haven't faced in the past, and it's my job to come up with the right answer or recommended solution. My psychology major taught me to be resourceful and to be a creative problem solver.

How did you find your current position? 

Fall of my junior year I found an internship through the UMN career site at UnitedHealth Group.  This was my first role in market research which led to full-time role in customer experience research at UnitedHealth Group after I graduated. From there, I leveraged the UMN alumni network to land a role at T-Mobile at their Seattle, WA Headquarters. I worked in several areas of consumer insights and customer experience while at T-Mobile, and I became a power user of Qualtrics software. When it came time to leave T-Mobile, I leveraged my professional network to land my current role at Qualtrics.

What advice do you have for our current psych students and recent grads?

I recommend that all students take a course in public speaking or join a speaking club, like Toastmasters. Being able to articulate your ideas clearly is an invaluable skill in business.  

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