Lee Roche on His New Role at Milligan

We sat down with Director of Customer Delivery Lee Roche to learn more about his decades of experience in tech, what brought him to Milligan Partners, and what he sees as the future of tolling.

Tell me about your background and what brought you to tolling?

My background is in software and electronic engineering. I started out in a very small medical electronics company, then joined Rank Xerox in the UK in 1994. After two expat assignments to the US, Xerox acquired ACS for their business services division. I joined that division at a time when Xerox was looking to bring Xerox processes to drive the transportation business. So I landed in tolling through immigration, outsourcing, then business acquisition.

What project are you most proud of and why?

I’d rather give three projects. 

I have a drive for innovation. While at Xerox, I had the opportunity to collaborate with very smart individuals from PARC and Rochester, NY. We also had some other smart individuals from other companies on the team. Our biggest achievement was creating a paradigm shift in multifunctional device architecture. Image processing at high quality, resolution, and speed was the key and had always required ASICs. We took on the challenge and removed them, creating software-defined imaging.

My nature is to have a bias for action. The second project I’m most proud of is the Tolls NY app. I led the technical delivery, partnering with our business team, and building a very close collegiate collaboration with our client–Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority (MTA Bridges & Tunnels). From their user focus and willingness to adopt agile, we defined and delivered a new API and a mobile app Minimal Viable Product (MVP) ready for Alpha testing and launching in just 6 months. Then having the client collect the IBTTA President’s award and seeing how they processed so many transactions just as Covid was breaking out, was all the reward I needed.

Finally, my passion is customer experience. I am the first to shout “operator” or say “Why can’t I just pay this bill on a website” when calling customer service lines. I was able to work on a back office implementation in the UK that helped me better understand customer service. In the UK, you need to pass the Government Digital Standards assessment to ensure your project is funded and that the funds are being spent appropriately. The key part of that rigorous assessment is understanding your business goal and demonstrating the user's need for changes. It is a true embodiment of customer centricity. As I worked with the client through the required research I saw how adopting a customer-centric approach minimizes costs and ensures the solution includes all the customer’s needs. Passing that Government assessment for the first time was truly rewarding.

Why did you decide to join Milligan Partners?

Tolling is really a three-column industry. You have agencies, consultants, and system integrators (and vendors). Having spent 35 years in the integrator space, I wanted to walk in shoes more closely aligned with the end customer. I had the opportunity to work with Matt and Tyler [Milligan] and I really appreciated their vision and comprehensive approach, which is different from working in large corporations. I also wanted to go back to my private company roots where you get to be involved in all aspects of the value chain. So this was the perfect opportunity.

How does Milligan Partners differ from other places you’ve worked?

Milligan’s company culture is very inclusive while also being very customer-focused. It has been a real deprogramming process for me to understand how much they walk in their customer's shoes and take the long-term view on relationships. I have never seen a leadership team that is so liked by their peers, customers, and competitors. They see the importance of meeting with customers face to face. Last year I met some of our European customers in Ireland, Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal. I still have our Asia clients to visit next!

What is your role as Director of Customer Delivery? What value do you hope to bring?

My role is to ensure that we produce quality deliverables on time and on budget and that we focus on what the customer needs, which often means reading between the lines of the scope of work to provide extra value.

I hope to blend my drive for innovation and bias for action, my knowledge of large-scale delivery models, and the existing Milligan values of supporting long-term relationships and putting the customer first, to create something really valuable for our clients to widen the differentiation between us and our peers in the industry.

What are you excited about most this year at Milligan Partners?

Our leadership team just completed our annual strategy meeting and I am really energized and excited about the capabilities we intend to bring to the market to help our customers this year.

I am very excited about one project in particular. It’s going to be a fun challenge requiring everyone’s commitment, but the end result promises to be game-changing with a lot of thought leadership and innovation

What can a customer expect from working with Milligan?

You can expect a personalized experience when you work with Milligan. We don’t try to sell you on how great we are, we'll look at it from how great you are and how we can help you to achieve more. We want a long-term relationship with you. The feedback we get is that our staff are great and we should charge more. I consider that a real testament to our work. So you get truly great value for your investment.