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I've spent the last 16 years at Accenture in the financial services industry. I started as an analyst in the Atlanta office coming out of Furman University, and then moved to Charlotte in 2006.

Throughout my career, I’ve worked with many of the large and regional banks in North America. I’ve driven initiatives spanning strategy, operational change, technology implementation, and digital innovation. I developed a specialized focus on retail lending and led the overall credit practice for North America, which included mortgage, consumer lending, and commercial credit. I also served in key account leadership roles within Accenture’s banking practice.

I’m passionate about inclusion and diversity in the workplace and was actively involved in Accenture’s diversity initiatives. I ran the Women’s Employee Resource Group in Charlotte for many years and was our leadership sponsor for our local International Women’s Day event.

I wasn't actually looking for a career change when I initially began the conversation with Slalom about the opportunity in Charlotte. However, the chance to build something locally that allowed me to exercise some entrepreneurial muscles within the context of a proven and growing company was appealing.

I also saw first-hand that Slalom puts people first, and that mattered to me. I could see that “love your future” was more than a motto—it’s embodied in everything Slalom does.

Finally, I’m excited about the opportunity to work locally and make an impact on the Charlotte community.

Charlotte is one of the fastest-growing cities in the U.S. and a top-three banking hub. I see it as a critical component to continuing to build out the financial services capabilities for Slalom. Beyond financial services, there is significant diversity of industry in Charlotte—one of the components of this opportunity that excites me the most—including manufacturing, healthcare, utilities, and consumer services.

Many companies are choosing to grow in Charlotte; it’s a popular Southeast hub for corporate and sub-division headquarters.

I’m excited to bring all the capabilities of a full-service consulting firm through a local delivery model. By living and working alongside our clients, we can create a different level of partnership and intimacy in those relationships.

We are also launching a Slalom Build Center in Charlotte. Slalom Build Centers are locally based engineering hubs where we rapidly create modern technology products alongside our clients. Slalom Build is a key differentiator for Slalom, and I’m excited to introduce it to our Charlotte-based clients.

Slalom will be involved in a range of projects and industries in Charlotte. I anticipate building out our capabilities across high-demand areas, like data and analytics, organizational effectiveness, experience design, and technology enablement. We’ll work across the diverse range of industries that thrive in Charlotte. 

For a number of years following the 2008 financial crisis, banks were focused on regulatory compliance, safety, and soundness. While that’s still a priority for the C-suite, we’ve seen a shift over the past couple of years to a more transformative, digitally focused strategic agenda. Consumers now expect their financial products to be delivered in the same way they get a product or service from Amazon, Apple, or Facebook. Banks have recognized the need to meet consumers where they are and are investing in designing and creating experiences that enable them to compete more effectively for consumer wallet share.

There’s also tremendous pressure on many of the banks to drive down their efficiency ratios to more sustainable and competitive levels. Banks will continue to invest in opportunities that reduce operating costs while delivering competitive products and services. Unlocking the benefits of the cloud and new technologies—including artificial intelligence, blockchain, and open-banking enrollment through APIs—will be critical to achieving those objectives. And Slalom is the perfect partner to help.

It’s important to me that we build a team of A-level talent with deep industry and functional expertise from the onset of our launch. At the beginning, I’ll be particularly focused on versatility, looking for team members who can apply deep skills to a variety of industries. Specifically, I’m looking for capabilities within organizational effectiveness, data and analytics, and technology delivery. I’m also looking for team players that want to collaborate and engage in the Slalom office and Charlotte community.

There are so many life hacks required for managing a demanding career with small kids at home. I do everything via online ordering and delivery. Groceries, dry cleaning, household items, clothing, gifts—you name it, it gets delivered. That way we can focus our downtime on family and friends instead of running errands. I honestly don’t know how people managed life before Amazon Prime.

I’m also big on prioritizing time to exercise. It’s a significant stress relief and makes me feel healthy overall. I enjoy taking the time to run or go to a barre or cycle class—even if that requires an early morning wakeup.

I’m not big on quotes, but I thought about this concept a lot as I embarked on this new adventure with Slalom: “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take,” from Wayne Gretzky. Leaving Accenture after a long, successful career with the company was not an easy decision, but I felt confident that Slalom was the shot worth taking.