Awaits
Your Journey
Step Forward Into Your Future
COVID-19 Interactive Resource Guide
Click here to download pdf
The Guide was developed to provide those in need with “one stop shop” access to information on the stimulus bills and other resources designed to provide relief and assistance during these challenging times.
This infographic shows how newly hired employees from the Energy, Sustainability, and Infrastructure team will plan their learning curve and career after onboarding.
ES&I New Hire Roadmap
Interactive guide to 2018 CEO Forum which included video, quotes, infographics and clickable links. The goals for the new interactive piece were to increase brand awareness, inform and educate, and generate leads.
2018 CEO Forum Interactive PDF
This guide was created to provide awareness and educate readers on accelerated telehealth and the details of Guidehouse's telehealth overview and approach.
Our Digital Front Door Guide
This infographic was created to inform people about the combined company information about our People, our Clients, and Communities.
Guidehouse At-A-Glance
This brochure was created to educate, inform and provide awareness regarding the benefits of applying Robotic Process Automation (RPA) in Revenue Cycle.
Plug RPA Into Your Revenue Cycle
Financial Services Statement of Qualifications to provide services to digital assets market participants.
Statement of Qualifications Interactive PDF
An infographic showing the integration of digital technology into all areas of a business.
Digital Transformation Infographic
Interactive pdf providing work flexbility resources for Guidehouse employees
Work Flexibility Interactive PDF
Coordinating Digital Health Integration to Optimize Clinical Care Delivery in a Post-COVID-19 World
Connected Care Maturity Model
White paper created to lay out a vision and roadmap to greater realization of integrated DER
Integrated DER: Orchestrating the Grid's Last Mile
Created dynamic print ad with eye catching visuals to promote Guidehouse in the USA Today Homeland Security Covid-19 special edition
USA Today Homeland Security Covid-19 Print Ad
113.6"x12.85" rebranded backlit display for healthcare events
Utilized the new Guidehouse branded colors and fonts to create the first holiday printed card after the merger.
2019 Guidehouse Holiday Card
Designed a handout that displays our ESG service offerings to the client
Environmental, Social and Governance
Healthcare Backlit Display Rebrand
Human Capital
Kristin Allison
Advanced Solutions
John Hunt
National Security
Joel Liebman
ES&I
Kelly Rolls
Operations
Jayson Weinstein
Risk Management
More brand ambassador stories to come.
New
Shared Services Center Leader
From Intern to SSC Leader
I wanted to transition into something completely different and demonstrate that I could take on other tasks and broaden my skill set.
I graduated from the University of Maryland College Park (UMC) with a dual Bachelor of Science in Accounting and General Business. Early on in my studies, I had always aspired to be a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) at PwC. While at College Park I participated in a program called INROADS—a program that helps develop and place talented young minorities in business and industry and helps to prepare them for corporate and community leadership. One of the INROADS corporate partnerships that UMC College Park had was with PwC. I participated in the 10-12 week program obtaining career readiness training where I was able to secure a summer internship (Intern B3) my Sophomore year in Operations at PwC. I was hired onto the Human Capital team where I provided administrative support to the Intern Program, created events and activities for the current intern program and assisted with different recruiting events that summer. It was such a successful internship that it opened the door for another pivotal internship.
Intern B3
Business and accounting seemed to come easy to me. During college, I knew that I wanted an accounting degree but I also had a strong interest and draw to Human Resources (HR). I felt very connected to that type of work so I started applying for positions in HR at PwC. That’s when I landed a Senior HR Associate (HC Generalist S3) role in the Public Sector business. The role was to support the HR team. I conducted orientations, interviewed candidates, worked security investigations, processed I-9s, facilitated the ARC performance process and created courses to ensure that people were getting the right training. I was finally working in a field that not only captured my interest but also was able to make a difference. I was here for about 4 years before moving into my next role.
HC Generalist S3
I transitioned to a HCBP (Human Capital Business Partner M1 ) role and had the privilege of supporting the VA, CMS and ERP client service teams, providing employee relations and performance management support. I had one Senior Associate direct report and performed in this role for about 2-3 years before a big internal transition.
Human Capital Business Partner M1
HRIS M1 & S4
Intern B3 & Risk & Regulatory Consulting C1
I was offered another opportunity to work with the PwC team my Junior year in college as an Audit Intern (Intern B3) in Client Services. I performed in a role that was equivalent to that of an Audit Associate / Consulting Analyst (Risk & Regulatory Consulting C1). That summer, I worked on 5 different engagements over an 8-week period at a variety of client sites. The skills and experience that I gained was invaluable to the next step in my journey.
Based on my performance during my last internship, PwC offered me a full-time job to join their team as an Audit Associate (Risk & Regulatory Consulting C2). As part of my original plan, in order to sit for the CPA exam I was required to obtain 150 credits of college courses. I graduated in May and focused on obtaining my 150 credits. Because I was in a dual degree program with a guarantee of credits, PwC allowed me to start work in July, completing my credit requirements in August. When I started at PwC my plans were always to progress through the consulting ranks to Partner. For 3 years I worked as an Audit Associate, focusing on client audits, client 404 audits and quarterly audits. I was about 2 years into my role when I realized I didn’t want the path to partner. I spent several nights at client sites working endless hours, watching the dedication and hours put in by the Partners. I realized I wanted a healthy work-life balance and struggled with finding purpose in the work that I was doing. I lost interest in auditing and felt that I wasn’t making the kind of difference in the world that I had hoped to be doing. This epiphany led me to pivot my path.
Risk & Regulatory Consulting C2
Resource Management S3
Human Capital Operations M2
IT Project Management M1
I transferred into Resource Management as a Senior HR Associate (Resource Management S3) where I ran utilization reports, managed bid and term staffing, reviewed open jobs for skill sets and partnered with TA to place internal talent. Shortly thereafter, I was promoted to Manager where I led a team of 5 direct reports. Nine months prior to my promotion I was already leading the team and developing my managerial skills. I found an easy flow within Resource Management. I knew it well at this point so I decided to try something new. I wanted to transition into something completely different and demonstrate that I could take on other tasks and broaden my skill set within the Human Capital function. I consistently expressed my interest in a HCBP role and was able to dabble in it for about 6 months while in Resource Management before taking the plunge. The team was transitioning and because of my stellar performance I was being tapped to move into a new role.
In 2018, the Public Sector PwC restructuring occurred and I transitioned into a project management (IT Project Management M1) role. I not only led the HR system transition and implementation to UltiPro but I also served across several functional areas as we worked to build and staff the team. This role became the start of the new HRIS function for Guidehouse where I led all of the workstreams for the HCM implementation (onboarding, recruiting, learning, etc) and managed the new payroll function until we hired a Payroll lead in August of 2018. The restructuring activities lasted approximately a year, at which time my role transitioned to more of HR system maintenance where I was more focused on performance management, annual salary planning, and payroll modules. I slowly transitioned into a full-time HRIS role and maintained the lead role on Ultipro system management.
After about 2 months, I was promoted to the SSC Leader (Human Capital Operations M2). My immediate focus in this exciting new role was to establish the Human Capital Shared Services model and begin developing our SLAs, systems, performance metrics, and establish the HC processes, procedures, and policies of our SSC platform. The goal was to ensure it became broader than what it is today as “just AskHR”. My direction and focus right now is continuing to inclusively support the build-out of the Guidehouse Enterprise Shared Service Center and other functional areas. I love the challenge of creativing solving problems and building out this function. My overall career aspirations are to become an HR Director and / or Chief Human Resource Officer (CHRO) someday but more importantly to be a well-rounded HR professional. Ultimately I want to continue to lead and remain in HR leadership and in order to do that effectively, I want to experience at as many different levels of leadership as I can. I’m excited about where my journey will take me and I can’t think of a better place to grow than here at Guidehouse.
By the Fall of 2019, I had fully transitioned to the HRIS lead role. I was now taking on the additional responsibilities for the ICIMs administration and full system functionality build-out. (HRIS M1) In early 2020, the business expanded the HRIS team and made the decision to implement Workday. I became the HRIS lead (HRIS S4) for the Workday Compensation, Advanced Compensation and iCIMS integration modules. Shortly thereafter, the business executed on the Human Capital (HC) integration synergies and I was asked to provide interim leadership support for the HC Shared Services team in addition to my HRIS responsibilities. All of this transition led up to the next important chapter of my career journey.
Click the buttons below for more information about each career stream
My Journey
Business Support
Specialist
Consulting
Management
Executive
Download My Complete Journey
My career story really began before I graduated college. My passion for technology led me to obtain a Bachelor of Science in Engineering, Math and Computer Science from the University of Louisville. As part of the degree program there was a requirement to complete three internships. As a highly motivated person, I was able to secure a coveted internship at the National Security Agency (NSA) doing a variety of engineering assignments. Not only did I intern at the NSA on four separate occasions, I was given permanent, full-time employment upon graduation as an Engineer GS11 – level 5 or 6. My goal was to rise to the top and become the best computer engineer that I could be and I was just getting started.
IT Cyber Security S4
IT Cyber Security S3
I was really impressed with PW when I interviewed with them—so much so that I decided to join the team. They hired me to work in the eCommerce Security lab in July ‘97. During this time there were very few people in the firm with a background in Information Assurance and Security. What made this situation unique was that my skill set was so rare—having a background in Computer Science and Cyber Security—that they hired me in at the Manager level (IT Cyber Security S4). I joined the team to help build the lab but because funding was delayed, there was no lab, no equipment and no work to perform until Citibank in New York (NY) reached out to PwC to talk about public key infrastructure (PKI). This was a subject I knew a lot about so I was asked to go to NY to speak with Citibank and determine whether or not we could help them. This was new territory for me because I had never been to NY and I had never been on a sales call. We won the client and now the real work started to deliver on our objectives. We successfully built them an encryption policy that would allow them to encrypt their data. I was so excited and energized talking to clients and building a team to solve their problems that I decided to pursue the management consulting path, which led to another big career move.
I was in my full-time computer engineer role for about 4 to 5 years in total, with 1 year as an intern with the NSA, when I received a promotion to an Engineer GS12 – level 5 or 6 (IT Cyber Security S4). Even though I was promoted to a GS12 at the NSA, it wasn’t financially impactful. There was a big backlog to get in on the GS13 level, as well as a big requirement for time in-grade. Additionally, my wife and I were furloughed back in ’96, so the combination of all these things made me seriously consider changing direction. One of the vendors I had worked with on this high-assurance guard device project called me and said he had just taken a job at PriceWaterhouse (PW) in their new eCommerce Security group based in Baltimore, Maryland. They were focused on building a big lab that would run security assessments on big banks. He asked me if I might be interested in coming over for an interview and I accepted. It seemed to align with where I wanted to grow as a professional and a new challenge was definitely appealing. A complete company switch was exactly what I needed, not only professionally but personally as well. The adventure would continue.
I really had no idea what I was getting myself into when I accepted the internship with the NSA. I was already very technologically adept and thrived on being as hands-on as possible. I was tasked with an enormous project of building high-assurance guard devices, which were big computer systems that sit between a classified and unclassified network. This network would allow unclassified traffic to flow between the two because, in the government, those two networks were not allowed to be connected. We were building devices that had the security, encryption and scanning that would ensure a classified document didn’t accidently find its way over to the unclassified side. During my time at the NSA, they helped me obtain my Masters of Science degree in Computer Science at Johns Hopkins University. At the time there were no degrees in cyber security, so everything I had learned about cyber security was through on-the-job training, digging into Unix, Programming, building networks, and other advanced cyber security tasks. The experience I had built along with my new degree set me up for an incredible promotion.
Cyber Consulting C6
Cyber Consulting C4
Throughout the mentorship and guidance of the Head Partner for the South, I started to grow the business exponentially. I knew there was much I could learn from him and invested a lot of time in that relationship. Ultimately, as a result of a title restructuring, they changed my title from Sr. Manager to Director (Cyber Consulting C6) and Atlanta became the 2nd largest Cyber Security practice outside of NY for PwC. The firm then decided it wanted to build an identity and access management practice within Cyber Security. This was a big deal at the time and I told my Partner that I wanted to take on that challenge as well. I had the privilege of mentoring people on my team to the point that I could hand-off the business to one of them to run and go build the national practice. It became so successful that we rolled it back into the regions where every region had an identity and access management partner except the South. During that time I was the Director running the South as an acting partner and because of that and the immense success the practice was experiencing, I was recommended for another big career move.
At this time, I transitioned from a Specialist to Consulting role (Cyber Consulting C4) where I was responsible for building a business from the ground up. Two months later we merged with Coopers & Lybrand and became PwC. I had the privilege of being mentored by the Head Partner for the South for Cyber Security. I worked as the manager delivering on the Citibank project and for about 9 months continued to help sell and deliver several other projects. During a project meeting I met one of the national Cyber Security Partners in the firm who wanted to create a Cyber Security practice in Atlanta. I approached him and told him that I wanted to take on the challenge. The partner gave the green light because over the last 9 months I had built trust with the firm and they wanted to send someone they knew and trusted and could get the job done right. So I moved to Atlanta, hired my first 2 people, and was promoted to Senior Manager—which was the highest level below partner at the time.
Executive Management E3
Management Consulting E1
I was honored to be asked by Scott McIntyre to run the Department of Agriculture account while building an Intel business (Management Consulting E1). After working with a lot of great people on those projects, Scott then asked me to lead the impressive National Security Segment (Executive Management E3). I told him that in order to double the business we needed to have dedicated horizontals—special solution areas. Scott was considering a similar concept so he asked me to transition from the National Security Segment Leader to the Advanced Solutions Leader (Executive Management E3). The Washington Federal Practice was renamed the PwC Public Sector and ultimately carved out from PwC in May 2018 where I continued to lead the Advanced Solutions Segment. I was finally running my own race. If you run someone else’s race, get those coveted promotions and increased levels of responsibility and yet you’re miserable, then what have you really accomplished? If you take anything away from reading my journey, I want to encourage you to run your own race and watch what doors will open.
Within a 4-year period of starting my career I went from being an NSA Engineer in ’97 to being promoted as a Partner to PwC in ‘01. What I loved about the company and Guidehouse was that I felt like I had control of my own destiny. I got a call one day from a Partner saying that they’re going to rebuild a Public Sector (non-IT implementation) business in PwC and wanted to know if I’d be interested. Now, in the PwC Partner model, I would be going backwards. I missed serving the public sector, and I would have to start over, give up my regional role, reduce or freeze my income, but the truth was that I was not able to sustain the race I was currently running. This was a rare opportunity where I could build a PS consulting business from the ground up and still allow me to have that balance of faith, family, and health that had been lacking. I said yes and made the jump to Public Sector, became a line Partner, was converted to a vertical guy now running the EPA account and responsible for bringing all of the expertise and capability that the firm had to offer into the EPA account (Management Consulting E1). What at first seemed like a step back was really a launching pad into the next chapter of my story.
What I loved about the company (PwC) and Guidehouse is that I felt I had control of my destiny… to run my own race.
From Intern to Segment Leader
Advanced Solutions Segment Leader
My Journey: From Intern to SSC Leader
Director
From Intern to Director
My career path was about getting really deep within an organization where I could build relationships and develop my career.
While I didn’t know exactly what kind of career was right for me, I knew I enjoyed Finance and Economics. I graduated from the University Maryland College Park with a dual Bachelor of Science in Finance and Economics. My sophomore year of college I entered a 3-year Honors Program called QUEST (Quality Enhancement Systems and Teams), a 5-course curriculum where students complete experiential learning projects to gain unique teamwork, communication, and problem-solving skills. The program provides experiential learning opportunities through their Corporate Partners. As such, I had the opportunity to spend a semester consulting in client services. My experience in this program is what got me interested in a career of problem-solving rather than a traditional finance path that would have taken me in the direction of banking, investments, wealth management, and the like. After my experience with the QUEST program, I interned (Intern B3) with a wealth management firm but quickly realized I wasn’t passionate about that type of work.
Finance & Accounting Consulting C2
Right before I graduated college, I received a full time offer from PwC to join their team upon graduation. I quickly accepted and entered the job market on the verge of the 2008/2009 recession. While offers were being rescinded by many companies, PwC had a “people first” mindset and stood the course. I started as a Consultant (Finance & Accounting Consulting C2) and for the next 2 ½ years I worked on a DHS engagement for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). This account was focused on internal control assessments for the CFO’s primary financial business operations. I diligently worked the account until I received quite an exciting promotion.
While I was still working on the U.S. Customs and Border Protection account team I was promoted to Senior Associate (Finance & Accounting Consulting C3). My initial work was focused on internal controls. Recognizing internal control assessment work wasn’t the only thing I wanted to do in my career, I saw the value of it as a platform for discovering new business. For 2 ½ years I worked on the agency’s asset management program, discovering client challenges and turning them into opportunity statements.. Most of my Senior Associate consulting work was around process improvements and strengthening of internal controls for the agency’s entire asset management lifecycle. I had the best of both worlds building a diversified set of experiences with various projects across different parts of the agency without having to go outside of my organization. This lateral depth allowed me to learn everything there was to know about an agency, its mission, operations, agency stakeholders, key business relationships and more. This became very valuable for me and for Guidehouse, which set me up for the next chapter in my career.
Finance & Accounting Consulting C3
I was promoted to Managing Consultant (Finance & Accounting Consulting C4). At this level I began to be held accountable for financial targets. This wasn’t the first time I had been exposed to this aspect of the business. It’s an important differentiator from our competitors or like consulting organizations. My experience and preparation for the Managing Consultant role started when I was still a Senior Consultant. I had direct reports whom I managed, oversaw daily responsibilities and the full range of client work for the CBP, as well as leading the asset management project team. As I assumed the managing consultant role, I managed about 2-3 workstreams at a time under the same contract for the same agency. My responsibilities continued to expand to new projects that allowed me to directly support the agency’s CFO in designing, implementing, and developing critical programs. Additionally, anytime that an interesting project crossed my desk, I would take it on for a while—keeping a home base of finance & accounting as well as management consulting and risk & regulatory compliance work.
Finance & Accounting Consulting C4
After about 5-6 years as a manager, I was promoted to Director (Operational Effectiveness C6) where I took on responsibility for account development and project delivery leadership within our Transportation Security Administration (TSA) account—all still National Security and Department of Homeland Security. The two biggest challenges of my role have been resourcing and balancing client deliverables with managing the operations of a client account. It’s critical that we provide the client with high quality deliverables while also leading and managing a team of people to deliver that high quality work. This intense focus on quality and cultivating a strong culture of people who take ownership of every single detail, no matter how big or small, is one of the key factors that sets us apart from other similar consulting organizations. I started in this career with a goal to become a partner and while it’s not the only path I consider, it’s what drives me to operate at 100% and give everything I have to the work and the incredible culture we are building here. This is what makes a career at Guidehouse so appealing for anyone looking to start their career and build a legacy with others pursuing a common vision.
Operational Effectiveness C6
The following summer, I secured an internship with PwC in their Public Sector business. It was known as the Washington Federal Practice at the time since the scope of what we did was smaller and more limited to just federal government work and was only in the DC metro area—working on the DHS account (Intern B3). I didn’t know much about PwC before I interviewed and interned with them, but I happened to meet some people that became mentors whom I greatly admired. It was through their mentorship and guidance that led me to follow their path to PwC. I was excited about the potential and felt like I was starting to discover my own calling.
My Journey: From Intern to Segment Leader
Managing Consultant
From Intern to Managing Consultant
Life is crazy, and maintaining any sort of balance can be difficult. That being said, I am encouraged and motivated by the women around me. I’m a working mom on the path to Partner…
I graduated from Duke University with a Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy and minors in History and Economics. I always thought that I wanted to work in the government space, public policy, or a think tank, but my path led me to consulting instead. Between my junior and senior of college I interned at a regulatory affairs consulting firm (Intern B3) in Washington, D.C. Initially, I thought it would confirm the government path but it made me realize I didn’t enjoy the political aspect of it as much as I thought I would. I didn’t feel like I could make any real difference. It was disillusioning to see that politicians seemed more interested in being re-elected than anything else. After that eye-opening experience I decided that wasn’t the path for me. But it wasn’t all for nothing. What I did like was the consulting aspect of my internship and that was when I made the decision to go into consulting upon graduation.
After I came back from maternity leave, I was offered an internal opportunity outside of client services and inside operations to lead the change management efforts (Employee Experience M1) for the North Highland Workday and Salesforce implementation. I had quite a large team reporting to me that was focused on the Workday change management activities. I did perform some Human Capital work but reported up through Global IT to the Chief Technology Officer. It was originally a 4-5 month commitment that ended up being a 2 year effort. The great thing is that it provided me with a better quality of life. It had been quite a difficult decision to return to work after maternity leave—a struggle many moms go through—and this position allowed me to work remotely extensively. It provided me with more work-life balance at a time when I really needed it the most. I ended up going out on maternity leave with my 2nd child after spending two years leading the Workday change management project. I took a 6 month maternity leave and when I returned, the Workday implementation was finally completed. This was very exciting because I was able to return to the client services side, which is where I wanted to be.
Employee Experience M1
A working mom on the path to Partner… When I had each child I felt very differently about coming back to work. The circumstances were different and the way I felt was very different. It’s really hard coming back to work as a new mom. I love working and love client services but sometimes it can be chaotic especially in the current environment with remote work and virtual school. Life can be hectic and maintaining any sort of balance can be difficult. But I am encouraged and motivated by the women around me. Since coming to Guidehouse, I have a great account team, a Director who believes in me and a Partner who believes in me. My children have been my biggest blessing and priority, and while I’ve enjoyed being manager, I don’t want to do it forever. I would like to be Partner and I may not be on the fastest track to get there, but I will. Having leaders who believe in me and watching strong women who have kids and are also partners is what inspires me to not give up on my dream. Because of them, I now see that I can achieve it all.
Partner
Finance & Accounting Consulting C1, C2, C3
Once I graduated college, I was able to secure an Associate (Finance & Accounting Consulting C1) position with Triage Consulting group in Atlanta. I did Revenue Cycle Management for 4 years on the commercial side for hospitals and healthcare providers before being promoted to Experienced Associate (Finance & Accounting Consulting C2) and then to Senior Associate (Finance & Accounting Consulting C3). The work was fine but I lost interest in the subject matter after being in those roles for 4 years. I began thinking about what I wanted to do next. At that time, my husband’s career changes required us to relocate to D.C., which got me thinking about my own career changes. I really enjoyed consulting but didn’t want to focus on healthcare exclusively. And at that point in my career, I was ready to make some changes as well.
Finance & Accounting Consulting C1, C2, & C3
I After settling in D.C., I applied to a company called North Highland—a private sector consulting firm headquartered in Atlanta, GA. I was able to utilize my expertise in management consulting in the healthcare space and then pivot from the revenue cycle work. I was hired as a Senior Consultant (Operational Effectiveness C3). My first project was a change management project for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that lasted a year and a half. The main focus of the project was preparing small physician practices for a new piece of legislation—ICD-10 (how you code medical claims). I was then able to use that change management project to move from revenue cycle management into human capital consulting. My expertise in healthcare came in handy and allowed me to work on something more broad. I stayed with North Highland for about five and a half years. Throughout that time—because I was now in the management consulting space—I was able to work across a variety of other projects, which led me to my next promotion.
Operational Effectiveness C3
Operational Effectiveness C4
Within my first year at North Highland, I was promoted to Manager (Operational Effectiveness C4). The D.C. office was quite small so I was able to do a little bit of everything on the commercial side which I really enjoyed. It was during this time that we decided to start our family and I went out on maternity leave with my daughter. North Highland didn’t require their consultants to travel, but when I returned from leave they didn’t have staffing for me locally, so instead they offered me another opportunity.
Guidehouse had just carved out from PwC several months earlier and offered me the opportunity to do consulting and yet stay local. I could be with my local D.C. clients and have the freedom to be at home with my kids—a non-negotiable for me as a working mom. What was so appealing to me was that there were some really exciting opportunities, I liked that there was a lot of institutional knowledge from a Big 4 without all of the bureaucracy and red tape, and I felt like I could really make a difference. I started as a Manager (Operational Effectiveness C4) with a focus on change management in the ES&I segment. I’ve been on multiple engagements and ended up working primarily with the FTA Office of Communication and Congressional Affairs. It’s an organizational effectiveness project but covers many aspects of process improvement, change management, communications and project management. It’s been a very high-profile role—we engage mainly with the agency’s executives and political appointees. And this is where I am today—with a side-step of maternity leave to have my 3rd child—but I know it’s only the beginning.
I resumed my Manager role (Operational Effectiveness C4) where I focused on change management in the commercial sector for about 7 months. During the end of my tenure at North Highland, the company decided to move to a low (versus no) travel model. My final client for the last 6 months was in Philadelphia and traveling for the foreseeable future felt unsustainable to me. This is where my career story with Guidehouse really begins.
Risk Management Associate Director
From Intern to Associate Director
The broad experiences I’ve had have helped me understand things more holistically… I see the benefit of taking on each assignment.
I graduated with Honors from Syracuse University in 2003 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. The summer before my senior year of college, I interned (Intern B3) with Schram, Williams, and Associates—an advocate of agriculture policy. I had always wanted to be a lobbyist and this was a great opportunity to see if it really was something I wanted to pursue after graduation. As an intern, I did a lot of administrative work, managed meet and greets with members of Congress and lobbyists, and performed a lot of legal research. It was through all of that legal research that actually sparked my interest in the field of law. I didn’t really have a career aspiration to become an Attorney but I believed that having a legal background could help me in the future. This sparked a complete turnaround from becoming a lobbyist and I began to explore an interesting new path.
My fiance (now wife) and I had to make a decision on where we wanted to live. We decided that whoever got a job first that would be where we relocated. At that time, I had a big realization. The amount of money earning potential in the law field wasn’t worth it to me. The juice wasn’t worth the squeeze as they say. If I was going to pour everything I have into a job, then it had to be about more than how much money I earn. My wife got a job first in Washington, D.C. so that is where we moved. I quit my law job and two weeks later I found myself working at Borders Bookstore shelving books (Administrative Services B2). This proved to be an enlightening time because it gave me time and space to think about my next career move.
Administrative Services B2
I ended up taking a huge pay cut as an Associate/Analyst (Finance & Accounting Consulting C1) where I was responsible for standing up all of the financial reporting in the Public Sector Financial Services (PSFS) and Science and Infrastructure (S&I) businesses and co-created the playbooks—which was a monthly report of all of the financials of the PSFS and S&I segments. I made a deal when I took the job that I wanted to be staffed on a project so I could grow my career. I told my segment leader that “I wanted to be in Scott McIntyre’s role” one day. My goal was to run the Public Sector business at PwC. While my commitment to this role was for 1 year before I could be assigned to an engagement in the line, I was in that particular role for about a year and a half, picking up a lot of other work along the way. I was asked to run, revamp, and manage the gate review process in addition to our pipeline tool at the time. I was able to add a sales component to my role but I was still in it for another year before I was promoted.
Finance & Accounting Consulting C1
I received a scholarship to attend Syracuse Law school, where I graduated. I took the bar but moved back home to help with the family restaurant business because my grandfather had a heart attack. While working at the restaurant, I decided to take a couple of other jobs, one being with a law firm doing unbarred associate work (Legal Support & Operations S1). The other job entailed running a political campaign for a judge, which we subsequently won. After that big win and retaking the bar exam, I passed the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam and eventually took a full-time job as an attorney (Legal Counsel S2) with the same law firm. For the next two years I did a lot of everything—family court, law guardian (the most rewarding thing I did was representing kids in divorce cases), foreclosure referee, elections law, contract negotiations, and more. Right after this period, my fiance and I had to make a big decision which led me to a job no one would have expected.
Legal Support & Operations S1 & S2
Within a week of being on the job I was promoted (Administrative Services B3). They wanted people that could work the national book fair and I was asked to do it. I worked at the bookstore for six months while I applied to a variety of different jobs within the government for General Counsel office positions. While I was waiting to hear back, I learned about PwC. My best friend came and stayed with my wife and I because he was interviewing with PwC. He ended up getting the job and became friendly with a Partner / Sector Leader. He gave them my resume to consider, I was invited to interview and was offered a position. This is really where my journey with PwC begins.
Administrative Services B3
I transitioned to an Operations support role (Operations Management M1) where I assumed responsibilities as the Transition Management Office Lead (TMO), responsible for reporting all transition activities as well as financial planning and analysis to Veritas while functional team members were being brought on board. I also led Amex Corporate Card and Travel Management program transitions from PwC to the Guidehouse platform. I did this job for about a year while I transitioned activities and built out the teams. Guidehouse then made the decision to acquire Navigant where I began conducting and assisting with due diligence. I became the Integration Management Office (IMO) lead (Operations Management M1) and it was during this time that I realized that I didn’t want to be a floater forever. I wanted a permanent home and career path.
Operations Management M1
Soon after the Department of Transportation project wrapped, I was asked by the CHRO, CFO/COO, and a Segment Leader to assume the EPS Project Manager role while the current incumbent went out on maternity leave. I officially started as the Senior Associate—IT Project Lead (IT Project Management S3)—and then about a year later was promoted to Manager (IT Project Management M1). I had the privilege of leading about 5 direct reports for the next 3 years. In February 2018, leadership beganto transition activities and Scott McIntyre announced the Public Sector PwC carve out. I was asked to prepare with the transition team and get ready for a systems transition. I helped capture all of the systems and processes that fell through the cracks during the carve out and helped get them back up and running. As a result, this led me to transition into a role that had a lot more responsibility.
IT Project Management S3 & M1
Data Science Consulting C3
Enterprise Risk Management M2
After the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award win I returned to client services on a different project where I did project management work as a Senior Consultant (Operational Effectiveness C3). I supported the Department of Transportation as they migrated another agency’s financial systems to their Shared Services Center. I did this for about a year until this project was completed, which set me up for my next role.
At that time, they hired my sister to backfill my old role and I was promoted to Senior Consultant (Data Science Consulting C3). I did the data management for all 80K+ assets in the FAA Real Property Management Portfolio using a system called REMS, analyzing the data and pulling reports together, developing dashboards and data analytic tools. While in this role I was also tasked with conducting the data analytics for our 2012 Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award submission. While we didn’t win this time around, we applied again a year later. I was asked to focus internally and direct all my time on the Malcolm Baldridge Award efforts so that we could increase our chances of winning. I left my engagement project and joined a team of 3 dedicated resources as the Data Lead (Data Science Consulting S3) for about 9 months focused on data requests, processing, analytics. All of that hard work and dedication paid off because we won the award, a huge honor. Subsequently, my time on this team came to an end.
After about a year into the IMO, the business created the Risk Management function and I was promoted to Associate Director of Risk Management (Enterprise Risk Management M2) in March 2020 where 50% of my time was focused on close out of IMO activities and 50% on Risk. Around the time our first child was born in 2013, I realized I didn’t want to take Scott’s job anymore. I decided I wanted to stay internal with Operations because I’m not here for the money. I like what I do and being part of the Guidehouse Operations team affords me the opportunity to spend time with my family and see my kids grow up. My aspiration now is to be Director or a Partner level in Operations. I love the fact that I know what I’m going to be doing each day. I am standing up the risk identification and gate review processes in the commercial segment and integrating risk management processes across the Public Sector and Commercial practices. I know my job, I know my path, and I’ve finally found my role. I’ve had an open mind about every opportunity I’ve been afforded because I see the benefit of taking on each assignment. What’s the worst that can happen? You always learn something.
Marc Brickhouse
From Consultant to Partner
The key is your depth of market knowledge and maturity of relationships.
I graduated from the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce with a Bachelor of Science. After I graduated, I obtained a job at Anderson Consulting (now Accenture) where I focused on Information Technology. I came in as a campus hire Consultant (Technology Consulting C2) where I built IT systems for clients in the telecommunications industry. I was in that role for about 2 years as an entry level employee before receiving my first promotion (Technology Consulting C3).
Technology Consulting C2
Technology Consulting C3
After about a year, I was promoted to Director (Operational Effectiveness C6). My role changed significantly at this point because I took on more account responsibilities such as managing and building a pipeline, backlog and managing a portfolio of other projects. It’s also when I started to develop deeper relationships with specific clients across the portfolio. I was a Director for 11 years and loved the variety of work. I did a variety of things during this time to build the breadth and depth of my consulting skills, from managing and working on multiple accounts across data analytics to various IT and strategy projects. Over the last 5 years, I’ve continued to develop deeper client relationships within the housing finance sector. This ultimately led to my biggest promotion.
I was promoted to Senior Consultant, and at this point, I was indirectly responsible for managing and leading junior level consultants on projects as well as providing feedback on their performance and subsequent compensation. I was in this role for 2 years before I decided to go back to school full time and obtain my MBA. I was ready to do something other than IT and going to graduate school seemed like the best course of action that aligned with my goals. I attended Duke University for graduate school for a General Management MBA. I knew I wanted to do some type of management consulting but not in the IT space. Thankfully, I was able to secure a non-IT role after graduation.
Management Consulting C3
After I graduated with my MBA, I did a short stint with Ernst & Young where I came in as a campus hire Senior Consultant (Management Consulting C3), focused on a mixture of commercial and management consulting for small to mid-sized companies such as internet start-ups. I was only there for about a year before I decided to leave and go back up to Washington, D.C. so that I could be closer to home.
Shortly after my promotion to Managing Consultant, I decided to make a change and join PwC. I wanted to do something more entrepreneurial and at the time PwC was building their Washington Federal Practice. I was able to come in at ground zero and help build this new practice. I was hired as a Managing Consultant (Operational Effectiveness C4) in their Public Sector Financial Services space. At this time, my responsibilities began to expand beyond just people and project management. I started doing business development and participated in sales, account planning and account growth in my new role at PwC. The work I did as a Managing Consultant proved to be invaluable as I prepared for the next challenge.
Once I relocated to the D.C. area, I went to work for Booz Allen Hamilton. I was hired as a Senior Consultant (Operational Effectiveness C3) in the Public Sector Financial Services space. My focus was operational effectiveness with a specialization in business process and organizational transformation management. I was in this role for less than a year before I was promoted to Managing Consultant (Operational Effectiveness C4).
In 2020, I was promoted to Partner (Management Consulting E1). As a Partner, I am responsible for building my own business, developing my own relationships, taking on greater responsibility and building a more focused expertise around my client’s business—specifically understanding my client’s market capability in asset management, risk compliance, mortgage, and more. The challenge is to continue to broaden one’s functional and industry expertise and develop one’s relationships around that. The key is one’s depth of market knowledge and maturity of relationships. I constantly seek to have a better understanding of the space and how to deliver and organize my account teams to effectively build and deliver in that space. I’ve stayed as long as I have in the Public Sector financial services area because I feel a kinship with the mission of helping our government clients accomplish their goals to modernize their operations, align their workforce needs, increase their risk transparency and achieve their overall mission. Bottom line is that I want to continue to make an impact on the business and I’m excited to see how that impact will continue to evolve and grow.
My Journey: From Intern to Associate Director
Shantanu Datar
Learning how to work with each individual and enable them to deliver at a high level without trying to mold them in any specific way is critical.
My journey starts in Hyderabad, India. I graduated from Osmania University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Commerce and a Chartered Accountant certification – equivalent to CPA, with a special focus in accounting, finance and taxation. While I was studying and preparing for my CA exams , I worked as an accountant and audit assistant for an audit firm for 3 years. This counted towards the required 3-year apprenticeship for my certification as well. My apprenticeship was focused on auditing, finance & accounting consulting where I was responsible for conducting tax audits, internal audits, financial audits for private, public enterprises, banks and other institutions. As a certified Chartered Account (CA) from India, I gained valuable experience during this time that paved the way for my next chapter.
I joined an IT software services company as a finance lead serving an energy and utilities account (FP&A S3), supporting FP&A, budgeting, pricing, and reporting. While I didn’t have any direct reports in this role, I had certain account management responsibilities. I worked directly with the sales and delivery leads, as well as executive leadership on the client account. I enjoyed many aspects of the role including pricing and analysis of new projects, new business opportunities, pricing negotiations with clients, setting and monitoring pre-sales and sales incentives, measuring profitability and providing reporting on these activities. All of that was really interesting for the first 2 years, until it started to become monotonous. I wanted to gain direct experience in client delivery, especially in an area involving information systems and technology. There was some overlap in the FP&A role where I was using ERP and other BI tools as an end user, and I was eager to learn how these solutions were designed, developed, and implemented, and what goes into that entire product lifecycle. This led me to make a lateral movement in my job.
FP&A S3
After I completed my 3 years of apprenticeship and passed my CA exam in 2002, I secured my first full-time job as a Product Accountant (Accounting M1) in a manufacturing company in Mumbai, India. My audit background and CA certification allowed me the opportunity to manage an product manufacturing business group for about 7 months with 3 direct reports. I was able to enhance my expertise in accounting, reporting and financial management through this first job. After my time there, I was ready to step up to a new challenge.
Accounting M1
Systems & Business Integration Consulting C2
Systems & Business Integration Consulting C3
Systems & Business Integration Consulting C4
Systems & Business Integration Consulting C6
I decided to make a lateral movement and switched from internal operations support to a client services role. I went through an internal training program to learn the necessary technical skills such as system development lifecycle training, basic IT training and implementation, tools, and a focus on Oracle ERP solutions. My transition from specialist in operations to consulting in client services meant that I was starting a level below my previous level. I had to learn the necessary skills and gain experience in order to move up in client services role. At this point in my career journey, I had limited clarity on my career path, however, I knew that I wanted to grow in a client services role. For the next 3-4 years, I served in a functional consultant role (Systems & Business Integration Consulting C2) working on project delivery across different engagement teams. I was part of an ERP solutions horizontal (similar to Guidehouse Advanced Solutions) that was focused on Oracle Enterprise Application Solutions working with different vertical account teams.
In 2008 I served on a Oracle ERP support project with the MasterCard client account for about a year and then served as the Functional Consultant on another client account team in Maryland. At this time, I was promoted to a Senior Consultant level (Systems & Business Integration Consulting C3). I didn’t have any direct reports in this role. I managed workstreams directly within the project and was responsible for client delivery, reporting, and managing timesheets. I was in this role for about three year.
In 2011, I joined PwC’s Washington Federal Practice as a Senior Consultant (Systems & Business Integration Consulting C3) in the ERP Solutions group focused on Oracle ERP solutions. The biggest change was that I was moving from commercial consulting to the Federal and public sector consulting space. My first Federal consulting project was at NIH for the NBS Oracle R12 upgrade design project. I understood that there was a significant difference in the business drivers, objectives and the motivations of the client teams. The primary work product was still the Oracle EBS and ERP tools, however, the business operations, reporting needs and areas of client focus were different. I was able to leverage my background in financial systems, Oracle solutions and reporting to contribute towards the success of the project. My next public sector client services project was with the CDC account team, where I helped manage various aspects of client delivery from initial planning through design, development and implementation of the Oracle enterprise application solutions. I led a workstream during the second phase of the project and was involved in business development activities and pricing on proposals. This experience prepared me to be able to lead and manage larger teams which set me up for my first promotion at PwC.
As a Senior Consultant, I served as the functional lead on the FDA account, managing and leading a team of 8-10 people focused on delivering client solutions. This experience helped my business case, and I was promoted to Manager (Systems & Business Integration Consulting C4). As a Manager, the biggest change and learning was in recognizing the challenges of managing and leading a team through effective collaboration across client delivery teams and internal operations teams. This was a steep learning curve. I had some experience with people management and client delivery expectations from my earlier roles, but there were a lot of new things I had to learn that were internal to the firm and outside of the immediate client delivery tasks. I served this Manager role for 4 years before my next promotion.
In 2019 I submitted my business case from Manager to Director (Systems & Business Integration Consulting C6) in client services. I currently have 9 direct reports and work with multiple client delivery teams. The biggest learning has been around empowering and guiding multiple managers. I had to learn to realign my priorities and reduce my involvement in the day-to-day client delivery aspects of the work, and engage more in an advisory role, addressing problems at a higher level. As a Director I realized that to effectively manage multiple teams, I had to remove myself out of the direct client delivery and empower and support my managers to handle this interaction. At the same time, I had to figure out how to maintain my connection with the clients and involvement with project teams, as well as find the best cadence and level of involvement as needed. The work we deliver for our clients brings me a lot of satisfaction and fulfillment. I’m continuing to grow in this role and focus on serving as a Director and Program Manager. As my career evolves and grows, I aspire to continue on my path to Partner.
I prepared and submitted my business case from Manager to Director (Systems & Business Integration Consulting C6) in client services. I currently have 9 direct reports and work with multiple client delivery teams. The biggest learning curve has been empowering and guiding multiple managers. I had to learn to realign my priorities and reduce my involvement in the day-to-day client delivery aspects of the work, and engage more in an advisory role, solving problems at a higher level. As a Director I realized that to effectively manage multiple teams, I had to remove myself out of the direct client delivery and empower and support my managers to handle it. At the same time, I had to figure out how to maintain my connection with the clients and involvement with project teams, as well as find the best cadence for how much involvement is needed. The work we deliver for our clients brings me a lot of satisfaction and fulfillment. I’m continuing to grow in this role and focus on serving as a program manager with excellence. As my career journey evolves and grows, I aspire to continue on my path to Partner.
While I was a Senior Consultant, I managed and led a team of 8-10 people focused on delivering client objectives at a higher level. Because of this experience, I was promoted to Manager (Systems & Business Integration Consulting C4). As a Manager, the biggest change and learning for me has been understanding the challenges of managing and leading a team, collaborating across client delivery teams and internal operations teams in order to make every client delivery possible. It was a steep learning curve. I had some experience with people management and client delivery expectations from my earlier roles, but there were a lot of new things I had to learn that were internal to the firm and outside of the immediate client delivery tasks. I served this Manager role for 4 years before my next promotion.
I joined PwC’s Washington Federal Practice that was focused on Oracle solutions as a Senior Consultant (Systems & Business Integration Consulting C3). The biggest change was that I was moving from commercial consulting to the federal consulting space. My first federal consulting project was at NIH for the NBS Oracle R12 upgrade design project. I understood that there was a significant difference in the nature of the business, objectives and the motivations of the client teams. The work product was still the Oracle EBS and ERP tools, however, the reporting needs and focus areas were different. I was able to leverage my background in financial systems and reporting to lead the project to success. My second client project was with the CDC account team, where I managed various aspects of client delivery from initial planning through design to development and implementation of the Oracle enterprise application solutions. I led certain workstreams on client projects and was heavily involved in BD activities on pricing and proposals. This prepared me to lead and manage larger teams which set me up for my first promotion at PwC.
In 2008 I traveled to the U.S. as part of one of the projects positioned to work at a client site. I worked on a Mastercard account for about a year and then moved to a local account team in Maryland. At this time, I was promoted to Senior Consultant (Systems & Business Integration Consulting C3). I didn’t have direct reports, but I was managing workstreams directly within the project and was responsible for client delivery, reporting, and managing timesheets. I was in this role for about 3 years before I decided it was time to leave and start a new chapter.
I decided to make a lateral movement and switched from internal operations support to client services. I went through an internal training program to learn the necessary technical skills necessary such as system development lifecycle training, basic IT training and implementation, tools, and some focus on ERP. My transition from specialist in operations to consulting in client services was not a true lateral move, however, but rather a level below, since I had to learn and obtain the skills in order to move up in client services. At this point in my career journey, I didn’t have clarity on where my career would go but I knew that I wanted the kind of growth that came from the client services side. For the next 3-4 years, I served in a functional consultant role (Systems & Business Integration Consulting C2) working on project delivery across different engagement teams. I was part of an ERP solutions horizontal (similar to Guidehouse Advanced Solutions) that was focused on Oracle Application Solutions working with different vertical account teams.
Michele Koper
Associate Director
I was not so interested in the conventional setting but mostly looking at what was going to be the next wave.
I graduated from Eindhoven University of Technology with a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Technology and Innovation Policies, with a focus on engineering and science. I’ve always had an interest in exploring how new technologies can be used in energy development and what was going to be the next big thing in energy, so I interned (Intern B4) with an NGO in Bolivia that was centered around my Master’s thesis. The internship was focused on small scale renewable energy solutions. I evaluated a couple of projects where they had implemented small scale renewables to discover how they could set their project up for greater success and more effective implementations. It was a small evaluation program to review past operations and identify improvements both on the financial and technology side. It was an incredible experience that would serve me well as I progressed along my career journey.
Intern B4
Management Consulting C2
Once I completed my specialization, I started at Ecofys as a Junior Consultant (Management Consulting C2) where I worked on a wide range of projects focused on renewable energy. I did a lot of smaller projects with the Dutch government for corporations, supporting them from simple projects like permit applications to more complex activities like how companies can move from their current energy situation to a more sustainable energy initiative. I was also able to work on some projects in the field of biomass—specifically for companies that either wanted to use or source biomass, ranging from small local organizations to large companies like Shell and the Dutch government. Companies that wanted to step into renewable energy looked to us for technology scans or greenhouse gas calculations. I was in this role for about 3 years before I had my first promotion.
After those 3 years as a Junior Consultant, I was promoted to Senior Consultant (Management Consulting C3) even though there were not a lot of differences in the work performed. As a Senior Consultant, the biggest shift was the execution and managing of small projects or small workstreams within a project. This provided me with valuable experience and strengthened my expertise that eventually set me up for my next promotion.
After about another 3 years, I was promoted to Managing Consultant (Management Consulting C4) where I started managing projects and sales targets at this level. I also began leading a project team and junior level consultants, where I provided input on performance recommendations to the line manager. Ecofys was acquired by Navigant in 2016 which led to bigger projects including coaching and training our internal team members. The experience I received as a Managing Consultant opened up opportunities for me to step into a higher leadership role.
Management Consulting C4
I’ve been in my current role as an Associate Director (Managing Consulting C5) for about 2 years, where I manage several large European projects with budgets between $200-$1M Euro. I also became a Pathfinder, which means I have anywhere from 3-5 direct reports. Some of the things I love most about my role include managing larger, more complex projects, interacting with our clients and internal teams to achieve specific objectives, and working with different groups of people. Within the energy practice, I’m someone who is more focused on the process and project management components rather than the specific technical knowledge. I often manage projects where I’m not a subject matter expert but by using my general process and project management skills—and by working in sync with subject matter experts—I’m able to coach the team to the finish line with great success. I’m constantly looking for ways to grow. I hope to take it to the next level by stepping into a Director role where I would have even more sales responsibilities than I do now. The future really is what you make of it and I’m excited to see the opportunities that come.
Management Consulting C5
When I completed my Master’s degree and thesis, I received a scholarship to intern in Argentina where I conducted an in depth program (Intern B4) that was focused on renewable energy technologies and policy setting in Latin America. I spent one year in the North of Argentina completing studies and then a 1-year specialization on top of my Master’s program. After I completed this program, I was able to secure a consulting position in my field of choice.
My Journey: From Consultant to Partner
I’ve been in my current role as an Associate Director (Managing Consulting C5) for about 2 years, where I manage a large European project with a budget between $200-$1M Euro. I also became a Pathfinder, which means I have anywhere from 3-5 direct reports. Some of the things I love most about my role include managing larger, more complex projects, interacting with our clients and internal teams to achieve specific objectives, and working with different groups of people. Within the energy practice, I’m someone who is more focused on the process and project management components rather than the specific technical knowledge. I often manage projects where I’m not a subject matter expert but by using my general process and project management skills—and by working in sync with subject matter experts—I’m able to coach the team to the finish line with great success. I’m constantly looking for ways to grow. I hope to take it to the next level by stepping into a Director role where I would have even more sales responsibilities than I do now. The future really is what you make of it and I’m excited to see the opportunities that come.
After about another 3 years, I was promoted to Manager (Management Consulting C4) where I started managing projects and sales targets at this level. I also began leading a project team and junior level consultants, where I provided input on performance and salary recommendations to the line manager. Ecofys was acquired by Navigant in 2016 which led to bigger projects including coaching and training our internal team members. The experience I received as a Manager opened up opportunities for me to step into a higher leadership role.
Once I completed my specialization, I started at Ecofys as a Junior Consultant (Management Consulting C2) where I worked on a wide range of projects focused on renewable energy. I did a lot of smaller projects with the Dutch government for corporations, supporting them from simple projects like permit applications to more complex activities like how companies can move from their current energy situation to a more sustainable energy initiative. I was also able to work on some projects in the field of biomass—specifically for companies that either wanted to use or source biomass from small local organizations to companies working in waste management or oil like Shell and the Dutch government. Companies that wanted to step into renewable energy looked to us for technology scans or more greenhouse gas calculations. I was in this role for about 3 years before I had my first promotion.
When I completed my Master’s degree and thesis, I received a scholarship to intern in Argentina where I conducted an in depth program (Intern B4) that was focused on renewable energy technologies and policy setting in Latin America. I spent one year in the North of Argentina completing studies and then a 1-year specialization as part of my Master’s program. After I completed this program, I was able to secure a consulting position in my field of choice.
Kimberly Wayne
I took a chance and was rewarded for challenging myself and leading the business into uncharted territory.
I graduated from West Virginia University with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting. During the fall of 2004, all of the B4 firms came to our school to recruit. I was invited to interview with all 4 firms and was extended an offer to intern (Intern B3) with PwC in the Washington Federal Practice (WFP). I worked for the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services as well as Health and Human Services practice. At the time the WFP was mainly doing audits for government agencies so there was not a strong focus on consulting work. I was really junior, but I was able to travel quite a bit with the team, gaining valuable experience in controls testing of financial reporting for various agencies, as well as organizing and packaging all the samples. Before returning for my senior year of college, I received a full time offer. I already knew I wanted to work for PwC, so I had made up my mind well before the offer was extended.
I made the difficult choice to leave PwC after making some important personal decisions, but still continued down the finance & accounting path. I joined Marriott International in Bethesda, working with the accounting and treasury group. I was the Senior Accountant / Senior Associate (Accounting S3) for an accounting team of 3—one for banking and two for journal entries. I managed all of the accounting for our 250 international bank accounts. I thrived on the immense amount of responsibility I was tasked with. Not only was the work intellectually stimulating and fulfilling, it was a breath of fresh air to have a healthy work-life balance. I realized that this was something I valued, and for that I’m very grateful. Shortly after my promotion, I decided to move overseas.
Accounting S3
My journey with PwC started as an Associate in the Washington Federal Practice on the 3-year path to Senior Associate (Finance & Accounting Consulting C2). While I was waiting for my work to come through, a Partner asked me to come work on his team—USACE—performing AP/AR audit work for the Army Corps of Engineers. I did this for 2 audit cycles (2 years). At this point the WFP was beginning to discuss the closure of the audit practice so I began to look at my options. I consulted with my coach at the time and still wanted to stay with PwC. I had a strong accounting background with a lot of audit work from USACE so I knew that would be invaluable as I looked for new positions. There was an opportunity to continue doing audit work in our Financial Services Practice after a back-to-back busy season, but I was up for the challenge.
Risk & Regulatory Consulting C3
Risk & Regulatory Consulting C4
Finance & Accounting Consulting C6
I reached back out to PwC while in London and to my delight they were looking for someone to perform an outsourced internal audit of a private wealth management bank called Kleinwort Benson. My background in B&CM in the U.S., as well as my accounting and treasury role at Marriott, was exactly the type of background they were seeking. I applied for the job, extended my skilled worker visa and began working for PwC’s Insurance and Investment Management (I&IM) practice. I worked in that role for a year and a half as an Experienced Senior Associate (Risk & Regulatory Consulting C3) in London. I conducted risk assessments on investment portfolios, legal aspects, people and compliance. It felt great to be back at PwC doing work that actively used my skill set. And after a year and a half I received an exciting promotion.
After about a year and a half working in London, I was promoted to Manager (Risk & Regulatory Consulting C4). At this point, I was managing people’s overall careers, completing performance management assessments and developing their technical acumen within our business. That was an amazing experience and I realized very quickly how well PwC manages, coaches and trains our people. I did this for about a year and a half when I decided it was time to return to the U.S. to start a family.
I wanted to relocate to the Washington, D.C. area so I worked with the Global Mobility Database in PwC to get placed back in the U.S. with PwC. At the time, the Federal Advisory practice was booming. They had just won a $350 million award for the Secretary of the Air Force Financial Management and they were looking for managers to lead some of their Accessible Unit teams. I was hired as a Manager in Public Sector Advisory, which was a perfect balance of being an Audit Coach for the Department of Defense while also learning about their internal processes and recommending enhancements that would achieve a favorable audit opinion (Finance & Accounting Consulting C4). I stayed on this project for 5 years as a Manager, doing a mix of real estate work, military equipment and managing the engagement economics. It was a very well-rounded role and helped me understand our business from the inside-out. I was grateful for the role and the opportunity to grow as a leader. Because of this I was able to move to our OUSD account where I supported the Audit Readiness Audit Remediation Engagement (ARARS) for the Defense Financial and Accounting Agency (DFAS).
In conjunction with the DFAS work, I’ve stayed connected to the Air Force account, working as a capture manager on bids to the Air Force Civil Engineer Center. This has been a client relationship that started 3 years previously on the FIAR program. We were soon awarded 2 programs within AFCEC down in San Antonio, Texas. Those awards, plus my OSD work, propelled me to do a business case for promotion to Director within the Air Force account (Finance & Accounting Consulting C6). My goal is to become the Defense Segment Leader. What’s unique about my role is that since 2016 I’ve been driving hard to open up a new market team in San Antonio, primarily due to the large Air Force presence there. After years of shaping, pushing and winning work, I submitted a business case that was accepted resulting in me becoming the Geography Lead for our San Antonio market. I took a chance and was rewarded for challenging myself and leading the business into uncharted territory. My secret sauce for being a successful female in the Defense sector—typically a predominantly male sector—is that I’m not afraid to speak up. I am one of 6 female Directors in Defense and I feel a responsibility to pave the way for more qualified female leaders. The future is bright and I’m looking forward to witnessing the continued growth and development of women in leadership here at PwC.
Financial Management M1
Due to a dual career situation, I moved to London. I landed an opportunity to work as the Assistant Director of Finance of the Hanbury Manor Country Club, north of London (Financial Management M1). I managed all the finance, accounting and payroll for the hotel with a team of 6 direct reports. It was such a thrill to move to a new country and manage the finances of a hotel. I worked directly for the General Manager of the hotel and felt like I was having a tangible, immediate impact. I had a really good handle on the work, but the volume was quite significant. After a while the work became a bit monotonous. I started thinking “where am I going with this in my career?” After that first year, I began to miss my time working at PwC. I missed the speed and the educational environment where everyone actively learned from one another. While working at the hotel, I realized that I desired more from my career and felt it was time to close that chapter and start a new one.
I just started my 3rd year as an Associate when Freddie Mac needed people in the Banking Capital Markets. I was asked to interview with Bill Lewis and became part of the Financial Services practice. I transitioned out of WFP into the core assurance branch of PwC in Financial Services (Finance & Accounting Consulting C2). My focus transitioned from the federal space to the commercial side. It was a huge transition for me because the federal regulation guidance (GASB and FASB) differs from GAAP for commercial entities and I had never worked with mortgage-backed securities before. It was a huge, yet exciting, learning curve for me and I was ready for it. Early on in my career, I knew I wanted to be an audit partner, so I wasn’t interested in doing consulting work. I wanted this career path. I’ve always been a hard worker focused on getting things done no matter how long the hours were. And yet, even though I loved the work I was doing, the next chapter in my career took a detour outside of PwC.
My Journey: From Intern to Director
Savannah Xiao
From Finance Manager to Managing Consultant
I want to continue to grow my career and embrace additional challenges and opportunities to influence other people in a positive way.
I graduated from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China with a double major in economics and architecture. In my last 2 years of college, I helped start a company called Aituo Technology with a few friends. I managed the financial aspects of the business as the Finance Manager (Financial Management S4) and we had the privilege of participating in an International Business Plan Competition through Qualcomm in China where we won the 8th place. This achievement gave us a lot of confidence, so we began the process of raising investment funds. At this time, I started applying to graduate schools while still managing and developing the company. I developed financial projections, accounting reports and marketing strategies but it was time for me to start my graduate work at the Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT). Once I obtained my Masters in Managerial Business Economics, I thought about going back to China to work with my friends and rejoin the company we started but I decided to remain stateside to start my career first.
Financial Management S4
Before I graduated from GIT, I interned as a Marketing Analyst (Intern B4) with an architectural company called Sanford Epstein & Associates. I worked on helping them grow and develop a key marketing campaign that would help to expand their business overseas and grow their revenue. After the internship completed, I acquired my first full time position with a major U.S. credit card company.
Data Science Consulting C4
I joined as a Senior Consultant with the Financial Services business that was focused on data analysis and compliance (Data Science Consulting C3). I was in this role for about 3 ½ years where I focused on small and large financial institutions, worked with every Director and Partner on the financial services team, learned from their leadership and built a reputation for myself. In the beginning, there were definitely expectations to utilize my analytical skills more but as I learned about mortgage, compliance, and regulations I was placed in different positions to manage projects, run business analysis, and perform additional data analysis. Eventually I built a reputation that I could do more than one thing—write reports and articles, represent the company at conferences and events, and provide excellent data analysis. It’s been a process, albeit a fulfilling one, and has strengthened my skills and expertise. I made the most of my time as a Senior Consultant which led me to the next part of my career journey.
I was promoted to Manager (Data Science Consulting C4) and have been in this role for 3 years. This role has given me a very different perspective on what it means to lead and manage people and projects. As a Manager, I work with one of the top U.S. financial institutions on very complex solutions. It’s difficult for banks to understand what’s happening with the data within their own ecosystem. I help them translate the regulator’s expectations into very tangible, concrete requirements and help different functions within the bank communicate more efficiently. While there’s not a specific job title I aspire to, I want to have varied and interesting experiences working with smart self-driven people, achieve great things, and be proud of what I’ve accomplished. I have a lot of fun working in consulting. I’ve never regretted my job change from industry to consulting even though there were many sacrifices I had to make. I’m excited about where I’m headed and the impact I’ll continue to make throughout my career, wherever it leads me.
Business Systems Analysis S3
I secured a role in operations as a Senior Data Analyst (Business Systems Analysis S3) with Capital One. About 3 months after I started my job Capital One acquired HSBC—another credit card business. It was a $24 billion acquisition with more than 80 million accounts. There were many moving pieces I was involved with such as merging portfolios, leveraging the synergies, mitigating duplicate functions, migrating accounts and other business integration tasks. My specific role was knowledge sharing. We were servicing a lot of the internal customers and they were able to run the data analysis, but they didn’t have direct access to the data. I helped them gather and synthesize the data in order to understand the fabric of their business so they could make the best educated decisions for themselves. I did this for about 2 years and decided it was time for a change. I always wanted to do consulting work and experience living in the U.S. Capitol so I moved and started working for Navigant in Washington, D.C.
I was promoted to Manager (Data Science Consulting C4) and have been in this role for 2 ½ years. This role has given me a very different perspective on what it means to lead and manage people and projects. As a Manager, I work with one of the top U.S. financial institutions on very complex solutions. It’s difficult for banks to understand what’s happening with the data within their own ecosystem. I help them translate the regulator’s expectations into very tangible, concrete requirements and help different functions within the bank communicate more efficiently. While there’s not a specific job title I aspire to, I want to have varied and interesting experiences working with smart self-driven people, achieve great things, and be proud of what I’ve accomplished. I have a lot of fun working in consulting. I’ve never regretted my job change from industry to consulting even though there were many sacrifices I had to make. I’m excited about where I’m headed and the impact I’ll continue to make throughout my career, wherever it leads me.
I graduated from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China with a double major in business economics and architecture. In my last 2 years of college, I helped start a company called Aituo Technology with a few friends. I managed the financial aspects of the business as the Finance Manager (Financial Management S4) and we had the privilege of participating in an International Business Plan Competition through Qualcomm in China where we won 8th place. This achievement gave us a lot of confidence, so we began the process of raising investment funds. At this time, I started applying to graduate schools while still managing and developing the company. I developed financial projections, accounting reports and marketing strategies but it was time for me to start my graduate work at the Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT). Once I obtained my Masters in Managerial Business Economics, I thought about going back to China to work with my friends and rejoin the company we started but I decided to remain stateside to begin building my career.
Financial Services / BICM
Defense
Financial Services
Solutions ERP
FSAC / BICM
FSAC
