Voice of Experience: Nancy Mellard, Executive Vice President & General Counsel, CBIZ Employee Services Division

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“I’m a Midwest girl, born and raised,” said Nancy Mellard, Executive Vice President and General Counsel at CBIZ Employee Services Division, and National Leader of CBIZ Women’s Advantage, the firm’s women’s program. “It’s my 20th anniversary at CBIZ, and it sounds bizarre to me that anyone could be anywhere for 20 years!”

Mellard studied English as an undergraduate and then enrolled in the University of Missouri Kansas City School of Law. “I went on to law school thinking I would be a great litigator, only to realize that I truly loved using my law degree as General Counsel in a corporate setting.”

It took a few years to figure that out, she said. She worked for the state of Missouri after she graduated, but two years later, she took a General Counsel position. “I found that I’m really great at building relationships – and as a lawyer in a corporation, providing counsel, you have to understand relationships. I liked that – it got me up in the morning.”

She continued, “I knew pretty early that I wanted to be a senior officer and use my credentials to climb the corporate ladder.”

Not only has Mellard done just that, but she remains focused on building strategic value. Last year, she led CBIZ Women’s Advantage to bring in over $1.4 million in business.

Power of Networking

Mellard was given responsibility for CBIZ’s women’s program about five years ago. She recalled, “The CEO and Chairman of the Board asked me to build our women’s program, CBIZ Women’s Advantage. I was basically given a white paper to create the Program – but it’s been extremely successful.”

She said the Program has led her to an even deeper understanding of the importance of building networks. “If I had only realized the power of networking and the power of office politics and board politics – the political ramifications of your actions and decisions – 25 years ago!” she said.

She advises women to be strategic about building relationships. “Who are the people I most know I can learn from? Who could help me and support me and open doors to where I want to go? Nothing is more powerful.”

“Today I watch young women who do get it – who understand who to have coffee with. I didn’t do that. This is something I talk to my two daughters and other young women about,” she added.

Currently, as the National Leader for CBIZ Women’s Advantage, Mellard is working to build strong executive board support for the program.

“We have three simple goals,” Mellard said. “And to make the Program strong and sustainable, we weave them all together.”

She continued, “First we want to build our competitive advantage by attracting, retaining, and developing talented women. We’ve had over 800 women go through our two development programs. Second, we want to foster synergy between CBIZ women and other female business professionals in our communities.”

For example, she said, the Program supports Dress For Success Worldwide – and has donated over 31,000 articles of clothing and accessories and raised almost $220,000 for the organization.

And third, she said, the Program works to raise awareness of the business case for women’s leadership, by showcasing the benefits it has brought to CBIZ.

Mellard explained, “We are publicly traded, and we recognize shareholder value, and want to have a measurable impact on our business development. Through our Women’s Leadership Groups we provide referrals to other talented women. And in 2010, we set the goal to have a direct impact on business development of $1.2 million. And we exceeded it.”

“The next year we set a goal and exceeded it again by generating $1.4 million.”

Advice for Professional Women

“I can’t take all the credit for this phrase,” Mellard said with a laugh. “It comes from Mika Brzezinski’s book. But my advice to young women is to ‘know your value.’”

She continued, “I think we as women know our value, but we do a horrible job of saying, ‘I want to do that. I want to be that. I want that leadership position.’ Instead of asking to be picked, we need to affirmatively and proactively say, ‘I’m the one.’”

She advises women who have reached senior levels to leverage their strengths. “You know your strengths. Focus on those. Use those to move up to the next level and achieve what you want and deserve.”

For example, Mellard is leveraging her strengths to help raise the profile of women leaders in her community. She recently joined the board of the Kansas City organization Central Exchange and is chairing their WIN/WIN initiative. “Our goal is to increase the visibility and effectiveness of women in the Kansas City area. We have established a goal to work toward 20% of companies in the metropolitan area with women on their Boards or in their C-Suites.”

She explained, “We’re targeting top companies and are focused on sharing best practices and the business case for women in leadership, that diversity and female leadership is good for companies.”

Mellard also recently accepted a position on the Board of Directors of the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers, the premier association for the top commercial brokerage firms in the U.S.

In Her Personal Time

Mellard attributes much of her success to her family. “I am in part who I am because of my incredibly supportive family. I have a husband, Ken, of 33 years and two incredible daughters, Rachel and Michelle. They have taught me so much and forced me to look at the integration of my personal and professional life. Otherwise, I’m a workaholic – I’ll be honest,” she laughed.

Board service is also important to her – both as a way to give back to her community and to build her professional skills. “I am passionate about community involvement. But also, you may be at levels in your organization where there are things you want to try to see if you’re good at. These boards are the best ‘R&D environments’ to find out what you’re good at.”