Voice of Experience: Tamara Fields, Managing Director, Federal Services, Accenture

By Tina Vasquez, Managing Editor

As Tamara Fields began looking into employment opportunities as her college graduation neared, she noticed that all of her classmates were clamoring for consulting jobs. At the time, she says, consulting firms were hiring in large numbers to help support the Y2K buzz and the new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementations that were getting started.

“I wanted to be a part of this fast paced and dynamic world,” Fields said.

And at what better place than Accenture? Once at the global consulting company, Fields initially worked across industries and then moved in to the federal space, where she worked on a project supporting federal financials transformation for NASA.

“I decided I would focus on this area, as I like the concept of serving the government and helping the government be accountable to its citizens,” the managing director said.

Fields has now been with Accenture for 16-years and is currently based in Austin, TX and serving as a Managing Director in Accenture Federal Services. She has since moved on from her NASA project and is currently working with the Department of Defense. Specifically, she is working on a project for the US Army, saying she truly enjoys working in the military space.

In addition to her client work, Fields also serves as the Sales Lead for Accenture’s Army Contract Writing Systems project and is responsible for every aspect, including customer call plan execution, solution designing, win strategy, and competitor intelligence analysis.

“This makes me excited because I truly enjoy planning from the beginning stages. I am also excited because this opens opportunities for the people on my team for new career considerations,” Fields said. “I like contributing to the success of the Army projects and I get even more excited about helping the people who work on these projects succeed in new opportunities.”

Paying It Forward
In a career where there has been so much to be proud of, Fields cites her promotion to managing director as one of her most gratifying career achievements thus far.

“It is not an easy road as an African-American female working in a corporate America that is still predominantly Caucasian and male-dominated. I am thankful I had the opportunity to reach this level, and I am also grateful for the support I received in helping me reach this goal,” Fields said.

Fields is now helping other women within Accenture reach their goals as well. The managing director is leading the diversity initiative for Accenture’s Austin office.

“This role has exposed me to the wonderful things Accenture is doing across many areas of diversity in the workplace. I like seeing people focus on their passion and show their commitment and stewardship to people. It is invigorating,” she said.

Fields says it’s important to remember your responsibility to pay it forward.

“You should always be building up the next person to be successful and share with them what you have learned. Take on a couple of people to sponsor and help them achieve their goals,” the managing director said.

So much of the director’s work and future aspirations are tied to continuing her efforts to help others. She is on the Board of Directors for Paul Quinn University, an HBCU in Dallas, Texas. She also serves on several committees, including the Executive and Finance committees.

“I am also committed to working with the youth at my church. I believe we have a responsibility to help the next generation succeed and learn from our mistakes,” Fields said.

The managing director’s ultimate ambition is to one day run a non-profit organization focused on providing emergency financial aid to disadvantaged and single women with children. She also wants to have a non-profit that focuses on travel and enrichment programs for disadvantaged youth.

Balancing Life and Work
While Fields is more than happy to share her knowledge and serve as a mentor to others, she’s also sure not to spread herself too thin.

“The best advice I’ve ever received is, ‘If you keep giving, they will keep taking, so balance what you give.’ The person was talking about establishing personal boundaries and I think it is very important to balance life and work,” Fields said. “You must understand your boundaries and set them. Once you set them, people are very respectful of honoring those boundaries. You can still do your best – and be able to achieve your goals – but within the limits you set.”