Business
Nancy Fitzgerald joins the show today to talk about founding iLendingDIRECT with her husband whose tragic passing led her to take up the role of CEO. In this insightful episode, Michael and Nancy touch on the often discriminatory nature of business, how to operate smooth career pivots, the importance of resiliency and a strong social support network as well as why you should avoid getting your MBA on the job! ABOUT OUR GUEST Nancy Fitzgerald is an award-winning executive within the automotive finance industry. As CEO, Nancy leads iLendingDIRECT’s executive team and drives the company’s strategic vision and business plan. She also fosters relationships and develops partnerships with national financial companies to help provide their customers with exceptional financial services. Nancy has been awarded the Auto Remarketing Women in Remarketing Award (2016), the Insights Success Magazine’s 30 Most Influential Women in Business (2016), and the Top 25 Most Powerful Women In Business by the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce (2020). GET IN TOUCH WITH NANCY ON LINKEDIN THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS Podfly Productions: Podfly.net Veterans of Foreign Wars: VFWpost1.org OC Executive Search: OCExecutiveSearch.com KEY TAKEAWAYS [1:52] Michael introduces Nancy and asks her to share an interesting tidbit about herself — she is a singer and won the Miss Canada pageant. She speaks a bit about what iLendingDirect is and what they do. TIMES OF CRISIS [6:04] Nancy touches on how COVID-19 has impacted her business bottom line. She also speaks to how her company pulled through the ’08 financial crisis. BEING A MISS [10:05] Nancy talks about the classifications and stereotypical judgments that she has faced through the years, and why her Miss Canada title doesn’t figure on her LinkedIn page. JOURNALISM [14:20] Academic and career paths are often circumvoluted, Nancy talks about having gone for social work, her interest in the Law and social justice, and finally competitive news journalism. She touches on what brought about her pivot toward financial services. OFF THE RAILS [19:00] Patrick, Nancy’s husband and the CEO of their company, passed away on August 26th, 2014. She talks about what it took to earn the CEO title. DOING IT ALL [25:30] Handling the loss of a husband while keeping both family and business afloat was no small feat. It still is tough. Nancy talks about her wonderful support network and family. HIRING [27:30] Nancy talks about her hiring practices, what she looks for in new hires, and how she chooses the people that surround her. She also emphasizes the importance of company culture. BECOMING CEO [29:39] Though she never aimed at being a CEO and though she was very green at it, Nancy speaks to the strengths she’s always naturally had than enabled her to succeed at the position. ADVICE FOR DARK DAYS [31:36] Nancy talks about the Butterfly Foundation and she shares advice for people that may be going through a terrible time. REWARDS [38:20] Forget CEO, what Nancy finds most rewarding is giving back through iLendingDIRECT and the Butterfly Foundation. ADVICE NANCY STILL FOLLOWS [39:32] Get to know what you’re not good at. ADVICE FOR EMERGING CXOs [41:30] After a segue into Bill Gates’ driving style, Nancy shares her thoughts on how great the man is as well as what’s important in life. BEST WORST JOB NANCY EVER HAD [46:45] Being a producer on Home and Garden television. [49:12] Michael thanks Nancy for coming on the podcast to share her insight and closes out the podcast with his favorite takeaways. We hope you learned something today and enjoyed the conversation. Please give us 5 stars on iTunes and share your comments so we can improve and ask the questions you want to hear. MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE iLendingDIRECT iFleetDIRECT The Butterfly Foundation SPECIAL THANKS TO Jalan Crossland for the music Angela Johnson at OC Executive Search Joseph Batty at Podfly Corey Coates at Podfly ABOUT YOUR HOST For the past 20 years, Michael Mitchel, B.A., has been interviewing leaders in their fields. He started his career recruiting for United Parcel Service in Seattle, where he implemented the company's Welfare to Work program for the Washington State District. He has recruited for Federal agencies and U.S. Department of Defense contractors for classified programs internationally. He Founded OC Executive Search in 2001 to serve companies ranging from startups to Global F10. Michael is an honorably discharged veteran of the U.S. Navy and enjoys skiing, cycling, traveling, photography as well as hiking in the Colorado Rockies with his cattle dog, Kala the Wunderdawg. FIND MICHAEL MITCHEL ON LINKEDIN AND ON TWITTER