Two years after IBM’s acquisition of PwC Consulting, Debra Cammer Hines realized that something didn’t quite add up in the public service financial management practice. “Some of the folks who joined the company from PwC Consulting still were unsure of what it meant to be a financial management consultant in IBM,” Cammer Hines recalls.

For example, they were unclear about how they could maintain their certified public accountant (CPA) licenses, an important designation for consultants who serve chief financial officers.

With what she describes as the generous support of leadership, Cammer Hines helped put in place several programs that have helped former PwC consultants and legacy IBMers better understand the value and benefits of the merger.  

The CPA at IBM program, for example, emphasizes the value of the CPA license by rewarding new consultants who earn that designation with internal recognition and a cash bonus—just as a traditional accounting firm would. The program also is structured to help CPA-equipped consultants with earning and tracking the continuing professional education credits (CPEs) that the designation requires.

Cammer Hines also helped her 500-strong practice area better understand the value and benefits of being part of IBM. “We made a concerted effort to show them that there are so many more things we could do for our clients as part of IBM,” Cammer Hines notes.

The learning process has flowed in both directions. Cammer Hines and her consultants shared their insights about selling services to the CFO with colleagues who were more familiar with pitching the CIO—valuable advice, given the fact that most CIOs need their finance chief’s approval to pull the trigger on major service and product investments.

Cammer Hines was instrumental in implementing a junior consultant-mentoring program and a women’s network group in her public sector financial management practice. Both programs have helped overcome some of the sense of disconnectedness that an increasingly virtual workforce can foster. “When I visit project teams at client sites, new consultants will walk up and introduce themselves to me because they’ve seen my picture on our Intranet site,” she reports. “That tells me our hard work to cultivate community is paying off.”

Others agree. “Under Debra’s leadership, the financial management area now enjoys one of the highest [levels of] staff satisfaction within IBM’s public sector,” notes IBM BCS Partner Maria-Paz Barrientos. “Debra has pulled together a group of varied skills, backgrounds and experience and created a community where staff feels that management values their insight and supports their initiatives.”