Jacquie Walker knows the value of a good relationship. In the 27 years she's been in the consulting business, she's formed a lot of bonds, and she's helping her clients do the same. Walker is the client relationship manager for four large Canadian banks as well as the leader of CRM and new business development for financial services clients. Walker, however, started out working in Buck Consultants's health and welfare practice. That background has given her some expertise in working with her current clients, but she's had to learn a lot in the four years she has held her current position. "My particular subject matter expertise is in health and welfare consulting, but we do much more than that for the banks. I really had to expand my skill sets. But clients don't expect me to be an expert in everything; they basically see me as the fixer, the facilitator, the problem solver, the person who brings the right resources to the table."
In that self-described role, Walker finds herself working with many people internal and external to Buck in order to tackle challenges that range from governance issues to delivery models. "I personally have to deal with probably fifty different contacts in the bank, but they want one person who leads all of these different initiatives and who they can go to whenever they want more services from us or if there's a problem with service delivery. They really like that one go-to model."
But working with so many people is a benefit of the job, she says. "I certainly enjoy working with these people. We go through a lot of angst together as well as good times." And those good times don't go unnoticed. "I also am a big believer in celebrating our successes, both with clients and internal celebrations with my team members. I really enjoy entertaining, both outside the office and inside the office. I'm probably known for the parties that I give."
Another relationship that's very important to Walker is the one she has with her daughter, Candace, 32. Walker says since she was a single mother for part of her daughter's childhood, she had to find a balance in a time before work/life balance was a buzzword. "She grew up with [my working], and I certainly have a motto that I live by—clients come first—and that certainly doesn't mean that I don't put my daughter first, but over the years we've had some tough conversations where I've had sit down to explain to her why I couldn't attend a certain function of hers. But what I would do is try to make sure her father was there or somebody else was there if I couldn't be there so that there was somebody there to support her."
Walker says many colleagues have been there to support her, too, professionally through the years, and she says she had tried to give back as much as she can, whether it's informal mentoring or her roles with the Women's Executive Network, the Canadian Certified Employee Benefit Specialist Committee (where this year she'll serve as chair for the first time), the CEBS examination panel for Dalhousie University, and the advisory board for the human resources programs of George Brown College. "I've had a lot of people help me along the way. I've had good mentors and coaches; I've tried to give that back as well. There are many people throughout my 27 years who I would consider my prodigies who I hope feel that I helped them up the corporate ladder as well."
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