Julian Coy / RSM
Excellence in Leadership
There are many roads to the consulting profession. Typically, a paper route isn't one of them. JuliAn Coy says a paper route at age 9 instilled in her a deep-rooted work ethic. "I don't know any other way, other than hard work," she says. "Hard work generally leads to accelerated performance and accelerated performance yields recognition."
Her first taste of success was when she won a trip to Disneyland at the age of 11 for doubling the subscribers on her paper route. "That paper route was my first exposure to sales, client service, handling conflict, collections, hiring people—I employed my sister and a few friends as my route grew—and running from dogs during the wee morning hours," Coy says. "Ironically, the skills I was acquiring at the time all translated into applicable skills needed for a career in consulting. Although I don't have to run from dogs today, I generally am running to catch a plane during the wee morning hours."
Coy, Director, Technology and Management Consulting with RSM, has 20 years of public accounting and consulting experience leading high performing teams. She joined RSM in 2017 to lead the West Region NetSuite practice as well as the Pacific Northwest Technology Management Consulting practice. Prior to joining RSM, JuliAn spent three years with a big four firm and eight years as a company executive for a leading NetSuite solution provider.
At the height of a successful career with PwC, Coy made the decision to join RSM's technology management consulting practice and lead a region that needed to boost its performance. "I have been focused on accelerating organic growth by retooling my region with new ways of identifying and closing business, a strategy that has advanced RSM's NetSuite channel business with tangible results," she says. "Key metrics across the practice have accelerated and contributed to growth across the practice."
She quickly flattened the hierarchy of her region by promoting top-performing employees to assist with the practice infrastructure and leadership. "By leveraging the strengths of developing firm leaders in the day-to-day operations, I was able to focus on growth strategies and was able to more quickly implement effective leadership changes during the first two financial quarters," she says.
Twenty years ago, she also made the decision to leave a lucrative management career in the financial services industry to "start over" as an entry-level audit associate for Arthur Andersen, which ultimately kicked off her consulting career. Five years later, she left her vice president role in financial accounting consulting and started over as a project manager for a small cloud technologies company. "That humbling decision began my evolution away from accounting consulting and into the technology management consulting leader I have become today," she says. "Twice in my 20-plus year career, I took a step back in my career path, with the ultimate intention of propelling myself ahead."
Q&A: What do you enjoy most about your job and the consulting profession?
Coy: "I love delivering the power of being understood and strive to be my client's first choice advisor, helping them on their various business journeys. The ebbs and flows of the consulting profession, coupled with the need to be flexible as priorities change, results in an energizing profession. It's impossible to be bored in consulting. I love shifting between sales, recruiting, marketing, resource utilization, mentorship, training, client service and so much more."
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