The 2022 Top Consultants: Emil Fernandez

Emil Fernandez is a 25-year veteran of the enterprise software and consulting services industry. Emil joined leading cloud advisory and implementation firm Spaulding Ridge in 2018 and is responsible for growing the Spaulding Ridge OneStream and Coupa practices.

Under Emil's leadership, the OneStream practice has risen from Silver to Diamond Partner status due to an excellent track record of client success, collaborative and innovative teamwork, and high retention of diverse employees. In 2021, Emil launched Spaulding Ridge's Coupa practice to provide clients with a robust, cloud-based P2P solution.

Before Spaulding Ridge, Emil founded Kerdock Consulting, an Oracle implementation firm, and grew the organization until its 2010 acquisition by Perficient, a publicly traded systems integrator and advisory firm. Following this, Emil grew and led the 200-person Perficient Oracle practice.

Emil specializes in business intelligence and corporate performance management systems, working with clients to deliver solutions around budgeting & planning, operational reporting, consolidated financial reporting, automated financial close and financial data quality. He is a dedicated ally to promoting women in the tech industry and regularly participates in Spaulding Ridge's Women Elevate initiative. He also acts as a business mentor and advisor for two technology incubators, the Houston Exponential and Capital Factory.

What has motivated you to excel over the course of your career?

Entering the consulting business was a happy accident for me. I started out in finance and quickly became disillusioned with the corporate world. I took a break from the traditional 9-to-5 to reconnect with my true beliefs and began working at a brewery—a passion project that gave me the time and space to consider my true calling in life.

When a friend of mine left a large consulting group to start his own firm, the idea of starting the company from the ground up struck me as incredibly exciting. I joined him, helping with operations, sales and delivery, and I quickly realized this was my calling—continuing to learn and helping make people's lives a bit easier through consulting.

I still find my passion in directing the implementation of cloud applications, solving common business problems to earn people back some time in their day, and ultimately promoting a better work-life balance for our clients. What do you enjoy most about your career in the consulting industry? I always tell consultants new to the industry that five years in consulting is like 15 years in one industry: You learn every element of your clients' needs in a very short period. As a result, it's a profession that allows you to pursue a wide range of interests and work across industries. Given my love of learning, I always appreciate how consulting allows me to expand my knowledge on industries that I'm interested in.

Additionally, in the consulting business, nothing ever gets stale. Time is always against you, and to ensure your clients' success, you need to focus on enablement—what tools can you give them quickly to help them thrive on their own? And, as soon as you're done, it's time to help another company. The quick nature and variety of the industry means there are always more interesting challenges and more people to meet.

What's the best advice you've ever been given?

When you strip away all the methodologies, all the buzzwords, all the technology…consulting is (and always will be) about people. People delivering value for other people, solving problems, making a difference. The best advice I've ever received, and the best advice I can give to others, is to understand people and to understand what makes them special. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses.

My old mentor used to tell me that a person's greatest strength is simultaneously her greatest weakness. For example, someone who is very flexible and accommodating—and good with clients—might struggle with scope creep. Put people in positions where they can leverage their strengths to be successful and surround them with other people who can complement or offset their weaknesses.

Great teams typically include different personality types—and as a leader, you must learn how to be an alchemist who combines these different elements to create this new and wonderful thing called team chemistry.