January 29, 2020 4:00 am Published by

Episode 41:

Female Leader | From the Ground Up

Peggy McHale is a serial entrepreneur, growth guru, and renown female leader in the consulting industry where she built her business, C2G Partners. Peggy is the co-author of Black and White Strike Gold: Practical Nuggets to Grow Female Leader | Built to Sell, with Peggy McHaleYour Business, and she serves on NJIT’s Undergraduate Research and Innovation Board and The Women’s Center for Entrepreneurship (WCEC) Board. She has a long list of accolades and accomplishments, but the recent sale of her business was one of the most significant milestones in her career. The emotional and logistical challenges of growing and selling a business are greater than most could imagine, but they provided Peggy with invaluable lessons that made her the leader she is today. She joined us to share some of them and explain what it took to achieve success as a woman in the marketing industry.

Built to Sell

Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, Peggy built a successful career as a female leader in corporate America. However, when 9/11 took place, the global economic impact forced Peggy and thousands of others into unemployment. Instead of looking for a new job, Peggy decided to pursue her dormant goal of starting a business, and she entered the consulting industry after discovering a widespread need for interim expertise. She and her partner built a business plan, tapped into their networks, and softened the market so they could hit the ground running when they launched C2G. One-by-one, Peggy built a team of elite experts and grew the company to 150 employees before selling—but it did not come easy.

Making Difficult Decisions

One of the most challenging parts of being a female leader is making difficult decisions swiftly and effectively. Since her business plan incorporated an exit strategy from the beginning, it meant she had to constantly make difficult decisions to stay on course. The greatest cost for a consulting business is labor, so when the recession hit, Peggy had to cut people based on revenue generation alone. And when she sold, she had to deal with changes in loyalty and attitude after the new owners came into the picture. No matter what your goals are, every decision you make will have consequences;

About Peggy McHale

Peggy is the co-founder and recently retired Managing Director for C2G Partners (Formerly Consultants 2 Go) a Newark, NJ based consulting firm that provides marketing and analytic solutions to Fortune 500 companies in the Financial Services, Telecom, CPG, Healthcare, and Insurance industries. C2G was acquired by Whitegate Capital Partners, a private equity firm in 2016.

C2G was recognized for the second time by Fortune Magazine/ICCC as one of the top 100 Inner City Companies in the US. In addition, C2G was also included on the Inc. 500/5000 list as one of the fastest-growing companies in the US for the last six years. Peggy is the co-author of Black and White Strike Gold: Practical Nuggets to Grow Your Business. She just recently co-wrote Lessons Beyond the Obvious: An Entrepreneurs Handbook. Before she started her company with her partner Sandi Webster, she was a Vice President of Marketing at American Express. She holds an MBA in Finance from St. John’s University and a BA from the College of Mount St. Vincent. Peggy currently serves as an independent Board Member for Pariveda Solutions. In addition, Peggy is committed to supporting several nonprofit organizations including NJIT’s Undergraduate Research and Innovation Board and The Women’s Center for Entrepreneurship (WCEC) Board. Peggy served on the State Board of the New Jersey Association of Women Business Owners as their Vice President of Marketing and Nominations Chair. She is also a member of the Women Presidents’ Organization, New Jersey Technology Council (NJTC), National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) and NYPAY. Peggy was a Finalist for EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 2016 & 2017. She was also awarded Leading Women of NJ and Top 50 Women Leaders in NJ by NJ Biz.

What You Will Learn:

  • How Peggy started her company and grew it to 150 employees
  • How Peggy leveraged her network to soften the market before launching her company
  • How Peggy and her partner extended their expertise to new team members so they could start delegating and growing the business
  • Practices that helped Peggy make difficult decisions as a female leader
  • How Peggy navigated the internal and external challenges of selling her business

Resources:

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