Nancy Fredericks spent over 20 years managing Operations and Human Resources functions in large law and accounting firms in Los Angeles before deciding to start her own consulting company. Even within these large, conservative organizations, Nancy was known as an entrepreneurial manager. She launched training programs that transformed the organization's processes and skill sets—even when there was no "official" budget to support them. She learned early on that success attracts the funding for more success.
Nancy's first foray into the world of entrepreneurship actually occurred when she was in third grade. She began weaving potholders at night, and selling them to the neighbors the following afternoon. Soon, she organized the first mass-production line in her neighborhood when she convinced three friends to join her little business. They wove the potholders, which she then sold throughout the neighborhood. Here began her first lessons in managing, marketing, and high finance.
In 1990, Nancy launched her own business as a corporate consultant specializing in improving business results by shifting people and processes. Over the years, Nancy Fredericks International has expanded to include customized training programs, executive-planning retreats, and specialized needs assessments to uncover what is and is not working within an organization. These services help executives "manage the gap"—move across the space between where they are and where they need to be-to achieve higher levels of success for themselves and their companies.
In 2000, Nancy and Candy Deemer joined forces in Interven Partners, a consulting practice that focuses on the issues facing professional women (and the men who work with them), particularly in large organizational structures. Interven's flagship proprietary development course is "A Woman's Way of Leadership," which was adapted from the material in their book, Dancing on the Glass Ceiling. This course helps professional women fully leverage their feminine-based strengths to succeed at higher levels in their organizations, rather than "force fitting" themselves into the traditional, masculine model of leadership.
The clients of NFI and Interven include Hunt-Wesson, Paramount Pictures, DDB Worldwide Communications, Rain Bird Corp., Kia Motors America, Inc., Walt Disney Studios, Hughes Electronics, Unilever/Helene Curtis, Ogilvy One, and Rockwell International.
Nancy is a dynamic, inspiring professional speaker. She has also written articles and commentaries that have appeared in a variety of business and spiritual magazines.
Nancy is a single woman and mother to Bear, a cuddly (but psychotic) cockapoo that she rescued from an abusive environment. She is an avid reader and traveler who enjoys just about any outdoor sport. If Colorado had a frequent skier program, she would certainly qualify. She also enjoys hiking and biking, and is a daily swimmer.
BACK TO TOP
Video Biography
Before joining Nancy Fredericks in Interven Partners in 2000, Candy Deemer spent 22 years in the advertising industry, rising from an entry-level position as Assistant Account Executive at Needham, Harper & Steers in Chicago (now DDB Worldwide), to Co-Managing Director and COO of DDB Los Angeles. When she made the decision to leave DDB and begin her second career as a writer in 1999, Candy was the highest ranking woman in the L.A. office. So she knows firsthand about the trials and tribulations of being a "trailblazer" in corporate America. And as the mother of three young sons, she has experienced the challenges that working mothers face in the office and at home. She has spoken to many professional and student groups on this issue of balancing career and family.
Candy has managed major accounts in the health care, airline, fashion, fragrance, packaged goods, fast food, and restaurant categories. In keeping with her trailblazer instincts, she has had extensive experience (and the most fun) in new product marketing. She developed the introductory campaign strategy for Paul Masson Light wine, which was the most successful new product launch in the Seagrams Company's history; and she managed the test market introduction of McDonald's first non-beef entrée—Chicken McNuggets.
Candy's trailblazing tendencies showed up early in life. As a child, when other girls were playing dolls, she spent her time on the softball diamond as one of very few girls involved in team sports in the 1960's (she played shortstop). And she still holds the distinction of being the only person who was the Editor-in-Chief of the high school newspaper for two years. Candy's high school journalism teacher recently told her that she's never found anyone else with enough energy to do the job that long.
Candy was also the first person in her family to graduate from college, thanks largely to the encouragement of her mother. When Candy asked her high school counselor about Northwestern, he told her not to bother applying, since her parents couldn't afford the tuition. Candy went home in tears. Even now, she remembers her mother's exact words of consolation: "Screw him. Apply anyway and see what happens." So she did, and Northwestern awarded her a scholarship that covered the majority of her tuition and expenses. For Candy, attending NU was the pivotal event that set her course for the future. She will never be able to repay them (with either time or money) for this gift.
Candy holds Bachelor and Master of Science degrees from Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism, and was one of the first alumni inductees into Medill's Hall of Achievement in 1997. She is a Charter member of Northwestern's Council of One Hundred, a group of professional women in business, government, and the arts who are selected by the university to mentor female students toward successful careers. She has also served on the Board of Directors of the American Advertising Museum in Portland, and Students in Free Enterprise, a national organization founded by Sam Walton to promote understanding/participation in the free enterprise system among college students.
Nowadays, Candy spends her time writing, speaking, consulting, and participating in a variety of volunteer activities. She coaches executive women and her sons' baseball teams. She teaches art projects and religion classes in her sons' schools, and spends time at Chrysalis, a local charity for the homeless, leading seminars to help women successfully re-enter the workforce. Much of what she shares in these seminars comes directly from the pages of Dancing on the Glass Ceiling. The concepts work just as well for those who are learning how to function well at ground level, too.
Candy lives with her husband, Ken (a venture capitalist), and sons Kevin (14), Andy (10) and Brian (8), in Manhattan Beach, California. She is a piano player, skier, and international traveler. She's trekked to Annapurna in Nepal, ridden camels in Egypt, mushed a dog sled in Montana, climbed a pyramid at Giza, knelt in the Blue Mosque, walked on a glacier atop the Alps, and luxuriated on the Orient Express.
BACK TO TOP
|
