The Girl Scouts have a saying that speaks to the lasting influence the organization aims to have on girls’ lives: “Once a Girl Scout, always a Girl Scout.” And that saying describes Jessica McClain’s path to CFO. After spending 12 years as an accountant in the private sector, McClain pursued a leadership position with the Girl Scouts Council of the Nation’s Capital. “I’m a former Girl Scout myself,” said McClain, who has served in the CFO post since October 2021.  

When she saw the job was available, McClain said, “I thought it would be great to go back to the organization that supported me as a young child. I also have a young daughter who is a year away from being a Girl Scout.” 

McClain oversees the finances of the largest Girl Scout council in the United States, which represents about 75,000 volunteers and members in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. The work she’s doing “gives women a sense of purpose,” she said. 

Her workload recently increased — to her delight — by receipt of the council’s largest ever gift: $3.8 million from philanthropist and novelist MacKenzie Scott. 

“This is a transformational gift,” McClain said. The council plans to use it over five years to support its staff and thousands of volunteers, including alums and parents of scouts and former scouts. “Our volunteer network is instrumental in how we operate.” 

Girl Scout volunteers are typically the leaders of local troops, and may run regional service units, or help with cookie sales. The girls still sell Girl Scout cookies, helping them learn management and accounting skills, but they also learn about STEM, artificial intelligence, computer programming and nature. While camping is still part of the program, time spent outdoors also means learning about climate change. McClain said the scouts are “very enthusiastic” when it comes to learning about climate change “and what it means for the future.” 

McClain said the organization is “financially strong coming out of COVID.” Looking to the future, she said, “there are always ways we can do things faster, better, more efficiently.”   

Private sector pivots 

Like Jessica McClain, Faides Zilemba was also an accountant working in the private sector. She told CEO Update that she did not expect that her career path would lead to overseeing an association’s finances. Zilemba, vice president for finance and administration at Building Owners & Managers Association International (BOMA), started out at Brookfield Homes, a residential builder based in California and the Washington, D.C., area. 

After five years at Brookfield, Zilemba was laid off in 2009 when the housing market collapsed. That meant going from local to international. “Lo and behold, I ended up in a not-for-profit at BOMA,” she said. 

She moved up to her current role from a management position. “I just fell into it. It was just an opportunity that came my way. I love it so much I just stayed,” she said. 

But staying in one job doesn’t mean standing still. “BOMA has changed in 14 years. Our business has changed. We’ve grown,” she said. For one, she has more money to track: “I think our budget has gone from $8 million to $11 million in the last few years since I’ve been at the leadership level.”  

Other current challenges include handling the merger with an affiliated but separate education arm, which will increase BOMA’s budget to about $16 million. 

Her advice for others looking to get ahead? “You have to listen to yourself. You have to remember there’s a big group that’s behind you. There are people that help you get where you need to be, people who you have to keep an eye on, people there to help you.” 

Zilemba gives credit to a former boss at BOMA who encouraged her to keep up with professional education and development. She wasn’t trained or experienced in handling personnel, so she had to study it, for instance. 

She encourages the people who work for her to do the same, asking them where they want to end up. “The education is there; please get it,” she said. 

Strategic change 

Chase Warden realized the Land Trust Alliance (LTA) needed to improve and update its management systems. Warden came to the alliance as chief operating and financial officer in 2018 after working in management and financial roles at the Nature Conservancy for 13 years, which gave him plenty of on-the-job training for his current role. 

“One of our strategic pillars is making great investments in operational infrastructure,” Warden said. He found that LTA’s system needed updating and digital transformation, a transition that meant not only dealing with computer systems, but with people — “working closely with leadership to manage the change going on in the organization. I also work closely with the board.” 

LTA employs about 80 people, most of whom work in field offices around the country. So when the pandemic hit, the alliance had an advantage over many organizations in that it was used to working remotely.  

“We really thought carefully about change and our pace of change,” Warden said, “and we learned some things along the way about our staff and its ability to change.” 

The job to update the management systems required using “different avenues of training and communication” and a separate task force to think about how to get the staff to adapt to digital transformation and involve everyone in each stage of the process. Staff had to be retrained on the basics, like how to handle invoices and process payments, and the new systems didn’t always work properly. 

“Staff may resist. Sometimes you offer feedback, but you just have to listen and see how you can meet their needs . . . making sure you create an open-door environment where staff feel comfortable providing feedback,” Warden said. 

His next challenge? LTA is launching a national marketing campaign called Gaining Ground this fall to raise awareness and funding for land conservation.