GREAT TEAMS START WITH GREAT PEOPLE.

Meet Kelcy Walsh

What is your role at MorganFranklin, and what do you do?

I am a senior manager in MorganFranklin’s Strategy & Transformation practice.

Please tell us about your professional background and what led you to pursue a career at MorganFranklin.

I spent the first part of my career in public policy and government affairs, including about two-and-a-half years working the United States Senate for the Senate Finance Committee and then more than eight years at General Electric focused on tax policy with the Finance & Corporate Tax and Global Government Affairs teams. During my time at GE, I got my MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and knew I was ready to transition my career to focus on larger operational and strategic questions rather than pure policy. My experiences at GE and in the Senate gave me a strong foundation in managing high-visibility projects across large teams, and my MBA allowed me to build out more core business and management skills that together have led me to consulting.

I chose MorganFranklin specifically for the opportunity to own my career (a term you will hear often when talking to MFCers!) and also because the leadership team truly values my individual perspective and wants each consultant to bring that to their engagements, whether client facing or an internal team function or meeting.

What has been your favorite MorganFranklin project and why?

My favorite project to date at MorganFranklin has been helping one of our large Fortune 100 financial services clients build out a new business line within the company. While building out a new business line brings a lot of unknowns, it also means being a true partner to the client and getting to work on a variety of problem statements across every aspect of the business and then seeing results real time.

What advice would you give to someone hoping to pursue a career at MorganFranklin?

I think sometimes consulting as a career path can be viewed as monolithic, but it is important to really understand MorganFranklin as a firm. People and culture matter, and fit in these regards is a key part of our recruiting process.

You and a group of friends once had a podcast series. Can you tell us how you got into podcasting and what your show was about?

My podcasting venture (“Four of a Kind” podcast) started as a creative/entrepreneurial outlet for me and three of my business school classmates and closest friends—not an uncommon occurrence coming out of business school! We focus on women in business and alternate between episodes exploring questions among the four of us and interviews with amazing businesswomen (and male allies, too).

We felt like there was an opportunity to talk more about how women manage their careers, especially at the point where they have a chance to take on bigger roles with more unknowns and even financial risk, such as when starting a company. Lots of awesome podcasts focus on interviewing women that have built incredibly successful companies, but we wanted to make these discussions more accessible and real to our audience by focusing on women who are in the middle of it and talk about how they manage when that success isn’t a known or a given.

What was the most challenging aspect of running a series?

We learned a lot about running a series. One of the unexpected hard parts was the editing. Editing an episode takes forever. One of the challenges we knew we were going to face, and certainly did, was how to manage our content and brand to ensure we had a clear point of view for our audience while getting episodes out the door on a weekly basis.

Bonus question: Favorite podcast you listen to now?

This is probably already known to most, but I really enjoy listening to “Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard.” He has such a broad range of (very impressive) guests and doesn’t shy away from digging into the details of whatever topic they are discussing. Some of my favorite episodes are with big-name psychologists and professors talking about human intellect, emotions, and relationships.

You recently picked up surfing. What drew you to this?

I swam growing up and through college, and I love the water. Surfing was an opportunity to challenge myself with a new sport but also be in my happy place—the sea!

What is your favorite place to surf?

I really enjoyed surfing in Mexico’s warm water (wetsuit not needed) and long rides, but I’m hoping to explore many more places in the future.

You also play both tennis and pickleball. Which one do you prefer and why?

This is like picking a favorite child! I love tennis for the competition, but pickleball is an awesome sport to play with group. On the smaller court, you can chat with your teammate and opponents so it’s more social, and it is easier to play with people of different levels.