Thought leader.
Strategist.
Change agent.
Tamara Melck | JD, MS, MBA
Founder & Principal
Tamara knows firsthand the busy executive’s challenge: too much to do, and never enough time. Wishing you could download your thoughts on the 101 items on your To Do List to a magical “executive elf” who could do the behind-the-scenes work to translate and execute your vision, taking the projects that are happening (or not happening) off the side of your desk and getting them over the finish line.
A forward-thinking, hands-on executive with a well-diversified portfolio of multi-disciplinary business experience, Tamara has built departments from scratch, led big and small teams and projects, and mobilized change across a variety of functional areas including strategic planning, operations, project management, human resources, manufacturing, and legal. She has served on executive committees and senior leadership teams, presented to boards and board committees, having held various executive roles in private and public companies over her 20-year career:
Chief Operating Officer
Executive Vice President, People & Culture
Vice President, Corporate Operations
Vice President, Human Resources
Tamara has proven expertise in championing transformational change initiatives involving people, process, technology, and space, leading strategic planning and scaling operations for growth across multiple industries. Among her career achievements, she was instrumental in the growth of fashion retailer Aritzia, leading numerous departments and cross-functional projects and initiatives to build the infrastructure to enable profitable growth and improve employee engagement.
A lifelong learner, Tamara holds law and business degrees from the University of British Columbia, a journalism degree from Columbia University, and is a graduate of the High Potentials Leadership Program at Harvard Business School.
Beyond the resume:
Q&A with Tamara
Q: What is your purpose? What impact do you want to make in the world?
A: I want to work with values-aligned leaders to champion and drive transformational change that positively impacts a business and its people to make things meaningfully better.
Q: What are your core values?
A: Creativity. Diversity. Love. Connection. Contribution.
Q: What are your strengths?
A: I found my StrengthsFinder assessment to be pretty accurate:
Strategic. Intellection. Futuristic. Ideation. Learner.
Q: But what are your unique “superpowers”?
A: I leverage my strengths to add value in tangible ways:
Seeing beyond what is to what could be…then architecting the roadmap for how to get there
Leading visionary thinking…then galvanizing momentum and support for a radical shift in thinking / a movement
Identifying patterns and similarities across seemingly disparate events, groups, or companies
Connecting the cross-functional dots to identify linkages, obstacles, opportunities, and solutions
Relating easily to people from all walks of life and across all levels of an organization
Synthesizing and communicating complex ideas in a simple and compelling way
Learning new skills and assimilating new knowledge and ideas quickly
Q: What might surprise your teammates most about you?
A: I am happiest when I’m leading from behind (vs. out in front), working behind the scenes with and through others to mastermind and enable transformational impacts.