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After a 23 year career in commercial finance, Marcia V. Perkins co-founded Gathered Wisdom Partners to accelerate success for individuals and companies by helping women achieve their full potential. Gathered Wisdom Partners conducted extensive research interviews and share their research-based model through consulting services, workshops, speaking engagements, coaching and their newsletter.
As a seasoned commercial finance executive, Marcia worked directly with hundreds of companies and reviewed thousands – from $10 million to over $1 billion in sales, representing all industries, and dispersed throughout the U.S. and Canada. Her lending and investment work included evaluating a company’s management team, strategic plan, financial forecast, industry outlook and competitive position, and then working directly with management teams and private equity owners as the companies grew, made acquisitions, and worked through economic cycles.
Consistent themes in Marcia’s career include embracing change, learning new skills, and building teams – whether reinvigorating a business, adding product lines or starting up new ventures. As a Managing Director at Merrill Lynch, she was one of three founding leaders building Merrill Lynch Capital Corporate Finance from 3 employees to over $17.5 billion in managed assets and 175 employees in 6 years. She began her career at Heller Financial, Inc., a leading middle market provider of leveraged loans, where she worked her way up to Executive Vice President, serving as one of four leaders heading the $6 billion Corporate Finance division.
Marcia and her co-founder, Diane Sawyer, presented “Reframe Your Thoughts” at TEDxUWMilwaukee, sharing a powerful tool to help women confront their internal barriers and get out of their own way. Marcia has presented on “Building Strong Self-Advocacy Skills” to high school STEM girls, special education students and their parents, and immigrant women in a job-readiness program. She is a certified Adult Literacy Tutor, is active in literacy and ESL volunteer work, and is a WINGS career coach to women escaping domestic violence.
