Kelley McClain, managing vice president at Capital One and 2010 graduate of the Executive MBA program at the Naveen Jindal School of Management, will be honored Sept. 30 as one of Dallas Business Journal’s top 25 women leaders in North Texas technology.
“This achievement has validated my belief that we must continue to learn and take risks to enable our full potential,” she says.
McClain has worked at Capital One 19 years, progressing from front-line operations management to a variety of executive roles before moving into her current position. McClain notes that the opportunities she has been given to work in diverse executive roles, from business risk to technology and other areas, have been instrumental in her success.
She praises Capital One for its company culture, which, she says, is fostered by leaders who are “invested in the development of their associates and supportive of the bold choices they make in their careers.”
McClain has used technology skills in several roles over the years. As vice president of loan servicing for Capital One Auto Finance, she led the transformation of the organization’s technology, including core systems, user interfaces, data architecture, cloud migration, robotic processing automation, and more. Earlier, as vice president of home loans fulfillment operations, she headed the digital transformation for loan originations.
In her effort to continually learn and advance her career, McClain chose to pursue an executive MBA at the Jindal School.
“The University of Texas at Dallas’ Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) program was a game changer for me both personally and professionally,” she said. “Most notably, the executive coach feature of the program was life-changing — I still have several fond memories of Dr. [Richard] Miller and Dr. [David] Springate’s course offerings. Throughout my time at Jindal School, I gained confidence, established executive presence, learned to collaborate and enhanced my critical thinking skills.”
McClain said that this award has encouraged her to continue to learn and take risks in order to rise to her full potential. She referred to a favorite quote by New York Times bestselling author and motivational speaker Jon Acuff, who said, “Be brave enough to be bad at something new.”
The DBJhonor “has further motivated me to keep this message in the forefront of my mind and continue pushing forward even when the journey ahead is unknown,” she said.
“Throughout my time at Jindal School, I gained confidence, established executive presence, learned to collaborate and enhanced my critical thinking skills.” — Kelley McClain, EMBA’10, managing vice president at Capital One
The seventh annual Dallas Business Journal Women in Technology Awards seek to honor women who “are mavericks when it comes to technology and innovation, forging the way for both women and future tech leaders in Dallas-Fort Worth.”
The honorees have been selected for being key contributors in implementing or developing technology during their careers. On its hiring website, Capital One states that it is “building a leading information-based technology company” that is driven to help customers “succeed by bringing ingenuity, simplicity and humanity to banking.”
Other Women in Technology honorees with UT Dallas ties include Susan Tidwell, an Azure specialist at Microsoft who is a 2004 alumna of the School of Interdisciplinary Studies, and Toni Portmann, co-founder and CEO of Walkabout Workplace, a frequent speaker at and participant in JSOM’s Institute for Excellence in Corporate Governance events.
