"When a well-functioning group of people are having fun and working together, it's the best thing out there," Peggy DeMuse says. As Managing Partner of SALO Project, Peggy's role is to keep the "fabulous team" growing. "I want to make sure everybody we bring in is truly a team player. Wanting everyone to be successful is the core of who we are," she says.

Peggy has known SALO founder John Folkestad since 1998. When he founded SALO, she says, "I knew he and Amy Langer had the passion and drive to be successful. I knew it would be good to some day work together." The Managing Partner position at SALO Project provided the right opportunity, Peggy says. "It lets me leverage my background in finance, sales and management."

A Twin Cities native, Peggy graduated from St. Thomas University with a degree in accounting. After a brief stint as a bank auditor, she joined a CPA firm specializing in tax accounting for individuals, partnerships and small businesses. From there, she went to a large corporation, holding various positions in tax and finance, eventually becoming controller for the company's Caribbean and Central American divisions.

While the travel schedule got tiring, her work as an internal consultant was satisfying. "I was the liaison between the local countries and corporate headquarters." Her next two positions were in business development for a staffing firm in the Twin Cities and then with a Big Four Accounting Firm. In these positions, Peggy gained experience helping clients define their requirements and working together to develop solutions to meet those needs.

At SALO, finding the right fit between consultant and client is the key to success. That means taking the time to understand client needs. It also means finding a position the consultant finds challenging and fulfilling. "We're listening, understanding their goals. It's not just about the next engagement. It's also about growing their career," Peggy says.

Peggy sees the financial services world catching up with information technology in making consulting a full-time, long-term career option. "Maybe someone wants to move into a CFO role and uses consulting to get the breadth of experience needed to move into that role," she says. "Or maybe someone wants flexibility and variety while still being challenged. Either way, the day of working for one company until you retire isn't there anymore."