We have had a lot of women come in and say like
literally I'm the only woman in this is myself too
like I am the only woman in the room a lot of the time.
Even though it might be a virtual room,
I mean a lot of the time.
And it is very refreshing
sometimes to just go into a room of women
and just it is a different feeling
Our guest today is someone who understands
that growth isn't just about strategy
it's about people, timing and trust.
Meg Chamblee is an executive vice president at UDig.
Where she established
and leads the firm's Nashville office.
Meg drives strategy and growth across a diverse
portfolio of enterprise clients,
her work sits at the intersection of strategy,
software, data,
AI and automation,
helping turn big ideas into real measurable impact.
What makes Meg's perspective unique
is the path she took to get here.
She started in human resources,
built recruiting teams from scratch,
moved into business development
and ultimately
into leading this technology consulting organization.
In our conversation,
we talk about two things that don't get enough
airtime: 1
how building a market is really about relationships
before results;
and 2 how leaders
who understand both people and technology
are the ones creating durable growth
right now. Let's jump into this conversation with Meg.
Where's one of the biggest impacts
your community and your network and
that effort you put in,
what's one of the biggest returns that you've seen in a
in a tangible way?
In a tangible way? I mean,
yeah, my first thought is more about like
professional experience and growth and stuff,
but like there are certainly like networking tangibles.
Like I met this person through this way
and that lead to actual business that we're doing,
that's happened quite a bit, honestly.
It's almost hard to track
it happens so. When it's so interconnected,
like I think about
our work with Tractor Supply is pretty public
so that's probably a good one to think about.
I first met
Glen Allison at an NTC event
like when I first moved to Nashville,
and then I met Marla Lamont
who was a tractor recruiter at the time
through a WiTT event in Nashville.
And then I'm I don't even remember
I met a bunch of other people in other ways
from the NTC to WITT to Leadership Brentwood
later
I did Leadership Brentwood through the Williamson, Inc.
group and met even more people.
So this is like eight or nine years
of meeting people and exploring things
but never actually working together
and then at a Leadership Brentwood event
I ran into Glenn and we were like hey
we should do this together,
and then like three months later
we were working together.
And for us as UDig and we're
you know I
I joined UDig
to start the Nashville office about six years ago,
and we're starting to you know
build out our client base and our team and everything
that was just a huge
it made a huge impact on our office on our company,
and now that was three or four years ago
and we're doing more and more with them.
And it's been incredibly impactful,
but I definitely originated in community.
There are some things you give to that don't give back,
and there are some things that you give to that
have a return. We're talking about what is the return?
But I haven't I've been here for 25 years
I haven't seen anything that I gave to
in Nashville that didn't give back in some way.
I was gonna say yeah
I feel like everything has a return,
it's just sometimes it's tangible
There's these organizations that are all kind of
sort of
purposed to make sure that this is fertile ground.
And I'm
I just wanna ask more I mean
have you ever been in a situation where you didn't
experience this return,
this growth sense the sunshine on
on the thing that you planted?
Hmm it's a good question.
First of all I
it's not like everything I go to
I think ooh,
you know what am I gonna get out of it?
I which I feel like is a really important part of
it's a huge the mindset
and I think that's where people get frustrated,
as they have the wrong expectations.
You know I think
if your motivation is just
I don't know,
I just feel like I wanna be a part of whatever this is
and you know
at the end of the day what I'm
what I'm looking for is not something like
I want to sign a deal after this thing. Right.
I just wanna learn,
I wanna get more involved,
I wanna see how I can help.
but it was more like that
seems to me to be the spirit of what you brought to
everything and so it continues to circle back. Well
I think the this is sort of my WiTT example.
So, when I first moved moved here, and I was everywhere.
I mean Bryan Huddleston used to make fun of me, like
there's Meg again, like she has nothing else to do.
she's just done all the events.
But through that I met a lot of people,
I got involved in things
and I wasn't like a career salesperson,
I was in HR,
I did some recruiting, like I wasn't, you know.
And so where
I felt like I could be helpful
was in helping people with
campus recruiting, or like
you know
I was trying to think of things that I could do
to be helpful. But in the end
it was just like literally anything
and when you get into an organization like WiTT
like I'll help with registration or I don't know
what do you need like I'm around
I can do things.
And eventually Beth Hoeg
somebody referred her referred me to her
as they were looking for board members for WiTT.
And she was like hey
you know would you be interested in this?
And that was the first board
I had ever been asked to be on
I like couldn't believe it,
I was like oh my gosh
the board, I can't believe they would ask me.
Little did I know, like it's a job. You cannot refuse.
It's I want you to work for free
like how do you feel about that?
But it was great and that was a game changer for me,
and then eventually I became president of WiTT,
which gave me so much experience.
I got to manage a PNL, I got to
you know you're really leading a team
it's an all volunteer board,
we don't have a staff, there's so much work to do.
I did that during the pandemic.
I mean there was just a lot that I learned
through that experience that's to me
way more valuable than any like
client or like relationship.
Cause it just taught me a lot about myself
and who I am as a leader who I wanna be.
I it's just been what's.
What's the conversation?
you wanna be driving in Nashville
I'm trying to think about that.
I know what the answer is.
What is it? She's already doing it
and it is it's
it's helping grow leaders,
helping grow followers, helping grow you.
I've watched you help grow people.
and I want your input on this
I think it we've talked a little bit about
you know what
why we go to the networking events and what we do,
and the people that don't get our eyes on it
and I think it's about intent.
And I think if I heard you right
it was mostly about
go in with no expectation of a return
that's the only way to get a return? Yeah.
Is to go in with an expectation of no return.
And I've watched you play that out, where Meg's just Meg
and she's there to help and it's.
You get grabbed at a lot
it's like an open bag of candy sometimes and you know
everybody wants
everyone knows Meg can help
so everyone's gonna ask for Meg's help.
We've had that conversation.
So tell me about a time you had to say no. Well
you remember this time maybe?
So if you don't know
John and I along with Joanne Ecktonn and Suzi Earhart,
put together this elite program for the NTC
the Emerging Leaders in Technology Program. And
and now it's like 10 years.
Is it? We are at our 10th year. Yeah.
So very rewarding, great experience with again
the goal of like you know
there's a there's a layer of leadership
that's not getting addressed
or connected. Like we have CEO groups
we have user groups for practitioners
but like new leaders, middle managers
those people need some love too.
And so we kind of put this thing together.
And so a few years in,
I think I was pregnant with my second child,
when we were putting Elite together the first time. And
I was on the board of WiTT at that time,
there was a lot I was already doing.
And I didn't leave any of those things
I took maternity leave you know
and then I
I went back to all of it, WiTT, everything.
And
after maybe a year or two of that
I was just like oh my gosh
like I cannot, this is too much
I can't do it. You know,
now like I have clients, I have like
I have more to do, I have like two kids,
I have this is pre covid
so it's all in person you know
and I'm like the screeching in mom at the daycare
like 5:59 before I'm gonna get charged like $30.
And I called we were on a call, and I was like OK
I have to bow out of Elite,
it's too much time like I
I cannot, I can't commit to this.
And I think it was maybe all of you?
But I remember Joanne saying,
"you know, you don't have to do as much as you're doing,"
like you can still be involved and not be
you know
and just be around. Like you don't have to do so much of.
You know maybe your expectations are too high.
Like you don't have to be at every single Elite thing
every single time.
It was just this permission to still be involved
but not like work so hard at it almost
or spend so much time on it.
Which was just very freeing
and I'm so glad I stuck with it, because
you know it
it continues to be this
I don't know
a gift that keeps on giving in a lot of ways.
Actually,
all I heard was we just wouldn't let her say no.
That's that whole story though,
that's we wouldn't
wouldn't take no for an answer.
But you let me like back up.
I mean you let me
you know
you let me
hold myself to like not as high of an expectation on
what I felt like I needed to do to like
be helpful. When
I think I learned this
through some of that process as well is
you bring an oversized value in certain ways.
There's things we're all good at, things I'm good at,
things you're good at
and I think it was permission to focus on where you're
where you brought the most value.
Focus there don't worry about the rest of it,
and I feel like that was that freeing part
and I've had that same conversation for me as well.
Is we've got all this other stuff
but where you bring value
focus on that and that alone. Yeah,
I think I need to do it
I think I need to figure that out again,
as we've talked about.
Because the alumni piece is where I was focused
and then that has not
we need to do more with the Elite alumni group
than we're doing. And again
I feel like there's probably
there's probably an actual alumni
or someone else who could step up to do that
but it's been hard to recruit somebody to put the time
yeah that you really need into that part of the group,
so this is my advertisement
if you're if you're listening Elite alumni
call me. It's time for us to hand the torch over.
We are tired. No,
I think you guys have invested.
You're looking for someone to come along in that
diamond field that is Nashville
and help you harvest some of the raw rocks.
You know I mean
this is a
what we're talking about today about Nashville is how
is it evolving? What are the facets of Nashville's
technology and innovation
culture that you see and I
wanted to go back to something you said earlier.
You left, you know
you're native you
you left, you came back
you reestablished.
There was a different place to live
I mean
Nashville had places that you didn't want to live,
and now there are almost very few to know
places that you don't want to live,
I mean I live in East Nashville that
that would like what are you talking about.
At some point in the past
the city has just continued to evolve
and the closer you are to the city
the more dynamic it is and
and so you reestablished yourself,
and you created a new energy center that
you could give and and it would support you.
So how did what
what did you see in that experience that was different?
You know
what about Nashville has changed in your mind,
most recently and in
over that window of time where you got
re established?
So I moved back in 20 like early 2014,
so Nashville was already different.
But since then obviously
has become very different.
So
I mean you know
Nashville itself different,
but I think also I was different, right.
Like I you know,
ten years later I'm a different person,
like I'm married I have children,
and so I think it was also like okay
which part of Nashville
is gonna be the right thing for me now
that maybe isn't what I would have expected
when I was graduating high school.
And like making assumptions that if I was here
I would just have whatever this life is that I had
before. For an example
so I went to Harpeth Hall
I went to all private schools when I was here,
I left, you know my husband went to public school
we were that was kind of our track in
in Birmingham where we were living
we moved back and it was like okay
well I guess we should live over here,
like this is what my friends are doing,
you know like
let's figure this out. But then I'm working in like
so that's like Green Hills, and I'm working in Franklin
it was just
it just wasn't really working for us the way that
that we needed it to for our family,
and then you know
I mean Brentwood was around when I left,
but I didn't live there. And so now that's where
that's where we are
and we're in the public schools and it
it just it works so much better for our family.
So I think none of that is really new Nashville
but I think it was more like
how do I fit
my new self into the Nashville that I kind of
am the best fit for. Yeah.
Yeah. And in the areas that we didn't talk,
I lived in Brentwood for
forever in East Nashville for the last seven years
and I look around at
Gallatin and. Right.
Hendersonville and these places that are,
I mean you know
Williamson County's got the beacon of public education
and great leadership
and
a lot of people who are contributing in so many ways.
And then if you
if you pull yourself out of that and look elsewhere,
wow
there's something really incredible going on in Jolton
right now and in Fairview.
Yeah places that I would have never even imagined
they're just it's like bubbling with creativity and
and I just a great
it's a great place to be embraced
I think, everywhere I look
the communities are embracing each other.
Yeah I think that's true too,
and in the economic development of the whole region
is just a huge factor.
I mean it
you know I think there's a lot of
you know people might complain about growth.
But without I mean
we all grow with the growth.
You know like
because of that influx of companies that brings talent
that creates opportunity for people like us.
You know it
and now my kids have exposure to new kids
who are from California or from wherever
and that is that makes them better.
Like it the whole thing is more diverse,
you know the whole community becomes more diverse,
with all these different experiences
instead of some other communities that might
be well if you're not from here
you don't understand, and so like it's.
I've just
I've been in some other communities that are just
you know they're less
there are fewer people from
outside of those communities
to bring in new ideas
to which creates innovation
you know
and they end up getting a little bit more stuck.
And so
I think, that's probably to me maybe the
the most beneficial thing of Nashville's growth
is just how innovative we can be,
and how
how much more opportunity it creates for everybody here.
What piece of wisdom do you wanna leave us with today?
Oh I don't know if it's wisdom
but I would say
I think just the Nashville way is to pay it forward.
I know when I got here people would say that to me,
like they would take a coffee meeting
because somebody took a coffee meeting with them,
you know and I think
and I think that's been going on for decades
in Nashville. So
I think that is one thing that
hopefully is still kind of permeating
even though people are coming in from other places
that they're feeling that when they get here,
that it's not like other every other city,
you know it's a very giving town to your earlier
statement and I would just say
to pay that forward and keep that going,
so that we keep Nashville the special place that it is.
In all of these relationships that
that we are asking you to share
you know what is your wisdom?
What is your observation?
Tell us a story about one of the members of WiTT
who you could confidently say,
they changed their life in some way.
What would an example of be that of that story be?
So this was the sister of a coworker of mine
and he had reached out and said hey
my sister is a music teacher
and she wants to get into technology.
And you know
I think you're in this WiTT group
you know would you mind talking to her,
and I talked to her.
And she might have already known about WiTT
I honestly don't remember that completely but she
she applied for a scholarship,
she got the scholarship, she went back to school.
I think it was an SS that she did um
to get you know
her training. And then from that
got an internship at HCA
and then started working at HCA
in IT.
And that you know
that probably took two years, or 18 months or so.
But you know that is life changing,
I mean she completely changed her career.
She then told her other teacher friend
I feel like maybe she was also a music teacher
and she did the same thing.
And then it becomes this kind of ripple effect
where you're actually getting more people who might not
have ever considered that career path before
and now they're in it and it's happening. And they
you know
surely she would have done it anyway
if she hadn't gotten the funding
but you know no doubt
that funding helped make that decision for her and
and accelerate that pathway.
So she's she's a good one,
but there are so many. I mean
a lot of people who whether that made the
whether WiTT's funding or a topic that you listen to
or something that just made you think
I'm gonna keep going. I
you know I was thinking about getting out of this.
We have had a lot of women come in and say like
literally I'm the only woman in this is myself too
like I am the only woman in the room a lot of the time.
Even though it might be a virtual room,
I mean a lot of the time.
And it is very refreshing
sometimes to just go into a room of women
and just it is a different feeling
you know.
And I'm sure men you know
feel the same way in different areas like it's
it is it's just it can be more comfortable.
So I have I have heard a lot of women say that, like
you know okay at least I know I'm not alone
even though I am alone at my job, or
or wherever like I have this support group and
and other women who can who can support me.
And countless times of job referrals and relationships
networking leading to opportunities
for sure
Just maybe it's a bad question that I asked,
It's just her nature. And I think it points out,