ENGINEERED FOR SUCCESS.

• Author: Saylor, Teri
• Position: NC TREND: Game changers: Profile of a female leader

JILL WELLS HEATH WAS TOLD THAT AN ACCOUNTANT COULD NEVER RUN AN ENGINEERING FIRM. BUT FINANCE EXPERTISE CARRIED CALYX THROUGH ITS WORST CRISIS.

Calyx CEO Jill Wells Heath, 53, took the reins on the eve of the worst recession in recent memory. An accountant, she combined her financial savvy with leadership skills to help turn the Cary-based engineering firm around.

In February 2008, Calyx, then known as Mulkey Engineers & Consultants, had 220 employees with five offices in the Southeast. Heath reduced the firm's employee head count to 130 and closed offices in Columbia, S.C., and Jacksonville, Fla., while retaining the Cary, Charlotte and Atlanta locations. Heath says she'll carry internal scars from J that experience her entire life. But the company, which was founded in 1993, survived and thrived. "Now, I'm in a position where I can spend money on great engineers. I don't need to spend it on a CFO because we've got that." With 165 people on the payroll today, Calyx is adding staff.

DESCRIBE WHERE YOU CAME FROM.

I'm from Goldsboro. I went to Wayne Community College and got an accounting degree. I [then] started school down in Wilmington, and my father passed away. He was a developer in Goldsboro, so at 20, I was made vice president of his development company. I had to come home. So, I just decided I'd eventually go back to school. In 1991, I got my CPA and after that point, it didn't seem to matter anymore. It's worked out. We wound up closing the [family's] company, and it was a tough, tough time. It was not the experience I wanted, but it was the experience I got, and it has served me well in life.

WHICH FORK IN THE ROAD BROUGHT YOU TO CALYX?

One of the things my father always told me was, "You will find a job where you will be able to make money, you will have fun and you will love what you do." I realized I really need to be my own boss. I was 27 when I started my own CPA practice, and I never had any intentions to go to work for my best client, but that is exactly what I did for Mulkey. I was asked if I would mind coming in one day a month, and that turned into one day a week, and it eventually got to three days a week. That was in 2003. Then the company had to hire a full-time CFO, and that's how I got started here.

HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE NEW NAME?

Calyx is the name of a very powerful drill that can go through the hardest of rock. But Calyx also describes the protective petals of a budding plant. These concepts represent how we...