In 2018, after leaving my corporate role in sustainability, I first took on some freelance work simply to fill the gap in my time and finances while I looked for another role. I quickly found that I loved consulting, and over the course of that first year found myself saying “no” to in-house opportunities and saying “yes” to freelance projects. This led to incorporating as an LLC and growing my solo shop to what in late 2022 became an unsustainable pace that had led to significant burnout on my part. I had a choice – to downsize my number of clients and projects or to start growing my company with external hires.
At this point in Veerless’ journey, I had already received B Corp Certification, and I took very seriously the commitments of B Corps to hire ethically and responsibly. I knew bringing team members into the company would present financial commitments, new risks, but also new rewards and opportunities. I took some time away in December 2022 to truly consider my next steps and connect to my purpose as a business owner in this incredible field and here’s what I came to: it wasn’t enough for this company to help me achieve my dreams. I wanted it to do the same for the people who worked with me, and I also wanted it to be a catalyst for both achievement and legacy building for my family. So in January 2023, I made my first two job offers – to my husband, Charlie, and the second to one of my closest family members and friends, Kris. And by March 2023, we were around our dining room table as a team of three (see photo below).
Today, in honor of National Family Owned & Operated Businesses Day, I want to tell you about Charlie and Kris, and their role as the foundational cornerstone of Veerless’ growth.
Meet Kris Fischer
I’ve known Kris nearly 30 years, since she started dating my cousin, Monte. They are as close to me as siblings could ever be, so I lovingly refer to him as my brother, and Kris as my sister-in-law; their kids are two of my seven nieces and nephews. In the years I’ve known Kris, she has been my friend, my confidant, my support system, and my role model. A career social worker, she is the most incredible listener I know, and someone people on the street quite literally feel so comfortable with, they stop just to talk to her. Kris spent her entire career working inside the healthcare system as a medical social worker, and over the years I saw how distinctly her skill set matched the work we do in corporate responsibility, sustainability, and ESG.
Kris’ commitment to ethics is not in name only. Every day, she advised medical professionals on ethical decision making when patients’ lives were on the line. I saw Kris go to work every single day through the COVID-19 pandemic, and in our personal time together, she shared how difficult that process was, and her own dreams for her career and her future. Like me, Kris dreamed of being able to use her knowledge and skills to make an impact on people and companies, while also having the flexibility to travel and try new things personally and professionally. Kris and I first talked about her joining Veerless in fall 2022, and she bravely resigned from her full-time role in hospital social work in early 2023. Three years later, Kris’ warm presence, listening ear, and attention to detail are just a few of the hallmark traits she brings to Veerless clients, including clients across the healthcare spectrum including hospitals, biotech and pharmaceutical leaders, and insurance providers.
Spend some time with Kris and she will undoubtedly get you to “dream big” about your company’s corporate responsibility initiatives by asking her always useful “magic wand question.” She deeply believes in the good in people, that companies can be ethical and moral forces for good, and she reminds our entire team that we need to use our hearts as much as our heads in this work.
Meet Charlie Beck
When Charlie and I meet people and they inevitably find out we work together, there are two typical reactions: 1) “that’s so cool,” and 2) “I could never work with my spouse!” Truth be told, we weren’t sure how working together would be either. When I returned stateside after my December 2022 “decide to hire” trip, Charlie and I agreed he would leave the corporate world for six months to start, joining Veerless long enough to give me the extra time in my day to grow the team and the business, removing the important tasks of finance, legal, and human resources from my plate as we expanded. Charlie had, of course, already been an advisor to the company, bringing his legal experience to the table to help me craft my first contracts, my LLC filing, and much more. And just as importantly, he remained my most trusted personal advisor. Early in my time as a consultant, I even had him push send on a couple of proposal emails when my confidence waned.
Today, when Charlie and I talk about working at Veerless together we often say this: “Marcy works in the business, and Charlie works on the business.” That separation does make it much easier to work together than if we were truly side-by-side in everyday decision-making and meetings.
Charlie’s expertise in technology has pushed our entire team at Veerless to become deeply tech savvy. I do not say this lightly, I truly believe we are on the cutting edge of technology in professional services. Charlie was training large language models in legal technology before most people even knew what LLMs were. And for Veerless, he has built custom, proprietary technology tools – some using AI and some not – that save our team time, save our clients money and time, and put us on the leading edge in areas like risk management, global benchmarking, and more.
The entire Veerless team would also tell you that Charlie’s positivity is contagious. He believes in each of us even when we don’t believe in ourselves and acts as a coach for every member of our team.
A Team Effort
Over these past three years, I’ve had the opportunity to see Charlie and Kris make such incredible impact on Veerless, but I’ve also gotten to see how Veerless’ commitment to employee experience facilitates the dreams and opportunities of all our team members. Charlie spends his time outside Veerless mentoring startup founders through GoingVC, Beta, the University of St. Thomas, and others. He also credits his “awesome boss” with the fact that he controls his own schedule enough to golf multiple times a week. Kris has taken her laptop with her to her daughter’s hockey commitments in Ohio, Lake Placid, Finland, and more. She has also built her own business, consulting and speaking in the field of moral distress in medicine and remains involved in multiple committees in her primary field including serving as a member of the National Kidney Foundation’s Council of Nephrology Social Workers Executive Committee, and a board member for the National Association of Social Workers North Dakota chapter. She also serves as a Peer Mentor through the Organ Donation and Transplant Alliance.
Last year, we had the opportunity to take headshots with the incredible Studio Freshly in Fargo, and at that shoot, we also got a few photos of Kris, Charlie, and me. Today seems like the perfect time to share a few photos from that day and reiterate my gratitude and love for these two incredible people I get to work alongside every day. Happy Family Owned & Operated Business Day, Kris and Charlie! Thanks for walking this journey with me and with our entire Veerless team.
