Meet Our Team
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Neil’s firm is a South Carolina based executive coaching firm dedicated to helping companies and communities grow. McLean is the first Certified EOS Implementer™ in S.C. and has worked with more than 40 CEOs and leadership teams helping them gain traction and breakthrough results in their businesses.
McLean received his BS-Engineering and MBA from the University of South Carolina and participated in executive education programs at Wharton and Harvard Business Schools. Neil serves as Vice Chair for Providence Health and was named to Columbia Business Monthly’s “50 Most Influential” in 2011 and 2012.
Neil lives on a pond just outside of Columbia in Blythewood, S.C. with his wife Deb and dogs Pete and Cooper. Children Veronica and Thomas are off to college but still maintain bedrooms in the home.
Hometown: Columbia, S.C.
What do you do really well?
See the big picture. Help others believe. Simplify. Coach. Cook.What are some things you care about deeply?
Deb, Veronica and Thomas. USC Football.What upsets you?
Excuses. When the Gamecocks lose games that they are supposed to win.What grounds you?
Walking or running around the old cow field next door to my house. Fripp Island. Planting new things in my yard.What word describes you best as a person?
Sagacious (here’s a definition)
Prior to joining the SP team, Meghan spent nearly six years working for a United States Senator. During that time she served two years as a press secretary on Capitol Hill. Following that, she entered the private sector with Stratacomm, a Fleishman-Hillard Company, and managed full-service, national public relations campaigns.
Meghan’s unique ability is conducting others with a resilient inner and physical strength – earning their trust and crafting strategies that create clarity from chaos. Sagacious Partners and the clients she works with get the benefit of her ability to integrate both vision and action into excellence.
Meghan, a self-proclaimed news junkie, is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of South Carolina Honors College (a proud Gamecock!), and she enjoys visiting her 12 nieces and nephews every chance she gets.
Hometown: Anderson, S.C. (the “Electric City”)
What do you do really well?
Sarcasm. High fives. Facilitating damn good meetings. Being an aunt. Lifting heavy things. Bagging groceries AND carrying them all into the house in one trip.What are some things you care about deeply?
My “people”. My community. My faith. Red wine. Assessments! Making the bed EVERY MORNING.What upsets you?
When haste makes waste. Mismanaged expectations. Running.What grounds you?
Laughter. Awkward moments. Exercise. A dude named Wes.What word describes you best as a person?
Maximizer – I love inspiring willing partners to maximize themselves and the world around them.
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Hometown: Okeechobee, FL (more cows than people)
What do you do really well?
Organize. Make lists. Laundry. Entertain toddlers.What are some things you care about deeply?
Work/Life balance. Girls’ weekends. Agriculture. Dairy products.What upsets you?
Misplacing something. Last-minute changes. Toddler tantrums for no reason (is there ever a reason?).What grounds you?
Cuddling with my daughter (when she sits still). Relaxing with a glass of wine and a mountain view. A weekend away with my husband. A clean house.What word describes you best as a person?
Dedicated.
Katie’s unique ability is probing and asking questions to determine the ultimate kernel of truth and motivation in any situation; and in using her well-honed communication skills to share that truth with others, inspiring everyone to bring their best selves and strongest skills to projects that serve the larger community.
Katie serves as president of the board of directors at Sexual Trauma Services of the Midlands; and also serves on the boards of One Columbia and The Power Company Collective. Other notable projects she has overseen include Columbia’s New Audience Road Show, which introduced young adults to artists and arts organizations in the Midlands; TEDxColumbiaSC 2012, 2013, and 2014; and event production for the Columbia Quad Squad roller derby team.
Hometown: St. Louis, MO
What do you do really well?
Ask questions. Improvise on stage. Make ranch dip.
What are some things you care about deeply?
The opportunity for every person to fulfill their greatest potential. Ending sexual violence and supporting survivors of sexual violence. Dancing with the Stars. Hot tubs.
What upsets you?
People who don’t work in service of others; snakes; alarm clocks
What grounds you?
TSA
What word describes you best as a person?
Manifest
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Will’s unique ability is benchmarking the best to create a clear vision, developing decisive, forward-thinking strategies through his own dot-connecting lens, and competing tenaciously to set new standards for people and places around him.
A native of New Windsor, Maryland, Will spends his free days fishing the Congaree, backpacking the Blue Ridge and finding the best new restaurants and breweries in Columbia. He also serves as a mentor for innovative Richland Two teachers and faculty as they develop new projects through the R2 Innovates program.
Hometown: New Windsor, MD (Motto: “We’ll get a stoplight one of these days”)
What do you do really well?
Research. Strategy. Carry things over mountains.
What are some things you care about deeply?
Placemaking. Conservation. Family (including my dogs, Riley and Mako).
What upsets you?
“Columbia’s best attribute? It’s two hours from the mountains and two hours from the beach.”
What grounds you?
Time spent outdoors: there’s nothing better than a long, difficult backpacking trip with tons of elevation gain in freezing-cold weather.
What word describes you best as a person?
Curious
Margaret joined Sagacious Partners as a Project Manager in January 2019, bringing with her a background in managing volunteers, special events and educational programs. She found her way to Columbia in 2013 by way of a position with the AmeriCorps VISTA program, in which she coordinated local tutoring sites for the United Way of the Midlands Reading Consortium. Since then, she has held positions at St. Lawrence Place, where she managed volunteers and programs for youth in transitional housing, and EdVenture, where she worked primarily in development. Margaret is a proud Paladin and graduated magna cum laude from Furman University in 2013 with a degree in psychology.
A native of rural Georgia, Margaret loves that Columbia has an element of that small-town feel while also having a movie theater (multiple, actually) less than 40 minutes away. Outside of work, she enjoys exploring Columbia on foot (i.e., running), volunteering with her church, leading a book club and spending lots of time with the people who make life sweet.
Hometown: Madison, GA (#1 Small Town in America)
What do you do really well?
Make pancakes. Encourage others. See things that go overlooked.
What are some things you care about deeply?
My family and community. My neighbor’s cat. Really good stories. Understanding.
What upsets you?
Bad drivers. Thoughtlessness. Ketchup. Homeward Bound.
What grounds you?
My friends and family and their grace, wisdom, and encouragement. Any book by C.S. Lewis. Running.
What word describes you best as a person?
Loyal
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Prior to joining Sagacious Partners in 2018, Anton worked at Free Times as an Office and Circulation Manager and at K2 Tech Group as an Operations Coordinator. He continues to write creative nonfiction, earning fellowships and residencies with Lambda Literary, Breadloaf Orion, VONA/Voices, among others.
Outside of work, Anton enjoys eating at new restaurants and coaching his ragtag band of a tennis team, The Diminishing Returns.
Hometown: Yonkers, NY
What do you do really well? Keeping other people grounded. Interrogating assumptions. Eating.
What are some things you care about deeply? My dog Charlie. Literature, family, clothes that fit.
What upsets you? Passivity. A lack of imagination. Unfulfilled potential. Incorrect toilet paper orientation.
What grounds you? Quiet reflection. Reading.
What word describes you best as a person? Consonance