Her Story
About Margaret
Margaret Stephenson Phinizy is the Founder and CEO of EMRG Consulting Group, where she brings enterprise-level expertise and strategic insight to small and mid-sized businesses in professional services and healthcare. With nearly three decades of corporate experience, including more than two decades in leadership roles at Wells Fargo, where she rose to Senior Vice President, Phinizy has advised C-suite executives and business leaders on customer experience, operations, growth strategy, marketing, and technology-enabled transformation.
Today, Phinizy helps organizations achieve operational clarity, strengthen client experiences, modernize how their businesses operate, and leverage practical AI solutions to create sustainable growth and capacity. Throughout her career, she has developed a reputation for translating complex business challenges into clear strategies and actionable solutions. During her tenure at Wells Fargo, she led initiatives spanning customer experience, growth strategy, marketing, sales enablement, and operational transformation, contributing to significant revenue growth and business opportunities while driving measurable improvements in efficiency and customer experience.
Phinizy holds a B.A. in Communication Studies from Indiana University, where she also completed extensive coursework in business and marketing, and a master’s degree in Executive Leadership from Liberty University. She is nearing completion of a CPD-accredited AI certification and continues to deepen her expertise through advanced professional education, including current studies in AI governance at MIT.
For Phinizy, this chapter represents a shift from corporate success toward purposeful legacy, using the experience, knowledge, and opportunities she has accumulated throughout her career to strengthen businesses, develop others, and create impact beyond herself. She attributes her success to faith, resilience, hard work, and a strong foundation, while integrity, service, and stewardship remain central to both her professional and personal life.
Phinizy believes effective leadership is not about having all the answers, but about creating clarity, developing people, and enabling others to succeed. Her advice to young women is to build substance rather than simply visibility, understand their business deeply, embrace opportunities that stretch their capabilities, and cultivate relationships with people who will advocate for them. Just as importantly, she believes women who achieve success have an opportunity to pay that support forward by advocating for others and creating meaningful pathways for others.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Margaret
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to faith, resilience, a strong foundation, and a consistent commitment to hard work. I believe success is not about avoiding adversity, but about continuing to grow through challenges, learning from every experience, and using those lessons to create meaningful opportunities for others. Over time, I’ve learned that some of our greatest growth can come from the seasons we never planned for, if we remain open to what they can teach us.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I’ve ever received is that leadership isn’t about having all the answers; it’s about creating clarity, developing people, and empowering others to succeed. I’ve learned that effective leadership means building trust, providing guidance, and creating an environment where people feel supported and confident in reaching their full potential.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
My advice to young women entering the industry is to focus on building substance, not just visibility. Take the time to understand your business deeply, learn how your organization creates value, and continuously strengthen your expertise. Pursue opportunities that challenge and stretch you, even when you don’t feel completely ready. Build meaningful relationships with people who will advocate for you when you are not in the room. And, as you progress, pay that support forward by becoming an advocate and mentor for another woman.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
One of the biggest opportunities in my field right now is the transformative potential of AI, particularly for small businesses. But, I believe businesses need clarity before technology. AI works best when leaders understand their operations, their priorities, and the problems they are actually trying to solve. When implemented thoughtfully and strategically, AI can create capacity, improve client experiences, strengthen decision-making, and support sustainable growth. The opportunity is not simply to adopt more technology, but to use AI intentionally in ways that complement human expertise and create meaningful business value.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values most important to me in both my work and personal life are faith, integrity, service, and stewardship. I believe that what is within me, including my talents, knowledge, experiences, and opportunities is not meant solely for me. I have been entrusted with them to make a meaningful impact and serve others. These values guide how I lead, make decisions, build relationships, and use what I’ve been given to create opportunities for others. One principle captures this for me simply: “What’s in me isn’t just for me.”
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