Melanie Stith
Melanie Stith is an attorney and a seasoned executive leader with over 20 years of experience in HR, culture building and workplace transformations. She is passionate about empowering people and organizations to work at their very best.
Prior to her coaching and consulting work, Melanie served as the Chief Administrative Officer for a non-profit healthcare system in South Carolina with over 6,500 employees, 100+ sites of care and $1.4B in net patient revenue. While there, she also held the title of Chief People & Government Relations Officer as she led workforce strategy and government relations, building strong organization and community relationships. With a passion for hiring and retaining top talent and building effective teams, Melanie helped drive the organization to the top tiers of employee engagement and won countless workplace awards, including Fortune’s Best Place to Work, for its exceptional culture and focus on mission.
Melanie earned a B.S. in Business Management with an emphasis in Human Resources from Clemson University and her JD at the University of South Carolina School of Law. She is still licensed and practices in the areas of employment law litigation & counseling.
Melanie is passionate about serving the community and is honored to serve as the 2025-2026 Chair for the Trident United Way as well as Chair of the Clemson University Management Department Advisory Board. Melanie is also on the board of the Metro Charleston Chamber of Commerce.
Outside of work, Melanie loves boating, fishing, traveling and spending time with her husband and their three children. She is also an avid Clemson Tigers fan!
Monica Brown
Monica Brown brings over 30 years of diverse experience in human resources and information technology across multiple industries, including utility, manufacturing, software, and healthcare.
Throughout her career, Monica has developed a strong expertise in HR systems, balancing strategic and tactical approaches to drive continuous process improvements. She is particularly passionate about leveraging software solutions and system integrations to achieve optimal efficiency, with a commitment to excellence.
Monica has successfully managed numerous initiatives and projects, ranging from HRIS replacements and electronic medical record upgrades to complex system integrations. Her consultative mindset, combined with her troubleshooting skills in process-data-system issues, makes her an invaluable partner for business process analysis and technology enablement projects.
Her experience includes managing HR technology roadmaps, conducting requirements gathering, vendor selection, and vendor performance management. Monica has worked with various solutions, including Workday Human Capital Management, Infor Talent Management, UKG Dimensions, Ceridian Dayforce, and HealthcareSource, among others. In addition to her HR systems knowledge, Monica’s experience in human resources includes compensation, benefits, HR operations, and performance management.
Monica holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a minor in Computer Science from Charleston Southern University and an MBA from The Citadel. She is certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) by the HR Certification Institute and holds a Society for Human Resources Management Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP) certification. Additionally, she has earned a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certification.
David McNair
David McNair brings over 25 years of experience in the fields of Organizational and Leadership Development. As the founder of The McNair Group, he is a frequently requested speaker and coach for industries as diverse as healthcare, hospitality and tourism, retail, real estate development and utilities. Culture Wins and The McNair Group (themcnairgroup.com) maintain a strategic partnership, collaborating on key projects where their values, capabilities, and client needs align.
David began his career with AT&T, moving to their Corporate Headquarters in the early 1980s to work with customer service offices and retail sites across the United States. After that, he made a dramatic change to hospital administration for a large, acute care health system. In 1998, he founded The McNair Group, a team of seasoned professionals who coach organizations to higher levels of performance. While his focus is on maximizing the employee and the customer experience, he is driven by outcomes and performance measures for success!
Together with Bill Perry and Lisa Ford, David co-authored a highly successful business book, Exceptional Customer Service: Going Beyond Your Good Service to Exceed the Customers’ Expectations.
David lives in Charleston, South Carolina, with his wife and four boys. When not working, he can be found on the sidelines of most any sporting event – or the tidewaters of the Lowcountry.
Paula Custer
Paula Custer brings over 35 years of experience in all aspects of organizational development, including strategic planning, change management, employee engagement, meeting facilitation, leadership development, team development, executive coaching, process improvement, customer service, and Board Retreats.
Paula has worked as an outside consultant/trainer with experience in both the public and private sectors. For her work in the public sector, she received the Common Cause Public Service Achievement Award presented annually in Washington, DC, to seven recipients who have made a significant contribution to the public good. In the private sector, Paula has a broad range of experience in business segments as diverse as healthcare, utilities, service organizations, hospitality and tourism, manufacturing, and distribution.
She has also served as Senior Vice President of Organizational Effectiveness for a large, international organization. In that position, she had responsibility in the North American organization for organizational development, strategic planning, change management, communication, process improvement, quality and service initiatives, training, and human resources.
Paula has a true passion for creating work environments that allow people to give their best and make their maximum contribution. She has seen evidence throughout her career of the connection between “fully engaged” employees, well-designed processes, superior customer service/quality, and profitability and workplace satisfaction.
