From The Top: Kelly Wilborn, Naperville office of CBIZ
By David Sharos For Sun-Time Media February 28, 2013 6:14PM
Kelly Wilborn works in the Naperville office of CBIZ.
Updated: April 4, 2013 6:20AM
A program known as CBIZ Women’s Advantage develops and positions women associates, offering them a variety of leadership, professional and business development, mentoring, networking and community outreach opportunities.
Last month, the group dove into its pool of 140 offices nationwide and plucked seven people to join its executive board. One of them was Kelly Wilborn, who works in the Naperville office of CBIZ. She and the other new members will join a group of 16 other women serving on the board. Wilborn will serve a three-year term, which is then renewable for an additional three years.
Wilborn, 44, earned a degree at the College of DuPage in hotel and restaurant management and has logged more than 25 years in the customer service industry. The Plainfield resident said she always thought she would follow in her family’s footsteps professionally but decided that “the 24/7 life wasn’t right.”
“My family owned a restaurant and from the time I was little; I always thought I’d work in one,” she said. “I wound up working for the Hyatt for seven years, but I realized that 24/7 lifestyle was not for me.”
By accident, a friend of Wilborn’s called her one day and said that a man who owned a brokerage company needed an assistant, and Wilborn agreed to take the job part time. Eventually CBIZ bought the brokerage business and, as Wilborn said, “the rest is history.”
“The CBIZ group is involved with a lot of professional development, and we basically have three goals,” she said. “We do a lot of professional development within the company, teaching women how they need to look in business, and how to bring in new clients. There is also business development outside that involves networking, and we have a community outreach program where we do charity work.”
Wilborn said the external business work involves providing companies with information and services regarding health benefits and changes in the health care system, as well as accounting services and more.
“We can handle basically all of a company’s needs from health care to accounting to 401K programs, plus anything an employer needs as a startup company,” she said.
The nonprofit group CBIZ is helping is the “Dress for Success” organization, Wilborn said and that an annual fundraiser and auction is held each year where about $5,000 is raised during a three-hour afternoon.
Wilborn’s boss John Cook, business unit president, said she has been with the company nine years and has shown “extreme passion for our clients.”
“Her skill sets include taking care of our clients and leading our office and service team,” Cook said. “From a cultural perspective, we are extremely cognizant of the diversity of leadership in the business world, including the women-owned and women-led businesses. She brings a strong dedication to that market place, and she was an obvious fit for the appointment to this board.”
These days, Wilborn’s daily tasks include working as an account executive and overseeing an account management team composed of about eight people. She keeps the team up-to-date regarding heath care reform issues as well as helping them to better provide customer-client services. In addition, she conducts workshops for company employees as well as for various divisions within CBIZ involving leadership presentations and other workshops.
As a new member of the board, Wilborn said there are monthly telephone conferences as well as national meetings she will attend. The biggest perk of being on the board “is the exposure it gives to CBIZ,” she said.
Wilborn is an active member of the Women in Business Chapter of the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce and an advocate of the local YMCA.
