JESSICA MCCALL
COVER story JESSICA MCCALL, MANAGING PARTNER & CFO, LEGACY DESIGN STRATEGIES
EMBRACING THE journey
JESSICA MCCALL OF LEGACY DESIGN STRATEGIES REFLECTS ON MILESTONES From very early on, Jessica McCall was a go-getter with ambitious career goals and an undeniable drive — so, when she was promoted to managing partner at Legacy Design Strategies, a boutique estate planning law firm overseeing more than $12 billion in family and business assets, she was thrilled to witness one of her greatest professional aspirations coming true. Yet, her journey to success didn’t happen overnight and it certainly didn’t come without detours along the way. Some children dream of becoming an astronaut or actress, but McCall dreamed of becoming financially stable. This became an early goal for McCall, who was raised by a single mom who struggled to provide for their family after divorce. Knowing that she never wanted her own future children to experience the same kind of hardships, McCall decided that she needed to pull herself out of poverty. In her young mind, this meant becoming an attorney. “All I knew was this meant that I needed to be smart, get good grades and go to law school,” McCall said. All of which, McCall quickly accomplished.
After completing her undergrad at the University of Wisconsin with honors and a double major in three years, she graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School and promptly began working for the Federal Reserve Bank. “I loved working with numbers and finance, but quickly found out I needed to be an attorney to pay for my student loans,” McCall said. This realization led her to Omaha, where she landed a job at Kutak Rock.
Change of Plans
Just as her career goals seemed to be falling into place and she was destined to become partner at the firm, McCall’s mentor retired and her client went private. Terrified of the possibility of failure, McCall decided to change course and accept a position in the general counsel’s office at First Data. Soon after, she and her husband welcomed their first child and she made the choice to pause her career so that she could stay home and raise their baby. This decision was far from easy for
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