Ardis Kelley
Director
With three decades of experience in finance, strategy, and executive leadership, Ardis Kelley has built a career translating complexity into clarity—helping CEOs, owners, and boards understand their financial reality and turn it into confident strategic decisions.
With three decades of experience in finance, strategy, and executive leadership, Ardis Kelley has built a career translating complexity into clarity—helping CEOs, owners, and boards understand their financial reality and turn it into confident strategic decisions.
Her background includes senior leadership roles as Chief Accounting Officer, Chief Strategy Officer, Fractional CFO, and Interim CEO spanning regulated financial institutions, professional services, nonprofit organizations, and growing businesses. During 12 years with the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines, she helped lead a $35 billion merger and develop and launch strategic collateral products projected to drive more than $10 billion in new business. Additionally, she has assisted organizations with navigating high-stakes financial decisions, enterprise strategy, growth, transformation, and complex change.
Ardis brings a practical, forward-looking approach to finance. She believes the best finance leaders do more than report what happened—they help leaders understand what the numbers mean, identify what matters most, and determine what to do next. Her leadership style combines technical rigor with curiosity, candor, and collaboration, allowing her to quickly cut through complexity and guide leaders to make confident decisions.
As an executive, advisor, board leader, and educator, Ardis is passionate about building stronger financial leadership and helping organizations use finance as a strategic tool for growth. She is a California and Iowa CPA and holds a Master of Accounting from the University of Southern California and a bachelor’s degree from UCLA.
Resume
CFO Systems LLC
Director
Cornflower Studio LLC
Founder & Principal
Iowa Society of CPAs
Interim CEO
Bank of Jabez
Fractional CFO
Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines
Chief Strategy Officer / Chief Accounting Officer
CNA
AVP, Technical Advisory
Accenture
Sr. Manager, Transaction Support
AEGON USA Investment Management
Manager, Derivative Accounting
PwC
Manager, Transaction Services | Senior Associate, Assurance & Advisory