As managing principal at CliftonLarsonAllen LLP, Melissa Yoder leads a group of nearly 200 employees across four locations, including Peoria, Bloomington, Dixon and Princeton, and a range of service disciplines, working to ensure that clients are provided quality and timely accounting, consulting and tax services. Since joining CLA, she has been nominated to serve in a variety of leadership positions, including her former role leading the Manufacturing and Distribution client division within central and eastern Illinois. She is also a member of CLA’s Operational Excellence Advisory Board and the 2016 CLA Leadership Development Series Academy.
Yoder has been involved in presenting at many office and firmwide meetings, industry events and training conferences, and has represented the firm as a speaker at external industry conferences. She routinely meets with the owners of the businesses she serves, bringing a deep knowledge of their operating environments to not only help them meet regulatory requirements, but accomplish strategic business goals. She is also active in campus recruiting efforts with numerous higher education institutions.
In addition to her leadership in the workplace, Yoder has demonstrated philanthropic leadership to a wide range of community organizations. She currently serves on the CEO Council and the board of directors of the W.D. Boyce Council, Boy Scouts of America. She offers her financial expertise as a member of the Community Foundation of Central Illinois Finance Committee and the Heart of Illinois United Way Campaign Cabinet, and recently served on the cabinet for the 2018 Easterseals Tribute Dinner event. She also serves on the Illinois Wesleyan University Accounting Advisory Board and was a past representative on the Bradley University Employer Advisory Board.
Yoder strives to lead by example when it comes to the challenges of balancing career goals with family priorities. She is actively involved in coaching her daughter’s traveling basketball and softball teams in Metamora/Germantown Hills, helping to instill the values of hard work, good sportsmanship and teamwork in the leaders of tomorrow. iBi
