“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common that unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “press on” has solved and will always solve the problems of the human race.”
–– Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States 1872-1933

When Jill Wells Heath’s father passed away, she found this quote taped on the inside of one of his desk drawers – fittingly, she believes, because her father believed strongly in the power of persistence and encouraged his daughter to pursue her dreams with a passion. Now Heath, president and CEO of Mulkey Engineers & Consultants, is thankful for that encouragement and has realized that sometimes it pays to have a bit of a stubborn streak. “I have a strong sense of independence,” she laughs. “I am determined to be independent and successful in my own right without having to stand on the shoulders of any other person.”

Her father’s death when she was only 20 propelled her quickly into the world of business. She left school and took the reins of his development company, becoming vice president and helping her mother close the business that her father had worked so hard to build. “I got experience in a way you don’t want to get it,” she admits. “But it was the best kind of experience there is – hands-on and focused. My experience, hard as it was, gave me an edge.”

But, as she’s quick to point out, she didn’t find her career path – it found her. Not an engineer, she now leads a group of engineers and, works with one of the leading engineering firms in the Triangle. How does that happen? One fateful step at a time is how. “I got my CPA and started my own firm when I was 27,” she says. “I wanted to get out of corporate America, and had no intention of ever working for anyone else. My father was always an entrepreneur, and that was what I was going to be as well. I am not a good employee!” The key to success, she says, is in finding what makes you tick as an individual. For Heath, it was helping her clients.

One of those clients was Barbara Mulkey. “I never intended to go to work for my best client, but that is exactly what I did,” she says. “At first Barbara just needed me to come on as the CFO one day a month, then one day a week, then two, then three, and all that time I remained a subcontractor. Then in 2003, Barbara said, ‘Look, what have I got to do to get you to become the full-time CFO – we need you!” In 2006 Heath was made president, and in 2008 she accepted the position of CEO.

“I’ve been here since the early days, and there’s no place I’d rather be,” she says. “The guiding principal at Mulkey is that we want to provide excellent customer service to our clients and provide a great place to work for our employees. I want to be able to expand the company because I want our employees to have the opportunity for growth and for our clients to be better served, no matter where their location.” Under that vision, Heath has helped grow the company, whose corporate headquarters is in Raleigh, to several across Cary and Charlotte, Columbia, S.C., Atlanta, Ga. and Jacksonville, Fla.

And while she believes in the mission and vision that is the Mulkey brand, she believes it’s just as important to inspire a vision for her son. “Life is too short not to love what you do,” she stresses. “When I think about Sam, what I want for him is to find the thing that he has a passion about and find a way to make a living at it.” “I’d also love to see him find the person who completes him as I have in his father." Whenever there’s a mold that someone wants you to fit into, it’s important to ask ‘Why?’ We all have to find our own way to make our own dreams come true.”