About Us
The idea for Graceful Exit came in 2019 when Amanda’s mother in law passed away unexpectedly. Though she told the family she had her affairs in order, it was quickly realized, this was not the case. It got Amanda to thinking how many other families go through this same situation in a time of grief and don’t have the resources or time to get all of it done. Amanda has always been someone with a type-A personality and very organizational and enjoys helping others.
Amanda has over 15 years of experience in Human Resources in various industries, the majority in financial services. Most recently, Amanda was the Operations Manager for a local nonprofit in Valparaiso, IN called Dressed For School that provides new wardrobes to school-aged children in need.
She began her career at an early age with a leased shoe business called FootStar running 6 stores throughout Chicagoland and managing a team of 30 within Stein Mart locations. From there, she went on to Galyan’s working her way up to a Merchandising Manager while also opening up 4 locations throughout the Midwest. After Galyan’s, she moved on to one of her true passions which is technology and spent 7 years with AT&T in their wireless retail division, managing stores throughout the Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana area and teams up to 50 while breaking sales goals in wireless, internet and satellite TV. She was on hand during the first ever Apple iPhone launch in 2007. She left AT&T for a lateral move to U.S. Cellular and to pursue her Bachelor’s Degree. Unfortunately, in 2013, U.S. Cellular closed the Chicagoland Region, and Amanda found herself exiting the wireless industry.
This led her to the role of a lifetime in 2013 with Lakeside Wealth Management in Chesterton, IN. She began as the Executive Assistant to the CEO, and quickly rose also to the Director of HR & Technology with several direct reports under her. Her ability to multi-task and take on many roles at once served her well in a small family-owned financial services business. Amanda was able to use every HR skill she had ever learned and create many processes, efficiencies and forms from scratch and help Lakeside achieve greatness with their entire organization and employees. Lakeside was named on Indiana’s Best Places to Work list for 6 total years, achieving the number 1 ranking in 2022. She credits much of her success to the mentors she had at Lakeside. In May 2022, Lakeside was acquired by CAPTRUST which has $260B AUM and over 1200 employees nationwide. Amanda was able to stay on with CAPTRUST as a Human Resources Consultant and continue much of her work in a similar capacity.
Amanda has won several awards over the years, which include the Paul Harris Fellow, the Northwest Indiana Times “Top 20 Under 40”, a nominee for Northwest Indiana Influential Women’s Association “Up and Coming Woman in Business” and is an Innovation Brick Winner at CAPTRUST.
Philanthropically, Amanda and her family believe in giving back to the community with their time and talents. Whether through Kiwanis, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater NWI, Valpo Parks, United Way of NWI, or Dressed for School she is raising her children to give back just as she was raised. Her and her family are also Echo Society members at the Porter County Community Foundation.
Amanda has a Bachelor’s Degree in Human Resources from Purdue University as well as a certificate in Employee Training & Development and is OSHA certified.
Amanda, her husband and their two sons reside in Valparaiso, IN. Amanda's LinkedIn