Nelly Montoya
Area of Focus
Financial services Innovation
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Nelly Montoya

Audit Innovation Change Management, Director

About Nelly

Nelly Montoya, a director in RSM US LLP’s National Professional Standards Group, focuses on change management within the audit innovation team. She is a graduate of the firm’s cutting-edge Industry Eminence Program, specializing in financial services, focusing on fintech, asset management, and venture capital. She sits on the national steering committee for ¡Hola!, RSM’s employee network group for Latinx professionals. Nelly has been with the firm for 11 years and is based in the Chicago office.


Experience

Nelly holds multiple leadership positions within RSM, taking advantage of all the firm has to offer. Trained as an auditor working with national and international clients, Nelly found her passion in change management. Now a certified change management professional, she focuses on understanding behaviors to help companies explore new ways of working and uses her analytical skills as a certified public accountant to measure progress throughout the organization’s transformation or project life cycle.

In 2020, Nelly was selected as a financial services senior analyst in RSM’s cutting-edge Industry Eminence Program, which positions its analysts to understand, forecast and communicate economic, business and technology trends shaping the industries RSM serves. As digital innovation evolves within banking and asset management, Nelly focuses her research on how consumers want to receive banking and financial services products. She uses her research to help clients understand how macroeconomic trends in the industry affect their business. 

In 2017, Nelly joined RSM’s expatriate program for a three-year rotation in London where she gained private company experience with international clients and became well-versed in reporting requirements for the United Kingdom. She repatriated back to the United States in June 2020 and now serves as desk leader for Ireland, providing consulting services to U.S. companies with ties to Ireland.

Nelly is an ardent supporter of RSM’s culture, diversity and inclusion efforts and serves on the national leadership committee for RSM’s Latinx employee network group, ¡Hola! As a proud feminist, she is very active in STAR, the firm’s ENG supporting women professionals, as well as the InspirAsian, African American and Canadian Excellence, and Pride ENGs. 

Born in central Mexico, Nelly moved to the United States with her family when she was eight years old. As an immigrant, she uses her perspective as an outsider to help her adapt to new cities, new experiences and new roles. With RSM, she has served the Chicago, London and San Francisco offices and has had the opportunity to travel throughout Europe and parts of Asia. She never expected that, as a CPA, she could have such a diverse career with just one firm. 

When not researching the latest happenings in fintech or asset management, Nelly is a reluctant runner. She has completed many half and full marathons, including the original marathon in Greece from Marathon to Athens. A bit of a foodie, Nelly is always willing to travel to faraway places to find good food. 


Professional affiliations and designations

  • Certified public accountant 
  • Change management certified professional
  • Association of Latino Professionals for America

Education

  • Bachelor of Science, accountancy (honors), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
  • Fintech Programme, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford 
  • Executive Certificate in Strategy and Innovation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology