Giving it her all
Managing a team, leading employee groups and fundraisers, and parenting kids is a lot to balance — but Vanessa Clemons thrives on it all while accelerating her career.
Vanessa Clemons, Senior Director of Deployment, doesn’t do anything ‘just a little bit.’ When she decides to do something, she goes all in.
She doesn’t just get promoted…she gets promoted twice…in the same year!
Vanessa doesn’t just participate in the Global Technology golf-outing fundraiser and McDonald’s Global Women in Technology (GWIT) resource group…she co-chairs them.
She doesn’t mentor just one person…she mentors seven!
Vanessa isn’t just a mom to one kiddo…she’s a mom to four (and they range in age from 9–17)!
“Whatever I do, I do 100%,” she says. “I find it energizing.”
Just how does she do it? McDonald’s Technical Blog sat down with Vanessa to find out her secrets to success.
Q. You’ve had a non-linear career journey. Can you tell us about your path that led you to McDonald’s?
A. I had an unconventional start to my education. I became a mom early — at about 17 — so my focus was on getting an education as quickly as possible. I ended up getting a degree in sales and marketing while I was also working full time.
My first role was in business development with a food manufacturer, where I learned about product commercialization — the process of putting a product thought production, R&D, quality, Ops and Packaging. My role was center at all these things.
I was doing all the things, all the time. And that’s when I realized that project management was what I wanted to do. I’m very much a doer and get a lot of satisfaction completing large projects. So, I got my master’s in project management and earned my Project Management Professional certification.
My next role was managing projects for tech products and doing software implementations and system configurations at a small software company. I told my leaders that I knew how to run projects, and I will work hard to learn engineering portion of the job, so they took a chance on me. Even though I didn’t have the technology education, I was able to break things down into business challenges, which I knew how to tackle.
It was light-bulb moment for me — that’s when I fell in love with solving business problems with technology. It wasn’t long after that I joined McDonald’s.
Q. Why did you make the move to McDonald’s? What is your current role like?
A. McDonald’s is a global company with a massive scale, which meant there would be a lot of opportunities to work on complex, interesting challenges. Even early on in my time here, I got to work on a lot of cool transformational projects.
These days, as Senior Director of Deployment, I am part of the Commercial Products & Platforms team, and I’m able to build the future of how to deploy our digital products to customers around the world. The challenges I tackle are major software deployments at scale to meet different requirements and business needs in every country, and drive innovation at speed for our market teams. I get to work with so many dynamic teams and no day is the same.
Q. What’s been one of your favorite assignments since you joined the company?
A. Every two years, McDonald’s hosts its Worldwide Convention, which over 18,000 Owner/Operators, employees, and suppliers from across the System attend to celebrate our successes and rally for the future.
I was nominated to be the Global Technology Experience Lead for the 2024 convention, which meant that I was responsible for bringing the Global Tech story to life. This year, that included building several immersive experiences featuring some of our innovative technology. I also was responsible for ensuring all the key partners supported the story for Tech and how they resonated with our attendees.
The 2024 event was in Barcelona, so it required even more coordination than in the past.
It was a lot of work that fell outside of my day-to-day responsibilities, but I learned to relentlessly prioritize. I learned a lot about executive presence, because I was able to partner closely with our Global Tech Leadership Team. It also helped me articulate a cohesive narrative at the right level to enable our leaders to make decisions for how Tech showed up on the largest stage for McDonald’s.
Q. Speaking of things outside of your day job…you’re also active with some “extracurriculars,” and a mentor to many?
A. Early on, I joined McDonald’s GWIT internal resource group, and I’m now in my second year serving as the group’s co-chair. It’s all about attracting, retaining, and supporting women in tech, which I’m passionate about.
I am also the planning committee chair for Global Technology’s annual fundraiser, the Technology Charity Classic. It’s now going on its 28th year, and last year raised nearly $300,000 for Ronald McDonald House Charities.
I enjoy giving back to the community and more than that, I think the biggest calling for a leader is developing people, and things like GWIT and mentoring are platforms for me to do that.
Yes, this is a lot, and I am aware that the optics might make it seem like I’m spread thin, but that just makes me work harder to prove that I’m not dropping the ball.
Q. That’s panned out well for you — you’ve grown your career at McDonald’s and had several promotions! Do you have any career advice? A. It’s up to you to take the reins of your career. Success isn’t always necessarily about your years of service. It’s about what you bring to the table. Understand what differentiates each level, outperform your role, and be intentional about each step of your journey.
I also can’t stress enough the importance of resiliency and grit. Even though something might feel super difficult while you’re in the middle of it remember that, sometimes- the only way out is through.
Q. What’s the best part of working in the Global Technology organization?A. The people! They’re passionate, hardworking, and a lot of fun. The Global Tech team is high energy and is focused on solving business problems. Our leaders have the right goals in mind and are in tune to the work as well as how the work gets done.
I also wanted to work at a company whose values align with mine, and McDonald’s values do, especially their commitments to diversity and the community.
This is what drives and energizes me.
Q. Outside of work, where are we most likely to find you?
A. All my kids are in sports, so I spend a lot of time at their games, cheering them on! Other than that, I’m an avid sword collector, and I’m a huge sci-fi fan. When I get to read for fun, you’ll find me buried in the latest fantasy fairy-romance novel!
Has Vanessa spurred your interest in a career in McDonald’s Global Technology? Check out our latest openings.
