Most organizations have financial information. Far fewer know how to use it as a strategic advantage.

With more than 30 years in finance and executive leadership—including CEO, CFO, Chief Accounting Officer, and Chief Strategy Officer—Ardis Kelley helps organizations navigate their most important decisions: growth, leadership transitions, mergers, organizational transformation, and board-level challenges.

As Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Accounting Officer at Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines, Ardis helped guide strategy and financial oversight for a $180 billion financial institution. She aligned enterprise strategy with financial reality, led collateral initiatives that expanded lending capacity, strengthened board-level decision-making, and guided large-scale financial integration and cross-functional transformation. As Interim CEO of the Iowa Society of CPAs, she stabilized operations during a leadership transition while advancing landmark legislation.

What distinguishes Ardis isn’t simply her finance background—it’s the perspective she brings to leadership.

She believes every business decision creates a financial outcome. Financial results don’t begin in the accounting department. They begin around the leadership table.

Accounting records the outcomes.
Finance translates them into insight.
Business leaders create them.

Whether serving as an advisor, board partner, fractional executive, or interim CEO, CFO, or COO, Ardis is often invited into organizations when the decisions are significant and leadership needs financial clarity, strategic perspective, and calm executive judgment.

Rather than simply helping leaders understand financial statements, she helps leadership teams connect business decisions to financial outcomes—turning financial complexity into better conversations, better decisions, and stronger organizations.