From Cornell Hall to the C-suite
Kelley Frink’s path took her through accounting and corporate finance before expanding into leadership across an entire organization. Nicole Galloway’s career crossed the private and public sectors, taking her from corporate finance to elected office, public accountability and private equity.
In summer 2026, those paths converged at Veterans United Home Loans.
Frink, a graduate of Mizzou’s School of Accountancy, was elevated to chief operations officer in June. Weeks later, Galloway, who earned her MBA from the Robert J. Trulaske, Sr. College of Business, joined Veterans United as chief financial officer, reporting to Frink.
Their new roles put two Trulaske alumnae in key leadership positions at one of Columbia’s largest employers — and illustrate just how far an education grounded in accounting and business can take a graduate.
For both women, the numbers were only the beginning.
Learning to lead
Long before Frink was thinking across an entire organization, she was a Mizzou accountancy student learning that professional success required more than technical proficiency.
“From the beginning, MU created opportunities for me to engage with the profession — not just study it,” Frink said.
Accounting firms came to campus early, requiring Frink to do something that didn’t necessarily come naturally: put on a suit, meet new people and learn how to communicate with professionals before she had much real-world experience.
Those experiences gave her confidence — and taught her lessons she still draws on as a leader.
“Technical ability matters, but it is only part of what makes someone successful,” Frink said. “I learned the importance of showing up prepared, asking thoughtful questions, listening well, and building relationships with people who may see a problem differently than I do.”
That ability to look beyond her own area of expertise has become increasingly valuable as her responsibilities have expanded.
“Accounting and finance give you a unique view across an organization — you can see how decisions in one area affect customers, employees and growth elsewhere,” Frink said. “The ability to understand the numbers, connect those dots and turn information into action is critical in both CFO and COO roles.”
Her Trulaske education also instilled something harder to quantify: an expectation that learning doesn’t end with a degree.
“The business environment, technology and customer expectations are always changing,” Frink said. “I have tried to keep learning, stay curious, and become a better leader with every role.”
Speaking the language of business
Galloway’s career has taken a markedly different route, but she points to a similar foundation.
Her emphasis in Trulaske’s MBA program was accounting, and she became a CPA shortly after graduation. But Galloway says the value of the program came partly from what she learned outside accounting.
“In the MBA program I was exposed to much more than accounting — I took marketing, legal and other business-focused courses,” Galloway said. “That created a more well-rounded view of how an organization operates and how operational decisions would impact the financials.”
That breadth gave her something she has carried through a career spanning private business and public service: the ability to speak the language of people whose expertise differs from her own.
“I found it was easier to be curious and ask deeper questions because I had some of the same vocabulary as the leaders outside of accounting,” she said.
One lesson has followed her particularly closely across a career that has required her to navigate government, politics, business and finance: how to negotiate without burning bridges. Galloway served as Missouri state auditor before later returning to the private sector.
Galloway remembers both a negotiation seminar that changed how she thought about the person sitting across the table and a graduate-level negotiations course with Jim Wall, Curators’ Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus who taught in Trulaske’s Department of Management for about 40 years.
“You have to know what you want versus need in an outcome, what you’re willing to give versus take and what your counterparty will view as a win,” Galloway said. “Most importantly, there is no need to burn the other side, because you’ll likely work with them again. I use those lessons every day.”
The value of what comes next
Frink and Galloway couldn’t have known exactly where their careers would lead when they were students at Mizzou. That may be one of the most important lessons their careers offer today’s students.
Frink’s accounting education ultimately became a foundation for enterprise-wide leadership. Galloway’s MBA has traveled with her through corporate finance, public service, private equity and now back to the C-suite.
And the relationships forged at Trulaske have endured alongside the technical knowledge.
“The high-caliber people I met through the MBA program 20 years ago are still important professional and personal connections I value today,” Galloway said.
Many of those classmates now lead companies, major divisions and enterprise-level projects around the country.
“The MBA program really focused on creating opportunities to build relationships,” Galloway said. “I don’t think I fully understood how important that was until business school.”
Today, two of those Mizzou career paths have arrived at the same company, headquartered in Columbia.
Their careers are different enough to make the common thread especially clear. A Trulaske education gave both women technical expertise. But it also taught them to ask better questions, understand different perspectives, build relationships and keep learning as the problems in front of them became bigger.
A business education can prepare a student for a first job. Frink and Galloway demonstrate what can happen when that foundation continues working decades later — preparing graduates for opportunities they couldn’t yet see from Cornell Hall.
Two paths to the c-suite
| KELLEY FRINK | NICOLE GALLOWAY |
|---|---|
Chief operations officer Veterans United Home Loans Mizzou: MAcc ’07 A licensed CPA, Frink joined Veterans United in 2013 after roles at KPMG, Williams-Keepers and Learfield. She was named chief financial officer in 2019 and elevated to chief operations officer in June 2026. Today, she has cross-functional oversight of operations, finance and strategic planning. She also serves on the board of the Food Bank for Central & Northeast Missouri. HER ADVICE “Your degree can open the door, but your curiosity, drive and willingness to keep learning will determine how far you go.” | Chief financial officer Veterans United Home Loans Mizzou: MBA ’08 A CPA and Certified Fraud Examiner, Galloway joined Veterans United as chief financial officer in July 2026. Her career has spanned corporate finance, public service and private equity. She previously served as CFO of Permanent Equity, Missouri state auditor and Boone County treasurer. HER ADVICE “Networking is critical. The students, professors and guest speakers are folks you’ll potentially interact with in your career.” |