About Fire Maple
The story behind Fire Maple, why I started it, and the experiences that shaped the perspective I bring to every engagement.
Technology has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. It started with a Commodore 64 and eventually turned into a career that has spanned business leadership, operations, sales, marketing, technology, transformation, and organizational change.
I've always been drawn to understanding how things work. Not just the technology itself, but the bigger picture. How organizations operate. How people make decisions. Why some teams thrive through change while others struggle. How technology, process, leadership, and culture all connect.
The first half of my career was spent on the business side of technology companies. I led marketing teams, managed sales organizations, served as a solutions consultant, and ran multiple branch offices with full P&L responsibility. Later, after an acquisition, I was asked to join the IT organization and help the company internally the same way I had helped customers externally.
Once I crossed over to IT, something clicked.
IT has a unique perspective inside an organization. It works with every department, touches nearly every process, and often sees how the entire business fits together. When you're sitting at that intersection, you learn very quickly that technology problems are rarely just technology problems.
Most of the time, they come down to people problems, process problems, communication problems, leadership challenges, or some combination of all four.
That's what ultimately led me to transformation work.
Over the years, I've built and led strategic change organizations that blended project management, change management, governance, organizational readiness, and transformation into a single approach. Titles and structures varied from company to company, but the goal was always the same: helping organizations move from where they are to where they want to be.
Today, nearly every meaningful business transformation has a technology component. But technology alone doesn't create results. People do.
You can implement the best platform in the world, redesign every process, and build a flawless roadmap. If leaders aren't aligned, culture isn't healthy, or employees don't understand the "why," the transformation will struggle.
That's why Fire Maple focuses on the full picture.
We help organizations modernize technology, optimize operations, and align leadership and culture to drive sustainable transformation.
Whether the challenge is technology strategy, organizational change, leadership development, process improvement, or transformation execution, the objective is the same: create meaningful progress that lasts.
I'd love to connect, continue the conversation, or exchange ideas about technology, leadership, and transformation.
Shelley Seewald
Founder, Fire Maple
Why the Name Fire Maple?
The name Fire Maple comes from Fire Maple Song by Everclear, one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite bands.
The song has always meant something to me, the name stuck, and sometimes that's reason enough.
As Kyle Meredith noted in an interview with Everclear frontman Art Alexakis, "If Everclear lyrics live in a shared universe, Fire Maple Song is the origin story."
As a longtime fan, I'd be remiss if I didn't try to turn you into an Everclear fan as well. You can check out their music at https://www.everclearmusic.com/.
