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Women's History Month
In Conversation with
STEPHANIE DAVIS NEILL
A Techronicler interview with Stephanie Davis Neill, COO, Click Boarding.
Welcome to our Women’s History Month edition of Techronicler. Today, our guest is Stephanie Davis Neill, Chief Operating Officer at Click Boarding, a comprehensive platform trusted in over 100 countries to streamline the employee journey from offer acceptance through to offboarding. With over 25 years of experience driving transformation across agile startups, private-equity-backed firms, and Fortune-ranked companies, Stephanie applies Lean/Six Sigma methodologies to solve complex HR and cross-functional challenges.
In this interview, she shares why her career path was anything but a straight line (including a “happy accident” involving a recruiter’s accent), why she fiercely defends keeping implementation teams in-house, and her brilliant, contrarian take on why making the hiring process more equitable actually requires treating offboarding with the exact same respect as onboarding.
Techronicler: Thank you for joining us, Stephanie! Everyone has an origin story! What was the first piece of technology you ever broke, built, or fell in love with?
Stephanie Davis Neill:
Maybe not the first, but I used an early version of the PC, a dot matrix printer, and the copy machine at my dad’s office to produce a fun newsletter for my friends. All the layout was done by physically copying and pasting the articles and crude graphics, but I loved how professional I thought it looked when complete!
Techronicler: A lot of careers look like straight lines on LinkedIn. How was yours different? Was there a pivotal moment or ‘happy accident’ that actually steered you toward your current role or niche?
Stephanie Davis Neill:
I am a big believer in having the courage to take an opportunity, even if it wasn’t what you were originally looking for. My best, and I would argue, most fun experiences came from saying “yes” to something a little different. There have been a few different moments that have shaped my career, but the closest to a “happy accident” was returning a phone call from a recruiter because I liked his accent.
Techronicler: What is the one problem or project that is taking up 80% of your brain space this month?
Stephanie Davis Neill:
Something that’s taken up a lot of brain space recently is related to advancing customization and interaction options on our platform. One thing we launched recently was an email builder where clients can create and format emails themselves. This means they can pick the style and what they want to say instead of waiting on us to set it up or go through the process with them again.
As I’ve been talking to our clients about these new platform additions, I found that there are things we already offer that they haven’t thought about using, which sparks new conversations. A lot of our clients and customers set their processes right when they start with us, which means it can be easy to get used to a process and forget about adjusting if you are managing a lot of software systems.
Techronicler: What is the single best piece of advice you’ve ever received about negotiating—whether for salary, headcount, or project timelines?
Stephanie Davis Neill:
Be prepared. As much as you’d like to script a negotiation, they rarely ever go that way. But knowing what you want, what matters to the other party, and when you’re willing to walk away is crucial. A little research up front arms you with what you need to go confidently into the discussion.
Techronicler: What is a piece of ‘common wisdom’ in the tech industry that you completely disagree with?
Stephanie Davis Neill:
There is a common trend with HR tech providers to outsource implementation or support, to move faster, but I strongly believe in the value of an in-house team. Outsourced teams can be professional, but they often lack the intimate knowledge of the product or ability to truly understand a client’s specific business.
I find having that expertise in-house is what ultimately creates the best feedback loop for product and client success.
Techronicler: If you could change one thing about how we interview and hire in tech to make the process more equitable, what would it be?
Stephanie Davis Neill:
I would actually recommend focusing on treating the “offboarding” process with as much respect and intentionality as the “onboarding” process.
We often think of hiring as a one-way street, but offboarding is just onboarding in reverse. If you maintain a friendly and positive experience when someone leaves, you create a pipeline for rehires and referrals. By making the exit experience gold, you ensure that your network of talent, especially from underrepresented groups, remains an active part of your ecosystem rather than just a statistic.
Techronicler: What’s your advice for tech leaders implementing AI tools to save money?
Stephanie Davis Neill:
Don’t use AI as a mask for traditional cost-cutting. If you commit to savings before the AI has actually improved the workflow, you are leaving your remaining team stranded.
Transparency is critical to maintaining trust. When the narrative is honest, a business can adapt; when it’s hollow, you face lower adoption rates for every future innovation you try to implement.
“We often think of hiring as a one-way street, but offboarding is just onboarding in reverse.”
This profound perspective from Stephanie Davis Neill fundamentally flips the script on how tech organizations should view the employee lifecycle. Her assertion that a “gold standard” exit experience is the key to maintaining a diverse, active talent ecosystem is a masterclass in long-term strategic thinking.
As we celebrate Women’s History Month, Stephanie’s journey—sparked by the courage to say “yes” to unexpected opportunities—reminds us that the best careers are rarely straight lines. Thank you, Stephanie, for sharing your operational wisdom and your leadership.
As COO, Stephanie Davis Neill leads efforts to retain and grow Click Boarding’s customer base while optimizing operations for scalable growth. With over 25 years of experience in operations across startups, private-equity-backed firms, and Fortune-ranked companies, she is a proven change leader, most recently serving as VP of Customer Success & Direct Sales at Aaron’s.
Passionate about building efficient processes, she applies Lean/Six Sigma methodologies to drive strategic problem-solving and cross-functional collaboration. Her expertise spans B2B account management, customer experience, and service management. A Georgia Tech graduate, Stephanie enjoys traveling and volunteering when not at home in Marietta, Georgia, with her family and rescue dog, Peanut.