From Team Builder to Director: The Impact of Assertive Leadership and a Growth Mindset

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From Team Builder to Director: The Impact of Assertive Leadership and a Growth Mindset

Scrubbed Names Joy Mendoza-Gallardo as Director for SAT5

Scrubbed is thrilled to announce the promotion of Joy Mendoza-Gallardo to Director for SAT5. Joy, who has spent nearly seven years with the firm, steps into this role following her exceptional performance and strategic contributions as a Senior Manager leading the Professional & Business Services (PBS) team.



When Joy first took on leadership of the team—then known as Technology & Services (T&S), now the Professional & Business Services (PBS) group—it comprised fewer than 10 professionals primarily supporting early-stage and startup clients. Through her deliberate drive to embrace new opportunities, navigate challenges with resilience, and her intentional focus on strengthening client relationships, developing future leaders, and instilling a strong execution culture, the team steadily scaled in both size and capability. Today, PBS has evolved into a high-performing team of more than 100 professionals, delivering both small and highly complex client engagements across multiple accounting service offerings. This proven ability to build leaders, deepen client partnerships, scale teams, and sustain a high-impact organization is a defining pillar of what earned her this milestone.


Joy’s leadership style is often described as assertive, empowering, and grounded in accountability. Her teams are known for their strong ownership mindset and execution discipline, values she consistently cultivates and models. While her leadership is firmly anchored in clarity and action, it is also strengthened by her ability to build genuine personal connections.


A lighthearted example of this connection is how colleagues often tag her whenever the firm talks about the aspiration to “Bring Joy to the Workplace,” both because it echoes her name and because it genuinely reflects the energy and positivity she brings to the team. When she later became a mom, her team jokingly began calling her “mother” — a nickname Joy views as a reflection of trust rather than role.


“It actually warms my heart,” Joy shares. “To me, it means they see me not just as a leader who sets direction, but someone who brings comfort, support, and a sense of home to the group.


This blend of dedication and leadership naturally extends into her new role as Director for SAT5, the firm’s newly established sector accounting team. While the position builds on her leadership of the PBS team, it represents a significant expansion of her scope. Her mandate now covers broader oversight, deeper client partnership, and stronger alignment with the firm’s 5 Key Business Objectives set during the Leadership Summit. Her three priority areas include:


  • Leadership and Oversight of the PBS Team — Ensuring strong team performance, capability building, and service excellence across all engagements.
  • Client Relationship Management and Growth — Strengthening partnerships with key clients, including one of Scrubbed’s major U.S.-listed clients, which she will continue to focus on growing.
  • Operational and Strategic Execution — Driving operational efficiency and ensuring that SAT5’s initiatives and team outputs are aligned with the achievement of Scrubbed’s 5 Key Business Objectives (KBOs) established during this year’s Leadership Summit.

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Moving from a Senior Manager to a Director requires shifting from a team-focused lens to a firm-wide leadership perspective. Joy’s mandate is to deepen client relationships while strengthening team engagement and alignment with the 5 KBOs set in this year’s Leadership Summit. She notes that balancing these requires intentional prioritization, discipline, and strategy.


What excites her most in this new mandate is the retention of high-performing professionals. Joy intends to explore stronger, more meaningful ways to support, grow, and retain talent across Scrubbed—drawing heavily on her strengths in project management, problem-solving, and continuous improvement. Her ability to structure work, streamline processes, and address challenges proactively has long been a driver of team success, and she plans to leverage these same capabilities to build a more empowered and engaged workforce.


This focus on people is paired with a clear strategy for technology and operational efficiency. One of the biggest trends and challenges she is preparing her teams and clients to navigate is how to effectively leverage emerging AI tools to drive real efficiency. The goal, she explains, is to remove manual friction, strengthen processes, and free up both clients and teams to focus on higher-value, strategic work.



Reflecting on her journey, Joy recalls the unexpected moment her promotion was announced at the Leadership Summit. As one of the event organizers, she didn’t anticipate the decision would be finalized so soon. “When it was announced, I felt a bit emotional. It was like all the challenges and tough moments I had pushed through flashed back to me in that instant,” she shares, describing a mix of surprise and deep gratitude.


Her commitment to Scrubbed deepened in early 2020 during a U.S. business trip, just as the Philippine lockdown was announced. She led a team to onboard and support clients during a time of global uncertainty. The accounts her team supported at that time – now among Scrubbed’s top accounts. That experience reinforced her belief in the firm’s purpose and the power of resilient teams.


This journey has distilled her career into one critical lesson that she advises everyone to carry forward:


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This emphasis on execution shapes Joy’s working style. She describes her leadership as “assertive yet collaborative,” an approach she finds even more essential at the Director level. Assertiveness enables her to move priorities forward, make timely decisions, and drive results without waiting for perfect conditions. At the same time, leading at a firm-wide scale requires strong collaboration across service lines and support groups—ensuring initiatives are aligned, momentum is sustained, and the highest level of service is consistently delivered.

In developing her team, her vision is to foster professionals who take full ownership of their growth. If she could instill one trait in every person, it would be personal accountability: the mindset of taking charge, acting on what they can control, and following through with intention.

No leader reaches this stage alone. Joy credits her mentor, Laurence Ruelo, for providing thoughtful feedback, steady guidance, and consistent support throughout her career.

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As she steps into this new chapter professionally, Joy wants to carve out space for a meaningful personal milestone in the coming year: taking her family on an international trip. With two young children, she knows it will be challenging, but she sees it as a rare and important moment. “I want to see the world through their eyes—watching them react to new places, new sights, and new experiences for the very first time.”

Ultimately, Joy’s professional journey is defined by the same quality she encourages her younger self to keep: embrace opportunities, stay courageous, and keep moving forward with intention. Her story reflects how leadership is built through deep professional mastery, disciplined execution, and a genuine commitment to people. As she steps into this new chapter, her leadership will continue shaping the growth of SAT5 and the broader Scrubbed community.

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"Scrubbed" is the brand name under which Scrubbed Advisory, LLC and Scrubbed Assurance LLP provide professional services. Scrubbed Advisory, LLC and Scrubbed Assurance LLP practice in an alternative practice structure in accordance with the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct and applicable law, regulations, and professional standards. Scrubbed Assurance LLP is a licensed independent CPA firm that provides attest services to its clients, and Scrubbed Advisory, LLC provides tax, finance, and support services to its clients. Scrubbed Advisory, LLC is not a licensed CPA firm.

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