Meet Colleen Malmassari, owner and founder of HR Consulting company Back40 Advisors LLC

With more than 20 years of experience in accounting and human resources, Colleen Malmassari brings a practical, business-minded approach to helping organizations improve how they manage and support their teams. In 2024, she launched Back40 Advisors LLC, an HR consulting firm focused on delivering accessible and effective solutions for small and mid-sized businesses—especially those in rural communities that often operate without in-house HR support.

Rooted in her agricultural upbringing and professional background in both numbers and people, Malmassari understands the importance of balancing compliance, workforce development, and organizational goals. Her firm helps clients tackle what she calls the “back 40” of their business—the areas that may be overlooked or underdeveloped but are key to long-term success.

In this Executive Q&A, Malmassari shares her path to entrepreneurship, the motivation behind Back40 Advisors, and the trends and challenges she sees shaping the future of work. 

Please tell our readers a little bit about yourself?

From tree fruit to cattle, I come from a family with a vast history of farming and running ranches, as well as community leaders. During my school years I was active in 4-H and FFA, holding leadership positions on apple and livestock judging teams and raising show and market animals for the Chelan County Fair.

But farming isn’t just a part of my past: it’s very much part of my present. After several years in the Yakima Valley, working for family farms in Central Washington’s ag industry, my husband and I moved our family back to my hometown here in the Wenatchee Valley. We purchased land up one of the canyons and have spent the last few seasons revitalizing the land for grazing, gardening and restoring degraded areas into habitat for native wildlife.

Please tell our readers about your business Back40 Advisors.

I am 20+ years into my career and almost a year ago (July 2024) I started my own HR Consulting practice named Back40 Advisors LLC. Every farm has a front 40 and a back 40.  The front 40 is solid: it’s dialed in and productive. But the back 40? Well, it’s a little neglected, overgrown. It might even feel a bit feral. It’s a challenge knowing where to even start with the back 40. The same is true for any organization, regardless of industry. We help clients get the ‘back 40’ of their business in solid working order by providing innovative HR solutions that drive organizational efficiency, streamline administrative processes and align workforce capabilities with business goals, as well as help foster positive workplace cultures and offer expert guidance on HR best practices and compliance.

Can you share the story behind founding Back40 Advisors? What inspired you to launch your own consulting practice?

As my spouse and I made plans to relocate back to the Wenatchee Valley in 2017, the idea of starting my own HR consulting practice was developing in my thoughts.  Before the business plan developed too far, I accepted an offer to join the HR Department at Stemilt Growers, which was an invaluable experience filling the role of Employee Relations Manager and working with team members in both the orchard management and packing facility operations. In 2021, the opportunity to implement and lead a HR consulting practice for Larson Gross CPAs and Consultants presented itself. That experience really showed me that there is a market need for fractional HR support in our rural communities. I officially made my self-employment debut on July 1, 2024.   

What drew you to the field of human resources?

I like to say that I didn’t choose the HR career path, it chose me. After graduating from Central WA University with a double major in accounting and foreign language, emphasis in Spanish, I started my career with Moss Adams LLP in the Yakima Valley. As I advanced from a staff level to a managerial level performing attestation and tax engagements, I reached a “stuck” point where my career path and skillsets were not aligned. Through several coaching conversations with office leaders, we created a hybrid position that included more people focused tasks along with my accounting clients. I also joined the local chapter of the Society of HR Management (SHRM). Those two changes lead me to pursue a HR focused career path.  

Much of my success as an HR professional has come from my dual expertise in accounting and HR leadership which enables me to approach organizational challenges with a holistic perspective, understanding both the human capital as well as the financial implications of strategic decisions. 

You have a unique combination of credentials in both HR and accounting. How does that dual background influence your work with clients?

Most of my HR peers identify as non “numbers people”, which is one of the reasons why traditionally HR has not been viewed as a strategic arm of business decisions. Because of the business acumen I developed early in my career, I am able to “crunch the numbers” to help business leaders analyze the financial impact for a people initiative. With this financial analysis and my understanding of application of employment law and HR functions, I am uniquely positioned to be a strategic partner who can help align workforce decisions with both fiscal objectives and regulatory compliance requirements, ensuring the organization can achieve its business goals while maintaining positive employee relations and mitigating employment risks.

What’s your leadership style, and how has it evolved over the years?

My preferred leadership style is a coaching style where I attempt to give prompting questions to help the coachee find their own solutions. By allowing the coachee to exercise their own critical thinking skills, I find they often come up with a solution that is far better than the answer I would have given them in the beginning. 

It has taken me a lot of failed attempts to develop these skills, and I anticipate them to continue to be a focus of mine especially as the workplace and workforce changes.   

What’s the most rewarding part of your work?

People! At that “stuck point” early in my career, I realized that I wasn’t as passionate in financial math as the ledger balances at the end of the day. Instead, I far more enjoyed human math that never quite balances. As a HR practitioner, I get to be a trusted advisor for both the good and bad in the workplace. The situations that have been most rewarding are those that have either seemed hopeless in the beginning or the solution was a win-win for employees and the business.      

What trends are you seeing in the HR space right now that organizations should be paying attention to?

As our local, national and global economies enter the tech super cycle (artificial intelligence, wearable devices, and biotechnology), our workforces are going to significantly change to meet the innovation in this period of time. Through this great transition, there is going to be a higher emphasis on people leaders to possess skills in emotional intelligence and critical thinking. 

Additionally, in the near future, we will see for the first time in our Nation a net exit from the workplace as the Boomers retiring will outnumber the Generation Z entering, creating particularly acute workforce challenges in rural communities where population decline compounds the talent shortage. This demographic shift is intensifying demand for skilled trades and hands-on technical roles that AI cannot easily replace, such as healthcare workers, agricultural specialists, and infrastructure maintenance professionals who are essential to rural economic stability. Rural organizations must now develop targeted recruitment strategies that emphasize quality of life advantages while simultaneously investing in apprenticeship programs and educational partnerships that build sustainable talent pipelines for these irreplaceable human-centered occupations.

As a woman-owned business leader, what advice would you give to others thinking about starting their own consultancy or venturing into entrepreneurship?

As a woman-owned business leader in the first year of existence, my perspective to others thinking about starting their own consultancy or venturing into entrepreneurship would be to first identify who is in your "stables" to help support you through your launch and "stuck" points. The unpaid connections like referral sources and community partners are equally important to the paid connections such as service providers, contractors, and employees—and don't forget to actually ask these people for help when you need it! Second, learn to carefully budget and project cashflow by distinguishing between critical expenses and "nice-to-have" expenses, while actively seeking resources that offer new businesses access at reduced costs, as financial discipline will be your foundation for sustainable growth.

What have been some of the biggest challenges—and triumphs—of launching Back40 Advisors?

Self-employment is a wild ride! One of my greatest triumphs so far was celebrating the first month that the business was able to pay for the monthly expenses from the revenue earned, but then a whole new set of challenges were presented. As I was preparing to launch the consulting practice, a friend forwarded me a podcast directed at entrepreneurs and there was a statement that has resonated with me – it was something to the effect that there will always be a new challenge presented but each challenge that you overcome prepares you for the next challenge. I have found this to be true in my journey so far building a HR consultancy.

What are your goals for Back40 Advisors in the coming years?

As a rural HR consultant, my goals center on delivering accessible expertise to small and medium businesses and nonprofits that typically operate without dedicated HR resources, with particular attention to supporting owner operated and women led organizations in our communities. I aim to help these entities reduce costly compliance risks, support workforce stability, and strengthen their ability to compete for talent against large employers. Most importantly, I'm committed to maintaining a sustainable practice that allows for deep community involvement while providing the HR foundations that enable our local businesses to thrive in changing labor markets.

Who or what inspires you?

Since returning back to the Wenatchee Valley, I have been learning more about my great-great grandparents, Archibald "Archie" and Louise Smith, who homesteaded in the now Dryden area in the early 1900's; their first cabin is the General Store at the Cashmere Museum's Pioneer Village. I am inspired by their vision, resiliency and spirit to cultivate not only their own plot of land but a community. Their impact on the Upper Valley has rippled beyond their lifetime and still has influence today through the institutions they helped establish and the values they instilled in generations of family members. Like them, I hope my work strengthens the fabric of our rural community, supporting businesses and organizations that provide livelihoods and services while fostering practical collaboration and resourcefulness needed to address our region's contemporary challenges.