LEAD with CLARITY - ALIGN with PURPOSE - EXECUTE for IMPACT
Who we Are
People First. Strategy with Purpose.
Who we Are
Blue Tide Strategic Partners is a people-first strategic advisory firm helping leaders, organizations, and communities turn clarity into aligned action and lasting results.
We believe meaningful progress happens when leaders are equipped, cultures support people and performance, and experiences reflect purpose. Our work brings focus to what matters most and helps people carry it forward with intention, courage, and care.
Why Blue Tide
Our name comes from a natural phenomenon. A blue tide occurs when the right ocean conditions come together and bioluminescent life illuminates the water with a quiet, unforgettable glow.
For us, it represents a moment of clarity: the point when leadership, culture, and purpose align to reveal what is possible. It reminds us that meaningful progress begins when the right conditions are created with care and intention.
Our Services
Four Ways We Help Organizations Move Forward
Our services are designed to work together to help leaders build clarity, alignment, and momentum. We apply proven frameworks while tailoring our work to each organization’s culture and goals.
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Strategic Planning, Facilitation & Stakeholder Engagement
We help boards, organizations, and communities bring clarity to complex moments. Through thoughtful planning, structured facilitation, and meaningful engagement, we create focused decisions, shared ownership, and strategy people are prepared to carry forward.
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Culture, Organizational Effectiveness & Strategic HR
We help organizations shape cultures where people, performance, and wellbeing can flourish. Through intentional structures, leadership practices, and people systems, we strengthen how teams work, lead, and carry meaningful progress forward.
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Leadership Development, Executive Coaching & Keynotes
We help leaders grow the clarity, presence, and resilience to meet the moments that matter most. Through leadership development, executive coaching, and keynote experiences, we strengthen how leaders think, communicate, and show up so they can guide people and organizations forward with clarity, purpose, courage and care.
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Exceptional Employee & Customer Experiences
We help organizations design experiences that feel intentional, connected, and true to their purpose. By looking across the moments that shape both employee and customer relationships, we create the conditions for stronger connections, deeper trust, and lasting loyalty. The result is an experience people can feel, remember, and carry forward.
What Sets Us Apart
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01/
People First, Progress With Purpose
We believe meaningful progress begins with people. Strategy works best when leaders are aligned, teams feel connected to the purpose, and culture supports the clarity, trust, and wellbeing people need to carry the work forward.
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02 /
Deep Relationships, Lasting Impact
We believe meaningful work is built through relationships, not transactions. We take time to understand what matters to the people we serve, creating trust, shared commitment, and progress that lasts beyond the engagement.
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03 /
Purposeful Work, Meaningful Difference
We choose work that matters. For us, success is not only a stronger plan or a completed engagement, but the difference it makes for leaders, teams, customers, families, and communities. We bring structure, intention, and heart to work worth carrying forward.
Our Story
Three Leaders. One Calling. A Shared Purpose to Make a Greater Impact.
Blue Tide was born from relationships built over time.
For years, Rick Redden and Melanie Stith each knew David McNair through their respective organizations as clients, where trust, respect, and shared values took root. As Rick and Melanie later moved from corporate leadership into consulting and coaching, they began partnering with David and The McNair Group on meaningful work for leaders, organizations, and communities.
Over time, something became clear. Their combined experience, relationships, and purpose created the conditions for greater impact than any one of them could achieve alone.
Guided by faith and a shared belief that they were being led toward something more, the three brought their work together. Blue Tide Strategic Partners was formed to help people and organizations move forward with clarity, alignment, and purpose.
Meet Our Team
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Melanie Stith
Co-Founder & Principal Advisor
linkedin.com/in/melanie-g-stith-jd-sphr
Melanie is an attorney, former healthcare executive - chief people officer/chief administrative officer, board director, strategic advisor, and executive coach. With 25 years of experience, Melanie founded Culture Wins, LLC and partnered closely with The McNair Group before co-founding Blue Tide.
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David McNair
Co-Founder & Managing Advisor
https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-mcnair-a7ab8279/
David is a best-selling author, former executive, entrepreneur and strategic partner. With over 30 years of experience, David founded The McNair Group, LLC, which provided advisory services - guiding leaders and organizations to clarity and disciplined execution - before co-founding Blue Tide.
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Rick Redden
Co-Founder & Principal Advisor
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-redden/
Rick is a former banking division CEO, board director, executive coach and strategic partner. With over 30 years of experience, Rick founded R3 Advisors, LLC after leaving banking and partnered closely with The McNair Group before co-founding Blue Tide.
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Monica Brown
Senior Advisor
https://www.linkedin.com/in/monica-g-brown-a1a7b56/
Monica Brown brings more than 30 years of experience at the intersection of human resources, business systems, and information technology. She helps organizations translate strategy into scalable systems and processes that support growth, transformation, and operational performance.
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Paula Custer
Senior Advisor
Paula Custer brings more than 35 years of experience helping organizations strengthen leadership, navigate change, and align strategy and culture. She works with leaders and teams to create clarity, engagement, and lasting organizational results.
Testimonials
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Over several years and in multiple forums we’ve benefitted greatly from David McNair’s insights on leadership and change management.
- Regional President, Wells Fargo Bank
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Melanie’s ability to facilitate meaningful, inclusive discussions and provide practical strategies tailored to our unique needs was truly remarkable. We greatly appreciate the time, effort, and passion she brought to our retreat, and we are confident that the knowledge she shared will help us better serve our community.
- Executive, Non-Profit Organization
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David McNair’s group has been a business partner with the Medical University of South Carolina for the past 25 years. They have been involved in strategic goal setting, measures and the professional development of more than 500 leaders and thousands of our frontline staff members across our campus. Their depth of expertise, passion and flexibility have been their hallmarks!
- Administrator - Medical University of South Carolina
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Thank you for making a difference in our organization! Your leadership and dedication are so admired. You've been our partner for the past 4 years and helped us reach excellence!
- Managing Partner, Destination Hotels and Resorts
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I will never forget the positive spirit with which everyone, including the inevitable skeptics, embraced the entire initiative. The results have been terrific!
- President, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts
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David McNair’s seminar was by FAR one of the best I have attended - he is a master at work. My opinion was shared by most in attendance as I observed and listened to their enthusiastic comments. In hindsight, I would have wholeheartedly paid for every employee to attend McNair’s seminar. BRAVO!
- CEO, Eureka Drug Stores, Inc.
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Our work with The McNair Group (now Blue Tide) has changed the face of our organization. It has become part of our culture to treat each other and our customers with more respect. It has decreased the number of customer and employee complaints. I highly recommend this program to each and every organization looking to improve.
- President & CEO, Goodwill of Greater Washington
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...they provide the wisdom and tools essential for companies to build that phenomenal experience every customer yearns for.
- President and CEO, Caribou Coffee Company
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When I decided to elevate the services we provide to the citizens of the City of Charleston and to each other as fellow City employees to an even higher level than existed, I turned immediately to these professionals to assist us in that effort. Their focus on our entire service culture, from training the workforce to getting customer and employee feedback to creating teams to sustain the service gains, have helped make us a more responsive and customer-centered city government.
- Mayor, City of Charleston
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I highly recommend Melanie Stith as an exceptional HR advisor. Her extensive experience in human resource management, coupled with her strategic insight and collaborative approach, makes her an invaluable asset to any organization. Melanie consistently demonstrates a deep understanding of HR principles while offering forward- thinking solutions that drive organizational success. List Item
- HR Director, The GEL Group
Ideas That Shape Strategy & Leadership
Our work with organizations across industries offers a unique perspective on the challenges leaders face today. Here we share insights, observations, and practical thinking designed to support clarity, alignment, and meaningful progress.
