About Fifth District
We've done this work from the inside.
Fifth District Solutions helps mission-driven organizations and growing businesses get structured to scale, raise capital, or sell. Founded in Atlanta in 2017, the firm is led by principals with more than 30 years of combined experience in finance, operations, and strategy.
That experience spans global nonprofits, large corporate operations, Wall Street, and the Big Four. We bring that range to organizations at a turning point, and we design every engagement so your team can carry the work forward without us.
How we work
Senior-led
Every engagement is led by a principal from the first call to the final handoff. You won't be passed to someone learning on your time.
Built from experience
We've sat in the seats we advise: running the close, managing the board, preparing for audit. Our recommendations account for real constraints.
Designed to hand off
Documented processes, trained people, and a clear transition plan. Success means your organization doesn't need us anymore.
Global by experience
Multi-entity finance infrastructure built and run across six continents, from multi-currency accounting to international payroll.
Leadership
Candice Crawford McCalop
Founder, Principal and Managing Director
Candice brings more than 15 years of finance and operations leadership experience across corporate, public-sector, and mission-driven organizations, including Georgia-Pacific, Generation USA, Exalt Youth, Phipps Neighborhoods, Families First, and me too. International. Across that work, she has helped drive more than $50 million in revenue growth.
Her experience spans both finance and people operations. At Georgia-Pacific, she led HR operations and systems, and at me too. International, she hired and built the entire team. Throughout her career, she has designed the recruiting, onboarding, and performance systems that enable small teams to grow without losing what makes them work.
As Director of Operations and Finance at me too. International, she built multi-entity finance infrastructure spanning six continents, covering multi-currency accounting, intercompany allocations, global payroll and employer-of-record compliance, audit, and board reporting.
In every leadership role she has held, she hired and trained her own successor. That instinct, to leave an organization stronger and less dependent on any one person, is the foundation Fifth District is built on.
MBA, Georgia State University · MPA, Baruch College, CUNY · Nonprofit Financial Management, Columbia University · BA, Political Science, Spelman College · National Urban Fellows
Nicolas McCalop
Co-founder, Principal and Managing Director, Finance
Nicolas brings more than 17 years of experience in finance and operations, with roles at NASDAQ, PwC, ScottMadden, EY, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup. His work has focused on financial management, strategic planning, and business process improvement across industries.
MBA, Strategy and Finance, Emory University Goizueta Business School · BA, Finance and Accounting, Morehouse College
Where we're headed
Money should do what it was meant to do.
Today we help organizations build the structure to grow, raise capital, and sell on their own terms.
We've also begun bringing the same discipline to a bigger stage: how money and opportunity reach the residents of a city. That means helping shape the policies behind economic development and community investment, deciding what those dollars should accomplish, and building the systems to carry them out and report on results.
When a company or major initiative comes to a city, its hiring, pay, and community commitments shape residents' lives for years. We want to help get those decisions right, from policy to implementation. See our community impact advisory work.
Where our experience comes from
me too. International · Goldman Sachs · Georgia-Pacific · PwC · Generation USA · NASDAQ · EY · Citigroup · ScottMadden · Exalt Youth · nsoro · Phipps Neighborhoods · Families First · Community Catalyst · City of Atlanta
At a turning point?
We take on a limited number of clients at a time so each one gets senior attention. If you see a change coming, it's worth talking early.