Voice of Experience: Akila Krishnakumar, COO and Country Head of India for SunGard Technology Services

Akila_KK_1-1By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“I’ve had an active career. I’ve moved around a lot in India and outside,” said Akila Krishnakumar, Chief Operating Officer and Country Head, India, SunGard Technology Services. “I’ve worked for 25 years with no real break in my career. It’s just so much fun.”

Krishnakumar is energetic about work – the opportunities she’s encountered, sharing successes with her team, and now the ability to be a role model for her employees. She also emphasizes the importance of continued learning. “I firmly think you have to be open to a wide range of experiences. In every single thing you do, there is learning.”

A Love of Work

“I started my career when I was barely twenty one at Wipro. It’s large and famous now, but then it was a small company, almost a start-up.” Krishnakumar said. “It was the best grounding I could ever hope for, in my career and as a person.”

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Three Reasons the Technology Field is Great for Women

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iStock_000000616696XSmallBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

This week, The Glass Hammer is celebrating women in technology with a series of articles profiling women who’ve broken the glass ceiling in senior technical roles. The tech field hasn’t always been seen as women-friendly. For instance, as noted in the Anita Borg Institute‘s report Senior Technical Women: A Profile of Success, the field’s culture promotes a hero-mentality, wherein the people given top jobs, promotions, and kudos are those who swoop in at the last minute when a project needs to be completed, spend long days and late nights fixing problems to meet a deadline, and save the day.

The hero culture doesn’t work well for women, though. As the study explains, most senior women in tech are primary caregivers who often aren’t able to spend those late nights in the office – and so they get passed over for promotions or interesting assignments, even if they’re highly capable.

Another study published in the December Journal of Personality and Social Psychology showed that geeky stereotypes may be keeping women out of computer-science related fields.

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Voice of Experience: Sheree Stomberg, Head of O&T Administration, Global Operations & Technology Chief Administrative Office, Citi

ShereeStombergBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Sheree Stomberg, Head of O&T Administration at Citi‘s Global Operations and Technology Chief Administrative Office has dedicated her life to “three pillars:” her work, her family, and her philanthropy. She works as a change agent – as an O&T expert, a dedicated advocate for women’s networks, and fighting global hunger.

“Play full out and make sure you love what you do,” she says. “Follow your passion. If you choose this industry, make sure it’s you passion.”

Working as a Change Agent in O&T

“I have a broadly diverse career path in Financial Services,” Stomberg explained. She began her career in a UBS training program dealing with corporate finance for the oil and gas industry, then becoming senior credit policy officer, then Head of Strategic Planning for the Americas, and finally, Head of Operations and Head of Technology for North America.

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In Case You Missed It: Business News Round-Up

Beth 005Contributed by Beth Collinge of CTG – a division of ILX Group plc.

The Dow Jones suffered its worst intra-day points fall. The Euro hit a one-year low against the Dollar on fears about the Euro-zone’s financial stability, following the Greek financial crisis. After Britain’s election produced a hung parliament, parties are working out a power-sharing deal.

Economic Backdrop

  • On Thursday 6 May a cascade of automated trades caused the Dow Jones Industrial Average to suffer its worst intra-day points fall – 998.5, or 9.2 per cent. It then recovered slightly, but it still ended the week down 5.71%. On Friday, 7 May, the FTSE 100 lost £35bn in value and, around the world, stockmarkets tumbled, with nearly $1 trillion wiped off the value of shares worldwide.
  • Wall Street’s fear gauge, the CBOE Volatility index, or the VIX, rose 26% Friday, to 41.43, ending at a fresh 12 month high.
  • The euro hit a one-year low against the dollar, falling nearly 5% as fears spread over Europe’s financial stability. Despite approval earlier this week of a €110 billion ($145 billion) bail-out of Greece by euro-zone countries and the International Monetary Fund, investors are worried that this will not prove sufficient, and that other European countries, notably Portugal and Spain, will get drawn into the crisis.

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Voice of Experience: Isabelle Jenkins, Partner, Financial Services Consulting, PricewaterhouseCoopers

The Glass Hammer is proud to celebrate women in technology with a week of profiles of women at the top of the tech field. Make sure to check out our upcoming event Women in IT: Staying Technical and Getting to the Top.

IsabelleJenkinsBy Elizabeth Harrin (London)

Isabelle Jenkins took a computerised careers test at university. The results told her to join the army or become a management consultant.

“In retrospect, management consultancy would have been a sensible choice,” she says, “but no one explained what it was. The job counselling I got at university was terrible.”

Today, Jenkins is a Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, in the Financial Services Consulting business – not exactly where she thought she’d be when she was job hunting after graduation, but a job she loves. “When you peel them back, seventy per cent of consulting business problems involve technology,” she explains. “You need to have a technology focus to solve problems.”

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Social Networking for Grown-Ups

iStock_000007155263XSmallBy Elisabeth Grant (Washington, D.C.)

By now you’ve heard of social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) and social networking (interacting in these different online spaces). In fact you may be sick of hearing about it!

Perhaps you have a Facebook account, and maybe you’re even on Twitter. While these sites can offer great ways to keep up with friends, share photos, and be part of an online community, social media also offers important business opportunities as well. While you have to be careful what you post online (“Don’t Get Dooced“), don’t pass up the chance to make connections, brand yourself, and use social media in a business savvy way.

Out of the Playground

Social media may have started out as a diversion for teenagers and college students. But, in recent years, as Diane Garnick, Investment Strategist at Invesco Ltd. (and noted social media practitioner) explained:

“Social media stopped being a Generation Y playground and became an important tool for discovering, cultivating and expanding business relationships. Bridge the gap between you and your competitors by expressing your best ideas in an electronic forum the entire world can see.”

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Funding: Why money is missing when it comes to creating and sustaining female leaders in high tech

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Nicki HeadshotBy Nicki Gilmour, CEO and Founder of theglasshammer.com (New York City)

Part 1 of a 2 part series on “Why women should stay technical,” an introduction to our upcoming event Women in IT: Staying Technical and Getting to the Top, held in conjunction with Goldman Sachs and Accenture.

Recently, the New York Times reported on the lack of access to funding for women playing in the start-up environment of Silicon Valley. The numbers reveal just how underrepresented both professional executive women and female entrepreneurs are, citing that women account for just 6% of CEOs of the 100 top tech companies. Women create only 8% of venture capital money to fund tech companies – despite women owned businesses providing 40% of the US’s company revenues. In fact, in 2009, Techcrunch’s The Funded list included only one woman.

Why are the numbers so low? Well, it seems to be a function of critical mass (or rather the lack of it). The same dynamics keeping women out of the boardroom explain why women are not as easily funded in their businesses.

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Movers and Shakers: Christine Breck, Principal, Source Trading

breck

Image Courtesy Oprah.com

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“The importance of building a network is critical. From what I’ve seen in my life, women are good at their jobs and perhaps building networks in our own companies. But we don’t often have our own external network.” said Christine Breck, Principal, Source Trading.

A founding member and current president of Texas Wall Street Women, Breck is enthusiastic about the value of building and nurturing network connections.

She is also enthusiastic about the people she works with. “I’ve been very lucky to build a client base of outstanding human beings. They’re smart, ethical, nice, wonderful people.”

Now a veteran in financial services, it wasn’t always Breck’s plan to work in the industry. She joked, “My family was in the financial industry. I was not going to be in the financial industry.”

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WNSF: Building a Sustainable Workforce

CelebrationBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Last Monday, the Women’s Network for a Sustainable Future held a discussion panel entitled Human Capital for a Sustainable Economy. WNSF Executive Director Anne Goodman said that a focus on sustainable careers can improve the economy and create jobs. She said, “WNSF envisions a future for sustainable jobs.” She explained that these kinds of careers can create financial, environmental, and social progress.

Moderated by Michelle Kahane, Professor of Professional Practice at Milano the New School for Management and Urban Policy, the panel featured Melinda Wolfe, Head of Human Resources at Bloomberg, Susan Heaney, Global Director of Corporate Responsibility, Avon, Natalie Thompson, Vice President, Global Leadership and Diversity, Goldman Sachs.

“Bloomberg has some very dramatic goals to reduce our carbon footprint by 50% in a couple of years,” said Wolf. She continued, “Our commitment is a defining hallmark for the company.”

Thompson said, “At Goldman Sachs, we’ve had an environmental policy in place since 2005. It is fully integrated at every aspect of the business.” Thompson also cited Goldman’s new LEED certified facilities.

Heaney explained that at Avon, CSR “functions very much like HR. It intersects with every single department in the company, and sets policy and procedural standards” across the organization. “When Goldman Sachs started tracking social investing, [we realized] this must really count!” she joked. “It was really a turning point.”

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Ask-A-Career-Coach: The Pros and Cons of Continuing Education Courses

jobsearchContributed by Caroline Ceniza-Levine of SixFigureStart™

As you plan your career, there are so many things you can invest your resources in – taking continuing education courses, working towards a certification or advanced degree, getting involved in a professional group, expanding your network, attending conferences, getting published, looking for better jobs. The decision on whether to choose a continuing education course needs to be weighed against all these other options. It will depend on what you want to get out of the course and your career overall.

Continuing education is good to expand your skill set without the commitment and expense of an all-out certification program or additional degree. You can pick and choose exactly what captures your interest or what you feel will most benefit you right now. Company tuition reimbursement plans are often capped, and continuing education courses can be selected to fall below the maximum. On the other hand, a course here and there will not have the weight of completing a certification or advanced degree. Many companies will reimburse only for full programs, not a select course.

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