Voice of Experience: Anne Erni, Head of Leadership, Learning and Diversity, Bloomberg LP

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“As my career on the trading floor progressed, I began noticing women disappearing all around me,” said Anne Erni, head of diversity at Bloomberg. Before moving to Bloomberg, Erni was one of the founders of WILL, Lehman Brothers‘ women’s network. After founding WILL, she said, “I really began to understand the importance of sisterhood in the workplace.”

Erni, who described her career as “non-linear,” began her career on the trading floor, eventually becoming SVP, Prime Brokerage at Lehman, before taking on the Chief Diversity Officer role there.

“I want to drive people to contribute their very best, so they can make the most of their careers,” she explained. “I am passionate about people feeling passionate about coming to work.”

Building a Career on Wall Street

After graduating from Johns Hopkins with a B.A. and M.A. international relations, Erni began her 21-year Wall Street career. “For the first 15 years, I was on the front line,” she said, “and for the last six years, I’ve been on the corporate side.”

Erni says the P&L and client-facing responsibilities she managed during the first part of her career provided invaluable experience in the corporate and HR space. “It helped me so much,” she said.

Erni started out in corporate finance in investment banking, working at Swiss Bank Corporation for five years, then decided to go into trading. She said she wanted to work with trading on a daily basis, rather than working on long-term deals. “I took the least sexy roles on the trading floor,” she joked, explaining that focusing on low profile positions enabled her to rise to the top. “I got to be a big fish in a smaller pond.”

Erni moved from repo, to money markets, to structured notes, to derivatives, preferring roles in the least understood fields at the time, and then went into equity finance. “These roles provided the most interesting and creative business building opportunities,” she explained. “I got to differentiate myself.”

Eventually, Erni became Senior Vice President of Prime Brokerage at Lehman Brothers, when she received a call from Lehman’s president Joe Gregory.

She said, “He identified me as one of a few women to start the women’s network at Lehman.”

Erni continued, “That was the last Friday in August 2001. Two weeks later, was September 11th. Lehman lost its headquarters – and after that we were spread out over 40 locations. Building the women’s network was part of pulling us back together – and that became WILL – Women’s Initiatives Leading Lehman.”

“Thus began the second part of my career.”

Becoming Chief Diversity Officer at Lehman and Bloomberg

“I was a business person by day, and then after work I focused on the women’s network. I’m really a list person, and on one side of my page was my real job list, and on the other side was my women’s initiative list,” she recalled.

She explained, “The business I worked in was a very male dominated business. I would hear comments like, ‘what’s a nice girl like you doing in a business like this?’ But I liked it – I liked the golf and the cigars. I would do whatever I had to do to fit in.”

But after working to form WILL, Erni recognized the importance of building relationships with her fellow female coworkers. “Through WILL, I was able to form friendships with other women in the company – where we could discuss issues like work/life balance and family, and find support and answers.”

“After the founding of the WILL network, Joe Gregory called me again. And he asked me to be Chief Diversity Officer. I said, ‘Done.’”

She continued, “And he said, ‘Are you sure you don’t want to sleep on it?’ And I said I was totally ready to move on.”

“The focus of my role at Lehman was very much about diversity. When I came to Bloomberg, I got this really amazing opportunity to look at the broad talent platform,” said Erni. “I am the head of leadership, learning and diversity – all the elements of helping people be the best they can be, optimizing the workforce.”

“I’m really excited to be here,” she added.

Down the road, Erni says, she sees herself running a business or entering the non-profit world. She explained, “Have you heard ‘learn – earn – return?’ In 10 years, I’ll be 56. And I think by the time I’m 56, I’m hoping I’m on the return phase – but on a global level.”

Also in 10 years, she continued, “I hope both of my kids come back from college and live near me. At the end of the day, I do everything possible to be present with my children.”

The Importance of Flex Work for Keeping Women in the Workplace

Erni is a strong supporter of flexible working – and finding ways to keep women in their jobs while dealing with family responsibilities, having personal experience as well.

“In 2001, I was still on the equity trading floor in Prime Brokerage – and I was really ready to quit. And the only hedge against me leaving was if Lehman would offer a flexible work schedule – which they were not offering at all.”

She continued, “And I said to my boss, ‘I’d like to do a four-day work week,’ and that continued for nine years. I was promoted twice during that time. I became Managing Director.”

“Women can do it – there are alternate ways to keep talent. I really try to create programs based on my own empathies. I know what women are going through.”

“My proudest achievement was probably the creation of the first on-ramping program in the US”, she said. “Encore. It was a program to help women who left the workforce return and engage in a meaningful way,” she continued.

Erni said she worked with the Center for Work Life Policy to perform national research on the “opt-out” issue. She said, “60% of women were leaving the workforce at some point in their lives. But 91% wanted to get back in. And less than half of them were successful.”

“We had recruitment strategies for undergrads, graduates, and lateral moves – but no intentional strategy for recruiting women who left the workforce.”

Encore became the company’s strategy to recruit this valuable source of experienced female workers.

She continued, “We are part of this sandwich generation – with both children and parent responsibilities.”

“There is a change in the demographics of people coming to work,” Erni explained. While the workforce decades ago was fairly homogeneous, today’s workforce is much more diverse – and companies need to recognize that, she said. “The workplace was really designed like a monolith – by men, for men. Organizations have to take a hard look at how they operate, and accommodate a different paradigm.”

“It doesn’t have to include face time – it’s not where we work, but when and how,” she explained, pointing toward new technology enabling flexible working.

Networking and Asking for Help

“It may sound trite, but I wish I had known how important networking was when I was first starting out,” Erni said. “I would have spent less time working really hard and more time working really smart.”

“I could have accelerated my career at a much earlier age,” she added.

She continued, “I also wish I had known to ask for things. I learned to be much more direct. I used to worry so much about what people would think. But it’s business. You’ve got to be direct. I think I missed a lot of opportunities by not asking for what I wanted.”

Erni recommends that young women take a long-term look at their careers, when they encounter hardships. “No one ever says it’s easy. There are low lows and high highs.”

She continued, “Women sometimes have a choice about whether to stay in the workforce or leave it – it’s so easy to be lulled into ‘I don’t have to take this anymore,’ when the other half is working.” But, she said, the key is to focus on “the issues that are really keeping you from loving work, rather than opting out.” Erni emphasized that companies will work with valuable staff to keep them on board – but women need to let supervisors know when they need help.

She pointed to the importance of finding a mentor – “someone you can trust, connect with, who you have chemistry with, who you can go to with real issues and get great guidance.”

Erni also said that a network is invaluable – and to make sure that network includes a broad range of individuals. “You should know someone in legal, risk, sales, etc., who you can go to for help – not just in your day-to-day, but also for opportunities.”

She continued, “Never isolate yourself within your organization. Whether it is at non-profits or your kids’ sports, or organizations connected to the functions of your job, meet people with similar passions. They’re your life-blood if plan B needs to happen. After Lehman, my external network was my plan B.”

In her spare time, Erni, who has two children, 12 and 19, says she enjoys doing family sports – “things I can do with both of my kids, like stand-up paddle boarding, biking, tennis skiing – anything all of us can do.” She also enjoys cooking and entertaining. Erni is involved with non-profits, including Prep for Prep, an organization that identifies underprivileged New York City students and works to get them into preps schools and hopefully college. She said, “It’s my passion. I’ve been doing it for six years.” She is also on the board of the Center for Work Life Policy.