Voice of Experience: Pam Kiernan, Global Head of Business Development, Global Prime Finance, Deutsche Bank

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“My advice is to be confident in what you do really well. Be open to taking risks, and to new opportunities, leveraging what you do really well,” advised Pam Kiernan, Managing Director and Global Head of Business Development for Deutsche Bank’s Global Prime Finance business.

She explained that when she heard women voicing frustration about their careers, it was usually “the result of an aversion to taking risks at a key inflection point.”

Kiernan said one of the things she’s most proud of in her own career has been her ability to take on new opportunities – moving from an infrastructure position early in her career, to a client facing role, and eventually holding COO roles for the Bank’s North American cash equities business and DB Advisors’ hedge fund business. And now she’s taken on a global role in the company’s prime brokerage business as Global Head of Business Development for Global Prime Finance.

“Be confident, and take the risk,” she said.

Leveraging Key Inflection Points

Kiernan graduated Penn State in 1991 with a degree in Economics and has been with Deutsche Bank for 13 years. She didn’t start her career with a Wall Street job in mind, Kiernan said – and began working as a systems analyst and project management consultant. When Morgan Stanley became a client, she was hired into the tech business. “It was my first entree into Wall Street,” she said.

Soon, Kiernan explained, she left Morgan Stanley to follow her former boss Kevin Parker to Deutsche Bank, to work in equities. “It was an inflection point in my career, in terms of moving from a back office role to a client facing position,” she said. Eventually, Kiernan was named COO of the North American cash equities business in 2003. “And that was another inflection point,” she said. “I got to work on what was really driving the bottom line of our business and look for key growth opportunities,” she explained, adding that the position was much more P&L focused and included “managing our cost base.”

After her time in equities, Kiernan moved to Deutsche Asset Management, becoming COO of its DB Advisors hedge fund business, which, at its peak, grew to over $8 billion in assets. Finally, in 2008, when the company decided to exit the fund of funds business she moved to the Global Prime Finance business within the Markets division, managing client consulting relationships and product development globally.

Global Prime Finance now has over 750 clients in the prime brokerage and synthetic equity. “And that’s the last 20 years in a nutshell,” she joked.

She continued, “it’s hard to define a single achievement” as being the greatest or the one she is most proud of. She continued, “I had several critical points throughout my career and I was able to turn great wins into new opportunities. Each shift contributed to my career trajectory, including the support of my organization in terms of opportunities and sponsorship.”

Looking toward the next five or ten years, Kiernan said, “Right now, I am delighted to be running a key component of our top-ranked global prime finance business. I love what I’m doing now. I recently transitioned into this new role and received the mandate for global product development. I’m in build mode, but over time, I’d like to expand my responsibilities.”

Currently, Kiernan said she is enjoying the growth of the bank’s prime finance and global hedge fund consulting business. “Our strength is our global reach and multi-asset class service model,” she said, and the company has worked to target startups. She continued, “we have several new client relationships this quarter, and about 80% are start-up funds. We’re right on target for 2010 – it’s been fun.”

“Going forward, we have to continue to build our brand in the start-up business, bring clients to it, and generate revenue around it. It’s what’s making me enthusiastic about the client consulting role,” she continued.

On the subject of industry regulation and the Dodd-Frank bill she said, “This is a seismic shift – it’s like the Securities Act of ’33 or the Investment Advisers Act of ’40. We will adapt and help our clients adapt to any changes.”

Setting Boundaries

“From a personal perspective, I haven’t experienced any barriers or challenges because I’m a woman. I’m very proud of my accomplishments.” Kiernan continued, “But from a macro view, this is obviously not the case for everyone. It’s a multifaceted question.”

“I’m the sole income earner for my family – and I’m very motivated to work. I know what motivates and drives me, and I know why I’m here. Someone was asking me about job satisfaction, and asked me why I stay in the financial services industry, and I said, ‘I genuinely love it.’”

“I’m a 24/7, single mom, and I have two kids under five” she said, explaining that she is widowed. She continued, “And I have no issue with work/life balance.”

She said, “It’s not a female versus male issue. It doesn’t matter what your boundaries are, but it matters that you have them. I know my boundaries.”

For example, she continued, “If I miss my son’s field trip because I happen to be traveling for work, I don’t view that as a failure. I view that as out of bounds. At Deutsche Bank, we accommodate flexibility when flexibility is required, for maternity leave, or whatever is necessary. As long as you contribute and add value, I’ve found that management is willing to work with you within reason.”

Advice for Women in Financial Services

“Network, network, network,” advised Kiernan. “I’m 20 years into this career, with 15 years in financial services, and I didn’t systematically look at my external and internal networks until about five years ago.”

She continued, “When I moved into the hedge fund role, I needed my external network to know other viewpoints on regulation, opportunities, and different ways to overcome challenges in the business.”

“I wish I had done that ten years earlier. Some of the people I had started out with fifteen years earlier in ’95 or ’96 are now major contributors in the hedge fund space. I wish I had spent more time and energy staying connected over the years. You have to be externally-facing, having breakfast, having lunch, and participating in industry events,” she added.

Internally, Kiernan says she is a member of ATLAS (Accomplished Top Leaders Advancement Strategy), a program Deutsche Bank has designed to support high performing women. It is sponsored by Dr. Josef Ackermann, Chairman of the Management Board and the Group Executive Committee. “The goal is to increase gender balance between men and women in positions of influence.” The program has already seen impressive results, she said.

For women who are advancing in their careers, she advised, “You really need to focus on your executive presence. Your value is your judgment. It’s about the transition from technical competence to business leadership competence.”

In terms of her management style, Kiernan says she remembers words a mentor told her early in her career. “I value the person who can do sixteen hours of work in six hours per day, versus the person who does six hours of work and hangs around for sixteen hours per day.”

She added, “I continued to ascribe to that for my own team.”

Outside Work

In her spare time, Kiernan said, “My hobby all of the sudden is to help out on the little league baseball field. And I also wear my soccer mom title with pride. I also commit to a one week hiking retreat every year which helps me stay grounded and hit the reset button.”

Kiernan is also a strong supporter of education, serving on the financial committee of her son’s school in Brooklyn. She also works with Horizons National Student Enrichment Program, a program that targets economically underprivileged children bringing them into the independent school system for summer enrichment programs. “I’ve recently been asked to join the board of the Brooklyn Friends Horizons program,” she added.

Finally, she said, “Part of the reason I continue to do what I do and work in financial services is to have the resources to show my kids the world.”

She explained, “Every year I want to take them somewhere – this year we went to Vancouver and Alaska. Travel is a passion of mine, and I’m looking forward to letting them pick the destinations when they get older.”