Voice of Experience: Suni Harford, Managing Director and Regional Head of Markets for North America, Citigroup

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“I’m constantly learning in this job,” said Suni Harford, Managing Director and Regional Head of Markets for North America at Citi. “And that’s great after twenty-five years in the business, to say I learn something new every day.”

Harford, who co-heads the firm’s women’s initiative in addition to her day job, shows inspiring enthusiasm for her career – and, she said, it comes from doing work she enjoys.

“It sounds silly to say that the most exciting thing I’m working on right now is just doing my job, but these markets make for interesting days, and it’s very rewarding.”

Building a Career in Banking

Harford studied physics and math as an undergraduate and took a job as an actuary after college. “But it turned out that being an actuary was not the best fit for me,” she said. She enrolled at Dartmouth, earned an MBA, and took a job at Merrill Lynch. Five years later, she moved to Salomon Brothers. When the firm merged with Citi, Harford stayed with the company.

“I’ve worn many different hats at Citigroup,” she said. Harford started as a product manager, originating medium-term note programs all over the world. She then moved into Fixed Income Capital Markets origination. “A decade later, I made a big change to take on a broader management role, and moved over to be the Global Head of our Fixed Income Research division,” she said. “It was a very different and challenging role, but it also exposed me to the entire breadth of products that Citi provides. ”

She continued, “I believe that role prepared me for my current role as a regional Markets head. I deal with all parts of the Markets business, all products and all functions: sales, trading, origination. It’s a challenging position, but it’s also a lot of fun.”

With almost 4,000 employees in the Markets group, Harford said, “It means everything from client coverage and strategic business initiatives to all areas of people management and communication. It also requires attention to the more administrative side, but in this market, there are also huge business opportunities dealing with expense management and budgeting. It’s a very open ended job description.”

And, she continued, “On the personal side, I have the privilege of working on Citi’s very successful Military Veterans Initiative.” Harford is one of the founders of the initiative, and she helped Citi become a founding member of Veterans On Wall Street, a coalition of Wall Street firms that have banded together to share best practices and help returning veterans. “I also have the distinct honor of working with our Chairman, Richard Parsons, on the White House’s Joining Forces Initiative, under which the First Lady and Dr. Jill Biden are engaging American corporations in their effort to help our military veterans as they transition back into civilian life.”

Working through Industry Issues

Harford said she is proud to have been part of the team that helped Citi get through the financial crisis. She explained, “I took this role in the summer of 2008, which was near the beginning of the financial crisis. I’m very proud of this firm and how we came through the crisis, and particularly proud that so many of our clients stuck with us.”

She continued, “This is a really tough time to be in the markets, to be a bank, but it’s also a really good time to be at Citi. We’ve been through much of what our competitors are only now just facing, and I believe we are more prepared for the years ahead.”

She’s also interested in how the financial industry is working to improve its image. She said, “There’s a public misperception of our industry, and it’s hard to deal with it. It’s difficult for all of us. Somehow, we have to figure out a way to return to the world’s good graces. That will take a lot of time and energy.”

The Opt Out Problem

“One of the biggest challenges we face in attracting and retaining women in our industry is that women opt out too early,” Harford said. “Women will look at the hours and travel required for a successful career on Wall Street in the context of a future desire to have a family or other outside interests. At first appearance, it can look like the two are incompatible. We lose too many women too early in their careers.” Further, she believes, women look at Wall Street as a male bastion. “I don’t think it is. This is not the Wall Street of the ‘60s. It’s very different and very rewarding.”

She said that while the job can be extremely time-intensive earlier on, those time constraints do get easier as you establish yourself and develop your skill set. “The demands of a career in financial services are always heavy, but no more so than many other careers that have a greater percentage of women in their ranks. And many of the men we work with face the same constraints.”

Advice for Professional Women

Harford said that she’s become more flexible as her career progressed – and that’s a trait she wishes she had developed earlier. “I no longer set my goals in stone and am more flexible with my expectations. If I had known how differently things can turn out, or about the little twists of fate that occur in one’s life, I would have been more open to change and opportunity.”

“I missed opportunities earlier in my career that I now wish I had pursued,” she explained. For example, she said, she wishes she had taken international assignments – which would have given her children the opportunity to live abroad.

Next, she advised women to speak up. “There are very few stereotypes I hold with, but this was true for me, and in my experience this one is true for many women.”

She explained, “In a typical meeting scenario, you can see men interrupting each other in order to be heard, while ,women tend to wait until everyone is done speaking before offering their opinion. And women don’t ask to be promoted. Women wait to be rewarded. It can be a long wait. ”

Harford had the same advice for senior women. “In my experience, the more senior women get, the more cynical they can become about the opportunities available, and so, less likely to raise their hand for a new role. They tend to think that if they haven’t made a move or a change already, they’re not going to now. You have to speak up throughout your career.”

Women at Citi

Harford is a co-head (with Deb McWhinney) of Women 4 CITI, the bank’s women’s initiative, which was founded five years ago. Harford commented, “The focus of this next phase of the initiative is to imbed the diversity effort into the business. Focusing on human capital development to maximize the potential of its female employees is good for both the employees themselves, and the company and its shareholders.”

The initiative will also focus on client engagement, where Harford believes there is much that Citi can do in the space that can expand and enhance its client relationships. Interestingly, Harford said, the initiative is designed to reach not only the bank’s women, but its men as well.

She explained, “The organization structure of Women4CITI involves both genders and all businesses, so we help to drive the importance of diversity throughout the organization.”

“One of our key initiatives is Women Leading Citi. It’s a program for our most talented senior women, with a focus on preparing them for senior management positions at Citi,” she said. The 18-month program offers a targeted approach including advocacy and coaching, with an end objective of promotion and/or mobility.

“It’s our best chance in terms of moving the needle in terms of advancing very senior women at the firm.”

In Her Personal Time

Outside work, Harford manages her family, including three young children, and continues her involvement in veterans’ causes. “I wish that everyone could focus on veterans and the issues facing them when they come home. One of the key issues they face is staggering unemployment,”she said. “So please. Thank a vet and hire one!”