Voice of Experience: Pamela Jackson, Partner, Mergers and Acquisitions Tax, PwC

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“Believe in yourself,” advised Pamela Jackson, Partner and Founding Member of PwC’s Mergers and Acquisitions Tax business in the UK.

Through a career spanning over three decades – and three continents – Jackson has had the opportunity to learn a lot. She went from being mistaken for the receptionist when she first started out, to ascending to partnership and leadership within PwC, to being named Women in the City’s Woman of the Year, to now leading one of PwC’s new key strategic initiatives.

Jackson encourages women to embrace their self-confidence. “Tell people what you want. Keep asking for it. Don’t sit and wait for things to come to you. Success comes to people who go out and take it with both hands,” she said.

“Take calculated risks and go for it. Every time you take a risk, you continue on your journey.”

Career Path in Accounting

Jackson grew up in Sunderland, in the Northeast of England, and at the time, she recalled, there was a prevailing “male dominated attitude.”

“I went to an all-girls convent school, where the ambition for women was either to be a teacher or a nurse up until the time you had children. But I was a bit of a rebel,” she said with a laugh.

In class one day, Jackson and her classmates were asked what they wanted to be when they grew up. Wanting to stand out from her peers, Jackson replied that she wanted to be an accountant. “Not because I wanted to be an accountant and not because I knew what it was – I liked math and I liked what I knew of business. But I wanted to stand up and irritate my teachers.”

After leaving high school, Jackson went straight into accountancy. “I didn’t go to university – I didn’t see the need to go off and spend four years when I knew what I wanted to do. I was lucky. In those days you still had the opportunity to train as a Chartered Accountant without being a graduate.”

Jackson mentioned that shortly after she became an accountant, major accounting firms started requiring accountancy trainees to have a university degree. “For 30 years, the major firms didn’t accept non-graduates. But now, thankfully we’ve come full circle and it’s changed again.”

In 1977, she joined the firm now known as Grant Thornton and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1981. “I was the first female trainee they had ever taken – I was regularly confused for the secretary or the coffee maker,” she recalled.

Nevertheless, she excelled in her work, and soon, she said, “I decided to fish in a bigger pond.”

She joined PwC in London, and while she never had the particular ambition to become a partner, she steadily climbed the ladder. “I should have had more ambition at an earlier stage, but my ambition was looking at the next stage ahead and saying ‘I could do that.’”

In 1985, Jackson became a founding member of the M&A tax team. “It was all of 2 people,” she said. Around that time, the private equity industry was new to London, and business was booming – along with her career. She made partner in 1990, and then moved to New York in 1994 to run PwC’s UK tax desk.

“I loved New York, but I came back in 1997 and started a family in 1999. I was in my 40s by then,” she said. Jackson has remained in London in M&A tax, and taken on additional responsibilities as well.

For example, in 2003, she set up PwC’s female partner and director network. She was elected to the Supervisory Board in the UK in 2003, and went on to the Middle East Board in 2009. “I’m still going strong and doing lots of things!” she said.

Currently, Jackson represents the UK firm on PwC Middle East board “We have a strategic alliance with the Middle East firm. I love interacting with the Middle East clients and also the Middle East women. Every time I go to a meeting I’m conscious of being a visible role model. There aren’t many senior women and I want to give them faith in their abilities.”

She continued, “The Middle East is a fast growing economy and the firm is growing by over20% annually. The UK is in a slow growth economy at the moment, but we have a massive array of talent. In the Middle East, we’re growing, but there is a need for some of the skill sets we have in the UK.” The firm is hoping to match some of its UK resources with its Middle East opportunities.

Jackson will be taking on a new role as well. “The role I’ll be doing is taking on a lead relationship partner role for the Middle East firm, to be the link person between the UK and Middle East firms.”

She added, “We’re trying to ensure PwC makes the best of the rapid expansion in the Middle East.”

Being a Role Model

In 2010, Jackson was named Women in the City’s Woman of Achievement, and she counts this among her proudest achievements. “There are six categories, and one is accounting. It’s given to someone, who besides their day job, is doing something for women. I was nominated for the accountancy award, and when I was shortlisted I was flabbergasted! I thought, ‘What am I doing that’s so different to what everyone else is doing?’”

She added, “Then when I was put into the final round, I was even more astounded when I won!”

The award winner received the opportunity to attend the Accelerated Development Programme for Senior executives at the Chicago Booth School in London, and Jackson says this held special meaning for her. “Not having been to university, it gave me a taste of that collegiate atmosphere, being in the center of learning.”

She continued, “But the best thing was the recognition – so many people came up to me and said ‘You’ve done so much to influence me,’ and that made me realize what I had been doing and it made me realize what I had to keep doing.”

Challenges for Professional Women

“Mergers and acquisitions is traditionally quite a male dominated sector. It was very difficult to find another women around when I first started. And there are very few women in leadership roles in private equity today. Having said that, I don’t think there are any real barriers,” Jackson said. “Except for what’s in people’s minds.”

In fact, she continued, being a woman in a male dominated industry has its advantages. She explained, “I’ll be noticed. I can either be noticed because I’m good or because I’m bad. And people ask if that leads to the queen bee syndrome and I can say absolutely not. If you’re good, you want to encourage others around you.”

“When I started my career, less than ten percent of accounting trainees were female. Now it’s closer to 50% but only about 15 to 16 percent make it to Partner. It’s not good enough. I think the mental barriers are greater than the physical barriers in the environment. It comes back to confidence. There aren’t enough women looking around and saying ‘I’m going to do that.’”

Jackson said PwC is sponsoring a number of initiatives to encourage women to get involved in board work, including sponsorship of Women on Boards. “It’s designed to give people the opportunity to develop board room skills, particularly around for non-profit boards, so people in their 30s are getting that experience which is great for their CV or resume at the same time are giving something back to the community. As they go through the course, they can say, ‘I can do that.’”

Career Advice

Jackson wishes she had a bit more self-confidence when she was beginning her career. “You’re better than you think you are. Have confidence,” she said. “Looking back, you’d get praise and think ‘that was lucky.’ But actually it wasn’t luck. You deserved it.”

She continued, “So many people don’t recognize their own talent. I think if I had recognized mine earlier I could have done so much more.”

Jackson encouraged senior women to network with one another more. “We feed off each other. Make time for that. When I get together with people in this firm or outside, we realize we’re all thinking the same thing. It’s reinvigorating. It helps you bounce ideas around and develop a more focused plan. Inspire each other to go on and do more.”

“There’s not enough of it – I’ll admit it – I spend too much time having lunch at my desk. But I really do think networking and spurring each other on is valuable. The more you do together, the greater the achievement.”

Jackson said PwC’s female partner and director network was the product of networking with other senior women. “I had just sent an email to a bunch of people saying ‘do you feel like we’re not getting enough people through to Partner and Director?’ And suddenly I found myself chairing a network. And it’s been going now for nearly ten years.”

She also praised the firm’s mentoring program for female leaders. “It takes high potential female partners who are mentored by executive board members. The women learn, and male colleagues on the board learn so much from mentoring diverse people as well.”

PwC also has a program for mentoring mothers who have gone on maternity leave to keep them connected to the firm. “We do have done awful lot both inside and outside the firm in the last ten years to help develop all types of people in the organization.”

In Her Personal Time

“My family is really important to me,” said Jackson, who has two children (ten and twelve) and a husband who stays at home. “Remember – work is work. At the end of the day, your family is the most important thing.”

She continued, “We’ve just moved into a new house with a wonderful garden and pond. It’s very therapeutic, cutting down bushes, trees, and weeds, for dealing with the stresses of work.”