Voice of Experience: Deborah Lorenzen, COO, BK University, BNY Mellon

By Michelle Hendelman, Editor-in-Chief

Deborah Lorenzen, COO, BK University, BNY Mellon, recently celebrated her 20th anniversary with BNY Mellon. This milestone is enriched by a career that has been fundamentally involved in the growth, development and enrichment of the company’s structure, business strategies and corporate culture.

Lorenzen has taken on roles in many different disciplines, locations and business units at BNY Mellon including special projects, program management, and Corporate Trust. She’s worked in San Francisco, New York, Edinburgh and London. Now in her latest role as COO of BK University, Lorenzen hopes to be part of an exciting new era of transformative change at the global financial services company. BNY Mellon provides services and solutions across the investment lifecycle.

The roots for BK University and Lorenzen’s involvement in the project were actually planted in the late nineties when she received an unexpected phone call at her desk. “One day my phone rang and it was Gerald Hassell, who had just become president of the company. He was calling because he wanted someone who could figure out how to launch a corporate University. And it took some time to get here, but I am now the COO of BK University. At the time, we weren’t ready for this on an institutional level, but now we are,” recalls Lorenzen.

On Defining a Career Path

When she looks back at her career path, Lorenzen agrees that it was not the most linear. However, she feels that her deep vault of experiences is what has shaped her and prepared her for her current role. Lorenzen said, “My interests are in how we run this company and becoming part of the leadership team that helps drive this company forward. Perhaps there could have been a more direct career path, but for me it was really important to understand a number of different disciplines and to be a more effective and well-rounded leader with the perspective to go along with the global nature of our business.” She continued, “Every single opportunity I took has helped me to understand our business more deeply.”

For Lorenzen, taking advantage of the opportunities presented to her throughout her career has contributed to her success at BNY Mellon. “I believe the greatest risk you can take in your career is to stand still,” said Lorenzen, “You have to move and you have to put yourself out of your comfort zone because that is the only way you learn. You don’t regret the things that you do. You may regret the things you don’t do.”

Impacting the culture of her company in a positive way is something that has always been a source of pride for Lorenzen. “One of the things I am most proud of is the time that I have spent connecting people,” explained Lorenzen. “I once spent six months in Edinburgh working with 400 employees of a business we had just acquired. I helped them understand how we got things done in this organization and explained the culture of our company. I enjoy making those linkages for people so that they can be more successful.”

On Strengthening Diversity at BNY Mellon

While Lorenzen has always been invested in the growth and development of the people and processes at BNY Mellon, she now has a formal platform to make this happen through BK University. She stated, “We understand how the global capital markets work in a way that very few firms understand. I think BK University is a great opportunity to help strengthen our culture and get everybody on the same page about what is important to us as an organization. There are so many ways to reach a global staff today and the opportunity we have here is really interesting.”

Lorenzen acknowledged an interesting point about diversity in the company culture of an international firm. She said, “When you ask different jurisdictions what the major challenges to diversity issues are within the company, you will receive very different answer depending on where you are.”

One of her biggest tasks as COO of BK University, which officially launches in September, will be how to address diversity education and training on a global scale and how to deliver corporate university services to diverse audiences in various parts of the world. “In some jurisdictions,” she remarked, “you need to work through the conscious bias before you can even begin to address the unconscious bias. For example, opportunities for women in India might look very different than opportunities for women in Scandinavian countries.”

Through BK University, Lorenzen hopes to achieve a standardization of managerial style that reflects the mission and principles of BNY Mellon. She explained, “What we need to make sure we do when we move people up the ranks internally or bring people in from the outside is take the time to teach them the BNY Mellon way of managing people. Along with Talent Management and the companywide diversity initiatives, BK University will inform people on issues like unconscious bias, managing poor performance, and managing high potentials.”

Words of Wisdom

Some of the best career advice that Lorenzen ever received was to always present yourself for the job you want. This involves managing your personal brand in a way that shows your colleagues and your managers that you take yourself and your role in the company seriously.

Lorenzen encourages young people entering the financial industry to do some soul searching. She said, “Do the thing that makes you get out of bed in the morning. A lot of people come into banking and finance for the opportunity to make money, but you have to really love what you do if you want to be successful.”

Another valuable piece of advice she shared was to always network in a way that is collaborative. “Manage your peer network as actively as you manage your network upward. Seek out the people who know things that you don’t know. It is the sharing of information and the strengthening of your peer network that will serve you best as you move forward in your career.”

Outside of the Office

Lorenzen is a firm believer in work/life balance. While based in New York, she works from London during the summer months to be closer to her husband and three children who reside in Denmark for the summer in a rural getaway. “My life right now is about making my career move forward and making sure that my family is safe, happy, and thriving. There is not a whole lot of time for hobbies outside of these two important things!”