Voice of Experience: Ann Gonzalez, Director, Financial Services Advisory Group, PwC US

Ann GonzalesThis week The Glass Hammer is profiling successful women in the derivatives industry.

By Tina Vasquez, Managing Editor

Ann Gonzalez, a director in PwC’s financial services advisory group, says that thus far, her career has been “exciting, ever-evolving, and unexpected,” with one opportunity leading to the next.

“If anyone had told me when I started out over 15-years ago that I would be helping banks respond to derivatives regulatory reform, I would have never believed them,” Gonzalez said. “OTC Derivatives was a new field to me at the time and the industry has since continued its rapid rate of change. This near constant change has kept me very much engaged.”

The director began her career as a finance controller at the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp (DTCC) when it was incubating DerivSERV. When the business request for FP&A support was made, Gonzalez says she immediately raised her hand and was soon contributing to building its business case and later monitoring its financials.

“This role enabled me to learn all aspects of the business and the industry while contributing to building a business,” Gonzalez said. “I later switched to the business line and held a series of operations, client management, and product management roles, all of which I learned and developed significantly from. My time with Deriv/SERV was like catching lightening in a bottle, an incredible experience with an amazing team.”

One of Gonzalez’ proudest career achievements thus far was being nominated to participate in PwC’s Breakthrough Leadership, which is a conference for the highest performing women directors at PwC. It’s an elite group to contribute to and learn from, Gonzalez says.

“What I do is fairly specialized, I am often with the same teams, so to get the opportunity to learn from and share with people from different lines of service with remarkably different backgrounds was terrific,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez is currently working with a client to understand the impact the Volcker Rule has on their business and operations.

“My customer is a global bank with a global booking model, so there are a lot of layers to the impact and a host of factors to consider and analyze. For me, the more complicated the project, the better. So, this is as good as it gets,” Gonzalez said.

Barriers to Success
The director says that the greatest challenge to success for all professionals today is time.

“There’s simply not enough of it to do all that we want to do,” the director said. “When I started out, I thought my career would follow a linear path and tended to get disappointed when things did not go as planned or as envisioned. I wish I knew then, that every bump in the road and unforeseen twist or turn has turned out to be the best possible outcome imaginable.”

Finding a Coach
Because of the project-to-project nature of consulting work, Gonzalez says that at PwC you guide your career with the assistance of a “coach”, as opposed to a traditional boss or manager.

“There is a very strong developmental element to the coach and coachee relationship,” the director said. “Coach discussions tend to take a broader view and primarily center on development and performance and how coachees may achieve their professional goals. I would recommend that all professionals seek out a coach, a person that is within your line of business or a business that you aspire to join; someone who isn’t your boss; someone who can help you guide your career and offer feedback, advice, and perspective.”

Women’s Development
Gonzalez was part of a women’s mentor pilot program at PwC that gave her the opportunity to connect with a senior associate that she says she always wanted to work with and get to know better but never had the time to.

“Since the pilot ended, we have prioritized quarterly lunches to keep up with each other beyond immediate project interactions. The program was a huge success, so it was moved out of pilot and is now open across the organization. I now have a second mentee,” Gonzalez said.

PwC offers a host of programs and policies for women and Gonzalez says that for her, what’s more important than the programs is the tone and measure of the gender discussion throughout PwC.

“No CEO that I have worked for or met with compares to PwC’s Bob Moritz. He gets it,” she said. “Bob routinely speaks openly and with candor about gender issues right alongside generational issues and other current management challenges facing today’s front line managers. Bob and his leadership team are succeeding in making women in the workplace organic to the organization at every level, as it should be.”