Voice of Experience: Elinor Hoover, Co-Head, Financial Strategy and Solutions Group and Vice Chairman of Capital Markets Origination, Citi

Welcome to The Glass Hammer’s Celebration of Asian Heritage Month! All month long we will be profiling successful women here in the US who have Asian heritage as well as spotlighting some amazing women in Asia and discussing what it means to work there.

According to Elinor Hoover, Co-Head, Financial Strategy and Solutions Group and Vice Chairman of Capital Markets Origination at Citi, it is important to maintain contacts, nurture relationships, and build networks from the moment you begin your professional career.

“When you are starting out in your career, you might be so focused on building up your technical skills that you fail to recognize the value of establishing relationships that can serve as key factors in your career development and advancement,” she added.

“This networking extends beyond your colleagues and communities,” said Hoover. “You need to think about networking on a global level and understand how this is a component of driving business forward.”

Career in Banking

Hoover entered the financial services industry in the late eighties with an academic background in music, biophysics, and biochemistry. “I was not your typical business, economics or finance major, but I decided to go into investment banking,” said Hoover. “After working for a couple of years in the healthcare investment banking area at Credit Suisse First Boston, I accepted a position at The Blackstone Group, which was focused on M&A.”

When Hoover joined Blackstone, it was building its private equity business. At the same time, cross-border activity between Asia and the United States was really heating up. “I was interested in this opportunity by virtue of my heritage to spend some time in the Asia region,” explained Hoover, who went on to perform M&A advisory work with Blackstone in Tokyo for two years.

After she returned from her international assignment, Hoover earned her MBA from Harvard Business School and continued to follow her passion for banking in her next role within the Derivatives Products Group at Morgan Stanley. “I had investment banking experience, but I was not as familiar with the sales and trading aspect. Since my background was in mathematical based work, I decided that a structured products group would be a good fit,” said Hoover.

During this time, there was a strong interest in reorganizing the derivatives business and starting an effort around corporate clients, according to Hoover, who was selected to help launch that effort based on her previous experiences in corporate finance and derivatives. “I helped grow the business domestically in North America, and then globally,” Hoover noted.

In the early 2000s, Morgan Stanley launched another effort to integrate the derivatives business with the cash businesses. “Once this effort was underway, I was in charge of Fixed Income Capital Markets, and later became the Vice Chair of Capital Markets, where the goal was to integrate derivatives, equity, and debt in order to create a much more suitable offering to our clients,” Hoover said. This experience sparked her interest and passion for developing holistic product offerings, something she carried over to her current role at Citi.

A few years ago, Hoover began to look at Citi and recognized the company’s strength in capital markets, and its relationship management process, which was being implemented to elevate its client franchise. “After nearly 20 years at Morgan Stanley, I decided to join Citi,” said Hoover. “I saw this as a tremendous opportunity to join a firm with an established capital base and global reach.”

Serving Clients with Innovative Solutions

Hoover views her current role at Citi as a culmination of her past professional experiences. “The effort is to be cutting-edge and innovative on corporate finance and risk management topics, and as a result offer holistic solutions to clients around important thematic issues,” explained Hoover.

“It is a challenge,” Hoover added, “but it is through these efforts that we, as a firm, will serve more of our clients’ needs.”

Businesses are becoming increasingly complex, and this is where it becomes challenging to assess all of the different products to determine which combination will meet the client’s needs and expectations, said Hoover. “In Citi’s Financial Strategy and Solutions group, we try to identify the most pressing issues for clients from a corporate finance and strategic advisory perspective, perform analyses around these topics, and provide solutions that we think will increase a company’s shareholder value,” she noted. Some recent examples include working with companies on shareholder activism defense advisory, optimal capital structure, and capital deployment strategies.

According to Hoover, since the financial crisis of 2008 there has been an increase in the correlation among different market variables, including FOREX, Commodities, and Rates. She explained: “When we operate in an environment with macroeconomic uncertainty and when correlations are higher, it drives you to develop more innovative solutions, especially from a risk management perspective.”

Hoover emphasized that as a result of the market activities post crisis, it has become important to integrate risk management with growth strategies. “If corporations can get this formula right over time, shareholder value will be created,” she continued. “The financial crisis taught us that we have to view risk management strategically alongside growth opportunities, and understand the connection between these two areas.”

Women in Financial Services

Although some barriers still exist for women in financial services, Hoover encourages women to view these challenges as catalysts for change. She gave an example of how an experience she had in her own career resulted in a transformational change within a firm that would affect many women.

“Many years ago, I was invited along with my colleagues to give a presentation to senior executives at a Korean company, where at the time it was seen as unusual to see a woman in that context,” said Hoover, “and I walked away feeling like it was the worst client meeting I ever had.” What Hoover did not realize at the time, but found out years later, is that her presence in that meeting led to some pretty significant changes within that Korean firm. It caused the firm’s leader to question why a Korean woman from a U.S. firm was in a leadership role while the women at his firm were not advancing.

“This event was the catalyst for the creation of a Women in Finance program at this firm,” said Hoover. “What I perceived as a negative experience in my own career actually turned out to be an opportunity for other women in financial services who would benefit from the women’s initiative that began as a result of the situation.”

Hoover is a major advocate of mentoring and urges women to mentor other women. “Mentoring can go both ways,” she explained. “It does not have to be strictly senior to junior since we can learn a lot from professionals who are entering the industry.”

At Citi, Hoover was asked to be a Co-Chair on the diversity committee for the Corporate and Investment Banking organization in North America. “It has been such an honor to be involved in this initiative,” Hoover said, “and the multitude of programs available to our employees is so valuable for creating awareness of the anomalies and imbalances that exist.”

“It all starts with awareness,” she emphasized, “and the number of initiatives built around this awareness is helpful to the greater cause of retaining women and supporting their career advancement.”

Advice for Young Professionals

“Know your True North,” advised Hoover, “but don’t be afraid to go off course and explore a different direction.” According to Hoover, as long as you have established that guiding light, you will always remain on track. “Sometimes you have to move laterally in order to move forward,” she added. This is a piece of advice she thinks is relevant at any point in a long-term career. “If you are aware of your True North, you can have the confidence to deviate from your linear path and see what other opportunities might be out there,” said Hoover.

Outside the Office

Once an avid piano player, Hoover continues to feed her passion for music and give back to her community in her spare time by getting involved with different organizations, including serving as Vice Chairman of the Board for The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. “I also enjoy watching my young son cultivate his musical skills, as he is quite the talented pianist as well,” said Hoover.

By Michelle Hendelman