Voice of Experience: Kelly Brennan, Managing Director, Securities Division, Goldman Sachs

The Glass Hammer is celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month by featuring profiles of Hispanic Women Business Leaders all week long!

Kelly Brennan, Managing Director in the Securities Division at Goldman Sachs, graduated from UC Berkeley with a Liberal Arts degree and a minor in Biology. Her intention at the time was to follow the Pre-Law or Pre-Med track. Instead, Brennan decided to go to the financial industry right out of college when she accepted a position as a junior trader at Susquehanna Trading Group.

“I was one of three women in the incoming class of fifty-five people,” recalled Brennan. She continued, “As a junior trader, I was the only woman at the desk and I learned pretty quickly that instead of trying to fit in by thinking and acting like the men, I could have a true competitive advantage by approaching things in a slightly different way.” As a woman in this male-dominated culture, Brennan realized that she could bring a unique perspective to the table.

Brennan noted, “I learned very early how to lead with content and this has helped me at every level of my career, from being a junior trader to more senior roles.”

At Susquehanna International Group (SIG), Brennan moved her way up the ranks from assistant trader to trader, eventually becoming the only female specialist at SIG on the NYSE. In 2005, Brennan joined Goldman Sachs as an Associate in the Prime Brokerage area on the Securities Lending desk. She was promoted to a Vice President in 2006, and then to Managing Director in 2010.

Brennan pointed out that throughout her career there have been many small achievements as well as a few very poignant moments. “One of the proudest moments of my career happened earlier this year when I returned to work after my first maternity leave. I heard a lot of feedback about how my team had really stepped up while I was out. It was rewarding to hear that the team that I helped to recruit, train, and mentor had not just survived while I was out but managed to push the business forward and excel in my absence. It was validating to see that my role in that was valued and acknowledged.”

The evolution of technology and its application to the trading world is one thing that excites Brennan about the future of financial services. “It leaves a lot of room for innovation in trading and thinking about how we communicate information to our clients via a whole new mechanism of technology that we haven’t seen before in the industry,” said Brennan. She is enthusiastic about building new trading platforms based on new technologies.

Advice for Women in Financial Services

“I learned later in my career just how important it was to cast my net wide and build a strong network,” said Brennan. She continued, “It is important to not only have people you can call upon, but also to hear their perspectives and ideas on projects you are working on in order to foster innovation. This a key piece of advice that I definitely want to emphasize to younger generations of women entering financial services.”

According to Brennan, the idea of managing your career as your own CEO can be an extremely valuable career development tool. She advised, “It is important to have a personal board of directors, so to speak, so that when your career priorities shift or your skill set shifts, they may be able to offer different types of suggestions or advice depending on what their strengths are.”

Short-term, medium-term, and long-term career planning is another effective career strategy that can help young women determine their path in financial services, Brennan said. “I find it much less daunting if I break up my career goals into smaller timeframes,” said Brennan. “It is easier to assess where I want to be in one to six months, and then one to two years, versus trying to figure out where I see myself in five to ten years,” she added.

Hispanic/Latino Representation in Business

“As a culture, Hispanic and Latinos are underrepresented in finance and government,” said Brennan. “People are starting to recognize that you need different points of view to tackle complicated regulations. It feels like we have set the stage to rise to the challenge,” she added.

“I faced a fair amount of adversity early on in my career as a female trader, but the key to my success was perseverance. Rather than try to fit into a mold, I decided to embrace my own identity and raise the bar for colleagues to understand how I was different and to appreciate new perspectives,” said Brennan.

For Brennan, gaining this acceptance and recognition from her colleagues meant doing things like stepping outside of her comfort zone by being more vocal than she ordinarily would be. She noted, “In our culture, it is common to be more reserved as opposed to outspoken. It is important to recognize cultural differences and as senior level executives, we need to make sure we extract those thoughts by tapping people and making sure they are voicing their ideas and opinions.”

Brennan continued, “It can be very difficult for a Latino professional to overcome this if there is not an understanding of the cultural differences.”

Women at Goldman Sachs

“Goldman Sachs has a fantastic array of different networks. I came in as a lateral hire and essentially had no network when I started, and Goldman did a great job of providing venues for me to connect with peers through the women’s network and the firm wide Hispanic/Latino network,” said Brennan.

The Hispanic and Latino network at Goldman Sachs is something that Brennan said is helpful in educating the entire firm about cultural differences. The group is also a great platform for facilitating sponsorships and helping employees navigate their career at any level.

One program that Brennan benefited from through the Hispanic and Latino network gives senior level executives the opportunity to join a small group of employees outside the office for an informal dinner gathering. Brennan noted, “This is a great platform for more junior employees to ask for advice on business issues or career issues and demystify processes at the firm. It is a great support network.”

Outside the Office

When Brennan is not at work, she is busy as an active member of two non-profit groups in New York City. “For the past six years I have served as a mentor and tutor to a student through a group in Manhattan, Two Together, that helps underprivileged children in the city navigate through all levels of school,” said Brennan. She also serves on the Advisory Board for the organization.

Brennan is also very involved with an organization called Puppies Behind Bars, a program that pairs potential service dogs with prison inmates who take on the responsibility of training the puppies to become service dogs for service men and women returning from combat who suffer from PTSD. Family time is also very important to Brennan, who spends a lot of her moments outside the office with her one-year old son.

By Michelle Hendelman, Editor-in-Chief