The 10th Annual Top Women on the Buyside event coverage: What will the future bring for the Asset Management Industry?

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By Melissa Anderson

Artificial intelligence, big data and technology generally will impact the asset management industry in a big way, according to industry leaders speaking as part of The Glasshammer’s tenth annual Top Women on the Buy-Side breakfast.

After introductory remarks by Nicki Gilmour, CEO of theglasshammer.com, Jennifer Hanes, Head of Investment Management and Operations at technology company FIS opened the discussion in the moderator seat with a question around the outlook for near and further timelines for the industry. In a wide ranging discussion, the panelists discussed how they expect the industry will be with themes of innovative products, continued active management and human advisory, and the rise of big data and machine learning.

The panelists included Kristi Mitchem, CEO of Wells Fargo Asset Management; Lori Heinel, Deputy Global CIO of State Street Global Advisors; Kathryn Koch, Global Head of Client Portfolio Management and Business Strategy at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Fundamental Equity; and Donna Parisi, Partner, Global Head of Finance at Shearman & Sterling LLP.

According to Kristi Mitchem, CEO at Wells Fargo Asset Management, over the last ten to 15 years, firms have honed their technology usage to be more efficient, for example integrating project management systems and trading systems. Now, she said, technology is moving from the back office to the front office.

“The big change we’ve seen in the last three to five years is a migration from thinking about technology as an operational construct to thinking about technology as a business construct and an alpha driver,” Mitchem said. In addition to applying big data to alpha generating processes, more companies will also apply it to risk management processes to improve the trajectory of returns, she said. Asset managers will also continue to think about how they are using technology in terms of distribution.

“How do we get much better and richer data about the clients we go after? How do we actually create very customized value propositions as part of the sales process by using technology to understand and target more efficiently and effectively?” Mitchem asked.

Indeed, according to panel moderator Jennifer Hanes, Head of Investment Management and Operations at technology company FIS, this shift is bringing positive outcomes already.

Her company recently completed its second annual readiness survey of 1,500 senior executives in the buy-side, sell-side and insurance industry.

“We are hearing a lot of enthusiasm and optimism from organizations … in terms of how they are thinking about technology and using it to drive business outcomes,” Hanes said. “Those businesses that are leaders actually because they leverage technology are seeing better performance in their results.”

Heinel said that her company is thinking carefully about how to retain value as technology migrates from the back office to the front office. Technology has, for so long, been seen as an efficiency driver, , she explained.

“In some respects, when you think about robo-advisory and you think about some of the other online asset management applications, that’s degrading, in some cases, the value that the interface between human and machine can actually add,” Heinel said. “We believe the combination between technology and human is ultimately what’s going to win, and so we’re being very protective of where we are adding value over and above some sort of automatable routine.”

Koch agreed, pointing out that while big data will surely be an important part of the asset management industry moving forward, the field is still in its infancy. She comments,

“ We have created more data in last two years than in all of history of mankind – but only 3 percent is actually been annualized,” she continued, “however because the rate of decay around big data as a potential alpha source is so fast, companies have to be willing to “get behind the capex to get on the bleeding edge.”

Koch comments,

“We can’t be luddites and we have to embrace technology, but there really is going to be a very important intersection with humans. I like technology, but I’m still very ‘long’ on human beings. In particular, she continued, “humans can “connect seemingly disparate points in the investment processes to make predictions about the future not dependent on past data”

Meanwhile, Parisi offered a few “cautionary tales” with respect to big data – companies making use of it need to be sensitive to privacy issues as well as other legal risks such as insider trading. For example, she highlighted a recent court case involving a Capital One analyst who scraped together internal credit card data and, based on his analysis, bought and sold stock in retail companies ahead of their earnings reports.

The Securities and Exchange Commission charged the analyst with insider trading and the courts agreed, saying that the data met the level of materiality that would give rise to an insider trading claim because it was so highly correlated and predictive.

“You need to think about even though it may be only a small slice of data, if it is highly correlated or highly predictive, if it’s not widely disseminated, you better think carefully about whether or not you have material, non-public information,” Parisi said.

Finally, the panelists were asked to sum up their expectations of the asset management industry of the future. Panelists touched on clients’ desire for innovation as well as the growing importance of environmental, social and governance-focused (ESG) investing.

Mitchem ended with her vision of the asset manager as a “total coach.”

“How could financial services companies, through data arrangements with other people, really become the coach for your life?” she asked. “You want to think about, not just your 401k business, but you want to think about your HSA business. You want to figure out [whether you could] be that integral provider that coaches people across the spectrum on everything from healthcare to wealth management.”

Theglasshammer wants to thank the panelists, moderator, sponsors and attendees for making this a great event.

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From Populism to Passive Investing: Theglasshammer.com’s 9th Annual Top Women on the Buyside event

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By Nicki Gilmournicki gilmour

Last month, theglasshammer reconvened for the ninth year to assemble senior women for breakfast where we discussed the outlook and current trends in the investment management industry. The panel consisted of Barbara Reinhard, Managing Director, Senior Portfolio Manager & Head of Asset Allocation of Voya Investment Management, Donna Parisi, Partner, Global Co-Head of Finance and Global Co-Head of Financial Institutions Industry Initiative at Shearman and Sterling, Kathleen Kelley, Founder and CEO of Queen Anne’s Gate Capital Management, Shaiza Rizavi, Partner and Portfolio Manager at Gilder, Gagnon, Howe & Co., and Jitania Kandhari, Head of Macroeconomic Research, Emerging Markets at Morgan Stanley Investment Management. The panelists dynamically addressed questions that were asked by this year’s moderator Amanda Tepper, CEO of Chestnut Advisory Group.

Populism and Protectionism is not good for prosperity

The discussion kicked off with the topic of populism with Jitania Kandhari reminding us this period parallels times in the 20th century specifically, the inter- war period from 1914 to 1945) when periods of boom proceeded busts with the dissatisfaction from those who felt left behind turning to populism. She comments,

“Globalization does bring a lot of prosperity but the elite gain the most. Populists are exclusive not inclusive. They are confrontational not collaborative, and so with reduced commerce and closed borders the results are going to be lowered growth and raised inflation.”

Our panel had varying levels of concern about political risk when it comes to investing but there was an overall agreement on the sentiment that populism and protectionism does not bode overly well for prosperity.

Shaiza Rizavi brought an interesting viewpoint around finding opportunity in the most turbulent of times when she mentioned that many people told her not to go to Kenya in 2008 due to the danger surrounding the dynamics of the election. At the same time, a company she was interested in, Safaricom introduced a new mobile payment platform in Kenya called Mpesa. They had approximately 19,000 subscribers then and now have 26 million subscribers. Payments are made through the platform with many of the poorest being early adopters. Now, 30-40% of Kenya’s GDP now flows via this network. She comments,

“There are growth opportunities even in the most perilous moments if you are willing to take out the fire extinguisher and run into the fire. With the internet and people connected on a second by second basis, you see ideas and flows that were never expected.”

Kathleen Kelley thinks in Europe that we will see higher volatility going forward. She shared an anecdote,

“I did a scientific survey” she says with humor,” of 10 of my male hedge fund friends in London who wanted to vote leave in Brexit and all of them just repeatedly stated that England is the 6th largest economy and that things will be fine.  It is interesting how mindsets are built”.

Barbara Reinhard commented on the fact that this is the first time we are truly having a global acceleration since the financial crisis. She stated,

“Europe is making a recovery. We look at earnings growth and earnings revenue and they are going up, yet the sentiment is still nervous and we are still seeing inexplicably more flows into bond funds than equity funds. Economic expansions die of excess, euphoria and leverage. I don’t see any of these things happening right now.”

Inflation: a reality in the making

The moderator Amanda identified that inflation was a topic that everyone had touched on and asked Kathleen about what is happening in the oil markets.

Kathleen gave an outlook continued OPEC cuts and how the surplus we have in storage is not ending as quickly as we would have hoped. She stated,

“In the 3rd quarter, we might feel the effects of the production cuts and start to draw inventory and that would be a better place for the world to be and not feel like we have so much. If cuts do not continue the price per barrel might be back around the $40’s mark.”

Jitania commented that from a macro perspective, suggesting a period of inflation in the next 2-3 years. She commented,

“China has been exporting deflation and we saw the benefits of that but protectionism and the push to produce locally in the US along with breakdown of trade agreements could definitely create changes.”

Shaiza, often dissenting and providing a different angle, focused on how technological innovation is a deflationary force.

“You start to think about the future differently as many of the historic models wont work for future predictions. The power of connecting people who have never before been connected, and the unleashing of their capability is immense.”

She told the audience how she saw this first hand how lanterns sold to people in Africa and India that previously had no access to light after dark, changed how people interacted and ultimately increased their productivity.

She also mentioned that China’s building a new Silk Road which will allow countries around China to be connected to China and the global economy in an entirely new way. 80% of the China’s oil is currently transported from Strait of Malacca to Shanghai, a journey that took 2-3 months, but with a new port in Pakistan and the 16,000 kilometers delivery journey is reduced to 5,000 kilometers. How will that affect things? She implored the audience to consider the power of change and the power of disruption.

Active versus passive trends

Donna updated the audience with some Citi data on how passive investing has grown to 30% of assets under management by the end of 2015 and how the projection sits at $19.2 trillion of asset flows by 2021. When talking about why has there been a shift, she comments,

“It all comes out of the financial crisis, factor in a lower return environment with lower costs of passive investing and that the banks are not holding risk or warehousing like before the crisis. Also, with improved portfolio risk analysis which is tied to fintech and big data, the way people invest is changing.”

Donna talked about how hedge funds are a maturing market and hedge fund growth is going to be there albeit modest and will hit record levels by 2021. Trends within that sector include liquid alternatives, private debt and private equity so hedge funds are looking to asset classes that are not as easy to access as a headline.

Voya’s Reinhard who has a hybrid of both active and passive commented that as macro driven professionals, she does hunt bubbles and predicts that the tide towards passive has some bubble like qualities that could be worrying for some who just rely on it exclusively. She stated,

“Low cost provider doesn’t always mean highest quality product. In fact, you could argue that passive investing is causing opportunities for active managers. Passive investing, will have at some point unintended consequences.”

Jitania commented on recent research that finding Alpha in investing is cyclical (referencing trends as 1990-94 good for active management, 1995-2000 bad, 200-2009 good and 2010 to current bad). For her business of emerging markets, 40% of returns come from currencies, and she reminded us that is something that you cannot harness with passive investing.

Shaiza again provided interesting insight into the power of disruption and how the private sector can take on roles that the government used to own. She relayed,

“ Amazon for example is now fully capable of handling the logistics of packaging and mail. How will that affect the traditional mail system? Disruptive forces provide opportunity and active investing allows you to be nimble enough to take advantage of that opportunity. “

Outlook and advice

Barbara counseled to watch wage growth carefully for risk mitigation. Kathleen agreed with Barbara with both of them agreeing that US growth is going to disappoint this year and that reforms are not going to be passed in 2017.

Kathleen commented further,

“We are seeing wages starting to pick up and consumer sentiment is high – but they have been behaving different and are stepping back as they see price inflation going up. The stronger dollar is hurting both growth and inflation and keep companies from investing and repatriating “

Jitania offered that China is something that should be watched very closely as China has experienced 82% debt growth over last 5 years. She stated,

“China has added money to its system with many unproductive projects. In 2011, $2 of debt was used to create $1 of GDP and now $5 of debt is used to create 1 dollar of GDP. From a macro perspective, it is definitely something to affect the world since China contributes to a third of world economic growth. “

Jitania added insight into deglobalization and the lingering effects of it on strategy.

“We like countries that have domestic drivers of growth that aren’t relying on external capital flows; countries like Indonesia and even some of the Eastern European countries. From a developed market perspective, we prefer Europe to US. I can buy the top 10 European banks for the market cap of Apple in the US and when something like that pops up on my screen, it feels like distortion.”

Amanda Tepper offered that investor relations is an area that has a positive impact on acquiring assets stating her study which shows that firms with good investor relations result in raising four times more capital than the top performers.

What makes investors choose managers? Performance is not in the top five reasons stated Amanda.

“They want to know what you are doing with their money. Invest in your efforts to explain what you are doing to your investors.”

Donna highlighted fintech as an area to watch starting

“With the existing regulatory schemes, the banking sector has the upper hand when it comes to fintech. We do have a regulatory sandboxes – such as exists in the UK but by and large regulation is a barrier to entry for FinTech startups. Asset management has embraced fintech in the area of data analytics. I think we have seen this most in the retail space with robo-advising and partnerships like Betterment and Goldman Sachs and it is an area to follow.”

Shaiza urged us to rethink the vocabulary we use. Rethinking how we define borders and how we bucket ideas and opportunities. It is an interesting moment to think about the permeability of borders and how technology has changed the ways things get done. She added,

“It might not be possible to even have borders and the protectionism that the populism trend is advocating given technology.”

Barbara added a last piece of advice for all of us in the audience.

“My advice is pay attention to your target date funds – think about yourself for 5 minutes and go check your own retirement funds and apply the advice you give to others when investing money to yourself.”

And, she is right.

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The 8th Annual Top Women on The Buyside Event: Overcoming Risks, Managing Volatility and Another New Normal Ahead?

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women on the buyside event

By Nicki Gilmour, CEO and Founder of theglasshammer.com

Theglasshammer convened 100 senior women from traditional and alternative investment management companies last Wednesday 1st June 2016 for the 8th Annual Top Women on the Buyside breakfast panel and networking event. Nicki Gilmour CEO and Founder of theglasshammer.com opened the session with a welcome and an urge for the audience to continue to be change leaders for a culture of trust in their firms and beyond so that the industry can continue to attract women as investors and as participants.

The panel consisted of Judy Posnikoff, Managing Director of Paamco, Donna Parisi, Partner and Co-leader of the Asset Management Group, Shearman and Sterling, Nili Gilbert, Co-Founder of Matarin Capital Management, and Katina Stefanova, CEO and CIO of Marto Capital. Antony Currie, Associate Editor of Thomson Reuters Breaking Views moderated the discussion with candid questions that the panel answered with deep expertise to the peer audience as well as a sprinkling of humor at times.

Themes this year included disruption and innovation as drivers of results with the obvious challenges this year being the risk management of political, economic, credit and operational risk issues in this US election year.

It was agreed that volatility is high, uncertainty a constant and alpha diminished with a backdrop of limited historical data on how to invest in an environment of low interest rates. It was also agreed that all types of disruption, good and bad, was rife with developed countries still trying to ignite their economies post credit crisis. Risk would definitely dominate the short and medium term thoughts of investors. Fintech was also mentioned as an important element of future innovation in the industry without real precedents and an uncertain regulatory environment.

Katina Stefanova began with an overview of the macro environment and framed some issues,

“We deal with political, social and economic risks when assessing investments and this year is a unique year as we are at a pivotal point .We live in a world with over $200 trillion dollars of debt and with such uncertainty, it is not surprising that there is political volatility and that becomes a big issue for markets not just for investing but also for people building businesses. There has been a huge amount of disillusionment with traditional investment strategies, and other popular strategies such as risk parity in last few years. Volatility is here to stay and so it’s about figuring out how to navigate volatility and building that into your application.
It is time to develop alternative solutions.”

Judy Posnikoff concurred with the increased volatility issue stating

“The environment is quite different from 30 years ago when investors could achieve high enough returns with one asset class (fixed income). One of the difficulties of today’s uncertainty and meager expected rates of return is that institutions and individuals are having to take on more risk than they would like to in order to meet financing requirements such as pension liabilities.”

Nili Gilbert commented on unusual nature of the current macro environment stating,

“Negative interest rates and deflationary environments should be something that is taken seriously and it is hard to be informed by history on this. Due to a lack of comparable historical precedents, it is necessary to be thoughtful and insightful rather than just look to historical analysis or a purely data driven approach. “

Katina Stefanova agreed that the environment is unprecedented and the biggest risk is that we are at point when monetary policy is no longer effective. She added,

“Central banks have little power to stimulate or slow down economies. It is time for more aggressive fiscal policy and governments are going to have to play a bigger role. “

Donna Parisi picked up this point when asked about the role of regulators and the change of government in November with the moderator questioning could a new President undo the work done by regulators post credit crisis?

Donna commented on the legislative risk that could come from an election cycle,

“I think Dodd Frank is too far down the road, the rules are so deeply embedded regardless of who takes the White House in November and regulators are
not done trying to fix the lack of transparency that exists in the markets.”

Donna also mentioned that from her perspective that upcoming challenges for the industry would be liquidity mismatches and leverage issues.

“Since funds are more and more becoming intermediaries for lending post credit crisis, there are issues around leverage and the role they should play.” She suggested that regulators are worried that asset managers could be the next too big to fail crisis.

“The regulators are still struggling with information gathering despite the huge volume of data that is required to be reported. They don’t feel like they have enough transparent data to adequately assess liquidity and leverage risk and its impact on the broader market.”

Katina joined this point with her comments that regulatory consequences are not always well understood, and in many ways the government has not eliminated risk but rather transferred it to other institutions.

Nili mentioned that changes in the sell side and how it is regulated can ultimately affect stock price movements and have impact for portfolio managers. By way of example, she cited Reg FD (Regulation Fair Disclosure) as an event, which changed how sell-side analysts released communications, and as a result changed the efficacy of “earnings revisions” as a tool for stock price forecasting.

Other topics discussed included opportunities and creating value for the investor such as changing fee structures. Judy and Nili discussed how it was important for investors to have transparency around how much they had to pay in the search for alpha. Nili also shared her philosophy on finding opportunities stating four main concepts as buying fundamentally good businesses, valuation, shareholder friendly management teams and shorter-term catalysts such as price and volume analysis.

“When we were coming out of the financial crisis, it was a great time to be a value investor because in that environment of fear, there were many cheap stocks. Since then, we have seen investors regain their confidence and so it’s not as an attractive a time as before to be a value investor. Momentum investing is an opportunity that we saw do very well in 2015. What works changes all the time and it is crucial to understand behavioral biases in the markets for optimum results.”

Katina concurred, “ We have factors such as technology, a shift in socio-demographics and this economic environment and the current political volatility that creates a great opportunity for disruption. The question is where will that disruption come from? “

Citing Alibaba as an unexpected money management entity that has grown fast. She added, “It is about access, a platform to retail investors will change it all and it will come”.

Donna added that current incumbents in the market had a competitive advantage when it came to FinTech innovation given their regulated status. However, industry incumbents are at a disadvantage when it comes to being true innovators or disrupters. The rising importance of technology in the industry and the scalability of investment strategies as a result create significant risk for something to go wrong and a resulting regulatory response.

With so much to talk about, and with great questions from the audience, the discussion is hopefully continuing in offices across the world as we speak.

Thanks to our panelists and moderator and engaged audience for another great event!

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Female Leaders Share Their Strategies On Creating Change at 5th Annual Navigating your Career Event

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glasshammer event

By Melissa Anderson

Women leaders from the financial and professional services industries, shared their advice on how women can be agents of change at The Glass Hammer’s fifth annual career navigation event at PwC’s headquarters last Wednesday, sponsored by PwC, TIAA and Voya Investment Management.

“Change leadership starts with people who want to do better,” said The Glass Hammer’s CEO Nicki Gilmour as she opened the event, encouraging the audience to probe the speakers with difficult questions.

“We’re here to talk about how we can lift as we climb.”

The panel was moderated by Mary McDowell, an Executive Partner at Siris Capital Group and was a panelist at theglasshammer.com’s women in technology event last Fall.

Panelists included Christine Hurtsellers, Chief Investment Officer of Fixed Income at Voya Investment Management; Liz Diep, Assurance Partner for Alternative Investments at PwC; Pam Dunsky, Managing Director of Client Services Technology at TIAA; and Deborah Lorenzen, Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer for Global Product and Marketing at State Street Global Advisors.

While the panelists’ careers varied significantly and were spread across different industries, one factor emerged that all of them seemed to have in common: intention. Whether describing their career paths, discussing their experience mentoring, sponsoring and networking, or talking about the ways in which they lead change toward workforce diversity at their companies, it was clear that the women went about their business with purpose.

For example, in discussing how she chooses junior staffers to mentor or sponsor, Diep says,

“You have to seek out those people you want to mentor and sponsor – you can’t be a passive participant if you want to see change,” she said. Mentoring someone means serving as their sounding board and offering advice on career advancement, while sponsorship involves putting forward one’s personal capital behind closed doors to expand their career opportunities.

Diep mentioned that a motivating factor to grow in her own career is to see more junior colleagues progress along with her and how walking the walk on “lifting as we climb” strategy is important to her When discussing how she keeps her network fresh, Diep described how she blocks time on her calendar months in advance for networking coffees and lunches, and fills in the “who” later on.

Hurtsellers described how she tries to proactively work with other leaders in her company to develop a business plan that increases diversity.

“Being a female business leader in a very male-dominated industry can be quite a lonely spot,” she said. Clients are beginning to require asset managers to disclose their numbers on staff diversity during the RFP process; but Hurtsellers said that’s not enough.

“We need more than a check-the-box mentality around diversity to effectively tackle the issue. I try to challenge a bit of the establishment thinking,” she said. “I ask the elephant-in-the-room-type questions like ‘How do you get women into financial services if they don’t think that the industry matches their values?’”.

Hurtsellers further stated that she felt being a woman in a male-dominated industry can also be a competitive advantage if you’ve worked to build a personal brand, like authenticity.

“But it has to come back to who you are – be true to yourself,” she said.

Similarly, Dunsky shared how she had established a brand for herself earlier in her career, only to revise it later on.

“Earlier, my brand was being really hard working – but, I realized, you don’t just want to be known as a hard worker,” she said. “After taking a step back, I realized it’s not the only thing I want people to say about me.”

Dunsky said she started thinking more critically about what she wanted to be known for: leadership, the ability to execute, being able to guide and direct and grow her team.

“You have to be conscious of what your strength is,” she said. Sometimes a strength can be a weakness if it bars advancement to the next level, she explained. That’s why it’s important to always be thinking of your strengths and what you can build upon to help get to the next level.

“You want your brand to be natural – so people can conceive of you doing it,” she said.

Lorenzen added that being true to yourself is critical to advancement. Trying to ‘be one of the guys’ to blend in can ultimately hold you back, and so will shying away from big opportunities. She advised to take calculated risks early and often.

“Show up and say yes when you are asked, even if you only have 50% [of the qualifications], because the men will say yes if they only have 25%,” she said.

Finally, during the question and answer segment, one audience member asked a question that must have been top of mind for many of the guests.

Being head of a business unit or a partner at a firm comes with a lot of power that enables women at the top to open difficult conversations about diversity, she reasoned so the question is ‘How can someone be a change agent earlier in her career when there is a greater risk of retaliation for speaking up?’

To get to the top as a woman in a male-dominated industry, you have to stand up for those conversations throughout your career, said Lorenzen.

“If you fail to raise your voice on matters of ethics and therefore accept a status quo at odds with your beliefs, you won’t be happy,” she said. Of course, she continued, there is a measure of balance to find. It’s important to choose the right battles to fight.

Lorenzen continued “You have to choose when to speak up. It never gets any easier, and opportunities arise throughout your career to do the right thing. It is about leading from where you are.”

Summing up the evening’s discussion, McDowell said, “Be of good courage, build great relationships, don’t forget your peers and be true to yourself.”

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Theglasshammer.com 6th Annual Women in Tech Event: How Pursuing Your Passion and Taking Career Risks Can Help You Thrive

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By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

The Glasshammer 6th annual Women in tech eventThe women speaking at our 6th annual women in technology event last week emphasized the importance of taking risks to advance in your career.

“There is an infinite number of paths to a rewarding career in technology,” said moderator Dana Kromm, a senior partner in the Private Equity/ Mergers and Acquisitions practice in San Francisco at Shearman & Sterling.

“It’s up to you to pursue your own passion and take your career where you want to take it,” she added.

The panelists included Maureen Erokwu, founder and CEO of Vosmap and an advisor to Lesbians Who Tech; Lori Fellela, Senior Director of End User technologies at TIAA-CREF; Mary T. McDowell, former EVP and Head of Mobile Phones at Nokia and now a director on several corporate boards; and Sinead Strain, global head of Fixed income currencies, and commodities technology (FICC) at Goldman Sachs.

They shared stories from their own careers in tech and offered advice to the women in the audience on how to advance and thrive. Several of the panelists took risks on projects and even promotions changes early in their careers, which, they said, ultimately helped set them on the track to career growth and great learning even if in the moment, it didn’t feel that way.

Career Advancement- how can following your passion take you further?

Erokwu described how her passion for photography led to her to found Vosmap, a digital mapping company that has a contract with Google Street View. Similarly, Fellela began her career working in tech support, “climbing under desks,” before she decided to pursue a more creative path as a developer. She then switched into roles where she could interact with people more as well as work with technology. Fellela shared with how she believes hiring great people is really important to both enjoy and and advance at work.

McDowell described how she began her career developing products that began to become commoditized at Compaq and HP. When she got a call from a headhunter about an opening at Nokia in the completely different field of Telecoms, she jumped at the chance.

“Maybe it was hubris,” she said with a laugh. “I thought, I don’t know much about telecoms but ‘I’m smart – I’ll figure it out.” She did figure it out to become head of an entire business.

Strain also took a several risks in her career, including two big moves. The first time she moved from Dublin to London and then, later, she moved to New York City, for what was supposed to be a three month project. Instead, she found her new home.

Mentors and Sponsors

The women discussed how mentors and sponsors have also shaped their career paths. In turn, the panelists described what they look for in a mentee or someone who can mentor them.

Strain said she looks for passion, and someone who is looking for advice and is open to feedback.

“That’s the most powerful thing you can get,” she said, adding that sometimes feedback can sting but that’s the most powerful conversation someone can have.

McDowell said she looked for people with ambition.

“It’s more rewarding to help take the rough edges off someone who is pushing hard than to light a fire under someone,” she said.

Similarly, several panelists described how clients also helped them advance in their careers.

“Clients can be your biggest advocates,” Erokwu said. Relationships and referrals can help build business, and talk up your skills before you get the next job.

Networking

The panelists all agreed that both internal and external networking can be valuable to career advancement since it opens up opportunities to you build relationships with people who can help you in your industry and beyond.

my advice to women is to get out there, get away from your desk and meet people – Lori Fellela

For example, Strain described how she had initially approached her company’s women’s network with skepticism. But she quickly learned that it was a good way to find support from colleagues. Moreover, she said, participating in the group taught her a lot of organizational skills as well.

“It’s not enough to just come – it’s not like watching TV,” Fellela agreed. “You have to participate, my advice to women is to get out there, get away from your desk and meet people”.

Networking outside work can also help women advance. Fellela described making a business connection with a woman she met while volunteering with her daughter’s sports boosters club. Erokwu said being part of the Lesbians Who Tech community had also helped her grow in her career and make new connections that literally has given her product and firm real exposure which has translated into business.

“Inviting other women to those communities ultimately makes those communities stronger,” she said.

Additionally, advised McDowell, it’s important to build relationships with peers, not just people who are more senior.

“You never know where people are going to advance to,” she said. McDowell got her first board seat because one of the board directors was someone she had gone up against in an intense negotiation years earlier. He remembered her when he saw her name on a slate of candidates for the opening and recommended her for the job.

Advice

Finally, the panelists shared the advice they wish they’d heard earlier in their career.

“I wish someone had told me to find someone who’s been to where I’m going,” Erokwu said, adding that she thinks she has finally found that person.

“My advice is to get out and go meet people. Talk to people and make connections,” Fellela said. “Have those relationships before you need them.”

Kromm agreed. “The sooner you start building your network the better it can be,” she said.

McDowell discussed the importance of culture fit in an organization.

“Can you be your best self? Will your work be rewarded? Think of yourself as a valuable resource, ask yourself ‘what’s the best ROI’ for you”? she said.

Strain emphasized the importance of pursuing risks.

“When you’re confronted with two options where there is a safe one and a risky one, consider choosing the risky one if it makes sense, she said. She added with a smile, “It might be more fun.”

All panelists agreed that using networks like theglasshammer and technology specific organizations like Anita Borg Institute (ABI) are a great way to find support and strategies to advance as a woman in technology.

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Bringing Men on Board in Gender Diversity

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

image3 (1)Every year The Glass Hammer hosts a career development event called Navigating, Negotiating, and Building Your Strategic Network. This year’s event, sponsored by BNY Mellon, Shearman & Sterling and Goldman Sachs, focused on how leaders and aspiring leaders — both male and female — can engage more men in efforts toward improving gender diversity.

For too long, noted Nicki Gilmour, Founder and CEO of The Glass Hammer, men have been excluded from discussions on gender diversity, and that’s keeping well-meaning diversity allies from speaking up and taking action on workplace equality. She asked attendees to reconsider who they “authorize as an expert, pick as a team member, and generally promote.”

Moderated by Chuck Shelton, Chief Executive Officer at Greatheart Consulting, the panel explored how men can be better gender diversity allies, and how women can benefit more from male mentors and sponsors. Panelists included Justin Gmelich, Global head of Credit Trading and Management Committee Member, Goldman Sachs; Larry Hughes, CEO, BNY Mellon Wealth Management; Kathryn Kaminsky, Partner, Assurance, PwC; and Donna Parisi, Partner and Co-Practice Group Leader of the Asset Management Group, Shearman & Sterling.

The panelists weighed in on why gender diversity is such an critical area of focus.

“In my mind, diversity is an important driver of business results,” said Parisi. “Diversity of thought, approach, and methods in getting things done all help to create better business outcomes.”

Unfortunately, too many people still think of gender diversity efforts as a zero sum game, a pie with a set number of slices. According to the traditional thinking, if men help women succeed, that’s one fewer pie slice for them.

Parisi took issue with this reasoning. “We’re working together to grow the pie – it’s about collaboration,” she explained. “Gender diversity creates more opportunities for success for all involved.”

Hughes agreed. “If anything the challenge is in finding quality leaders, not that there aren’t enough leadership spots to go around,” he said.

Hughes said one way he’s worked to increase gender diversity at BNY Mellon Wealth Management is to require diverse candidate slates for top jobs. He recalled a time that a search firm turned around a slate of candidates for an executive position with all male, white, 50-something candidates. There were some fine choices, he said, but the recruiter could have done better.

He told the search firm to try again, and to make sure there were diverse candidates on the slate. The next time around, he received a more diverse slate of excellent candidates and eventually, he hired a fantastically qualified woman for the job.

“We’re trying to make the pie bigger,” he explained.

Kaminsky said she also tries to reframe discussions around gender diversity as a matter of talent management.

“If you’re looking for the best person to fill the spot. I think the misconception is that sometimes when you talk about looking for diversity, people think it’s a ‘he versus she’ issue, when it is truly about the best talent” she said.

“Advocacy should be omnipresent,” Gmelich says. He stated that his colleagues know he is “all in” based on his personal and professional advocacy of the advancement of women.

Gmelich explained that he’s always been passionate about fairness, and perhaps part of his interest in gender diversity is due to the sponsorship of the woman who initially hired him at Goldman, Jackie Zehner.

However, Gmelich emphasized that younger professionals should remember that they are responsible for driving their own success.

“If you think someone is responsible for your career, you’re dead wrong. You are your biggest advocate,” he said. “Other folks are also working diligently, – it is not enough to work in a silo.”

Parisi reminded the audience that sponsorship is a two-way street.

“Sponsoring or advocating for someone takes a little bit of a leap of faith,” she said. “You’re putting yourself out there on their behalf. Because of the risk involved, you’re not going to do it for everyone.”

As such, protégés (people receiving sponsorship) should return that trust, and make sure to meet the expectations that have been set by the sponsor, Kaminsky said.

“You have to be willing to show vulnerability,” she said, and to ask for help when it is needed. She also advised the panelists to distinguish between people who are providing advice (mentors) versus those advocating on their behalf (sponsors).

Men can distinguish themselves as leaders by championing gender diversity, Hughes said. Hughes chaired his group’s diversity committee for five years. “I think symbolism does matter,” he said. BNY’s Mellon male CEO chaired his company’s women’s network for years as well. “It showed this very senior guy cared enough to personally participate and chair the women’s affinity network, and made sure roadblocks were taken down.”

He added, “And as a result, a lot more men attended.”

Finally, Gmelich talked about how diversity to him isn’t just a workplace matter, like flipping a light switch. He said he wants to live his commitment to gender diversity, and as a father to four girls, he explained, “I think about the environment I want them to have at work and that drives me.”

Gmelich said he helped found an all-girls STEM high school as well.

“I’m not just tilting at windmills,” he said. “This is a big thing for me.”

The panel recognized that much work has to be done by both men and women to ensure that on a daily basis any unconscious bias is overridden and that real talent gets to thrive.

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The glasshammer.com’s 5th Annual Women in Technology Career Event

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Women in technologyNicki Gilmour, CEO of theglasshammer.com welcomed 250 women to theglasshammer.com ’s 5th Annual Women in Technology event last Thursday night at the auditorium at American Express. Guests enjoyed an amazing evening of shared experiences and good advice from the panelists who are all navigating their career paths as women in technology. The keynote, presented by Lucy Sanders, CEO of NCWIT addressed stereotyping in tech and how women can innovate which will be covered in full next week on theglasshammer.com.

Avis Yates Rivers, CEO of Technology Concepts International Group and our moderator for the evening opened with a goal for the panel: to have a conversation with women who live the experience of being a woman in technology every day. These were exactly the type of women in attendance — technical women, engineers, coders, product and project managers and even a handful of CTOs.

The first question was posed around driving innovation from the seat that you are in.

Doris Daif, VP Digital Customer Experience, American Express by explaining what her team does and how she drives innovation on a personal and team level.

“We design digital products on behalf of the company, I drive innovation by leaving the office and talking to users and clients. I also give my team unstructured time to think about innovation and lastly we experiment by getting the product out the door in low fidelity ways to see what provides value for the customer. I deeply care about products that are meaningful to the end user.”

Doris explained her career path into technology from marketing at American Express into customer operations and then joining the technical side of the house.

“I had to learn the technical skill and I have had a lot of wonderful people who have taken bets on me and I have learned a lot, including from, the people who have worked for me.”

Justine Chen, who is a senior manager at SunGard, spoke passionately about how she innovates by looking at requirements and the problem, and then solving the problem by writing code.

Patricia Florissi began by explaining her job, which is CTO of Sales at EMC, a role she has had for 10 years.

“I am in that role to think more strategically in the sales organization and add deep expertise for customers to see where they want to go. I like to think that I use innovation when I am exposed to so many different meetings in so many cultures since we do business in over 100 countries. Everyday you try your best and bring that learning back to the institution to create more innovation in the design and delivery of products.”

Adda Birnir, CEO of Skillcrush, talked about how her customers are mostly women who are looking to develop their tech skills, sometimes to change careers, and how she drives innovation by being relentlessly focused on the end user.

Adda stated, “Every day I ask myself, are they (the user) having a good experience? Are we building a community that they need in order to succeed?” Adda went on to talk about how she has built up an ability to tolerate being wrong and not being ready to do things as a way of ensuring innovation in the field. She added, “If you get to the point where you can embrace that then that’s when you can really go out there and do great things.”

Adda also spoke about how she ended up in technology.

“I spent time with the production team at an online magazine where I worked and they were so overworked and they were happy to let me do tasks that they didn’t want to do. I was like ‘oh code, what is this? This is so interesting’ so they gave me forms to build and stuff that they didn’t want to do.”

Kimberly Bryant, Founder of Black Girls Code talked about her journey from electrical engineer to technology practitioner to founder of the only organization focusing on encouraging women and girls of color to get involved in technology.

“One of the things that I think my role allows me to do as an innovator is to be a disruptor in the field. We are always looking at ways to bring girls into robotics, into ‘hackathons’, and do things to change the stereotype and really challenge that every day in every way.”

Avis pointed out that after hearing our panelist’s stories there is no one path, and no traditional set way, to ascend in a technology career.

She commented how disappointing it is to see more than half of women leave in mid-career, especially considering how difficult it is to get women into the industry in the first place. Avis encouraged the audience to stay and see the bigger picture in their career trajectory.

“Often in Corporate America, we are placed in positions where we can’t see the value in at that point, but take advantage of those opportunities, take some learning from it and use it as a stepping stone to the next thing.”

Patricia offered some good advice from her personal journey, “Whatever you do, do it well and there is no other solution than hard work to get there. Also you have to be present, when you make the most out of everything, then you can really take advantage of the opportunities ahead of you. Don’t be afraid, take risks, what is the worst that can happen?”

Kimberly expressed her thoughts on the opportunities that are happening right now and agreed with Avis about staying in the game.

“I think there are so many opportunities for women and girls since so many industries are underutilizing technology, so just being open to where your career can lead is key.”

Mentors and Sponsors and Leaders
All of the panelists explained that they had mentors and also separate sponsors, with Kimberly providing clarification on the difference.

“It’s really important to know the role of the sponsor as opposed to the mentor. Sponsors advocate for you, and they are likely to be one of the most important people in your company or industry. Mentors can be someone above, below or a peer to give you advice. Really it is about building relationships all over your company, and it’s so key to building an organization inside or outside of a big corporation.”

Doris explained that the process of cultivating sponsors and mentors has to happen from a very genuine place, built over a long period of time, and keeping up those relationships as you move around the company. She commented, “It’s really important to think about ‘Who are my mentors and sponsors?’ Then nurture those relationships, even when you’re no longer working together.”

Patricia explained that sometimes you don’t know how to be a mentee or a mentor- and although it can feel good to talk, you need to have sponsors. She defined sponsors as, “Someone who cannot only guide you, but also stand up for you in a situation where you need help. If you think you are autonomous and can get what you want on your own, then wake up and smell the flowers.”

She explained that she typically cautions people to stay away from tunnel vision and instead to see what is happening around you.

“Sometimes the role you think you want in the future may no longer exist when you get there. You need to be open to the creation of new roles. If you make your own mountain then you can climb it; how could I have dreamed as a child that I wanted to want to be the CTO of sales since that role didn’t exist?” She added with her signature sense of humor.

Justine explained how she manages her mentor and sponsor relationships for maximum effectiveness. “I take an agenda with me every time I am going to meet with my mentor and my boss and both of them are here today” she added, “Each one of them is very different. To have a valuable relationship between two people, you got to have a plan!”

Feedback, Credibility and Confidence
When asked to talk about their learning so far, the panelists did agree that being credible is the number one thing that you have to be as a woman in technology.

Patricia, when asked what advice she had for the audience, stated her three prong approach.

“You own your own career, do not expect anyone to own it. You have to wake up every morning and ask yourself, ‘are you happy with what I am doing?’ Asking is free.” Secondly, she added that when people are passionate and authentic it comes through. And finally, “work hard is the third one, I don’t see it any other way, maybe there is another way but I haven’t seen it!”

Adda agreed that she believes that every day is a new day to do things better than you did it before. “The more that you can see feedback as your friend the more that can fuel your ability to be better – hearing feedback from the customer is one way I have done this.”

Kimberly also talked about teams and building organizations with the advice to hire the best people that you afford because you don’t want to be the smartest person in the room. Collectively you can then take the business to where you want to go. She added, “Learn to say no. I say yes to everything but burn out is real and that takes me away from my core objectives in my professional and even in my personal life.”

Doris disclosed that she wished she had more confidence and poise earlier in her career and has learned over time to be selective about whom you are getting that feedback from; not all advice is created equal.

“I have been the victim of too many points of view and I end up more confused than when I started. People who you have trust with, the advocates and the sponsors that are invested in you to succeed; those are the people you should listen to.”

Everyone agreed that internalizing every piece of feedback wasn’t very constructive and that especially in technology with code standards changing there is a lot of room to discuss your work and ensure that code is just code, regardless of who is creating it.

Thank you to our event sponsors this year: American Express, EMC, and SunGard for making this event possible. We look forward to 2015.

By CEO and Founder Nicki Gilmour

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The Glass Hammer’s 7th Annual Top Women on the Buy-Side Breakfast

women shaking handsThe main discussion at last week’s Top Women on the Buy-Side event for senior women in investment management focused on the evolution of the industry following the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent market recovery. But perhaps the strongest statements centered on the importance of networking for top-level women in the space.

The sold out event – hosted in New York by The Glass Hammer – was the 7th annual networking breakfast and panel in the popular series and was moderated by Donna Parisi, partner and co-head of the asset management group at the law firm Shearman & Sterling. Panelists included Nanette Buziak, managing director and head of equity trading at Voya Investment Management; Daphne Karydas, senior equity analyst and co-portfolio manager at The Boston Company; Vivian Lau, partner at Serengeti Asset Management; and Susan Soh, partner and global head of marketing and client services at Perella Weinberg Partners.

Challenges and Opportunities in 2014

Donna Parisi opened the dialogue by commenting on the low yield environment and noting that just the day before the event the Fed announced that amid declining unemployment, it would keep short-term interest rates low for the time being.

Liquidity was on the panelists’ minds, as well as market competition and when asked what challenges and opportunities lay ahead, the panelists eagerly began the discussion.

“There’s still a lot that needs to be repaired in the US, but US equities look cheap on a valuation basis compared to other asset classes on a global basis” Buziak said. She continued, “There’s a lot of pressure on fees right now, and in equities, we’re seeing competition from ETFs and index funds.”

Speaking from the alternatives perspective, Soh said, “While ETFs may pose a challenge for some, we believe it’s been an interesting opportunity because it’s created more demand for alternative products in the form of liquid alts, which is great for firms like ours.” Meanwhile, she continued, “In light of the low interest rate environment we’re seeing, hedge fund managers are finding it more difficult to generate the outsize returns that they have historically. There’s a greater focus on yield, current income and niche opportunities where one can generate outsized returns.”

Karydas noted that, especially in a difficult environment, being creative is important. But she encouraged attendees to avoid what she called “style drift,” where some portfolio managers are pursuing new strategies to drive returns even though they might be outside the bounds of what clients initially signed up for.

“You have to be true to what you say you are doing, especially in a bad year,” she said.

Customers are demanding more transparency, Lau agreed. “Investors want to understand what they are paying for,” she said. Heightened regulations are part of this trend, but so is the desire for differentiation. “They want to know: are you delivering returns in a fashion I can’t get anywhere else?”

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Mapping Out a Strategy to Advance Your Career in Investment Management

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Women SpeakingOne hundred fifty women gathered on Tuesday night at the Princeton Club for The Glass Hammer’s 3rd annual “Navigating, Negotiating and Building Your Strategic Network” event for women in investment management.

This year, the panel of senior women featured Debbie Hammalian, Chief Compliance Officer, ING U.S. Investment Management, Kerry Jordan, CFA, Director of Marketing and Chief Compliance Officer, Chicago Capital Management L.P., Lale Topcuoglu, Managing Director, Co-head of Global Investment Grade, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Christina McCaughey, Managing Director, Futures and OTC Clearing Sales at State Street Global Exchange, Cynthia Steer, EVP Head of Manager Research and Investment Solutions at BNY Mellon.

Every woman on our panel took a very different route to arrive at where they are now in their careers. However, each of them undoubtedly shared the ability to get the job done, recognize new opportunities, and build stellar relationships. Whilst talking about how they navigated the early days of their careers, everyone discussed a pivotal moment in their careers that really mattered.

Cynthia Steer defined her first stretch assignment as a pivotal moment in her career. “My first boss put me on a lend-lease early in my career. He told me that ‘I am going to lend you into a treasury job and then I am going to get you back out’ and it was all about getting thrown into a hole and seeing how quickly you could do well.”

For some, the path was more linear than others. Christina McCaughey recounted the unique way in which she entered into the financial services industry without an MBA by signing up for a university program in Germany that included an internship spot at an investment bank there that enabled her to begin her career in derivatives. She stated “sometimes you have a path in mind and you have to deviate from that, so be open to it. My advice is to not give up, stay focused and take the risk.”

Kerry Jordan mentioned that her pivotal moment “was getting P&L responsibility,” which many of the panelists agreed can be a career-enhancing element of any job.

Building relationships

All of the panelists discussed how just working hard alone is not enough to advance your career and that you must learn how to navigate within your organization to build relationships and make senior members aware of what you contribute to the company. Cynthia Fryer Steer shared that when she worked in the treasury department of her first bank job that she would send handwritten notes to the Vice Chairman of the bank about how the markets did each day. That clever idea created a relationship that was mutually beneficial and made a very senior person aware of her work and he certainly missed the notes on the days that she was off work.

Lale Topcuoglu then spoke of how she has modernized the hand-written note with an email update that “frames for people” what her team is doing. The use of technology to make her team’s work visible to all levels of people in the company has helped Lale to build a strong rapport with people throughout the organization whom she may not have had direct access to and always provides a topic for conversation in the elevator.

Debbie Hammalian added that good communications with all team members really helped to build necessary trust in developing relationships at work.

“Commonalities come from the project you are working on to build a common thread…Really understand what your talent is that you bring to the group and that will be your thread that ties you to people you work with. I have found myself in that situation where I ask myself ‘How do I bring this group together on this project to make it happen’ and by doing that I can figure out what can I give them so they can give me something too.”

Also discussed by the panel was the topic of finding the right mentors, sponsors and advocates.

Christina McCaughey acknowledged “there just weren’t as many woman when I started” but stated the advice she has received from men and women along the way has been invaluable especially on pay and bonuses. She recounted a funny anecdote that concluded with the advice that “you have to go into that office and let them know what you expect.”

Debbie Hammalian commented that she felt that the future for female mentors helping younger women looked bright “I think there is a lot of hope, my advice to you is to find a woman in the organization who you connect to as I am always flattered and give the time when someone asks me.”

What got you here, won’t get you there!

Cynthia Steer insightfully commented on how things are different now for the industry and for the women in it. “What applied to me, doesn’t apply to you. Be humble, think about social networking, low inflation and a plan B. Have a different investment portfolio for what you think your own needs are.”

She also added how you get sponsors has not changed. “Advocacy is won by hard work and making relationships. You need someone that is going to fight in the pits for you.”

Kerry Jordan encouraging women to read everything they can get their hands on. She shared that working on the derivatives desk is a very competitive job and it is imperative to stay laser focused and “make sure you have faith in yourself and be confident in your abilities.”

Lale Topcuoglu wisely noted the different stages in a person’s career. “If you are just starting out then your priorities might be to best the know as much as you can which is more important than networking. As you move up to managing people and leading a business, you realize just like the book ‘what got you here, won’t get you there’ and firms are run by humans so make sure you strike up a relationship with the upcoming leaders to let them know what you are doing.”

Thank you to our panelists, audience and sponsors (Goldman Sachs, BNY Mellon and ING Investment Management) for another great event!

By Jewells Chambers and Nicki Gilmour

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The Glass Hammer’s 4th Annual Women in Technology Event: How to Be a Leader!

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female leaderDo you need to be collaborative, innovative and decisive, above all else, to become a leader? These are the traits attributed to current leaders according to almost 300 women surveyed by us in a recent research report [PDF].

This is what over 200 women in technology wanted to know at The Glass Hammer’s 4th Annual Women in Technology career event sponsored by Goldman Sachs, Thomson Reuters, American Express and SunGard last Wednesday.

Do successful women in technology have all of these qualities to ensure a path to the top?

The keynote, delivered by Nicki Gilmour, CEO of The Glass Hammer, set the stage for the evening’s intriguing conversation by revealing highlights from our research stating that women in technology have above average ambition levels. Also, women who want senior management jobs tend to have role models, sponsors, be in a network and actively attend leadership or career development sessions.

Determine Your Leadership Style

“You can learn traits,” said Jane Moran, CIO of Thomson Reuters, “You can do little things to challenge yourself.”

In response to the finding that women in technology identify more strongly with being honest and goal-orientated, rather than decisive, according to the survey, our panelists provided the audience with their insights and interpretations of the results.

Mary Byron, Head of Technology for the Federation at Goldman Sachs, commented, “I think women value honesty in the workplace and want to see integrity in their workplace.”

Debra Danielson, SVP of M&A Strategy and Distinguished Engineer at CA Technologies, added, “I have taken many psychometric tests in my career and being trustworthy has always been a prevalent trait for me. People want to trust their leaders.”

When discussing different leadership traits that garner success, all of the panelists agreed that each leader can effectively portray their unique skills in their own fashion. “You may never have all the leadership traits you admire,” said Susan Lawson, Vice President at American Express Digital Technologies, “but you can build your own team with people who have complementary traits, you don’t have to do it all.”

“There are different types of leaders,” added Danielson. She continued, “It has to be in your style for it to be effective. The women surveyed for the study did not say that they believed the identified leadership traits to be optimal.”

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