Mover & Shaker, Gina Love, Counsel at Shearman & Sterling LLP

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Gina LoveMore than 10 years ago, while attending the annual convention of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), Gina Love realized that few people attending looked like her.

“I literally started counting people of color – especially women of color,” recalls Love, a counsel at global law firm Shearman & Sterling. Of those she met, several were from New York, so Love and her new acquaintances came up with the idea of organizing a get-together of people with diverse backgrounds as a networking opportunity when they returned to convention the following year. Their outreach was decidedly grassroots – emailing people they knew and handing out fliers — so they were stunned that word had spread so fast that they were joined by nearly 200 people.

“We knew we were on to something so I started organizing it as an unofficial event at ICSC every year, securing sponsors, inviting speakers and raising money,” says Love, adding that Shearman & Sterling has been unequivocally supportive over the years. For 11 years, Love kept the event afloat on her own time, which though laborious was extremely rewarding. “It’s amazing to see the room clogged with people, many of them telling me that they come to ICSC’s convention primarily for this event,” she says. Eventually, though, she realized the reception needed to be self-sustaining, and ICSC agreed to officially take it over.

Today, the ICSC’s Diversity Reception is attended by anywhere from 600-850 people and has a long list of impressive financial sponsors and speakers from throughout the real estate industry. At the 2014 event, the ICSC announced the creation two scholarships: the “Retail Real Estate Diversity Scholarship” to offer tuition assistance to graduate students entering the retail and real estate industries; and the “Love Scholarship for Diversity,” named in Love’s honor to offer tuition assistance to sophomore, junior and senior university students belonging to an underrepresented minority group. “The whole thing started so innocently, and it was amazing to watch how it grew,” Love says. “It was really wonderful to see that my decade of work to increase diversity in the real estate industry was honored and appreciated by the leadership of ICSC, and I am delighted the legacy will go on.”

Real Estate Roots

Love chose a career in law because she felt it offered a way for her to showcase her strengths in writing and research. She preferred the business-oriented classes during law school and though she did a rotation in litigation, Love gravitated toward a specialization in real estate. Her family had built a background in various facets of real estate – from her aunt who was a broker and real estate investor to her grandfather who had built a residential development and construction company in Jamaica, W. I. , where she is from – so it was an industry with which she was quite familiar. And she has not been disappointed by her expectations of a career in law. Ever since her initial stint as a summer associate, she viewed the field of law as one with multiple challenges, but also extremely rewarding moments.

Recently, Love experienced one of those moments when she helped close a key phase of a complex international deal she had been working on with her Shearman & Sterling counterparts in Germany, along with Mexican counsel. “There were cultural differences to navigate but we had a solid team and it was very satisfying work,” she says. “That kind of international transaction is a real focus for me and for our firm.”

That is part of the appeal of the real estate specialization for Love – the constant diversity. For example, she is also representing a high-end luxury fashion client that recently received a significant influx of capital and is opening stores around the US.

“One of the reasons I really like real estate is because I feel as though it’s one of the only segments of law where you can see the creative result of your work,” she explains. “Real estate attorneys in New York can walk around this city and see visible, tangible signs of what he or she has accomplished — We aren’t the architects or the developers, but as lawyers, we do a lot of the ‘behind-the-scenes’ work to make it happen. Sometimes law is hard to explain to others, and I find the real estate specialty to be one of the few where you can really show people something you had a hand in creating.”

Mentors Helped Her Succeed

Love knows that mentors and sponsors have had a major impact on her career. At her former firm, Nixon Peabody, she knew of at least four partners in the real estate practice area whom she said were extremely supportive of her career from the beginning. “I would say that they really guided, guarded and watched over my career,” she recalls fondly.
Now, she has mentors both inside and outside Shearman & Sterling. At Shearman & Sterling, she says she has been guided and supported by real estate practice leader Chris Smith, who has been particularly helpful in the areas of networking, developing client relationships and deal work.

She also has an ongoing mentor relationship with a former colleague at Nixon Peabody, Elizabeth Moore, who is now General Counsel at Consolidated Edison. She says, “We were drawn to each other because she also has Caribbean roots, and we just related really well. It’s fascinating to talk with her about the different facets of her career, since she has had so many completely different roles. She was in State government then became a labor and employment law partner before becoming the GC of Con Ed. We talk frequently about how to deal with specific professional situations, but also just in general how life is going. Our relationship has been very valuable.”

A Clear Plan for Growth

When Love reflects on the qualities that have set her up for success, her method is simple but effective. “I set my goals, chart my plan and start working toward it,” she says, noting that it’s imperative to have multiple plans of action to address eventualities that might come up. She says this approach is something she learned from her father, her biggest role model, who worked as a chemical engineer but also earned a business degree. “You have to adjust periodically to what isn’t working anymore and take personal responsibility for what you do.,” she says. “The road might not always be smooth, but you can get there with a clear but flexible plan.”

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Mover and Shaker: Karen Heath-Wade; Vice President of Mutual Fund Sales, Nationwide Financial

Karen HealthBy Cathie Ericson

Karen Heath-Wade, Vice President of Mutual Fund Sales for Nationwide Financial, is a great example of someone who seeks and plans for career opportunities. Over her career in the Financial Industry, Karen has progressed from being an analyst to managing a team of analysts; to conducting external sales to leading the national distribution efforts of external wholesaling teams. Quite simply, she’s performed every job along the way, from her beginnings as a sales assistant to her stint on the “other side of the table” as an advisor. Through it all though, she has maintained that the secret to career success is knowing the industry inside and out, and understanding your current job before you look at the next one.

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Mover and Shaker Stephanie Curulewski: Partnership and Trading Manager, BP

 

People around a laptop“Most people are good people, and they’re trying to do the right thing. If you assume that everyone has a good reason for what they’re doing, you can make progress by coming at issues from the positive side,” says Stephanie Curulewski.

That philosophy has anchored her career and helped her ascend the ladder, even as she created a part-time position that has given her the best of both worlds.

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Mover and Shaker: Swatee Singh, Vice President, American Express Technology

women salesAs a student in electronic engineering with a focus in technology, Swatee Singh’s graduate work involved working on clinical trials for an imaging device to detect breast cancer. While that may seem far removed from her current work at American Express, it actually epitomizes the defining characteristic of her varied career.

“Whether you are working in retail, finance or the power industry, there is a focus on predictive analytics at every level. Over the course of my career, I have gone past my initial hesitation about feeling comfortable in a new industry to realizing I can diversify and bring value to any industry through my experience with analytics.”

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Mover & Shaker: Silvia Lucena Gosalvez, M&A Director, PwC Spain

 

woman sitting at deskSilvia Lucena Gosalvez has spent her entire career on the M&A team for PwC Spain, having joined 15 years ago after a short stint at a family business while finishing her tax advisement master’s degree. And for her that has been a perfect fit.

“Being on the M&A team has given me the opportunity to work on complex international projects, exploring the full continuum of deals — from restructuring to execution to post-deal integration.”

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Mover & Shaker: Kristin Wells, Deputy Practice Group Leader, Corporate & Securities Group, Reed Smith LLP

 

working on a computer“Play the course and not the other players,” says Kristin Wells, when asked about her personal drive. “Don’t constantly compare yourself to others. Instead, focus on what you’re doing right, and improve on what you need to within yourself.”

Wells has embodied the definition of a ‘mover and shaker’ since she began her career as a Corporate Securities Associate at Pepper Hamilton. She became a partner the first year that she was eligible and had a baby that same year.

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Mover & Shaker: Belen Navarro, Financial Lines Regional Manager, Latin America & Caribbean at AIG

female leaderAfter earning degrees in Business & Insurance Science and Business Administration from Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca in Spain, Belen Navarro began her professional career in April 1997 as an account executive at a brokerage firm in Madrid.

In 1997 she joined AIG Europe, where she held various positions of increasing responsibility in the finance area in Spain and Portugal for 12 years. In 2009, she was offered what she calls a life-changing opportunity: to join the Regional Financial Lines team for Latin America and the Caribbean. Navarro currently heads the Latin America and Caribbean Professional Liability and Cyber team for AIG with the responsibility for establishing underwriting strategy and implementing best practices across the region.

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Movers and Shakers: Adda Birnir, Founder and CEO, Skillcrush

Women SpeakingAdda Birnir is the founder and CEO of Skillcrush, an online technical skills platform designed specifically for women. According to Birnir, her career path has been unconventional, but as she looks back at all of her experiences she is certain that each role she had in the past served as a building block and learning opportunity to help her create the company of her dreams.

Navigating a Career in Technology
When Adda Birnir first had the idea for Skillcrush, she identified a hole in the marketplace and created a platform to fill the gap in an area she felt very strongly about: inspiring women to discover technical skills by developing an accessible online resource.

Before this, Birnir was working as a technical producer at MTV while running her own web development and design consulting business. “This was a great business, but I found that I wasn’t professionally fulfilled by the client work I was doing. Instead, I was craving a more hands-on experience where I could take a project through the entire life-cycle,” she explained.

Birnir graduated from college and moved to New York in order to pursue a career as a professional photographer. “I quickly learned that the reality of the profession was nothing like I had imagined,” explained Birnir, who shortly thereafter found a job working for an online publishing company. “I was lucky because my position straddled editorial and production, which gave me the opportunity to gain exposure to the technical side of the process of creating and delivering online magazines,” she said.

Here, Birnir realized that she not only had genuine interest in technology but also a natural talent that began to emerge as she spent a lot of time working closely with the web developers. “This was my first real introduction to the world of technology,” said Birnir, who started to take on small coding projects in addition to her regular tasks.

According to Birnir, sponsorship has played a critical role in her career development in technology. “I have been fortunate to have several people in the workplace take me under their wing and guide me as I developed my skills,” she noted. This is why, Birnir added, she has made mentorship such a key component of her company, Skillcrush.

“There are a lot of excellent resources out there for anyone who is interested in learning about programming and web development,” Birnir said, “but it can be confusing to navigate. This is where it is important to have someone who can interject and give you guidance along the way.”

She continued, “Through Skillcrush, we recognized a great opportunity to serve women in the technical space and offer something different than any other technical skills platform that was available at the time.”

Growing Pains: The Ups and Downs of Startups
When Birnir was initially developing Skillcrush, she decided to take a “test and learn” approach to her business. This, she explained, meant treating the company like a science experiment by creating a series of hypotheses and testing them one at a time, beginning with the riskiest.

“The riskiest part of this business model was not creating an online technical skills platform,” Birnir explained, “It was building this type of business that would attract women.”

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Movers and Shakers: Esther Yang, Vice President and Senior Trader-Derivatives at Voya Investment Management, formerly ING U.S. Investment Management

 

diverse women in the boardroomIn a recent round-table of derivative portfolio managers of the largest insurance companies, Esther Yang found herself being the only female among this male dominated profession. How did she get to where she is now?

Esther Yang did not have a conventional route to success in financial services. In fact, she didn’t begin college or her career with intentions of entering the field at all. However, Yang used her instincts and willingness to try new things to guide her into the position she currently holds.

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Movers and Shakers – Peg DiOrio, Vice President and Quantitative Analyst for the Portfolio Engineering Group at Voya Investment Management, formerly ING U.S. Investment Management

people at workWhen Voya’s Peg DiOrio describes the keys to her success overseeing quant for an entire group of investment managers, she uses a sailing analogy. “When you are part of a sailing crew, you have a job and you rely on others to do theirs. To be successful in business, you have to both respect and rely on your colleagues.”

Career Beginnings
Peg DiOrio taught high school math when she graduated college. As the newest teacher in school, she was assigned to some of the most challenging students. “One of my first classes was filled with high school seniors who were taking ninth grade math for the third and fourth time. They weren’t the most enthusiastic students, but it allowed me to try a lot of different ways to reach them. It taught me the importance of understanding my audience.”

In order to advance in the teaching profession, Peg had to get a masters degree. She enrolled in a then-new joint program between New York University’s Stern School of Business and the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. DiOrio recalls, “Courant had long relied on training Department of Defense types in its masters programs.” When that source began to dry up, Courant looked for new opportunities for mathematical sciences and found it in the finance world. “I think the program is now called financial engineering,” DiOrio commented, but back then financial quant work was just getting recognized as a discipline.

There wasn’t a huge amount of academic work devoted to the finance and mathematics at the time, so she and her cohorts studied mathematical models from a range of other disciplines – physical sciences, social sciences, etc. “We studied models that described fish populations, neural networks and flu outbreaks.” She believes that applying math to a range of situations has been really useful in creating financial models that work in the real world.

“Finance is Just Math”
Peg’s study group at Courant included a student who was working at Sanford C. Bernstein. Her cohort’s commitment to developing models that accurately described the real world and his willingness to push for the best possible solution were inspiring. One day he told her, “You are smart. You should come work at Bernstein.”

Peg was intrigued, but a bit concerned that she lacked an understanding of finance. Her studies were in pure math and applied math. To that point her cohort said, “Finance is just math. You’ll figure it out.”

Learning Finance through Experience and Collaboration
Peg was assigned to work with a group of financial advisors who managed money for Bernstein’s high net worth clients. Part of her role was to run statistical reports for clients. “Some of our clients were unusual trusts – such as nuclear decommissioning trusts. It was a challenge because the goal was to have enough money to decommission the plant but not extra because additional funds would have to be returned to utility customers. It was also interesting because it was a time when decommissioning trusts were finally allowed to be invested in stocks. “We spent a lot of time looking at the right level of volatility.”

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