Mover and Shaker: Sylvia Guinan, Financial Advisor, Wells Fargo Advisors

Sylvia Guinan“Our time is now,” says Sylvia Guinan, financial advisor with Wells Fargo Advisors, in encouraging women to consider a career in the financial services industry.

It is incredibly rewarding to help individuals feel a sense of clarity, confidence and control over their investments and more importantly their future. “Years ago, the industry might have been all about stocks and performance, and while that’s still important, now everything is much more holistic. Client’s dreams, goals and fears are what drive the investment process. Women are skilled at connecting and getting people to talk about what is most meaningful to them, as well as what their fears and concerns are, which makes them excellent financial advisors,” she says.

While the number one cause of chronic stress among adults is finances, she finds that the truth is that when you dig deeper, most people are not concerned just about what they’re investing in, but how their finances can work for them by supporting them and their future plans.

A Focus on Providing Solace During Divorce

Guinan began her career at Smith Barney in New York, focusing on this type of holistic investment planning, which has always been the core of her business. She moved to Wells Fargo Advisors in 2009, where she was able to continue that commitment to ensuring each of her clients has a solid plan driving their investment decisions. “I feel fortunate that I’ve always loved what I do, and what creates that satisfaction is my long-term, meaningful connection with the clients; you almost become family because you’re one of the first phone calls when something exciting happens or when they have a need.”

Over the past several years, Guinan has created a niche practice, with nearly 70 percent of her clients being women in transition – divorce, widowhood or financial changes. She has earned her designation as a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst (CDFA®) and has built a strong rapport with divorce attorneys, mediators, accountants, psychologists and therapists. Most recently, she has teamed up with a prominent attorney in New London, CT, for what they call “Second Saturday” events, where they deliver a presentation aimed at giving advice to these clients as they begin to explore the beginning process of their transition, and have received an excellent response.

“I’ve always wanted to make a difference, and here I am able to work with women going through the most difficult times of their lives and give them hope and a new perspective as they move forward. We aim to offer them clarity around their proposed settlements, confidence by showing them where they stand by illustrating it in their investment plan and a sense of control as they start to rewrite their new chapter.”

Her confidence in exploring this area comes from lessons she has learned over the years including that if you are authentic, you will attract clients with whom you connect. Previously, she had assumed you had to emulate what a man might be like – more subdued. However, as Guinan has transitioned to being her ‘real self,’ she discovered that she is attracting clients with whom she find a good fit.

She advises younger professionals to connect with clients who are aligned with their process and to be selective when onboarding new clients. “I still have a great majority of clients with whom I started my practice, and my assistant and I have noticed that our success has come from working with like-minded clients, where it becomes reciprocal and they want to welcome you inter their inner circle by referring their family and friends. But it’s important to spend time upfront having the ‘fit’ meeting since you can’t be all things to all people,” Guinan says. Not only is the new prospective client interviewing you, you are also interviewing them to see if they are a good fit.

Finding Balance in Circles of Support

One important support system she has found through Wells Fargo Advisors is the annual Women’s Summit that gathers advisors from around the country for collaboration and vision sharing. She went the first year she joined the firm and hasn’t missed one since.

Sylvia obtained the firm’s DELTA designation, which is a high-end practice management coaching program that Wells Fargo offers their advisors. Upon completing the 19 modules with firm trained coaches, Sylvia became fully implemented and attends their annual meeting. She is also in a DELTA peer group she and seven other advisors started to support each other and share best practices. Sylvia said DELTA is by far the best training she has ever received.

Additionally she feels revived being with her three children. Living across the street from the beach, they enjoy being near the water and reveling in the beauty of the sunsets.

The family also enjoys traveling and have been to Puerto Rico, St. Martin, St. Thomas and Cuba, among other locations. She has a tradition when each of her kids turns 15 in which they do a one-on-one trip; so far, she has been to the Bahamas with her son and Bali with one daughter.

She also faithfully practices yoga, which she calls “meditation in motion,” allowing her to clear her head and ‘fill her cup’ so she can be more present when she is with clients, family and friends. “It trains you to release distractions and go with the flow, which helps me be more observant,” Guinan says, adding that she particularly appreciates the practice of ending every session with “Namaste,” which means “the light in me honors the light in you.”

“It’s a beautiful message that I hope I am able to convey in all my relationships, especially in this day and age,” she says.

Investment and Insurance Products: NOT FDIC Insured / NO Bank Guarantee / MAY Lose Value

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Mover and Shaker: Felicia Hanson Ofori-Quaah, Senior Associate, Milbank, LLP

Felicia Hanson Ofori-QuaahSuccess is very much a subjective concept, says Felicia Hanson Ofori-Quaah.

“To my mind, success means that you have found a true balance that works for your individual circumstance, but in order to reach that equilibrium, it is absolutely necessary to devote a significant amount of time for self-care, making physical and mental well-being an absolute priority.” To that end she finds that using vision boards is invaluable as they offer a sense of purpose, direction and achievement in all aspects of life—including personal, family, financial, social and professional. And, she adds, it is important to realize that one’s perception of success can change, so it is important to reflect often and ensure that at any given time, you are heading in the direction of your most current iteration of the definition of success.

Finding Success Of Her Own

Hanson Ofori-Quaah’s educational career was impressive—she read law as an undergraduate at the University of Bristol, then studied for the Legal Practice Course at the Oxford Institute of Legal Practice and trained to be a solicitor at Norton Rose LLP, where she qualified as a corporate lawyer focusing on mergers and acquisitions within the mining sector. After a year in that role, she decided to transition to the area of finance law, focusing on project, energy and infrastructure finance. She moved to Milbank LLP seven years ago and is currently a senior associate with a practice that predominantly focuses on financing energy, infrastructure and mining projects in Africa and the Middle East, including advising on cross-border, multi-sourced financings that involve commercial lenders, export credit agencies and development finance institutions.

Seeking Gender Balance Should Be The Industry’s Ongoing Mission

One of Hanson Ofori-Quaah’s first realizations when she joined corporate law was that the gender balance in the legal profession would not reflect what she had experienced in the lecture theatre, where there were as many, if not more, women enrolled. She found most of them to be incredibly ambitious, having set their sights on the highest prizes in the legal profession, that of being Queen’s counsel, an equity partner or general counsel for a top-tier company.

However once she started her career, she quickly realized that although a large number of women were entering the profession, only a very small minority were making it to the “top,” whether they had chosen the path of parenthood or not. And, she has also witnessed the under-representation of black female lawyers in senior positions in law firms in the city.

Hanson Ofori-Quaah had assumed that, as it was in law school, working hard and getting good grades would assure your success. But in the world of law, she has found that while hard work, diligence and dedication are important, it is also equally important to be aware of and practice effective internal and external self-promotion in order to stand out from the crowd, raise your profile and be in the best possible position to achieve promotion through the ranks. And, having a mentor, or even better, being backed by the support of a sponsor, has a significant positive effect on a person’s career trajectory.

“In my experience, for a person to truly thrive and succeed in an organization, you need someone in a position of seniority who is ready, willing and able to put their name and resource behind your advancement,” says Hanson Ofori-Quaah. “Working hard so that you are brilliant at what you do is the first step, but I think it is also vital that you have someone advocating for you when decisions that impact your career progression are being made.”

Unfortunately, her experience has been that more often than not, women tend not to have this benefit, which can have a significant impact on the success of their career progression.

As in any area where there is the potential for bias—either conscious or unconscious—the key to improving this situation starts with those in senior management positions within their respective organizations taking steps to review the decisions they are making. “I encourage them to regularly consider the profile of the people they tend to sponsor, and challenge themselves to widen this pool for the benefit of those who are able but underrepresented,” Hanson Ofori-Quaah says.

Role Models Can Lead the Way

While she still seeks the benefit of a sponsor, Hanson Ofori-Quaah has been fortunate to have two “absolutely phenomenal” women whom she considers as professional role models: Lisa Opoku and Paulette Mastin. She first came across Opoku’s profile in another GlassHammer piece, when she had recently returned to work from her first maternity leave. Having read Sheryl Sandberg’s book and eager to put the advice into practice, she plucked up the courage to send her an email, and to her amazement she responded. She was drawn to Opoku’s story; while she is currently a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, she began her career in the legal profession and like Hanson Ofori-Quaah is of Ghanaian decent with two children.

“Lisa has provided me with the type of invaluable and practical advice that every working parent needs,” Hanson Ofori-Quaah says. “I also admire her passion to develop and promote talent, especially in women in her organization, and I believe others in leadership positions should aspire to emulate that as it would undoubtedly lead to higher retention and promotion of women across many organizations.”

Her other mentor is a counsel at the Magic Circle law firm Linklaters and as Hanson Ofori-Quaah says, “I do not exaggerate when I say she is the ‘matriarch’ for numerous lawyers of color, particularly female lawyers of color, in the Square Mile.” In addition to her day job as counsel in a very demanding role, Mastin is the chair of the Black Solicitors’ Network and a mother of two, yet always makes time to mentor others.

Seeking any opportunity to continue to learn, Hanson Ofori-Quaah has found the Milbank@Harvard program to offer a tremendous impact on her career to date, as it has given her the opportunity to be taught by leading professors at Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School on four separate occasions, each time building on the previous session. The program, which includes intensive interactive courses on finance and accounting, leadership and team management, strategy, marketing, negotiations and macroeconomics, have been important in helping her enhance her position, equipping her with skills and expertise she has found to be invaluable to her career.

“I constantly search for avenues—whether through mentors or educational opportunities—to find professional and personal advice that can build my expertise.”

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Mover & Shaker: Nicole Poteat, Vice President and Private Client Advisor, Bank of America Private Bank

Nicole PoteatBy Cathie Ericson

Before finding her current position, Nicole Poteat was unsure there was a career in finance that would allow her to truly bring her full self to the table.

Now, as a Private Client Advisor with Bank of America Private Bank she has a strong institution behind her, but also plays the role of entrepreneur, allowing her to combine her professional and intellectual drive with her personal interest in building relationships and helping others thrive.

“It’s important for young professionals to remain open to the idea that even if the seat they are currently in is not a fit, there is still a path out there that will capitalize on the different facets of their passions and abilities. They just have to remain vigilant about seeking it.”

Finding a Passion in Client Service

Fortunately Poteat was able to find that path. She studied government at Harvard and then graduated from Boston College Law School, starting her career in the government and non-profit space. At the same time, her wife Emilie was finishing a PhD and studying the sharing economy, which piqued Nicole’s interest in how companies thrive in today’s environment. That led her to look into a position with Goldman Sachs as a summer associate, subsequently joining the firm full-time after graduation. While her “bigger picture” enterprise strategy role offered lots of opportunity for growth, she realized she missed having a direct impact and forming client relationships; therefore, when she was approached by a recruiter from U.S. Trust, she transitioned to the private banking world where she has been for almost two years.

The position has been an ideal match for her talents and interest. “One of the reasons I love this role is that I can support the development and careers of people doing fascinating work without having to solely focus on one niche industry,” she says, noting that she works with professional such as doctors, founders and investors. “My clients are solving so many interesting problems—often with groundbreaking products—and it’s exciting to be able to support them and help them navigate their lives and their personal wealth as they experience professional success. Many of them are diverse, and it’s particularly satisfying to work with this population who hasn’t historically been in touch with the private banking world.”

Poteat says that one of the biggest looming assumptions when she left law school and started her career was that a transition into the corporate world meant an unsustainable lifestyle with unmanageable work hours. While she has experienced this at times in her career, she has also found a path to sustainability by “developing a career I’m passionate about where the work doesn’t feel like work—it’s a vocation. I love what I do so the time I am spending on it feels exciting and challenging rather than unmanageable.”

And, she says, the key is to be thoughtful about what you want to do—from impact to responsibilities—and then identify where your skills match up to those desires and how that can be applied professionally.

The Process of Finding a Mentor

Early in her career, Poteat would hear people talk about the end product of having great sponsors or mentors, without being explicit about what it took to develop those relationships. “It was a process to learn that there’s no ‘easy bake oven,’ one-size-fits-all strategy to getting the right mentor for you.” And, she points out, it seems especially daunting when all you’re hearing is the end result…the big difference that this one person made in a career.

Now, she has found, the journey to form those strong relationships has to begin with a context where people are ready to see you and what you can offer and even from there, other things need to line up. “Ultimately it’s about finding someone who wants to see you in that way (as a mentee) and cares about you and your career and wants to support you.”

And that can take a lot of conversations to find the people who are going to be willing to support you and fully see you. Poteat is proud that she has found such relationships by forging those conversations, which has led to a cadre of mentors at her current firm, including her manager and colleagues, as well as people from other contexts of her life, such as David Beatty, a friend and founder of Gaingels, an angel-investing group.

She is particularly appreciative of the opportunity to learn from women who blazed trails as the “first” women in the room; noting that her cousin, Jeannette, was one such trailblazer. Jeannette Loeb was the first female Partner at Goldman Sachs. Poteat has been fascinated by the tales she’s heard of those early days and what it was like to be effective in spaces that were built for, and up until that point had only been filled by, men.

She feels fortunate to work for a company like Bank of America that actively works to stay modern by putting diverse teams in place to serve a wide variety of clients. “It’s not the old-school bank of the past, but one that looks like the clients of today, and I’ve benefited from their efforts to be awake to that need.”

A Full Life Outside Work

Poteat is a member of Gaingels, an angel investing group focused on companies with LGBT representation at the C-suite level. She is an active philanthropist, having endowed the Michael Poteat Global Education Scholarship at Elon University in memory of her brother. The scholarship benefits students living with chronic illness, allowing them to experience internships and study abroad, thus hopefully setting them on a path to find a career “click” for their interests. She is also a board member of the Ackerman Institute for the Family, the family therapy non-profit.

She and her wife Emilie live in Westchester with their two golden retrievers, Charlie and Eliot, and recently announced that they will be joined by two more family members when their twins arrive this fall.

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Mover & Shaker: Helen Campbell, Management Consultant, Implement Consulting Group

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Helen Campbell_1209by Cathie Ericson

A career that allowed Helen Campbell to live and work in multiple countries gave her a unique view into culture and the way it should impact your working life.

For example she had always assumed that it was important to fit in and adhere to the company values, which was reinforced with her first professional role in Japan, where the culture was still then very much about dedicating yourself to a company for life.

“I realize now that especially in consulting, it should not be about signing up to a company’s way of working, but rather that by joining a company you should change and add to it and bring your own uniqueness to it,” she says.

A Career Spanning Multiple Countries and Roles

Campbell studied electrical engineering at Queen’s University of Belfast, as well as Japanese as she hoped to visit Japan. Her chance came at a career fair at the university, where she learned about an Irish government program that supported Irish graduates finding a job in Japan with companies that had a link with Ireland. She got a job with Fujikin, a Japanese manufacturing company, and flew to Japan with 16 other Irish graduates.

As the first female and non-Japanese engineer the company had hired, there was quite a bit of adjustment on both sides, but Campbell worked for them for six years—two in Japan, one in Dusseldorf in Germany and three in London, in a variety of roles that included engineer, key account manager and project manager. Realizing that was the role she enjoyed the most, she decided to look for another position where she could develop these skills and joined QinetiQ, a UK defense company, where she managed a range of defense and commercial projects and travelled to countries like Jordan and Brunei.

It was there that Campbell interacted with several consultants and became interested in the opportunity that consultancy provides to be part of transformational projects. She joined PwC in London in their Portfolio and Programme Management consulting practice and worked there for eight years, including transferring to Stockholm with them in December 2016.

Last year she decided it was time to try something new and left PwC to join Implement Consulting Group, a Nordic consultancy, as a senior consultant.

The company is growing rapidly and thus feels very entrepreneurial even with around 900 employees, Campbell notes. As it’s not as well-known in Sweden as Denmark, she is excited about growing the business, especially around supporting clients with the delivery of their largest and most complex transformations.

Starting an LGBT Network, Which Started a Movement

While her career has held an impressive mix of managing large efforts like a merger of two airlines’ finance functions and large-scale IT implementations, what Campbell is most proud of is the feedback she gets from junior consultants with whom she has worked. “I really enjoy teaching others and encouraging them to stretch themselves on projects, and because of that I’ve helped many consultants achieve promotions, which is extremely rewarding,” she says.

While working for PwC, Campbell co-founded the LGBT network for the UK; along with a small team she built a strong network—called GLEE@PwC (Gays, Lesbians and Everyone Else)—and developed a brand around it. That included hosting high-profile client events, where they got a majority of the UK employees wearing rainbow lanyards. Through running the network, she sat on several panel events and spoke at conferences about the value of being your true self at work.

In fact it was only when she joined PwC that she came truly out at work, and at that point there was a lack of LGBT role models and especially women. A turning point she remembers is when EY won the Stonewall LGBT Workplace of the Year Award, and Liz Bingham made a speech about her career at EY before and after she came out at work. “This was the first time I had heard a senior lesbian woman speak about the value of being herself at work,” Campbell says.

Developing GLEE generated a lot of attention internally in PwC with poster campaigns, a designated Twitter account, internal news articles and more, which meant that many on the committee were contacted by LGBT people across the country about coming out or about becoming more of an activist. Through those efforts, Campbell was able to mentor several LGBT men and women. “I have loved supporting them in their personal journey, both in and out of work,” she says.

Campbell believes there is still a big journey in the corporate world and in society around acceptance and normalizing trans-gender people. “Even in Sweden, which is fairly progressive, I am not sure I have seen any trans-supportive policies,” she says, although she notes that gender-neutral bathrooms are the norm.

For those reasons, it’s important to continue to be open and transparent—as a way to bring attention to LGBT issues and change hearts and minds.

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Mover and Shaker: Jeanelle Johnson, Director, Deals – Valuations, PwC US

Jeanelle JohnsonFor PwC’s Jeanelle Johnson, it’s the experiences gained from taking on new challenges and living overseas which have made her career path so rewarding.

Having the right people around her was key to making it happen.

“Finding your people is extremely important in feeling like you belong, and sometimes you have to be strategic to find them,” she explains. For her, finding sponsors has been pivotal in helping her advance, both to understand the professional landscape and the unwritten rules.

Creating a Career on Her Own Terms

Johnson started in a different career path than most of her counterparts in the consulting world; she began at a family-owned business in the financial services industry where she examined trading by company executives and wrote articles for mutual fund companies. She decided to earn her MBA—working full-time, while pursuing classwork part-time on the evenings and weekends.

While participating in on-campus recruiting, she interviewed with an investment firm in Baltimore for an investment banking role and started as an Associate, only to find out a month later the group was being sold. Johnson was getting married at the time so she took a pause to reflect on what she wanted in her future career.

Earlier in her career, Johnson had been exposed to Big 4 firms, which she was surprised to learn did more than just accounting—but also valuations and M&A transactions, which is what she had enjoyed most when she worked in investment banking. She had also been intrigued by their reputation among her peers and in the media, such as in Working Mother magazine, as a place where she could enjoy a challenging work environment, but also be able to carve out the time she needed to start a family.

Johnson joined a Big 4 firm in 2006 and worked there until August 2015, appreciating the flexibility they offered her—first working remotely from California while her husband completed a graduate degree; then working from home most of the week when her first child was born; and finally offering her a transfer to the London office to accompany her husband who had been offered an opportunity there—a stint that was supposed to be a year and ended up being more than five.

When they moved back, she and her husband decided it was best for the family to focus on her career, and he became the primary parent. Johnson was looking for a firm that was supportive of developing people like her into partners, and the recruiter who had hired her at her prior firm was then at PwC so she pursued an offer there. “I was offered a position that started in March, but I told them that I could not start until August, and they were willing to wait,” Johnson says, which confirmed she had found the right place. They moved to New York for two years and then returned to Washington D.C. in July 2017, which she says has been wonderful both personally and professionally.

And, she says, that’s the professional achievement she is most proud of so far…the ability to pivot to whatever opportunities she was offered, rather than just following a straight line.

Finding Role Models—And Acting as One

Johnson says she admires people who demonstrate grit and resilience, and who don’t let anyone see them sweat—even when they are. “Maintaining that calm, level head imbues confidence to everyone, while also being open and approachable—those are qualities I try to emulate,” she says.

As one of the senior women in her practice group, she is proud to take part in diversity and inclusion initiatives that help promote the idea that it is possible to have both a successful career and family, especially as an underrepresented, minority woman. “Much of the corporate world was not designed by us or for us, so being visible allows younger people to see what they can accomplish,” she says.

Recently, Johnson joined the board of directors for a charter school in D.C. as another way to share her professional acumen.

With two children ages six and 10, she appreciates the opportunities that were presented by living overseas. “It provides you with such an interesting frame of reference; we traveled extensively, and my daughter has visited 18 countries…she’s drummed on the streets of Istanbul and been in a backpack in Marrakech markets.”

“Traveling gives you a broader view of the world, and I am passionate about instilling that in my children. If you stick to what you know, you may never see what is possible.”

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Mover & Shaker: Inna Jackson, Vice President & Senior Counsel, Digital & Data Partnerships, American Express

Inna JacksonInna Jackson’s biggest learning moment came immediately after completing a very large and intense project—one that didn’t pan out the way she had envisioned, an unexpected outcome given her successful career to date.

“I was forced to take a large step back to reconsider the work I’d done. I realized that while I had worked very hard for a prolonged period of time, I had focused on a level of details that, from a longer-term vantage point, were insignificant,” she says.

That one experience gave her a larger lesson as a way to consider how you spend your time. “We all like to say how busy we are; being busy makes us feel valued, needed, grounded. But my big focus has become being busy with the right things that will actually create lasting value.”

Finding Her Passion in Legal Work

Her career mirrors that aspiration. Jackson began as a corporate and M&A attorney in private practice, working with a range of clients on cross-border, M&A, private equity and other transactions across a wide variety of industries that included media, telecommunications and real estate.

One of her most exciting projects came when she was selected to serve as assistant outside general counsel and transactional attorney for a multinational multi-billion investment fund in its acquisitions of 17 hotels in Mexico and the Dominican Republic. She cites this role, which spanned four years, as one of the highlights of her law firm experience due to the meaningful work, but also because of how interesting it was culturally as she routinely worked with partners, advisors and investors in Spain, Latin America, the Netherlands and Abu Dhabi.

Halfway through her career, she moved in-house to work at American Express. For her first assignment, she lawyered American Express’ Business Insights (data analytics and reporting business) from the ground up, spearheading a foundational privacy and regulatory legal analysis, creating baseline processes and agreements and negotiating a number of cutting-edge data analytics and data license partnerships. She also supported the Global Merchant Services organization on a range of strategic negotiations, marketing and product build initiatives.

But she discovered her passion for digital work when she was asked to join the core team negotiating and building American Express’ relationship with Apple for Apple Pay, one of the Company’s first strategic mobile wallet partnerships. Jackson then moved on to support the digital team full time, playing a core role in the Google Pay and Samsung Pay negotiations, and leading many other initiatives involving issues of first impression, including partnerships for Amazon Alexa, Amex’s bot on Facebook Messenger and the more recent partnership with PayPal and Venmo, among many others.

“This work has been particularly exciting because it sits at the cross-section of what other lines of business do, but with layers of innovative issues and considerations,” Jackson says. She notes that to do her job well, it is essential to take a practical approach as a partner to the business team, rather than solely as a legal advisor, and to constantly seek the bigger picture by connecting the dots for considerations and priorities across the organization.

Growing Her Expertise—And Her Brand

Throughout her time at American Express, Jackson has earned a reputation as a key thought leader in enterprise data strategy and third-party data sharing frameworks, the professional achievement of which she’s very proud. “When I started my career at American Express, I knew very little about data or privacy, but throughout my eight years here, data considerations have been a consistent focal point,” she says. “I’ve served as a principal architect of numerous arrangements with savvy counterparties, including Amazon, Google and Apple, and I’ve progressively built on these learnings in partner negotiations as well as funneled them into the enterprise principles and approach.”

Along the way, she’s rethought the notion of what it means to be a “women lawyer,” moving away from her first impression that she had to fit a cookie cutter stereotype. “It’s not that I had a particular human in mind, but rather the idea of a corporate individual as a machine—centered around a logical core, extremely efficient, neat and trim, working around the clock, showing limited emotion,” she says, imagining that everything that made her unique must be put aside during the workday, almost like an extracurricular project.

Fortunately, she realized that real life is far more nuanced, and while some elements of the stereotype may have truth, they are not as radical. “As individuals, we have a lot of control around how we shape our own brand and the culture we inhabit and want to inhabit,” she says. In fact, she’s found that the leaders she has most admired are those who are comfortable sharing aspects of their unique personalities and being appropriately vulnerable while retaining the corporate persona.

Over her career, she’s had several sponsors and has been loyal to them—possibly to a fault, she says. She has appreciated that her sponsors have given her opportunities that she didn’t even recognize she was capable of handling; for example being asked to work on multi-pronged digital projects with no precedent. Each time, she rose to the occasion and spent days, including weekends, charting out a game plan, with a possible deal structure, issues and stakeholders. “It is through my sponsors’ belief in me that I’ve learned that no project or issue is unsolvable and that with curiosity, resilience and ultimately, the right team of people, there is always, eventually, a path forward,” Jackson says.

A Focus on Family

While Jackson has had many role models over the years to pick just one, it has to be her mom. She set an amazing example—switching professions mid-career when she immigrated to the United States and learning not only the English language but also the necessary skills to excel among people who started in her field years earlier.

It was through her mom that Jackson learned resiliency, recalling how maddening it was when her mom helped her with homework in middle school, and even after she was ready to give up, her mom would persevere until she understood the problem. Although she worked long hours with teams in India and others around the globe to turn around complex projects on very tight timelines, Jackson recalls that she made it look easy. “By being very present, not cutting corners and having an ultimate belief that even the most tangled issue could get figured out, she seemed like a superhero.”

And now Jackson is passing on those qualities to her three daughters, along with her love of travel and languages.
She is fluent in Russian and Spanish and can also speak French and Italian. And while her travel options were limited when her daughters were younger, they are now at fantastic ages to travel, and they have been planning trips to Europe and South Africa this year.

Throughout her career Jackson has been active in pro bono work—in law school, where she was chair of the pro bono committee, to private practice and now at Amex. Over the years, her work has ranged from helping 501c(3) corporations with bylaws and other corporate matters to helping with immigration and asylum matters for various clients, including through Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) and Catholic Charities Immigration and Refugee Services.

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Mover & Shaker: Clare Murphy, Commercial Director – Europe, WEX

Clare MurphyHaving served in customer-facing roles for more than 20 years, WEX’s Clare Murphy has learned an important truth.

“Most people believe the customer has to come first, but I’ve found that the key is to get the team dynamic right first instead. If you have that, they will naturally put the customers at the center, and you have a win/win.”

And, she adds, a key component of building that team rapport is collaborating to find out how you can be a better manager. “Ask them for feedback on an ongoing basis so you can fine-tune your own performance,” she recommends.

Collaboration is the key to success

Murphy ran her own consultancy for seven years buying corporate travel, and became curious why there was a general lack of innovation in the payments sphere, despite existing options such as payment cards. So when she was approached by Travelport where she had previously worked, she jumped at the chance to help with its newly formed payment division. As only the second hire, she helped build its capabilities from the ground up, helping set up the office and spearheading major bids.

About two years into her tenure there, WEX approached her with an appealing role as commercial director, where she’s now been a year. For Murphy, it’s the perfect intersection of the travel and tech/payment industries that she knows will continue to provide exciting developments. “We have such a fantastic opportunity to make the payment experience more simple and efficient for our customers, and it’s exciting to be on the front line,” she says.

Over the past year she has helped lead the transformation of WEX’s commercial team in Europe, and she has been delighted to see the evidence of their efforts in living the WEX values, specifically related to integrity, she says, adding that their recent appointment to the “Great Place to Work” list reinforces they are on the right track.

Rising With the Support of Others

Over the course of her career, Murphy knows she has been fortunate to have worked with senior leaders who were invested in her career, and assisted with the opportunities and networking that would allow her to move to the next level. And she was fortunate to have a mentor in former supervisor Elaine Halt, whose gravitas and ability to help teams coalesce around a goal was particularly inspirational. “When she left, we were all devastated, but I still keep in touch with her. Even though I haven’t worked with her in 15 years, I still see her regularly and appreciate her counsel and feedback that has helped me throughout my career,” Murphy says.

In her position at the cross section of travel and payments, she has become a part of a number of industry groups that have strengthen and motivated her professional development, including; Women in Payments, the Emerging Payments Association, Women in Fintech and Women Travel Executives. Not only does Murphy see personally benefit, but she makes sure that her female and male colleagues do too. She regularly invites junior team members to sessions, giving them experience and exposure to the great work these groups offer.

Balance Leads to a Full Life

Over the years, Murphy has realized the importance of not letting yourself get caught up in the day-to-day struggle of determining what is and isn’t urgent. She has learned to take a long-term view to find time to focus on things that are important, but not necessarily urgent, such as professional development and networking. That helps her find a good balance where she calendars those in, and treats them as equally important to other items on her to-do list.

And of course, her top priority remains her family – her husband and two children. As an “extreme sports” family, they take time to build bonds by skiing and scuba diving, having just returned from a trip to Cancun.

They also work together to fundraise for the Bone Cancer Research Trust, and have raised more than £2,000 while continuing to do charity events in support. Her daughter even donated her hair to charity. While she is proud of the money they have raised, there has been another important byproduct that comes from having her children see her ask for money and instilling a sense of philanthropic interest.

In addition, Murphy has been on the Board of Governors for her children’s school for eight years, overseeing strategy and curriculum. “It’s been a pleasure to see the school flourish, and I look forward to returning to even more volunteering when my career is less busy,” she says.

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Mover and Shaker: Carolyn Fitzpatrick, Director, IFCS Application Development and Portfolio Management, WEX

Carolyn Fitzpatrick HeadshotWEX’ Carolyn Fitzpatrick encourages professionals to accept offers of assistance with networking or career guidance because it’s offered as a gift….both to the giver and recipient.

“People grow and learn when receiving guidance and when mentoring and supporting others.”

Once you’ve built relationships with coworkers, it’s important to maintain them—even if it’s just a quick touch base or unexpected lunch. “You can continue to learn from the people you’ve worked with in the past as you already have a basis of trust. They’re likely experiencing some of the same challenges and having different experiences that you can all share.”

Finding Satisfaction in Program and Team Management

For Fitzpatrick, all those disparate career moments and teams have added up to a fulfilling path. She began her career at LL Bean in IT as a developer—not because that’s what she was interested in, but because that’s where the money was. Her position evolved into different roles ending as a Manager of IT Application Development, which provided the challenge she was looking for.

“It gave me the opportunity to work with different areas of the business and people at all levels of the organization and make a material contribution. That was exciting and fun and didn’t feel like work at all,” she says. “I love the excitement of pulling a team together and accomplishing things that most think are not achievable, and then looking in the rear view mirror and seeing a successful milestone along the journey.”

A stint at IDEXX Laboratories followed, and then she transitioned to WEX about eight years ago, starting out in the North America Fleet division and advancing to the Emerging Technologies business where she started working more globally. She found it fascinating to partner with executives from around the globe and oversee programs of work that had significant impact to the bottom line. While the days grew long partnering across regions, the challenges are exciting and provide a sense of accomplishment.

In October 2014, she was asked to help with a strategic project; with the technology being delivered in New Zealand, the project needed recovery to hit a critical December delivery. Fitzpatrick was sent to ensure the milestone was met successfully, and she’s been leading aspects of this portfolio ever since. She is proud of what her and her team have accomplished; over the past three years her division has delivered multiple programs in APAC and Europe, has made major improvements in IT delivery and is turning the corner to become a more profitable line of business.

While building teams is one of the professional achievements that brings her the most satisfaction, she also is always focused on improving the bottom line. For example, at IDEXX her team was implementing a new Application Development Environment, and the CTO recommended creating a throwaway system to learn how to use the tool.

Fitzpatrick realized that it would be better to invest the time in creating a system that would live on, so she suggested an alternative—build a replacement for the green screen customer service system. She put a small team in a room for nine months, and after many long and challenging days using an iterative agile process, they succeeded in creating a system that set the foundation for what is still in use today.

Even now, it remains one of her most memorable work experiences. “It’s one of those projects that whenever you run into someone else who was involved, you can’t help but smile at how we were able to achieve so much.”

Soft Skills Nurture Success

Like many who enter the corporate world, Fitzpatrick initially assumed that top-notch skills and technical abilities were what made a professional successful, but she soon found that those are things you can “learn.” What is more difficult to develop are the soft skills that professionals need, such as collaboration and communication, and understanding how building relationships can impact results.

“While I have high expectations of myself and others and always drive to deliver the best for our customers and company, it is also important to balance that drive with caring and support of the people who make it all possible. I look at the people with whom I work as a family and treat them in an encouraging and supportive way, but I also know that it’s ok to have disagreements and challenge each other to gain the optimum results,” she says. “The key to success is to stay positive, focused on what a successful outcome looks like and then do everything possible to make it happen. Where you focus your energy is what will grow,” she says.

Fitzpatrick has benefitted from informal mentoring over the years and so she works to provide that to her team. She says one of her best qualities is being able to see in other people what they are capable of, often before they even see it in themselves. “I especially try to encourage younger women to be more confident in themselves and what they bring to the table; when you give them opportunities to shine, it is rewarding to watch them grow and thrive as they see themselves be successful,” she says, adding that she is often thanked for taking time to share what people need to hear instead of what they want to hear. “It’s important to hone your skill of supplying feedback in a supportive manner that will help team members accept the feedback needed to help them develop.”

Embracing Professional Development At Every Stage

Some of her best career advice came from a leadership development coach who helped her see that when people come to work you likely only see the tip of the iceberg of their whole self. “Leaders need to take into account that we are all humans who come from different perspectives and have different goals. When you connect with the heart and mind, success will always follow.”

One of her most fulfilling career development experiences was the opportunity to go to the International Leadership Development Programme (ILDP) with a group of global peers. After the session she was assigned an executive coach for the year, and hers was instrumental in helping her navigate the challenges of a global team. She also helped Fitzpatrick see that as a leader attending a meeting, she needs to be clear with the team whether she is communicating a direction or requirement, or if in fact she is just approaching the meeting as a participating team member looking for ideas in the spirit of collaboration.

Overall, one of the facets of WEX that she loves the most is the chance to work with a number of strong female role models who are genuinely supportive and encouraging. “It’s wonderful to know you’re in a company where you can call a colleague when you have an issue, and they’ll give you time to discuss and explore options,” she says.

Equally important is the emphasis WEX puts on appreciating the supporting role a family plays in our success. “The reason I can give WEX the time and focus I do is because I have an incredibly supportive family, and I know it’s important to appreciate those who help get us where we are,” she says, noting a former CTO who had a ritual at the end of meetings that emphasized this point. “He would recommend that we go home and thank our family for their support and commitment to us, which is what allows us to do what we do.”

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Mover and Shaker: Jodi-ann Johnson; Director, Executive Communications and Strategic Initiatives; WEX

Jodi-ann JohnsonNever underestimate the power of a great conversation, says WEX’ Jodi-ann Johnson.

“I value my relationships and act with intention to make strong connections with people,” she says. “You have to be bold and brave, but also true to who you are: When you act authentically, you can build trust.”

That instinct to be bold was the catalyst for an important moment in her career, that didn’t necessarily seem so at the time. She was attending an internal leadership event, but arrived late due to travel delays. She ended up being seated at the same table as the new CEO; she figured that this was her opportunity to ask him if he would be the featured speaker at an upcoming customer meeting. The ask and event went well, cementing her reputation as someone who gets things done. “You can’t wait for things to happen; you have to ask for what you need,” Johnson advises.

A Career That Revolves Around Leading through Change

With 25 years of career success under her belt, Johnson has worn a wide variety of hats, which gives her a strong background to draw from. Over the years, she’s tackled organizational and business change and been involved with strategic planning, program management and communications – broad experience she can tap into it for whatever work adventure comes next.

Although she has lived in the corporate world for the bulk of her career, she actually started in an entrepreneurial environment, the kind of start-up company where employees knew their “number.” As the company grew, she grew with it, experiencing everything from internal marketing communication to customer-facing outreach and consulting.

The customers she visited around the country were Fortune 100-level companies who were launching work/family benefit programs, a sector that was groundbreaking at the time. The company was a pioneer in the work management and training world, and since her boss was a woman, Johnson never experienced the male-dominated hierarchy that seemed prevalent in other companies.

“The founder started the company based on an idea that became a mission and passion so that intent has always been core to my beliefs,” she says.

Even in the corporate environment, she still found herself working among strong women, and Johnson noticed that one of the women she worked for had become the president of the division without ever going to college. To her that signaled that there were no boundaries, and she found that to be true as the company grew and evolved, and she was always able to jump into new things.

After working in Minneapolis and Boston and traveling globally, she decided it was time to pivot to being “home,” which for Johnson is Portland, Maine, so she sought an opportunity at WEX—a company with a strong growth story—and has been there almost nine years in different roles in both corporate communications and program management, most notably assisting with the CEO transition. What she immediately recognized and appreciates about WEX is that there’s a spirit of entrepreneurism; it’s a place where what matters most is if you deliver, rather than your title and level. What really matters, she says, is what happens when you walk in the door.

“The best parts of my job are helping others manage through change and ambiguity, whether that’s bringing structure and clarity to multifaceted initiatives, facilitating an efficient meeting or helping our senior executives craft the right message,” Johnson says.

Her desire to play the helper role has always been prominent in her career and came to its largest light right after 9/11 when she was working with the company that provided counseling programs to those directly impacted by the tragedy. She helped develop educational materials to support employees and organizations, overseeing a constant evolution of needs in what she feels was one of the most meaningful times in her career.

Currently, she is proud of the forward-thinking planning WEX is doing as they look ahead to 2019 and maximizing the opportunities for a newly acquired company that will spur growth as they consider expanding into additional markets. “It’s exciting to be part of the process and help bring together new ideas and concepts that will help us become a richer, deeper place as we hone our focus and find alignment among a wide variety of critical initiatives for 2019.”

Finding and Sharing Strength With Colleagues and Family

Although Johnson says she has been fortunate to have been mentored by phenomenal women over the years, none stands brighter than her own mom, who supported two kids while leading a busy working life. Johnson views her mom as a pioneer in her day who paved the way as a strong role model in both career and family life.

And she knows the importance of relying on strong relationships as the cornerstone of a career, whether it’s the leaders she supports, her peers or her own team.

Johnson appreciates being part of Women at WEX, particularly when she is able to help people navigate the company and their career. “There’s this great spirit here, and we have a lot of Type A personalities, but finding a way to volunteer and give back has been really exciting,” she says.

In addition she has forged strong connections with many women outside of WEX who have been pioneers in their own career, such as one who became one of the first women partners at a financial services company. “I have learned lot about being honest, open and brave from this network of women,” she says.

Married to her high school sweetheart, they have two girls and a boy — two in high school and one in college. While it’s not easy to get together, she says they are fortunate to have a family camp two hours north on Green Lake. Aptly called “Second Wind,” it’s where they can recharge and reconnect even if they can only grab 48 hours as they did recently.

In addition, they love to travel; they have hiked throughout Utah, Maine and New England and are excited about an upcoming trip to Italy.

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Mover and Shaker: Cassandra Cuellar, Associate at Shearman & Sterling

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Cassandra Cuellar

By Cathie Ericson

Being inquisitive and asking a lot of questions is one of the best ways to move ahead, whether you’re working with a partner or client, believes Shearman’s Cassandra Cuellar.

In addition, she recommends that professionals always maintain a positive attitude, showing up and treating every day like a new day. “It’s a stressful job, and you have to recognize that your role is to find a way around issues, to find a solution that will meet the client’s ultimate goal whether it’s an internal or external client.”

Honing a Specialty That Always Has Emerging Challenges

After growing up in a small town in Texas, Cuellar came to Austin in 2003 to attend University of Texas – the first lawyer in her family — and has been there ever since. While attending law school, she clerked with the firm Andrews Kurth, where she received an offer to work with the Emerging Companies group. She worked there for seven-and-a-half years until this March when the group of 14 attorneys and associated support staff moved over to Shearman and Sterling LLP.

Currently she is working with companies that are exploring very cutting-edge fields. For example, she is enjoying the challenge of developing two areas in the practice — cryptocurrency and digital assets – and helping move them more into the mainstream. “We have to take them out of the hands of the fringe groups and make them more accessible so people will become comfortable with crypto and blockchain,” she notes.

Another exciting area of growth is in AI. She has a client who focuses on looking at manuscripts and movie scripts for patterns that resonate, which she says is the type of task that AI will revolutionize by applying a more systematic approach.

Learning By Doing

Cuellar describes her first two years as an “unending learning moment.” At the time, she was working with several junior attorneys who left for various reasons so she seized the opportunity to fill the gaps. While it entailed many late nights, in hindsight she sees that taking on these various extra projects was the best possible thing she could have done to propel her career. “I was able to learn from mistakes and now have a vast background which helps me recognize things that I wouldn’t have noticed before.”

While embracing those kinds of opportunities can grow your career, she also finds incredible benefits in taking advantage of mentoring, whether formal or informal.

In fact, at an earlier position that didn’t offer a formal program, she sought out other attorneys to help give her advice. “People are more than willing to have conversations with you when you show you appreciate their time,” she says.

At Shearman, she recognized the culture of mentorship and support the minute she came over. “Female partners whom I don’t even work with have reached out, which was so impressive that these busy women would welcome me and offer their support,” she says. One in particular who stands out is partner Sarah McClean, whom she notes has been very conscious about developing a team of great women and inviting her to immediately get involved.

Another option Cuellar took advantage of was getting involved with industry organizations, which she finds particularly important for minority lawyers. She has enjoyed the four years she’s been involved with the Hispanic National Bar Association, which offers avenues for professional development and advancement; for example, she has had the chance to make pitches to corporations and gleaned immeasurable professional development opportunities from sitting in and learning from other attorneys

Because she places great importance on developing the pipeline of younger lawyers, she’s also been involved with a UT group called Minority Women Pursuing Law, which works with first-generation law students to offer counsel on job hunting. Each year Cuellar presents on what they should know as college students about what law schools and law firms are looking for to help give them a leg up.

Married with two dogs, Cuellar loves to cook and barbeque at home, and she and her husband enjoy frequent visits to their families in south Texas.

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