Mover and Shaker: Sara Donaldson, Vice President, Proxy Voting at Voya Investment Management

sara-donaldsonBy Cathie Ericson

“That’s not my job’ is something I would never say,” asserts Voya’s Sara Donaldson. “If something needs to get done, with the support of the individual ultimately responsible for it, I will take responsibility for it to make sure it gets done.”

Part of that value includes following up when needed. “It’s ok to say you don’t know something, but you should also work toward a resolution by asking questions and putting that knowledge to work,” she says, a strategy much better than making something up or not following through with an answer.

Proud to be a Corporate Governance Professional

Donaldson began her career at a real estate advisory firm, overseeing investor relations, marketing and legal support and regulatory compliance. She became interested in equities and in 1997 accepted a position as a paralegal at a global equity advisory firm, believing that once she proved herself she could expand her responsibilities.

In that role, she oversaw U.S. compliance, mutual fund administration and global proxy voting. Some of the firm’s institutional clients compelled the firm to take a more active oversight role in the companies in which they were investing. Chairing the global proxy committee, and working closely with the investment team and corporate governance committee during this time, prompted her interest in corporate governance. In 2014 she joined Voya to concentrate on that field.

“Voya Investment Management and the Voya mutual fund board are committed to voting proxies in our clients’ best interest,” she says. “One of the Voya mutual fund board members described my role as an advocate for our mutual fund shareholders, and I take great pride in that. I also take pride in representing Voya when I engage with the public companies in which we are invested.”

Through her years in corporate governance, she has been impressed by the power that shareholders have to influence the companies in which they are invested. “I have become much more interested in how companies and shareholders address environmental, social and governance issues. It is fascinating that shareholders could materially influence how companies approach some of these issues,” she says, noting such topics as the “old boy’s network in the board room,” CEO pay, environmental risk and others. “Additionally, investment advisers are looking at more than just financial statements; they are also considering these issues when evaluating companies.”

Right now she is involved in transforming the proxy voting process she had inherited upon joining the division. Currently, they process and vote at more than 8,000 meetings annually. Historically, the analysis and all of the documentation for every meeting has been printed. In order to gain efficiencies, promote sustainability and reduce costs, they are moving to an electronic process.

Through her many years, she has built numerous skills, and one she recommends refining is public speaking. “When I give a presentation, I make sure I have rehearsed so I can interact with the audience rather than reading from a slide deck or paper,” she says. “Having your talking points well prepared allows you to relax and perform better.”

Networking Inside the Company and Industry

Donaldson participates in a few of the networking programs at Voya, but also finds great value in a group of women in corporate governance who meet at industry conferences. She considers the other members to be role models and appreciates the candid conversations they can have about similar issues they face when making decisions on how to vote on behalf of shareholders.

“Corporate governance is always evolving, so it is advantageous to have this network as a resource,” she says.

She also believes in bolstering other women’s talents. When she first joined the financial services industry, she saw that the layers of middle management were male dominated, as historically this had been true.

“Back then, I saw some of my female peers not being able to achieve the same level of success as men, even if they were equally qualified or more accomplished,” she says, noting that women are making great strides but this is still the case in some areas of the financial services industry.

Enjoying Her New Desert Lifestyle

Donaldson moved to Arizona from San Francisco when she accepted her current position. As empty nesters with three grown children, she and her husband were excited to pack up their two dogs and move to Scottsdale to enjoy new adventures.

They have embraced the beautiful weather. As avid cyclists, they enjoy riding with local clubs. “I especially enjoy walking my dogs early in the morning and watching the sunrise and then enjoying the sunset while we eat outside,” Donaldson says.

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Mover and Shaker: Ciara Quinlan, Head of Electronic Principal Trading FX, Rates & Credit, UBS

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ciara-quinlanBy Cathie Ericson

Few would call banking a “flexible” career, but UBS’ Ciara Quinlan has found the secret to success in balancing work with family life.

“When it comes to being a great mum and achieving my career goals in parallel, I’m a believer in having it all,” she says. “I took off the time I wanted when I had my son four years ago, and initially came back part time while managing to roll out a major project and advance my career at the same time.”

She notes that one of the reasons she hasn’t felt she had to sacrifice is that she has always been
brave in asking for what she wanted and flexible herself in making it work. Even though flexible working wasn’t commonplace in trading roles at the time, she asked for a chance and worked hard to make it a success, noting that she would have burned out long ago otherwise. “Sometimes we have to create the environment we need,” she says.

From Engineering to Banking

After earning a Ph.D. in electronic engineering, Quinlan decided to join the banking industry after learning that the industry was eager for people with her qualifications. She was offered a position at Dresdner Bank as a junior quant trader in foreign exchange, applying the same type of algorithmic and statistical approaches she’d learned in engineering.

“I was looking forward to working in a fast-paced industry and instantly took to working on a trading floor with many diverse characters and cultures. I loved the pace, intensity and unpredictability of the market.”

Shortly after she arrived, the majority of her team was redeployed, and she ended up embarking on a project to rebuild the electronic trading systems with her boss. “It was the best thing that ever happened to me as I had to learn very quickly how to manage projects and figure things out for myself,” she says. One of her first project deliveries was the EFX pricing system, and shortly after it went live, Lehman went under. “I was very quickly thrown into the deep end, and our new system was really put to the test,” she recalls. “Thankfully it handled the unforeseen market uncertainty and volatility very well.”

Several moves followed: she joined Barclays to work as a mid-level quant trader and later became co-head of the quant trading team; then she was approached by an old friend and colleague who wanted her to head up electronic FX quant trading at State Street so she went there and was able to hire a new team of top talent to build the company’s electronic FX trading systems. Then, three years ago, her former Barclays’ boss approached her to run electronic trading for FX at UBS. That role expanded a year ago to running electronic trading for FX, rates and credit.

“All the moves I’ve made have given me an interesting outlook on the culture of different banks. I know what I value from a firm and now find myself in a very happy place at UBS,” she says.

Right now that includes a large team expansion and undertaking the massive project of rebuilding electronic pricing and hedging for the eFX principal business, as well as building from scratch UBS’ electronic interest rate swap business.

“Those are the moments I look back on with the most pride — the growth periods when you’re building new things and everyone’s involved and excited to be consumed with the work. Then after the tough slog, you have the reward of seeing the new business flow in and realizing your success.”

The Many Benefits of a Career in Banking

Quinlan’s experience in banking has been overwhelmingly positive, a sharp contrast from general media portrayals she had seen prior to joining that show the business as being full of ruthless people, a rat race where you sell your soul and burn out quickly.

“It’s been nothing like that,” she says. “I love banking and have found there to be such diversity in the different roles and potential career paths. It’s actually an extremely open environment where people are very interested in your views regardless of your level of seniority,” she says, adding that even as a new starter having never studied finance and economics her views were listened to and valued.

A Family Role Model and Sponsorship Helped Show Her the Way

Quinlan readily admits that her role model has always been her father, a senior manager at IBM. “He really inspired me and I still think about how he would handle certain situations when I’m faced with them,” she says.

She most admires that he tackled every job with the same high level of positivity and hard work, even long after he had retired. “It didn’t matter whether the job at hand was boring or he would get any personal benefit,” Quinlan remembers. “He tackled everything with enthusiasm and gave each job, no matter how small, his full effort.” She also admires that he was always incredibly positive and treated everyone with respect regardless of their position. “He was successful because people wanted to work hard for him,” she notes. “I always try to apply myself with the same level of enthusiasm.”

That outlook has been important as she has progressed from building models to managing teams, where it’s vital to have open communication and ensure their motivation and buy in.

“You can have the best strategy in the world but when you’re running a business, you have to motivate the workforce who are actually producing the work and get them to buy into your plans,” she notes.

Quinlan says her career has been shaped by informal sponsorship especially with bosses who exposed her to cross-business relationships. “I didn’t know it at the time but it was massively important in how my career has progressed,” she says. “Early in my career I focused solely on delivering my projects and didn’t give much thought to networking or career next steps. My bosses encouraged me to push myself forward and gave me the exposure needed across the firm.”

And now, she repays the favor when she mentors people who are new to the industry, reminding juniors who are focused on applying themselves to the immediate tasks at hand that they have to ask for more and put themselves forward. “If exposure across the firm doesn’t land in your lap, you need to take responsibility and make it happen.”

She shares her insight with a female networking group that she started at UBS, modeled after a similar one at State Street. One or two senior women meet with a small group of more junior associates to discuss different topics — anything that’s challenging them. “It’s the perfect environment to raise issues they are having and always involves interesting debate,” she says.

In addition, she has been involved with a UBS front-office-led maternity support group that pairs a “business buddy” with an expecting mom to communicate changes and help them stay in touch while they’re out. She’s been participating as a buddy and now is about to use it, as she is pregnant with her second child.

In the little spare time she has, Quinlan says she loves travel, music and watching her little boy grow up. “I feel fortunate I get to take such an active part in his life and am proud he’s growing up learning that gender plays no role in potential career success.”

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Mover and Shaker: Nupur Sharma, Manager, Accenture Consulting

Nupur Sharma“If you want something changed, you have to speak up and let people know. If you want to get involved in something new, or you’re looking to be more challenged, ask!” advises Accenture’s Nupur Sharma.“Great supervisors, mentors and counselors should ask if you are satisfied, challenged and maintaining balance in your career – however your leadership might not know what your career goals are unless you speak up, share them and ask to be involved.”

Sharma first learned about Accenture through a friend, who had joined the now more than 375,000 person company in the Midwest. She sold her on joining. “What hooked me with Accenture is its breadth of clients across industries and their work in the non-profit space. I was also attracted to the idea that there is no “typical” work day. You’re never bored at Accenture.

For Sharma, the diversity of work that Accenture affords its people differentiates a career there from “any other job I know.” According to Sharma, part of Accenture’s DNA is to “support its people in exploring their interests and opportunities and where they can excel within the company.”

Diversity of Career and Colleagues

Sharma began her career at Accenture nine years ago and she has been able to drastically change her job, the industry she focused on and the clients she served all whilst remaining at the same company. “Personally, I was drawn to Accenture because there is no typical work day here – it’s hard to be bored. The diversity of work you can do here differentiates itself from other careers. Accenture is very supportive in its people exploring different roles and pursuing personal interests and passions within the company,” she states.

She has worked with an incredibly diverse array of people at Accenture, such as Olympic athletes, authors, people who have run for office and those that have served our country and comments, “I’m constantly impressed with the caliber and diversity of people that our company attracts.” Plus, she notes, her sense of the company’s commitment to gender diversity has become stronger. The fact that Accenture was the first big consulting firm to publish its diversity demographics speaks volumes to its commitment to inclusion and diversity.”

Most recently Sharma worked with a major tech company to help them transform the way they do business by helping them improve their time to configure, price and quote.

“It’s really exciting. We are enabling companies to interact faster and more seamlessly with their customers and partners than ever before. More and more very established companies are willing to take leaps with us and innovate from their status quo.”

At Work, a Personal Passion

Sharma is passionate about the work she does at Accenture and is fortunate as the company always encourages her to pursue projects that excite her, in addition to the innovative projects she works on for clients. A great example of this is Sharma’s recent project to create the company’s new Augmented Reality App.

“Essentially, I was able to form a ‘mini-start up’ within Accenture by working to develop the company’s new Augmented Reality App. You point your phone at a specific item (a billboard, a t-shirt, a monument, etc.) that has been set up as a trigger and the photo/image comes alive with videos, interactive elements, links to websites, etc. I was able to get funding from my leadership team, find awesome developers, and build the app. I was really proud when the app was published in the Apple App Store and on Google play.”

She describes Augmented and Virtual Reality as among the top trends in consumer technology and that besides gaming and entertainment (such as Pokémon Go) she suggests that we will be seeing more AR in training, professional development, troubleshooting, geographical exploration, marketing and more. Sharma is proud of the work she has done at Accenture and comments, “I love that Accenture is not only experimenting with AR itself, but is on the leading edge by the work we’re doing for our clients to help them stay ahead. My goal is to one day be the company’s AR lead.”

Sharma is proud of her many professional achievements at Accenture but also of her involvement in Accenture’s non-profit work.
“One of the main reasons I joined Accenture nearly a decade ago was to eventually participate in Accenture Development Partnerships (ADP), which delivers the power of Accenture’s global capabilities and experience to positively impact the lives of people in the developing world. Essentially, ADP applies the same expertise and capability that we employ at our clients, to non-profits and NGOs. It was amazing to work for the Catholic Relief Services NGO and implement an online financial system to replace their manual work. I’m thankful that Accenture supports non-profit work.”

Women in Technology

Sharma has always had an interest in technology and describes WIRED Magazine and TechCrunch as her bedtime reads. She is drawn to consumer technology as it has the biggest and most tangible impact on the lives of the average Jane/Joes and describes being able to influence that impact as being, “incredible.”

She believes it’s important to have more women in tech for the diversity of ideas that come from women being part of the conversation. “We bring different, fresh perspectives to the table and maybe even different ways of getting the job done. But I think it’s important to have diversity period, beyond gender. I see this at Accenture, working alongside people of many different backgrounds, beliefs and experiences, and how that diversity in people helps us deliver innovation.” says Sharma.

The Importance of Mentorship

Sponsorship and mentoring have played a very important role in Sharma’s career. She has benefitted from a ‘Career Counselor’, that all Accenture’s employees have access to, “I’ve had some great Career Counselors throughout my time at Accenture that have been my guiding light to help me advance and make the career choices that are best for me,” she states.

Sharma has also benefitted from organic mentors she has met along her journey and describes her mom as her biggest professional role model, “She emigrated from another country and maintained a work-life balance while raising three kids with my dad.”

Outside of Work

Outside of work Sharma loves being active, “I’ll do everything from yoga and dance to snowboarding and biking. I’m a certified yoga instructor and love teaching yoga to both coworkers and my students,” she says.

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Movers and Shakers: Kristy Finnegan, Portfolio Manager, Voya Investment Management

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“When you begin your career, it’s easy to assume that you’ll choose your path, and that you’ll start at the bottom rung and work up in a linear fashion,” says Kristy Finnegan, a portfolio manager on the global equity team at Voya Investment Management.

Movers and Shakers: Kristy Finnegan, Portfolio Manager, Voya Investment Management“But the truth is, you determine your own progression by asking for responsibility and taking chances.”

This theory has propelled Finnegan from her initial career in investment banking after earning a BS in economics from Vanderbilt University. She moved to New York with the intent of landing a position on the sell side, but the 9/11 tragedy set off a hiring freeze.

Finnegan eventually joined the precursor firm to Voya, where she started pursuing her Chartered Financial Analyst® designation, initially working with the small cap value team.

A Courageous Meeting Yields a Career Break

When Finnegan realized she was not in her ideal role, she worked up the courage to pitch a stock, unsolicited, to the portfolio manager.

“It ended up being the best career move I ever made,” she says, since it set off a discussion that ultimately led to the manager recognizing what she wanted to do and moving her into a junior analyst role. To this day, she says the portfolio manager she spoke with was fundamental to her career success. “He believed in me and took a risk in promoting me into the analyst role. He guided me the first few years, during the start of my career path, and his investing style of avoiding group think formed my current approach to stock selection.”

That was her first break into equity research, which she followed with a stint as a technology analyst and then consumer staples analyst before becoming a portfolio manager. “That was a huge professional achievement, because it was a recognition of both my analytical abilities and interpersonal skills,” she says.

In her current role on the global equity team, she has been instrumental in forming a platform that brings together U.S. and international teams and portfolio engineering groups. “Joining these groups has been a really exciting process and we are off to a great collaborative start,” she says.

Learning Along the Way

For Finnegan, learning moments have come via mistakes, as they do for most. Equity analysts work with available data to form estimates for the future, which means there are inherent risks. “Early on I missed some lucrative opportunities because I deferred to others rather than trusting my own work,” she says. “Those misses taught me to be an advocate for my own stock picks and trust my instincts.”

Finnegan believes that success comes most naturally if you love your job. “I’ve always had career goals, but my major motivation is to excel for both myself and my team, and that breeds success.”

While she credits her portfolio manager as her sponsor, Finnegan knows that you can find mentors anywhere and everywhere, which is why she names Sheryl Sandberg as one of hers. “When I read her book Lean In, I felt like she was talking to me, with clear, tangible advice on how to overcome obstacles and the challenges that all of us face.”

Mentoring the Next Generation

Several years ago, Finnegan was part of the team that introduced the Voya Investment Challenge in collaboration with Girls Inc. She and another colleague were chosen as volunteers to lead a group of eighth grade girls. They worked with the same girls through sophomore year, educating and mentoring them on financial foundations and how to take charge of their financial future. The challenge took place over three years, concluding in their sophomore year. They were given $50,000 pretend dollars gradually over their first year, which they invested it in stocks, bonds and other funds. They tracked the investment performance and made buy/sell decisions as you would with a real portfolio.
“It is so important for girls to gain exposure to these situations where they might not otherwise have the chance to learn these principles,” says Finnegan. Her involvement came full circle when a colleague attended this year’s celebratory lunch and excitedly told her that one of the speakers was a girl whom Finnegan had mentored, now attending Cornell University. “It was so impressive to see the success she had become.”

These days Finnegan is still mentoring young people, but it’s her own children, a five-year-old daughter and three-year-old twins. She’s also an avid reader and runner, but spends most of her time having fun with her family.

By Cathie Ericson

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Mover and Shaker: Ann Gaboriault, Senior Manager, Accenture Technology

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Ann Gaboriault“I joined Accenture in 2000 after getting a master’s in management information systems. 15 years later, I’m still here.”

Ann Gaboriault started as a consultant on Oracle products and quickly specialized in financial systems within the Natural Resources industry, working on different projects across Canada and the U.S., and eventually for two years in Switzerland. When she returned home to Montréal, she took on a new position in Accenture’s Application Outsourcing Practice. “Seven years later, I’m now leading the practice in Montréal, with teams here in Canada, USA, Europe and Asia, currently working on the next generation of Application Outsourcing with few of our global clients. This is an exciting time for us – we’re delivering Application Outsourcing As-a-Service on the Cloud for our clients, helping them become agile, digital businesses.”

When Gaboriault started at Accenture, she believed people pursued short careers in consulting, primarily due to the nature of the work – client services that most times demanded constant travel and the perceived difficulty in finding a work-life balance. “That has proven itself untrue. Over a decade-and-a-half, I’ve realized that needs change over time. Work-life balance is not the same from year to year, but you can always make it work when you have support of leadership that sees your potential.”

Mentoring has been beneficial for Gaboriault who says she’s had different mentors at every stage of her career. “I have a tendency of finding people who are very different than myself, so I get a different perspective on my work and my career path. Mentors have pushed me to do the best I can and to take control of my career. One of my mentors once told me, “Your career can happen to you if you do not take ownership”. Gaboriault has found sponsorship to be very useful specifically when going for a promotion, noting that, “people will sponsor you if they know you and know your work,” and that networking is key to finding the right sponsors.

Finding a balance

Gaboriault believes that “we can have it all, but not all at the same time.” She quickly climbed the ladder to senior manager and then decided a few years ago to pursue, temporarily, a “horizontal career” so she could work locally and concentrate on starting a family. “I thought, my partner can work the crazy hours for a while – she had just started her career as a critical care physician. My goal is to enjoy what I do, grow in what I do, but be home with our toddlers every night.”

As Gaboriault mentions, there are many programs at Accenture that have helped advance her career and spend more time with her family. She notes, “We have a variety of different mentoring programs, learning and professional development courses, training for “High performing women,” flexible work programs. For working parents like myself, we have one year parental leave policy in Canada, which is offered to any parent, and Accenture also offers the opportunity to work locally for one year following return from the birth or adoption of a child.” Gaboriault is on a flexible schedule, currently working around 30 hours a week, which she describes as “a win for myself, my family and my work with clients.”

Taking the lead with the Canada LGBT Employee Resource Group (ERG)

Gaboriault has been involved with the Canada LGBT ERG since its founding in 2007 and strongly believes the ERG is a necessary step toward helping all employees feel comfortable and accepted at work. “Being me 100% of the time, at Accenture but also with my clients, enables me to speak openly about my family and other personal matters. Being out at work has also helped my colleagues and clients feel more comfortable sharing their personal stories, worries, fears, helping our day-to-day business communications feel more human.”

Gaboriault transitioned into leading the ERG when she realized they could have a global impact– helping and encouraging employees from around the world to join the company’s Global LGBT Network, which spans more than 40 countries, and supporting other ERGs in locations where there are unique laws affecting the LGBT community.

“Our goals globally focus on four pillars – training, policies, benefits, and professional development. We train to build awareness and understanding of the LGBT community, create policies to ensure equal treatment of employees regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity and expression, strive to provide benefits that are equal for same-sex and opposite-sex partners, and professionally develop our people to facilitate career growth and encourage networking and mentoring.”

Gaboriault describes the way Accenture is achieving these goals: “Through best-practice programs like our LGBT Ally Program, which allows anyone within Accenture to identify as an advocate for the LGBT community; a dedicated focus on raising awareness and education; and with a strong commitment from leadership to building an inclusive environment.” According to Gaboriault, having support from leadership is crucial. “I think it’s very encouraging when our senior leaders who are LGBT are also out themselves. They’re role models that help us envision ourselves reaching new heights in our careers.”

A strong commitment to inclusion & diversity

Having a diverse workforce of people with different capabilities, cultures, perspectives, abilities and experiences is inherent to the unique way Accenture operates. “Our workforce is a reflection of the clients we serve and our local communities. A commitment to inclusion & diversity is simply how we do things,” says Gaboriault. For Accenture, this commitment is an integral part of living by the company’s core values. “In essence, it’s what makes us “greater than” in all that we do.”

Time with the family

Outside of work, Gaboriault is an avid skier. “I ski thirty plus days per year, great exercise and your mind is off work when going down the slopes at 40km/hour, though I now spend hours on the magic carpet with the kids.”

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Mover & Shaker: Teresa Burrows, Director, Program Manager, TIAA

Teresa Burrows“Change is difficult and hard, but it can also be fascinating and extremely rewarding if you embrace or seek it. Having this perspective has allowed me to grow in my career and my personal life,” says TIAA’s Teresa Burrows. Adapting to change is a learning process, she adds. “You need figure out how to balance both your emotional and logical sides to help successfully lead yourself and others through change.”

The Path to TIAA

Burrows is no stranger to change. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania where she studied economics, Burrows took a different path from her educational background and went to work for Andersen Consulting as a consultant where she was in a variety of roles from software developer to business analyst. Building upon the experience she had at Andersen, Burrows next became a business analyst in the Information Services division of Putnam Investments. After encouragement from her manager to expand and change her role, Burrows soon moved into project management and program delivery, ultimately leading the technology strategy and delivery for International and Institutional Defined Benefit systems.

In 2005, a former manager presented Burrows with the opportunity to relocate to Charlotte NC to come to TIAA and work with her doing IT program delivery. Since joining, she has helped implement numerous technology initiatives for the Institutional business before landing in her current role as a technology program manager in TIAA‘s new Digital organization. She appreciates the challenging, fast-paced, fluid environment. Burrows is proud of the team that she’s assembled, and their ability to adjust to constantly changing priorities and needs. “It is gratifying that I can inspire and motivate them to deliver great work,” she says.

Right now, she’s excited about a recent organizational change that gives the team an opportunity to take on exciting, new projects in different business areas. “I’m excited to transfer the knowledge that we’ve gained from working on the institutional side of the business to the individual/retail side, while forming relationships with my new partners,” Burrows shares.

Role Models Teach Lessons Along the Way

Growing up, Burrows emulated the hard work ethic of her parents, both of whom were Chinese immigrants and successful entrepreneurs. When she started her career, Burrows assumed that keeping her head down and working long hours would foster success, but she’s since found that working “smart” by using the right tools and working collaboratively within a team is more fruitful.
Along the way, Burrows says she benefited from informal mentors, both peers and managers, even some of whom weren’t her own. They offered advice or perspective and helped her advocate for herself while serving as admirable, empathic and honorable role models. “The best manager that I ever had took the time to understand me, my career aspirations, the team and the business, and those are the qualities I try to portray,” she reflects.

She also knows that it’s important to learn from less-desirable situations, noting a time earlier in her career when issues arose on a key project. Rather than communicate their troubles and asking for help, the project leader was instead only concerned with how that would look. As a result, there were fairly significant issues with the delivery of the project. The situation showed her that when there are problems, you have to ask for help. “When you are transparent and open with your business partners, people can put their heads together to form a solution,” she says, noting that your client is likely to respect that strategy and step in and try to be part of the solution.

She says her success over the years has come from strong relationships she’s built with her team, peers and clients, both external and internal. “You can build the relationships you need to be successful by establishing a culture of respect, truly listening to people, offering empathy, following through on actions and being transparent and honest when there are issues or problems,” she says.

Tackling Gender Issues

Although the financial services industry, and in particular IT, are largely male dominated, Burrows has found her path to be largely unencumbered by gender stereotypes. In fact, one surprising situation she remembers occurred during a project she undertook when she was with Putnam. A Japanese partner firm wanted to build a website to provide investment portfolio account information. “While there were a surprising number of gender and cultural considerations that could have impeded on the project’s success, we were able to take these into account and ultimately it went really well,” she says.
At TIAA, she is an active member of the Women’s Employee Resource Group. She appreciates it as a valuable resource for its webinars and events, but particularly because of the networking opportunities that help her connect with women with whom she may not otherwise cross paths.

Life Outside Work

With two sons, ages 13 and 15, Burrows leads an active lifestyle. The family loves to travel and hike and tries to visit a national park each summer, with an upcoming trip to her home state of Massachusetts planned.

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Mover and Shaker: Yingli Zhu, Senior Portfolio Manager and Manager of Quantitative Research, Voya Investment Management

Yingli ZhuBy Cathie Ericson

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity,” is one of Yingli Zhu’s favorite expressions. “That’s because when the next opportunity arrives, you will find yourself ‘lucky’ if you are prepared to take advantage of it.”

Making the Most of Opportunities

Zhu’s career is the result of this equation. After earning a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering, she joined the newly formed quantitative risk management team at ING Investment Management (now Voya Investment Management). As a logical, numbers person wanting to understand the math behind any idea, she found the position to be perfect for her.

Although Zhu had a very limited knowledge of fixed income prior to this role, working directly on different projects provided her with the opportunity to understand the building blocks of, and nuances for, fixed income securities.

Soon, she shifted her focus from data analysis and modeling to working closely with portfolio managers in different asset classes, developing tools to help them manage asset risks. Shortly after the financial crisis in 2008, the company underwent a major reorganization which created what she calls a “lifetime opportunity” to join the mortgage derivatives team, where she’s stayed for the past eight years.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be part of a team managing multi-billion dollar assets for corporations,” she says, adding that she finds it satisfying on a daily basis. She notes that a luminary in the industry, Bill Gross, once said that a good bond manager should be 1/3 mathematician, 1/3 economist and 1/3 horse trader. “I’m proud to work on a team that combines so many talented individuals,” Zhu says.

Every day can present a great investment opportunity as the team works to achieve optimal risk adjusted returns and income while considering different reporting and accounting standards. “We have to be constantly creative and reinvent ourselves to achieve optimal returns,” she says. The decisions are complex since national and international developments can all have a direct or indirect effect on the assets that are bought and sold on a daily basis.

“All these developments can create opportunities, and it is always exciting to see how we can leverage these opportunities to create value for investors,” she says. “We evaluate new instruments we’ve never looked at before and study them to understand the risk/return profiles and determine if they are the right investment for each of our many portfolios.”

Hard Work Paves the Way for Success

Having grown up in China, Zhu had little knowledge about the financial industry and its corporate culture when she first started. “I assumed that I could succeed with hard work, determination, diligence and persistence, and those attributes continue to serve me well whenever there’s a new challenge I need to tackle,” she says.

What she appreciates about working at Voya is that everyone is an expert at some part of the business, so she can always find a resource to help her with any issue. “Everyone is willing to channel their energy for the good of the team,” she says.

Zhu’s current boss has always been her mentor. “We’re on the trading floor together so there is constant communication. If I have questions or need help I can get immediate feedback and help to resolve challenges,” she says.

Like her colleagues, she strives to be helpful to anyone who’s willing to learn and wants to move the business forward.

Over the years Zhu has found that the best learning approach is often getting your hands dirty. “If you see a challenge within the business that doesn’t seem to be your direct responsibility, but is one you can contribute to, you are going to benefit if you step up and help resolve it because of what you will learn along the way.”

While it’s common for anyone to wonder if what they do will pay off, she maintains the belief that all of her effort and persistence prepares her for the next challenge.

But no matter how exciting her days are at work, Zhu says she can’t wait to come home each day to see her family: her husband and her two children, ages four and one, whom she calls “the joy of my life.”

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Mover and Shaker Sylvia Favretto, Counsel, Financial Institutions Advisory & Financial Regulatory Group, Shearman & Sterling LLP

Sylvia Favretto“To be successful, you must present yourself as a reliable, responsive and knowledgeable member of the team,” says Shearman & Sterling’s Sylvia Favretto. “No matter how intelligent you are, or your level of expertise in your field, it will be difficult to advance in your legal career if you can’t project to your clients and colleagues self-assuredness and confidence in your abilities.” She adds that team members and clients alike need to know that they can depend on you for timely, accurate advice.

Finding the Right Fit Straight Out of Law School

After completing her undergraduate degree at Duke University, Favretto attended law school at the University of Michigan during which she served as a summer associate for Shearman, splitting time between the firm’s London and New York offices. In the fall of 2006 she started in the New York office in the leveraged finance practice group, ultimately transitioning to her current position in the financial advisory regulatory group. There, she finds she is constantly learning something new due to the dynamic nature of the group and its subject matter. “There is often not a large body of precedent for complying with new rules and regulations, so helping financial institutions adapt to the changing regulatory environment is both challenging and stimulating,” she says.

During law school Favretto had heard the common lore that the hours at big firms are intense and that associates would be living at the office with their whole lives revolving around work. “I had heard so many stories and warnings, that my expectation was that I would put my head down and work hard and that would be the primary way that I could add value and advance in my career,” she says. However, she found that while part of that is true, she soon learned that there is much more to being a successful lawyer — the key was not only to work hard and produce great results but also to network and market oneself both internally and externally.

Throughout her tenure at Shearman & Sterling she has been involved in its women’s network and has found it to be valuable not only for the internal training and mentoring but for the client and alumni events they organize and participate in. These events provide the opportunity for Favretto to meaningfully engage with successful women in law and industry with whom she wouldn’t necessarily otherwise interact.

Finding Meaning in Mentoring

Along the way, Favretto says she has been fortunate to have fantastic female mentors at Shearman, both informal and formal. “What was most valuable — and surprising to me — was that my mentors truly cared about my success and advancement,” she says. “They were generous with their time and had a genuine desire to invest in the careers of their mentees, rather than just doing so in order to check a mentoring ‘box.’ It really made a strong impression.” Favretto was surprised to discover just how meaningful mentoring relationships could be, and strives to serve in a similar capacity to associates in her firm.

Balancing Work and Life

Favretto’s two-year-old son, whom she calls “the light of her life,” has made her more efficient in her work. She’s learned to take a broader view of the concept of “work-life balance” by assessing what she achieves over the span of a week or month, rather than looking at any one single day. She says that when her son was first born, she wasn’t sure how she would be able to handle it all, but that it’s something she’s learned by doing.

“It’s tricky when you have a job you want to return to and excel at, yet you don’t want to neglect other, equally important aspects of your life. It’s difficult to plot out in advance how precisely you’ll achieve balance between your professional and personal life, but every person’s situation is different, and I believe everyone can find a balanced path forward that works for them.”

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Mover and Shaker: Christine Molloy, Manager, Accenture Consulting

Christine MolloyMolloy began her career with Accenture in 2009 as a summer intern, and joined Accenture full-time in 2010 after graduating from Southern Methodist University with a Masters degree in Information Engineering. Since joining, she has worked with several large utility companies to help them implement complex systems and specializes in customer care solutions for energy providers nationwide.

Molloy understands what it takes to continue to raise through the ranks in her career as she comments,

“Many of my assumptions entering the corporate world were around work-life balance. In the beginning of my career, I believed the more I worked, the faster I would stand out and get ahead. I quickly realized this was old thinking – working smart and taking time to focus on your own well-being are extremely important to creating a successful career path.”

When asked about professional achievements so far, she replied,

“I am proud of several professional achievements I have had throughout my career. The ones that stand out most are when I have brought teams together to deliver great outcomes and, subsequently, when clients have been the most satisfied. I think it is about adding value.”

She goes on to give an example of having been a member of a team across geographies that was working across multiple US states, as well as Canada and India. The team had been working to solve a complex problem for a client and the team was struggling to integrate together around the task. Molloy comments,

“I guided the group to come together as a team, realize common ground and deliver a solution that was agreeable to all and beneficial to the client – and that felt like I added a lot of value.”

She also talks about a recent project that she has just completed, which consisted of a SAP Customer Information System and business intelligence implementation project for a large utility project. She states,

“This was such an exciting project because I got to work on it from the early stages through to a successful go-live. I was responsible for consolidating two systems into a single solution to improve operational efficiency and enhance customer experience. The nature of the work was complex and rewarding since my client was an early adopter of the technology.”

Molloy repeatedly cites her strong team and a good company as a key element in her success and also mentions sponsorship as playing a significant role in her career. She states,

“I would not be where I am today if it was not for the mentors and sponsors who have helped guide me. Everyone needs a strong team of support but, in many cases, you will have to seek out and identify mentors and sponsors that will be there for you along the way. “

Equally she recognized that it is important to take the time to support and mentor others,

“My father, now retired, taught me what it means to be a leader, to work hard and also to put family first. I owe my leadership skills to him and I know that as I continue to learn, build my network and give back to those around me, I too will be successful.”

Molloy states that she has learned the most from working with a diverse array of people, on her own teams at Accenture, with clients and with other people she interacts with daily. She enjoys working with people who have different ways of working, who expect the highest performance and people in different geographies with cultural nuances. She states,

“Working alongside people with a variety of differences can be difficult but, ultimately, it improved my listening skills, increased my flexibility and taught me how to better apply my own social style.”

Accenture has numerous programs and initiatives across the company to support women in succeeding and advancing and personally Molloy is involved with the Miami Women’s Enterprise Resource Group. She comments,

“We have a strong network of women within the company and in our local community. As a part of this, I lead several local women’s groups at different client sites to encourage our women to collaborate and learn from one another in the communities that we work in while traveling.”

Molloy is also the corporate citizenship lead for Accenture’s Miami office and is currently working with a nonprofit partner called Covenant House Florida on several exciting initiatives. Covenant House is a homeless shelter for youth that served more than 51,000 youth last year across 6 countries and 21 cities in North America, providing nearly 700,000 nights of shelter.

She excitedly shared that in a few months, Accenture volunteers will be helping them roll out a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) awareness program. “I currently lead a mock interview initiative where we bring Accenture volunteers to the nonprofit to work one-on-one with disadvantaged youth to prepare them for job interviews and the working world.”

She lives in Fort Lauderdale, FL with her husband and enjoys paddle boarding, traveling and spending time at the beach.

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Mover and Shaker: Mary-Kate Ryan, Manager, Advisory Consulting, PwC Ireland

Mary-Kate Ryan, Pwc“People are like tea bags. You don’t know how strong they are until you put them in hot water.”

This advice from one of her role models, Eleanor Roosevelt, has always resonated with Mary-Kate Ryan.

“This wisdom is still up-to-date as a great analogy of how women must challenge ourselves in the workplace. Men are more apt to claim they are the right person for any given task, while women often feel ‘imposter syndrome,’ where they’re not sure they have the capability they need. But we all know that if you put tea in cold water it’s not very good, but put it in the thick of things, in the ‘hot water,’ and you see how well it works.”

Ryan’s career has been a series of hot water scenarios that she has willingly put herself in and come out stronger. After studying economics and finance in university, she and two of her sisters opened a successful fashion boutique in Dublin which she managed for eight years, attracting a devoted clientele – think Beyoncé caliber!

She says that looking after the business and seeing the fruits of her labor in a niche market was a wonderful training ground throughout her 20s where she had to learn to be adaptable and willing to take on any role; then as she built a team, acquire a comfort level to let go and allow the team to develop as well.

After a brief stint in another business with one sister, she noticed a curiosity about the corporate sector, specifically management consulting, as she approached her 30s. Deciding to act on that gut instinct, she took a career break to go back to university and earn a master’s degree in Management Consultancy at UCD Smurfit in Dublin, something she said feels even more important at that point in your life, because you are more committed and yet able to fully appreciate the freedom of being a full-time student. She made the most of her time there, building up her network and even playing on a touch rugby team that went to the MBA Rugby World Cup in North Carolina.

Learning the Ropes in a Corporate Environment

Earning top honors in her class, Ryan felt confident that she could parlay that success into the skills needed for management consulting and joined PwC Ireland. Some people were confused by her move, expressing that she had been living the dream with her own company, but she enjoyed the leap to the corporate environment. “One of my key skills is my adaptability. I am good at jumping into new situations so I put my head down and figured out the culture.”

Since then she has enjoyed her work on long-term projects in complex environments, overcoming challenges and working with high-performing teams.

She credits her robust support network with helping her along the way. “Sometimes you just need a few conversations that remind you how capable you are and that it’s fine to not know everything because you will learn what you need to,” she says.

Her projects helping organizations integrate after a merger can be quite intense. “The change management and personnel aspect is very interesting, as each situation entails complexity and ambiguity,” she says. “There’s no magic formula and that’s what keeps it exciting.”

When she first started at PwC, she assumed it was going to be a dog-eat-dog environment but was pleasantly surprised at her experience. “Business is always going to be competitive, but I soon learned that high-performing people are also very nice and accessible.” She found that building relationships with clients worked in the same way. “As I got to know them, I found that they were more supportive than you would imagine. We all are just trying to do the job well.” And she adds, PwC offers a diversity of backgrounds that allows its employees to nourish all the aspects that make each person individual.

Along the way, she was able to acquire mentors and sponsors, which she says came about naturally because she showed she was interested, curious and enthusiastic. “Bringing those aspects to the table didn’t have immediate rewards but they put me on people’s radar. A year or so later, someone would think of me and present me with an amazing opportunity,” she says.

For example, even while working offsite, she kept in touch and because of her initiative was offered a project in Dubai with a client with whom she really wanted to work. “It came about because I maintained a network and let people know what I was interested in. If you share the views of what you want to do and have the right conversations, it will naturally happen.”

Multicultural Assignments Feed Her Work/Life Balance

In addition to her work in Dubai, she has enjoyed other international assignments because of what she’s learned about global and multicultural issues. “When I was working in Ireland, there were mostly similarities in terms of approaches, but the international assignments have shown me I can build a team of people with different backgrounds and still be able to see the commonalities,” she says. “You learn not to make assumptions, but instead to really listen and understand people’s motives and objectives.” For example, if someone is being resistant in a meeting, it could be because they don’t agree, but it also could be because they don’t understand and you have to draw them out.

She says that has made her more open-minded and perform better in cross-functional teams, as well as making her gravitate toward more global assignments with an eye to what else she can learn.
Her love of travel extends to her personal life, where she spends as much time as she can trekking and traveling, exploring her interest in different languages, cuisine and cultures.

“As Eleanor Roosevelt said, ‘Life must be lived and curiosity kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.’ I believe that approaching life with a curious mind keeps you invigorated and allows me to bring that level of enthusiasm to my work.”

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