Voice of Experience: Vivian Flynn, Managing Director of Investor Relations, Pomona Capital

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 By Cathie Ericson

“You have to keep things in perspective throughout your career,” says Pomona Capital’s Vivian Flynn. Vivian Flynn

“A career is not a sprint. It’s a marathon, and each stage is about learning, developing and adding to your foundation. You have to expect to make mistakes, but it’s important to learn from them,”

She adds that, “Successful professionals will remember the fundamental importance of staying true and honest to yourself. By recognizing and embracing both your strengths and weaknesses, you define the unique tools you bring to the table. Be confident and know that you belong. Own your accomplishments and celebrate your achievements, and don’t be afraid to go outside of your comfort zone.”

A Front Seat to Industry Evolution

Vivian describes her path as atypical, having attended law school rather than business school like many of her counterparts. The decision paid off. Her legal background provided an incredible foundation to develop skills, such as problem solving and negotiation, she knew she would need regardless of what role she accepted.
Her first job out of law school was in equity operations at Deutsche Bank. She soon parlayed that experience into a role in Goldman Sachs’ Pension Services Group, which was her first introduction to capital raising and investor relations. In this role she developed a niche focusing on real estate private equity and soon moved onto Goldman’s real estate team.

She joined Pomona, which has a strategic partnership with Voya Financial, in 2010, where she became part of an established, yet entrepreneurial, organization. Vivian says that this position offered her “a clean sheet of paper” to help reorganize the business development function. The autonomy and ability to work with a small group of less than 50 people was an excellent opportunity that offered an environment where she could strategically and thoughtfully use her skillset that had been developed throughout her career.

Vivian has now spent 17 years in the alternative space working with both hedge funds and private equity funds, which she calls, “challenging and rewarding — both personally and professionally.” “Building long-term relationships and trust with our investors is what makes my job so fulfilling,” says Vivian.

“Being a part of an environment that changes every day is exciting and forces you to always be on top of your game.”

While some professionals in her field might name their most important accomplishment as their title or how much capital they have raised, Vivian says that she is most proud of how she has controlled various steps throughout her career and navigated through unexpected circumstances while remaining true to herself and never compromising her values.

Vivian appreciates the latitude she’s had with Pomona; while many firms divide investor relations and business development into two groups, she’s always preferred having them together because she believes that the two roles go hand-in-hand. “Relationships with investors don’t end once you get their commitment,” she says. “You have to be able to articulate a product or strategy, but you also need to be able to connect with investors and understand their unique needs to provide solutions.” She finds that the consultative approach she learned at Goldman has helped her along the way.

Over the years, Vivian has witnessed the evolution of investor relations and business development. When she first started, it was not uncommon to raise a multi-billion-dollar fund in a matter of months, but now, it is not uncommon for an investor’s due diligence and decision-making process to take 6 to 12 months, a trend she sees continuing. Additionally, she has seen both the investor relations and businesses development components emerge as important and critical parts to any firm in the industry, a progression that she is excited has occurred.

 

Addressing Women’s Challenges in the Industry through Support

While fewer women tend to enter and stay in the finance industry, Vivian sees this as an issue that starts at a young age and how different genders are steered in their educational development and rewarded for their behavior.

“We need to encourage young girls to pursue studies in areas where boys tend to be seen more prominently, such as in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It won’t happen overnight, but it can make significant difference down the road,” says Vivian, noting that although the finance industry has made strides, there’s still more to be done.

To that end, Vivian believes that women at senior levels have a fundamental responsibility to act as role models on a daily basis, including displaying confidence and encouraging junior women to seek their place at the table. “We need to inspire young women and provide guidance and opportunities that push them and encourage them to step out of their comfort zone.”

At her firm, she is proud that senior women are represented broadly. Women make up nearly half of the employees, and 1/3 of senior leaders, including two partners.

One of her first career memories was an early mentor who, no matter what, would thank the team and treat everyone equally, and even roll up her own sleeves to achieve success. “This simple approach left a huge and lasting impression on me. I try to practice it every day and set an example for others,” Vivian says.

“It’s important to say thank you and let everyone know how hard the junior staff worked when you accomplish a goal.”

The daughter of Greek immigrants, she appreciates that her parents were ahead of their time in educating her and providing her with the same opportunities as her two brothers.

“Now that I have my own daughter, I hope to show her the endless possibilities I felt, and impress upon her that, with hard work, she can accomplish anything,” says Vivian. “My own success is not just for me; it’s also for my daughter in providing her with an example of going after what you want and achieving your goals.”

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Mover and Shaker: Yuko Ikeda, Vice President, Senior Human Resources Generalist, Voya Investment Management

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yuko ikedaBy Cathie Ericson

Yuko Ikeda carries with her the image of a young woman navigating the streets of New York, holding a tote bag emblazoned with the words “Carry yourself with the confidence of a man.”

To her that is the epitome of what will help women succeed in the workplace. “I believe some women create their own barriers by underestimating their abilities and waiting too long to grab opportunities,” she says. “Also, projecting confidence is a big part of advancing your career. Generally, men do this better than women.”

This is why she advises young women to work hard, but effectively, and with a purpose. “Be smart by having a keen focus on the big picture,” she says. “You have to understand your business and how your company makes money, and then develop a line of sight to how you connect to that and how you can contribute. Volunteer to fill gaps and look around to find ways to help the team succeed with the interests of the firm at heart.”

She recalls the words of one of her sources of inspiration, General Electric’s Jack Welch, who reminds people to “Control your destiny or someone else will.”

“While hard work is only the ticket to entry, high performance will broaden your choices since people are watching and will offer you new opportunities,” says Yuko.

Creating Her Own Success

Ikeda has seen that philosophy at work as she has created her own HR trajectory.

Born and raised in Japan, Ikeda started her career in the Tokyo human resource offices of American companies. Her first stint was with semiconductor firm General Instruments; since they didn’t have an official HR department, she describes her three years there as a time of self-learning, where she attended seminars and read books to understand HR theories and best practices. She was fortunate to have a great mentor who guided her throughout her time there, which demonstrated the importance of having mentors in your life. After that valuable experience, she developed relationships with two other life mentors later in her career – one Japanese and one American – who became indispensable in her personal development which she cherishes to this day.

During her tenure, she built the infrastructure they needed, implementing various processes such as customized performance reviews, all without formal training. “It was like creating my own business school curriculum where I would apply theories and make them practical,” she says.

Thanks to her active participation in one particular seminar she attended, she was noticed by GE Capital and recruited there, an important move considering GE is known as a luminary and trailblazer in the HR field. Their well-established HR function helped propel her to the next phase of her career. “It was like drinking from a fire hose,” she says.

She was offered to be on GE’s “HR Leadership Program (HRLP)”, a program designed to help develop and nurture the leadership pipeline at GE . She rotated through stretch assignments and global seminars during the two-year program, giving her career an enormous boost. At the end of the program, she was assigned to be head of recruitment, leading a group of older team members, many of them male. She quickly found that not all of them felt comfortable being managed by a younger female, which ultimately offered another step in her growth.

When AIG acquired one of the units, Ikeda was chosen to be the head of Japan human resources for their asset management arm, AIG Global Investment Group. This opportunity constituted a major promotion which she held for four years. At the time she was reporting to the global head of human resources who asked her in 2008 if she would be interested in a newly created global HR Generalist role based out of the New York office. In this new role, Ikeda partnered with the equities, fixed income and business development teams on a global basis. A month later, the AIG meltdown occurred, which expanded her responsibilities to include leading the HR effort on the separation and divestiture activities. This gave her invaluable experience with change management and navigating through uncertainties.

Five years ago, she moved to Voya Investment Management, working with various investment platforms as a senior HR generalist. She is currently leading the talent review process, where the senior leadership team comes together for a full day to discuss succession planning as well as identifying emerging talent for Voya’s future leadership pipeline and building bench strength. “We are entrusted with people’s money, so it’s vital to have a strong succession plan in place to ensure our clients remain our focus and their money we are entrusted with has the best talent overseeing it.”

A key part of that is talent retention; she is proud that Voya Investment Management is routinely named one of the best places to work, which reflects well on its culture and provides an important differentiator in a saturated industry.

“Our focus on culture and talent development not only leads to better company performance but also provides a competitive edge,” she notes. “When we are in the finals or part of a due diligence process, we may be competing against companies with similarly strong performance and competitive fees, so we believe that culture is increasingly becoming a key decision factor.”

Being Mindful Can Help Reduce Unconscious Bias

Ikeda believes it’s important to be mindful for two key reasons. “One, it helps you grow – the more conscious and focused you are on the moving parts, the more you see the connections between the tasks you are busy fulfilling, as opposed to being on auto pilot.”

Secondly, she says that being mindful will allow professionals to see deeper into unconscious bias to help identify it and make an effort to explore with curiosity how to address it. “This concept has been increasingly a part of our conversation, and we have to deepen our understanding of why it happens, which is the only way we can work toward changing it.”

She believes that it’s important for professionals to choose a company that is consciously making an effort in diversity and inclusion initiatives, such as Voya is with the women’s network and various other programs of which she is a part.

When not helping improve HR at Voya, Ikeda enjoys traveling with her life partner, particularly seeking out experiences where she can be in nature. “It gives me perspective in life and renews the energy I bring to my work,” she says.

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Voice of Experience: Lye-Sim Lam, Partner, Asset Management Practice, PwC US

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By Cathie Ericsonvoice of experience

Success comes from your forging your own organic, authentic interactions and experiences, rather than just from conventional networks, says PwC Partner Lye-Sim Lam.

“I have thrived and learned to be resourceful and adapt to many different cultures, and I’ve built a large, diverse network of colleagues and friends from all walks of life, around the world,” she says. This independence came from acclimating to cities where she didn’t have a ready-made safety net in terms of family and friends, and gravitating to people who also have more distinctive journeys and paths, which she finds relatable.

A Fascinating Career Journey

When Lam turned 19, she moved to Belfast and earned her undergraduate degree in accounting at Queens University. She landed an internship at Coopers & Lybrand after participating in what was called the “milk round” where aspiring candidates interview with seven large accounting firms.

After her internship she decided she wanted to move into the financial services industry and reached out to the human resources manager to find opportunities to work on banking engagements. Since Ireland didn’t then have a thriving financial services industry, she was encouraged to look elsewhere. Coincidentally, the HR department had just received a request from the Cayman Island office for a senior associate.

As Lam says, that sounded “so exotic and perfect,” but since it was 1993, they resorted to the encyclopedia and a paper atlas to find out more about it. A promotional blurb proclaimed it as a growing financial service center, where all the largest institutions have registered offices: That sounded promising so she moved there and got her first exposure to the hedge fund industry which was already a prominent fixture in this little island nation.

She enjoyed studying the industry and learning about the strategies of the asset managers, and decided to continue specializing in the field. However, the client base was relatively small and homogenous, andshe realized after several years that there was a repetition in clients. Her desireto diversify within the industryprompted her move to the United States in 2000.

Looking back, she is proud that she took the leap of faith to follow her career abroad, a big departure from her comfort zone after growing up in Malaysia in what she describes as a relatively insular environment, where she didn’t travel much. The move to Ireland had been a big change, and it opened doors to other offices and experiences — eventually landing her in New York, the epitome of the American Dream.

Over the years she has had much success, eventually becoming a partner at PwC in 2009.

Embracing The Confidence That Comes with Age

Lam says that when she hit age 40, she started to develop a greater sense of calm– what she describes as self-awareness and acceptance –to a point where she feels more comfortable in her own skin. She compares the prior feeling to seeing an outfit online and then realizing that while it looks good, it doesn’t feel quite right on you. Fortunately shehas found that is an experience you outgrow as you become more grounded and sure. “I have a great sense of who I am and my boundaries,” she says. “I am more confident in the decisions I make and feel sure-footed even when I move to uncharted waters.”

Right now she finds the industry particularly exciting because of the changes brought on by technology – not just its impact on productivity, but also how the phenomenon impacts upon behavior and languages.

“We see the ramifications in that we are now more productive and efficient, but everyone also expects immediate gratification, which impacts the service industry and clients’ expectations,” she notes.

Now her clients are expected to provide more data quickly and to produce strong returns at a lower cost to their investors. Some of those pressures are, in turn, passed on to their service providers; so the work her team produces has to be delivered quicker and more efficiently at a lower cost basis, yet without jeopardizing quality.

As they all learn to adapt, she says it requires her and her peers to be more agile and embrace a culture shift in terms of being more open to change.

This new reliance on technology will also change the way that the new generation of staff are educated to anticipate the new way of auditing. Lam says that makes her even more proud to work for PwC, as the leaders do an excellent job of looking to the future and equipping the next generation.

Making Progress On Women’s Issues – Slowly

Lam says that unfortunately the challenges of women today are not much different than those her mother’s generation encountered. She finds that women are still at a crossroads when deciding when to start a young family and whether to take a career break. “Caregiving and child care issues still fall squarely on women,” she says, and most women say that the mindset hasn’t moved as quickly as would be expected.

She finds women are still subject to societal biases, and there is a punitive aftertaste when they have to make these choices. “Even the apprehension that surrounds making these decisions tells me that we are not on a level playing field,” she says, adding that although society is making strides, she looks forward to the day when it doesn’t feel like a sacrifice for women to have both a family and career.

One other area where she encourages women to make their own progress is in not minimizing the attributes of females that are beneficial in business, such as creating communities and building networks, lending a helping hand and asking for advice.

She recently dined with a young accountant looking to make a big career change who lamented the lack of recognition from her supervisors and ample rewards for her work, when compared to a male colleague, who tended to be more aggressive, bold and braggadocious to his supervisors.

The young accountant didn’t want to be that way, so Lam reminded her of the beneficial qualities that don’t rely on over-championing your own cause.

Carving Out Free Time

While her life might be balanced, she says her home is a “zoo,” with two Yorkie rescue pups and a cat. Living close to Central Park, she takes advantage of the opportunity to run there to clear her mind.

And, Lam looks forward to the annual pilgrimage to Singapore, where all her immediate family reunite at her mother’s house for two to three weeks. “It takes some juggling to plan, involving three different time zones, but it’s worth all of it to make that trip back home,” she says.

“Even with social media, nothing beats being together in person.”

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Voice of Experience: Hae-Ran Song, Counsel in the Capital Markets Group, Hong Kong, Shearman & Sterling

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By Cathie Ericsonhae ran

“The best part of my job is working alongside my Shearman colleagues, who are not only extremely talented, but with whom I truly enjoy spending time,” says Hae-Ran Song.

She finds this to be a crucial aspect of an office since so much of her work involves teamwork and having one another’s support to get the deals done. “Both senior and junior colleagues have to work in tandem to divide and conquer to successfully execute the transactions,” she says, noting that this carries over to her home life as well. “In the same way, I think having the support and encouragement of my husband and kids in what I do has been instrumental in my success.”

 

Developing Experience Globally

After attending law school in Australia, where she grew up, Song started her career at a Sydney-based multinational law firm, but had always intended to work overseas, preferably in a U.S. firm. That’s why she was delighted when an opportunity to work at Shearman came up after just one year, much earlier than she had expected. She initially joined the Hong Kong office but was able to relocate to the New York office to join her husband in a job transfer, eventually returning to Hong Kong for family reasons.

Along the way, she’s maintained her focus on corporate transactional work, appreciating the opportunity to meet and work with many different colleagues and clients, while feeling supported by the firm in her relocation needs.

She finds her work in Asia advising foreign issuer and financial institutional clients in connection with international and U.S. capital markets offerings exciting. Because Asia is still a growing and evolving market, she constantly is working to address or overcome issues specific to the region, such as local regulatory requirements or hurdles, which means no deal is ever the same — and no deal is ever easy.

“I’m always learning, and I always have to be on my toes,” she says, adding that structuring transactions and coming up with solutions to meet both local and U.S. requirements is particularly interesting since it involves brainstorming to identify creative solutions that will meet the clients’ needs.

 

Balancing The Roles of Full-Time Mom With Full-Time Lawyer

Song says that when she first started her career, she was focused singularly on her job rather than on a potential family. As she became more senior, her priorities changed, and she wanted to have kids and be an involved mom as much as possible.

After she had her first child, she began to wonder if she could be the mom she wanted to be, while simultaneously a full-time attorney, often working crazy hours. “I was worried that I would fall short at both things, but whenever I start feeling that way, I take a moment to realize that I have to stop putting pressure on myself and focus on my priorities.”

She says that while many people wonder how to find the perfect balance between work and family (and a social life!), she’s come to realize that a perfect balance is impossible. Instead, you have to figure out the right balance for you, which is different for everyone. “Don’t let your reality be dictated by what anyone else says or what popular culture says,” she advises.

And while it can be challenging, she is proud of the balancing act she has achieved, calling herself both a full-time mom to her kids, ages 5 and 8, while also a full-time lawyer. She achieves that by realizing that while she can’t always be with her kids, she has to make the most of the time she does have with them, on weekends and evenings. “I choose to focus on what I can do,” she says. “It’s a matter of attitude and perspective and choosing how to balance your time to fit in work, family, travel and hobbies – whatever is important to you.”

Key to that balance is learning to be flexible and adapting to your circumstances, in her case, moving from being single to married to having kids.
It’s also important to know both your strengths and limitations, and to leverage those strengths, such as multi-tasking.

In addition to the support she receives from her family and firm, she appreciates the Shearman initiative WISER (Women’s Initiative for Success, Excellence and Retention) and other opportunities to get together with women colleagues. “It’s important for women to hear each other’s stories, and I find it encouraging when you hear about struggles in addition to successes, so you know you’re not alone.”

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Voice of Experience: Tiffany Wirth, Vice President of Healthcare Marketing, WEX

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Success is not defined by the company you work for; rather, it is defined by your own personality and the opportunities you create for your team and tiffany wirth yourself, says WEX Health’s Vice President of Healthcare Marketing Tiffany Wirth.

“It’s a mindset of, ‘Here’s what I am going to do to build the company and my team,’ rather than focusing on what the company can do for you.”

Wirth has a pinnacle of expertise, with a career that started at the “biggest of the big” companies and then pivoted to a startup.

Directly after earning her bachelor’s degree in marketing, Wirth landed a job at Microsoft. “Gaining a background in a several areas at one of the best brands in the world had a huge impact on my career,” she says. Among the areas where she learned the ropes were product marketing, marketing strategy; and segmenting strategy.

Twelve years later, a core team Wirth worked with at Microsoft replicated the brand’s best practices on a much smaller level at a startup. They successfully built a healthcare benefits technology platform organization, which was acquired by WEX, Inc. two years ago. Although there were challenges in moving from one of the world’s biggest companies to a startup, Wirth found that a key component was a focus on partnerships and relationships. “It’s one thing throughout my career path that has been a constant —  helping partners grow their businesses and helping teammates grow in their skillsets.”

And that is the professional achievement she is most proud of to date – building a brand and marketing team from the ground up. “I’ve built my team by focusing on each person’s unique skill set and how collectively we can deliver tremendous results and a positive ROI to WEX Health and our partners,” she says.

A Network as One of the Building Blocks to Career Success

When Wirth first started her career, she assumed that working hard was what mattered most, and that if she succeeded, she would stay in one place for her entire career, if she chose. While that can be true for some, Wirth soon found out there were so many other measures of success.

Wirth says that having a mentor has played a significant role in her successful career. “A mentor can help you so much with challenging yourself to do and achieve more for yourself, your team, and ultimately, your company.”

Additionally, she says, a mentor can help you believe in yourself and build your confidence to excel at stretch assignments and ask for promotions and/or pay increases.

Over the years, Wirth has found the significance of an adage to ring true: Don’t burn your bridges.

As a woman, she says that it’s natural to gravitate to other successful women, such as Sheryl Sandberg and Arianna Huffington, two people she follows closely. She has found their views to be crucial in understanding work/life balance, particularly Huffington’s current focus on the importance of adequate sleep.

Always Achieving Lessons in Leadership

As a leader, Wirth says it’s important to make sure you’re doing the share of work that makes you credible to the team, and that you are quick to share what went well and what can be improved on. However, she feels strongly that it’s not a female leader’s job to be “likeable. but that being authentic and worthy of respect are more important. She points out that one of the most critical  components of leadership is “EQ,” or emotional intelligence, part of which is to hire people smarter than you, and then give them due credit and celebrat their successes.

Wirth is actively working on a mentorship program at WEX Health and finds that one of the biggest learnings has been to encourage mentors and mentees to do things that make them feel uncomfortable: Although that is naturally hard, showing initiative – even if you’re not 100% prepared – will earn opportunities that could otherwise pass a person by if she didn’t jump in. A huge component is listening, which can be much more valuable than always talking.

She appreciates being part of an organization that invests in her leadership: At WEX Health, she finds that the company invests time and resources to ensure directors are successful in their positions, including offering sessions with an executive coach to build their leadership skills for current and future roles.

Personal Time Means Family Time and Focusing on Health

Married with two children, ages 5 and 11, Wirth finds that the most important thing to do in her free time is to spend it with her family, be present and create memories. When she is not spending time with her family, Wirth enjoys running and working out for both mental and physical health, and she focuses on always getting ample sleep.

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Voice of Experience: Suzzanne Yao, Managing Director and Associate General Counsel, Goldman Sachs

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suzzanne yaoBy Cathie Ericson

Many people talk about the importance of being a good mentor, but Goldman Sachs’ Suzzanne Yao knows you also have to be a good mentee: “You have to be open to sharing your goals, asking for honest feedback and listening to those who are providing constructive advice. Tough love is just as important as words of encouragement, and you have to be willing to give consideration to the advice of those who have gone through what you’re going through,” she says.

Yao understands that some junior employees may shy away from soliciting such constructive criticism because it’s natural to seek out a pat on the back. “In some ways you’re afraid of hearing what you can improve on, but looking back I can see that the progress I’ve made has been the result of candid feedback from my mentors.”

She recommends that young women consider a mentor who will give “homework assignments” and help them proactively identify career goals.

An Exciting Time To Be An ERISA Lawyer

Yao started her career in private practice at a major New York law firm, specializing in employee benefits and ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974), a federal statute that covers every aspect of employee benefits, from how to set up an employee benefit plan to how to manage its assets and pay out benefits.

After four years, she jumped at the opportunity to work at Goldman Sachs after having positive experiences advising the firm while working as a law firm associate. As an ERISA attorney at Goldman, Yao works with both internal and external stakeholders, whether it’s supporting the team that covers Goldman’s benefit plans, helping clients understand the services Goldman provides to benefit plan investors or advising on the rules that govern plan investments.

Currently, she’s focused on new regulatory initiatives in the space, including potentially evolving fiduciary rules that could fundamentally change the way products and services are provided to retirement savers.

“It’s an exciting time to be an ERISA lawyer,” she says, highlighting the interesting intersection of law and politics. “It’s rare to have the opportunity to work on something so large and important to the industry and to people saving for retirement. While most people agree on the importance of Americans saving and investing for retirement, the conversations about the fiduciary rules show how incredibly complex it is to facilitate that goal, particularly since decisions about these rules could affect people across the spectrum.”

Don’t Be Your Own Worst Critic

Yao cautions against women feeling they have to fundamentally change aspects of their personality to succeed in their careers. She says that while being self-aware is important and making adjustments to your presentation or communication styles can be very helpful, fundamentally altering your personality isn’t necessary or healthy.

She also advises against judging yourself too harshly. “We tend to be our own worst critic and sometimes we need to give ourselves a break,” she says. “Realize that even if you didn’t have a week that went as you would have hoped, the following week is your opportunity to start with a clean slate.”

Serving As a Mentor To Others

Yao has been involved in the Firmwide Asian Professionals Network for several years and currently serves as co-head of the Network. She has also served on the mentoring sub-committee of the firm’s Legal, Compliance, Internal Audit and Executive Office Women’s Network and says she met many of her mentors through these affinity networks.

“There is a good deal of overlap on issues women and Asian professionals face in terms of countering stereotypes and maximizing leadership opportunities. Over the years I’ve been able to take my experiences in the Women’s Network and apply them to the Asian Professionals Network, and vice versa,” she says.

Yao also enjoys spending time with those just beginning their career as part of the Sponsors for Educational Opportunity program, which helps underrepresented students maximize opportunities for career success. As an alumna of the program, she considers it a way to pay it forward after interning at a law firm through the program prior to starting law school. Reflecting upon the experience, Yao recognizes that this initial exposure to the legal world gave her a huge boost of confidence as she entered law school, and connected her with mentors who supported her while she was earning her law degree. “Advising junior people involved in the program gives me energy and serves as a reminder of what it’s like to be just starting out.”

Yao notes that it takes resilience and focus to achieve a long-term career and continue to feel engaged and curious after hitting the 10-year mark with the same company. “Looking back at my career thus far is rewarding because I can see all the great relationships I made along the way and how much I’ve learned and matured as a professional. People invest in you and it’s important to recognize that and do the same for others.”

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Voice of Experience: Jitania Kandhari, Head of Global Macroeconomic Research and Portfolio Manager, Morgan Stanley

jitania kandhariBy Cathie Ericson

In the male-dominated world of finance, Morgan Stanley’s Jitania Kandhari finds that women’s voices can often get muffled in their constant quest for perfection. “Women tend to speak up less as they search for the ideal solution or just the right words, but it’s something they can and should overcome,” she says. “It’s important to have faith in yourself — just join the conversation and own what you say.” An encouraging environment with the right leadership and colleagues can be a big factor in the success of women, and in her case, she says that she is very fortunate to be part of a wonderful team at Morgan Stanley that has a strong culture of open expression.

Carving Out a Valuable Role

Jitania hit the ground running, beginning her career as a trainee at the peak of the Asian crisis at Morgan Stanley in India. With jobs in short supply, she moved to another firm that covered Indian equities and subsequently became a private wealth manager for ultra-high net worth individuals, where the seed of her interest in global economics — the linkages between global macro and asset classes — was sown. She worked at another firm in the United States, consulting on Latin American markets, and then came back to Morgan Stanley where the person with whom she’d done her first-year rotation was head of a team.

She joined them as the sole analyst in an emerging market fund and has since carved out a role and built a team doing what she is most passionate about — heading global macro-economic research and recently co-managing the Breakout Nations fund, which is a highly active country allocation fund that invests in both emerging and frontier markets

“Being named as head of macro-economic research for the team was a huge lift in my career and has produced a steep learning curve, which I love,” she says. “I have learned more than I have ever learned in any role in my career.” For her, one of the most important lessons has been the value of good leadership which goes hand-in-hand with building a high-quality team, along with the more strategic functions of her position.

While active management versus passive management is currently getting a lot of attention, Jitania is confident that active management will reassert its importance. “In my group, we pay a lot of attention to country allocation, as well as stock allocation,” she says, adding that their philosophy is that in the developing world, getting the country call right matters as much as the stocks. “We first identify the best countries and then the portfolio managers buy stocks to reflect that country view,” she explains.

While she has a mentor, Jitania wishes she had had the benefit of one from the start of her career, having seen the valuable role it has played in shaping her career and helping her identify strengths and weaknesses. She also advises women to keep an eye out for a sponsor, noting that women are adept at working horizontally but shouldn’t overlook the need for someone higher up to be guiding and watching out for them.

Advice That Resonates

Jitania has three pieces of advice that ring true at any career stage.

The first is to be a voracious reader, which she says will help you connect the dots in your investment career and better understand the world as one macro environment.

Second, she advises others further along in their career to keep reinventing themselves, as the only constant is change.

And finally she says, “I tell my kids to work harder than anyone else around you, and the rest will follow.”

Through internal workshops and networking, she continues seeking advice on her own career, including a recent series on communication training, which has further bolstered her interactions with clients and peers, as well as her own team.

Threading Her Global Interests To All Areas of her Life

Complementing her work with global and emerging markets at Morgan Stanley, Jitania extends that focus throughout the other facets of her life. In her spare time, she enjoys Indian classical singing and dancing, activities she has pursued since she was a child.

Her husband is on the board of the Afya Foundation, a medical supply recovery organization that collects supplies that would otherwise be wasted in the U.S., and ships them to less-developed countries that are experiencing calamities. She would like to take her children, ages 7 and 5, to their warehouse to participate, as a way to bridge her work and philanthropic interests. “I want to make a difference and extend my knowledge and reach to these countries and help a bigger cause,” she says.

And the thread continues in her travel with her family, whom she takes to one emerging market each year. They started with India and will visit Egypt next. She is gratified that her kids have inherited her interest in thinking globally. Recently her daughter’s class completed a New York neighborhood study, and Jitania was delighted that her daughter selected Greenpoint specifically because it was a Polish neighborhood, where her daughter knew she invested and visited.

“My goal is to give them those experiences that I live and breathe,” she says.

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Voice of Experience: Shaiza Rizavi, Partner, Gilder, Gagnon, Howe, & Co.

shaiza rizaviBy Cathie Ericson

“If you’re open and don’t construct borders and boundaries between different parts of your life, you can discover learning everywhere,” says Shaiza Rizavi, partner at Gilder, Gagnon, Howe, & Co. This philosophy allows Rizavi to blend the different aspects of her life.

Early in her career, Rizavi worked as an investigator in the public defender service and as a legal assistant before moving to Thailand where she worked on child development projects. Upon her return, she entered Columbia Business School where her life took a new trajectory thanks to her securities analysis professor. As part of the class, students researched a stock to pitch to Wall Street professionals who would come to Columbia’s campus and grill the students on the particulars. Rizavi met the founder of Gilder, Gagnon, Howe, & Co. during the class and directly after graduation joined the firm, where she has worked for over two decades.

Identify a Firm’s Culture to Find a Great Fit

She appreciates that the firm centers on giving small investors who possess long-term patience and fortitude the opportunity to create wealth. The firm’s founder had been working in the institutional investment business when he realized that working professionals, such as teachers, doctors and lawyers, would benefit from actively managed accounts in order to compound their capital. The firm focuses on high-growth opportunities rather than capital conservation. Rizavi uses the research skills developed at business school and through her early work experiences to identify companies engaged in transformational change to help investors reap the potential benefits of high-risk, high-return opportunities.

When interviewing with Gilder, Gagnon, Howe & Co., Rizavi was struck by the stories she heard that articulated the firm’s legends and values. She was particularly drawn to the firm’s orientation toward serving and partnering with clients, as well as its commitment to taking risk based on well-researched, well-thought out ideas. The firm is interested in human creativity and innovation and invests in companies looking to change people’s lives while building capital – an approach Rizavi finds as appealing today as she did over twenty years ago. The legends of achievement within the firm also convinced Rizavi of its uniqueness, especially the story of one woman who began as a typist and rose to become a portfolio manager based on her excellent ideas. “I could tell that this firm judged people on merit, allowing anyone to rise if they deserve it,” she says.

Rizavi advises women to take the time to reflect and look for a role where they can shine. “See how people march through their daily lives within the places you are most attracted to and make sure that that march coincides with values you respect,” she says, adding that analysis must be part of the job search process.

“You might not think you have the luxury of considering all these components because you need to take what is offered, but it will serve you better to take your time and be sure about your potential opportunity.”

She says that it is vital to trust instincts and listen to see if it is a place you want to be, not just for the next year or two but for the long term. “You may not want to stay in one place forever, but it is nice to know there is alignment and therefore staying for the long term is an option,” she points out.

Incorporating Life Holistically

Over the years, Rizavi has learned that it is a myth to believe there is a perfect balance between all aspects of your life.

“You have to give yourself permission to be the best you can be in a certain moment,” she says. “There are phases and seasons where you have the opportunity to focus on different priorities. You may rise in certain areas but you cannot expect all aspects to rise at the same time.”

Rizavi says she has served and learned from many incredible leaders. Chief among them arethe founding members of her firm and the individuals who steward the organizations she respects most including Columbia Business School’s Tamer Center for Social Enterprise, the American Museum of Natural History, Acumen, the Gilder Lehrman Institute and The Calhoun School.

Rizavi now hopes to prolong the benefits of mentoring and apprenticeship by working with entrepreneurs and students at Columbia Business School and other places to share the skills and lessons learned.

She recently returned from Acumen’s global gathering in Kenya where she met 400 of Acumen’s entrepreneurs, fellows and partners from 28 countries and six continents, and learned about initiatives as wide ranging as advancing agricultural practices for small holder farmers to lighting previously unlit regions of the world with solar power. “In working with these entrepreneurs, I gained knowledge of trends, technologies and emerging products and services around the world that I can bring back to my life in New York City,” she says.

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Voice of Experience: Marwa Elborai, Partner in the Capital Markets Group, London, Shearman & Sterling

Marwa ElboraiBy Cathie Ericson

“Be confident in your own skills and experience and don’t be shy about speaking up,” Shearman & Sterling’s Marwa Elborai advises.

She notes that it’s a skill that comes with experience and adds that to advance your career it’s important not to be intimidated, but rather to share your views on a matter in order to become the advisor that a client wants to turn to.

Proud of Her Tenure at Shearman

Elborai is what they call a “lifer,” having started as a summer associate at Shearman and progressed up the ladder to become partner in January 2016 – an achievement she regards as a “pinnacle moment,” given her tenure with the firm.

She began her career in New York in the capital markets practice and moved to the London office in 2011, where she took on a more specialized role in high yield debt and restructuring.

Elborai appreciated the challenge of adapting to something new and expanding her practice to become more involved with complex restructuring, working closely with clients who were doing capital market work for the first time as well as various internal teams, including finance.

Given that Shearman is one of the leading high yield practices in London, she is proud of being part of a team that’s highly regarded in the industry and has touch points on most of the deals in the market. To that end, Elborai says it’s vital to stay ahead of the latest developments in covenants as it allows her to offer clients the benefit of the most recent thinking and up-to-date best practices.

Mentors Can Help Ease the Path

In this demanding career, Elborai says that those who succeed definitely make investments with their time, but it’s not specific to women. However, in a field still heavily dominated by men, it can be more challenging for women to stay true to the path because they don’t have as many mentors who have previously reached the top goal of partner.

She says that while it’s still common for women to walk into a room and find themselves in the minority, that dynamic is changing with time.

“If you can identify someone you can look up to as a female that’s helpful, but don’t limit yourself to female mentors,” she notes.

One way that mentors helped Elborai along the way was in seeing the big picture: As a young lawyer, she finds you tend to be detail-oriented and don’t always take a step back. “You have to realize that your role is not just to pore over documents, but to facilitate an objective and reach a conclusion to achieve a common goal,” she says. “Working closely with mentors helped me develop the skills to look at and focus on the overall transaction and the main material issues.”

Active in Shearman’s WISER (Women’s Initiative for Success, Excellence and Retention) program, she has appreciated the opportunities to mentor female associates, as well as acting as a mentor in a robust cross-mentorship program with a client company.

Finding Balance to Perform Better

Given the demands of the job, Elborai notes that it’s vital to carve out time for yourself to be with friends and family, and find a diversion that appeals to you. For Elborai, a recent passion has become horseback riding, “It’s a peaceful way to enjoy the outdoors, untethered from email,” she says.

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Thought Leader: Barbara Reinhard, Head of Asset Allocation and Senior Portfolio Manager for Voya Investment Management’s Multi Asset Strategy and Solutions team

Barbara Reinhard“Every individual in America — from a Rockefeller to a Jones — will face retirement,” says Barbara Reinhard. “At Voya, we can touch every American’s life, and it’s a powerful investment mission when you realize that the decisions we make will help someone realize their lifelong goals.”

This is the philosophy that weaves its way through Barbara’s work, in both the day-to-day and long-term activities of focus. Currently enmeshed in the firm’s annual update to its strategic asset portfolios, Barbara appreciates her work at Voya because the firm is not a “traditional” asset manager. “Very few asset managers focus exclusively on retirement investing,” she notes. “Most want to be everything to everybody.”

Voya’s work with retirement plans means that the long-term demographic trend for the investment business is very positive. “The need for adequate retirement savings affects all Americans” notes Barbara.

One challenge in today’s environment is the uncertainty surrounding business regulation, but there are endless opportunities as investors seek value-added advice.

Analytics will continue to be one of the biggest tools Voya has at its disposal, which helps drive innovation. “We are increasingly mining big data to help inform our investment analysis and further our understanding of trends,” says Barbara. “This information is exceedingly valuable as we strive to meet our clients’ needs.”

The best advice she can offer other women in the industry? “Early on, identify a good mentor who can give you sage advice throughout your career.”

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