Voice of Experience: Anita Romero, General Counsel, Global Consumer, Citibank

,

Anita RomeroBy Cathie Ericson

It is who you know. That’s what Anita Romero figured out over the course of her career, and wishes that she had known earlier. “When you’re first starting out, you’re so focused on doing excellent work that you don’t realize the many benefits of seeking advice from peers in your network,” she says. “People learn over time, but had I known that up front it would have really helped.”

From Government to Finance

Romero started her career at the New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC), which is the City of New York’s primary economic development vehicle. During her tenure with the EDC, her goal was to help keep business in the city, including the redevelopment of Disney’s New Amsterdam Theater and other magnets in Times Square.

After 12 years she went to work for the Traveler’s Group which merged with Citicorp, creating what is today known as Citi.

Since her career up to that point had been in government, she didn’t have direct product experience at a financial services firm, so she completed a rotation through different legal areas of this financial services company. She said that although the experience felt a bit like being a first-year associate again, it was valuable in helping her stretch outside of her comfort zone – advice she offers to other professionals.

“Many attorneys are very focused on a career path that only goes up, as opposed to horizontally, but sometimes doing something complementary can really help you develop, whether you are new to a job or are more seasoned in your career.”

After a year of rotation, she chose a permanent home in corporate law, principally doing securities work as well as mergers and acquisitions, an active area since the company was in a buying mode.

Subsequently, Romero worked as Deputy General Counsel of Citi’s international business segment, in which she had to face one of her first challenges, the 2002 Argentine crisis, which involved lots of “firefighting” as she says. She then returned to the corporate law department to oversee corporate legal functions that support the company as a whole, including human resources, employment law and M&A. Now, she serves as General Counsel for the global consumer business and Citibank NA, the largest subsidiary of Citigroup.

The team that she’s built at Citi is the professional achievement she’s most proud of. “We are committed to having a high-quality and diverse team,” she says. As the Legal Management Committee sponsor of the company’s Talent Development program, she actually spearheads that function for the legal department as a whole.

Technology As an Industry Game Changer

As technology evolves, so will the industry. “Startups are seeking to disrupt what we’ve been doing as banks in the digital experience, and while some do it well, they are operating under a different regulatory environment,” she says, noting that fintech entities aren’t required to be licensed the same way that banks are. “The world has changed for banks in terms of regulatory expectations, and so we are constantly analyzing and adapting to the new model.”

Romero says that Citi is whole heartedly focused on radical digitization, always seeking ways to reduce friction for customers and improve their banking experience.

Promoting Hispanic Culture through Mentoring Others

Citi supports a number of employee networks, including Citi Women, a corporate-wide diversity effort for attracting, developing, advancing and retaining female talent at all levels within Citi.

Since one of her passions is to give back to the community where she lives, Romero, who is of Puerto Rican and Cuban descent, is the sponsor of the Hispanic Heritage Network for the New York tristate area.

“It’s a terrific organization that is trying to connect network members to each other. Our members appreciate the opportunities for both networking and career development.”

They have sponsored initiatives, such as Café con Leche, where participants have the opportunity to talk with senior professionals within the organization. “They can use them as a sounding board on their career, in an intimate environment where it is comfortable to discuss their career path or other specific situations,” she points out.

“It’s all about developing and advancing our people and realizing that we can harness our different backgrounds and heritages to promote workplace success.”

/by

Voice of Experience: Grissel Mercado, Counsel, Shearman & Sterling LLP

,

grissel mercadoTo succeed in any industry, you have to create a profile for yourself both internally and externally, says Shearman’s Grissel Mercado. “Young attorneys tend to focus on delivering excellent work, which is important, but also expected. You also have seek out opportunities to network,” she says.

Her area of capital markets has been particular fruitful in this regard, since the work is with client teams at her same level. “It’s a great way to build relationships with clients, and Shearman has supported this throughout in my career,” says Mercado, noting that partners would encourage her to network with the team after a deal – a practice that has paid off. She also was encouraged to join industry groups and write articles and find other ways to subtly promote herself in addition to producing great work.

Devoting Her Career to Latin America Issues

Mercado studied international economics and Latin American affairs at Georgetown, not initially intending to be an attorney. But after a stint as a legal assistant at Sullivan & Cromwell on the project development and finance team, mainly working on Latin American transactions, she decided to pursue a legal career, earning her degree from NYU.

She became a summer associate at Shearman, pursuing the firm based on the strength and depth of its Latin American practice, but also because it’s where she felt most comfortable during her interviews. “I was drawn to the collegial and friendly environment from Day One,” she says, adding that she senses less hierarchy than at many firms, and more opportunities to work directly with partners.

She rotated through several departments and ultimately chose capital markets because it affords her the opportunity to be a lawyer half the time and a trusted advisor half the time. “It offers elements of both the theoretical and practical,” she says.
One of the professional achievements she is most proud of is the first transaction she led in only her third year. “The partners in the Latin America practice were willing to give substantive work early on, and it was both challenging and rewarding to be a leader and team player,” she says. While her first two years were devoted to thoroughly learning different aspects of a transaction, she noted that “you often don’t stop to realize how the pieces fit together, but then it all comes to fruition when you’re leading a transaction”.
Right now she is working on a transaction representing a company who will be the first corporate issuer in its country to offer bonds in the international markets. “As a capital markets attorney, I can add value to deals like this as most of my clients don’t have exposure to the international market. I become very personally attached to my clients and deeply invested in their success,” she says.

It’s also gratifying to see how a transaction in a developing country can be a turning point, opening the door to foreign investment. “When you do the first deal, investors become more open to investing in that country,” she notes.

Latin America is an area where they’ve seen numerous innovative deals, like green bonds, which is a structure where proceeds are designated for environmentally friendly projects, such as financing renewable energy projects like wind generation.

She has also seen increased liquidity come into the region, as well as changes that have occurred in collective action clauses in sovereign offerings as a result of the difficulties faced in the Argentine debt restructuring process. Mercado enjoys helping her clients work through the ongoing changes in rules and regulations.
“As a Dominican-American I want to see the region advance,” she says. “I am directly connected to what I do.”

A Woman in a Man’s World

Mercado cites a dearth of women in Latin American markets: Although the status quo is slowly changing at companies, it’s not uncommon to be the only, or one of very few, women in the room. “It’s a well-known challenge everywhere, but Latin America is at a different level,” she says. Nevertheless, that has never affected her performance; one reason she cites is the culture at Shearman which has a significant number of women partners in leadership positions. In fact, one of the female partners she’s collaborated most closely with heads the Latin America practice and has served as the head of the capital markets practice.

She encourages young women to speak up. “Nobody is a better advocate for you than yourself,” she says. Women are more apt to think that their work will speak for itself and hesitant to self-promote but as she has become more senior, she sees that male junior associates are more confident about speaking about themselves. “Women need to take more initiative,” she says. “If you’re talking with the team before a call, mention a success, just as a man would.”

For women who are her peers, she encourages them not to “give up too soon.” She sees women leaving private practice thinking they will achieve a better life balance elsewhere, but she thinks that can sometimes be at the expense of substantive work. “We can create a balance at a law firm, especially as we explore technological advances. You can be the best possible attorney for your clients, and still carve out the personal time you need.”

Since joining Shearman, Mercado has been in involved in WISER (Women’s Initiative for Success, Excellence and Retention), always finding an event that will boost her skills. Just recently she participated in a speed networking program where participants got tips on how to spark a conversation in a short time; if, say you’re heading up an elevator with a senior executive. She also participates in Lean In sessions, where she gleans information on how both women and men are processing work/life balance issues.
An advocate for formal mentoring both inside and outside your practice group, she also finds informal mentoring to offer a career boost as it allows one to create connections with others in a very organic way.

Globe Trotting

While she’s had the opportunity to travel extensively in Latin America, Mercado loves to experience different cultures, such as in Peru or Guatemala, even if it’s for a short period. She also recently returned from a trip to Thailand, China and Hong Kong.
Outside of work, Mercado still enjoys giving back by participating in pro bono assignments for groups such as New York Family Court, where she provides legal advice to families in short consultations. “It’s very rewarding and as different from capital markets as you can get,” she says. “Shearman is a big proponent of pro bono work and offers an excellent program where we can do what interests us.”

Mercado has also been active in Cafecito, an informal network of Latina women lawyers and law students in the New York City area which meets about once a month. She believes it is a great forum to share common issues and celebrate Latinas’ accomplishments across various different fields of law.

/by

Voice of Experience: Ilka Vázquez, Advisory Partner, PwC US

,

ilka-vazquez“Bragging or self-promotion ” has a bad rap, but according to PwC US’s Ilka Vázquez, it shouldn’t when done right. “I think it’s ok to brag a little about your impact and what you’re bringing to the table,” she says. “We assume someone is noticing our great work and will reward us, but the reality is that you can speed up the process if you talk about your success to people who are influential. Your elevator speech gets better the more you give it and can help you establish a personal brand.”

She finds that women in particular struggle with asking for what they want and articulating a perspective on where they want to go. “Men are negotiating all the time, and women need to get in the habit of speaking up when there is a particular opportunity that interests them,” she says. “How do you get to the next level? Ask for it.”

From Engineering to Consulting

Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Vázquez attended the University of Michigan and earned both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree, pursuing Industrial Engineering with a focus on manufacturing. After several manufacturing-related internships, she began exploring career options her senior year and was introduced to the world of consulting.

She joined Chicago-based Diamond Management & Technology Consultants, Inc., which was acquired by PwC US in 2010, and has been a career consultant ever since. Her first project was in financial services at an investment bank, which she notes was a critical point that established her future career, primarily spent in capital markets. “Coming from engineering, it was a completely different perspective; I had no finance background but here I am working with an investment bank.”

Given her lifelong career as a consultant she credits becoming a partner at PwC US in 2014 as a professional achievement she’s most proud of, based on what it represents. “It was the culmination of what I’ve accomplished and yet also the beginning of a new professional journey,” she says, adding that from her first interaction with partners at Diamond, she knew she wanted that role one day.

Her work now largely entails helping financial services clients manage regulatory expectations while promoting the sustainability of the programs put in place to comply with those regulations. She helps them make those processes become part of their DNA to facilitate their long-term effectiveness.

Given her engineering background, she also enjoys learning more about the ever-changing role of technology and the impact of innovations such as block chain and digital labor, which can revolutionize the industry. “I am constantly considering how these disruptive technologies will impact clients and what they need to do to take advantage of them.”

Being Agile Will Contribute to Success

Moving from an engineering background to consulting with financial services firms was a pivot, and yet, it underscores a skill that Vázquez encourages professionals to cultivate: the ability to be agile. She developed competencies core to any consultant that are applicable in a wide range of experiences. “Regulations or technology could drastically change what you’re working on today, and you need to adapt and be prepared to move your focus to something else,” she says.

One way to exercise this philosophy is to constantly be willing to step out of your comfort zone by asking for stretch assignments, even if you don’t readily fill all the requirements. It calls for having the confidence that you can learn and looking for ways to expand your experience.

She also believes that learning takes place throughout your career, and more seasoned professionals can glean wisdom from their junior counterparts.

Participating in Latina and Women’s Groups for Collaboration and Skills Development

An active member of PwC US’s Latino Inclusion Network, Vázquez is part of the leadership committee, advising the group on how to create a strong community where members can learn from one another. The firm recently celebrated its Global Diversity Week, which focused on the power of inclusion and overcoming unconscious biases. “We have to make sure we promote the idea of diversity based on ethnicity as well as gender, and how it contributes to a greater array of thoughts and ideas.”

She notes that the Latino community is very open to different perspectives, with a culture that inspires inclusiveness. “When we get together, it’s not just four people but 20,” she says. “This perspective of the ‘more the merrier’ means we are open to different viewpoints and that helps me motivate a diverse team.”

She also holds a role of partner sponsor for PwC’s New York Metro Women’s Advisory Network and the Working Moms Group, two groups focused on supporting women within Advisory.

Over the years she has participated in firm-sponsored programs that support the advancement of women, such as the Breakthrough Leadership and Diamond programs which not only offered exposure to senior leadership, but also provided the coaching and advocacy opportunities that helped her cultivate relationships with partners.

Married with two children – a seven-year-old daughter and a 21-month-old son — Vázquez enjoys spending time with them, often conversing in Spanish as she encourages them to be bilingual.

An avid Michigan sports fan, she participates in regular recruiting activities at the school, both for PwC and to help attract minority students to campus. As a graduate of the Harvard Business School, she is also connected to the HBS Latino Alumni Association.

/by

Voice of Experience: Cristina Estrada, Head of Derivatives for the Latin America Financing Group, Investment Banking Division, Goldman Sachs

,

cristina estradacristina estrada“Pursuing what you are passionate about and chasing your dreams are key to having a successful career,” says Cristina Estrada of Goldman Sachs. “Being patient is important though: there are ups and downs in everybody’s journey. Persistence and seeing beyond occasional difficulties pay off.”

From Colombia to Goldman…and back

Estrada was born and raised in Colombia, in a time of great uncertainty for her country. She aspired to pursue a successful professional career, while at the same time help her country with its economic development needs. With this goal in mind, she applied for college in the United States, which excited but also scared her. “I had dreamed of pursuing a foreign degree, but going abroad and not being with your lifelong friends and relatives seemed like a big risk at the time. That being said, I knew that studying here would allow me to expand my professional horizons.”

She was accepted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she pursued an economics degree and played varsity basketball. It was at MIT that she became aware of Goldman Sachs for the first time, as one of her closest friends praised her internship at the firm and encouraged Estrada to apply.

She became an intern at Goldman Sachs the following summer. “I worked on the trading floor and was part of the sales team, working with Latin America. Goldman provided me with an experience that was nothing like I had ever had before: a fast-paced, no-frills environment, with extremely interesting and smart people, working with highly sophisticated clients.”

Estrada graduated from MIT in 2001, where she received the Malcolm G. Kispert Award for female senior scholar-athlete of the year. She started at Goldman as a full-time analyst that July as part of the Latin America FX Sales team, primarily covering Latin American corporations to serve their currency needs. “We structured derivatives for Latin American clients, allowing them to protect against currency risk. It was gratifying to stay close to my roots.” Over time, that team became part of the Emerging Markets group, where Estrada still focused on Latin America but now covered a larger array of products, and early in 2016, Estrada and her team moved to the Investment Banking Division.

After working for years with clients in Mexico, Central America and other markets in Latin America, Estrada is now excited to be working on a new series of infrastructure projects in her home country. The Colombian government launched an ambitious infrastructure program, the key pillar of which is the Fourth Generation Highway Plan, or 4G. This plan aims to modernize and expand the national highway system through the concession of 11,000 km across 40 toll roads, with investments valued at an approximate $25 billion. Goldman Sachs has taken a lead role on structuring and funding three of the first nine toll roads that were awarded, with Estrada in charge of structuring risk management solutions for the projects as well as helping line up financing from international investors among her clients in Latin America.

“We have pooled resources from many different teams across divisions and geographies at Goldman to help Colombia; this is Goldman at its best. These roads will make the flow of goods cheaper and smoother throughout the country. Goldman is doing business while at the same time making Colombia a better country — proof that you can do business by doing good.”

Diversity as a Constant

Beginning her career on a trading floor, Estrada highlighted that she occasionally felt like a minority, both due to her gender and ethnicity. She says that in these situations, “You have to remember that you are hired for who you truly are, for your capacity and the experience that you bring,” noting that Goldman Sachs champions the importance of a diverse workforce.

Estrada is proud that she has become one of the few senior women who cover Latin American companies across the financial industry. “As a senior female executive, you have to develop your own style in a male-centric culture,” she says. By becoming a technical expert in her field while also building and maintaining strong client relationships, she has earned the respect of her colleagues and clients.

She reminds women at all levels to take time to build relationships with others in order to create a network of peers and sponsors. “The only constant in our industry is change, and having a strong network will allow you to be more adaptable and prepared for what’s to come,” she says. “A year ago I didn’t think I’d be moving to a different division, but things evolve, and your network can guide you through those types of changes.”

With a trajectory that took her from interning in 2000 to becoming a managing director in 2015, Estrada has been able to reflect on her career over the years. “There have been ups and downs just as for everybody. I tended to overthink and overstress about situations when I was first starting my career, but I can now view things with perspective. What matters most is working with people with whom you are comfortable and doing a job that you enjoy. That, combined with a focus on assisting clients with their needs while challenging my skills, is what makes working at Goldman satisfying.”

She participated in one of the first classes of the Women’s Career Strategies Initiative (WCSI) over a decade ago and has come full circle, serving last year as a Senior Divisional Champion of the program for the Securities Division. This program is designed to provide strong-performing associate women with developmental opportunities and to teach them to proactively manage their professional advancement.

Also active in the firmwide Hispanic and Latino network, Estrada has seen it evolve over the last few years into a catalyst for Hispanics across divisions to meet each other and identify business opportunities, as well as provide access to senior leadership. The group has also steadily been sponsoring interesting events, most recently celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month.

An Active Down Time

A former basketball player as a student athlete at MIT, Estrada is now also a fan of spinning. Married to a Brazilian, she and her husband have been exploring Asia for a few years now. “Since I travel a lot for work, sometimes it’s hard to head back to an airport on my free time, but we are enjoying discovering new cultures together.”

Save

/by

Voice of Experience: Rocio Lopez, IT Executive at Accenture

,

Rocio LopezBy Louise Magrath

Passionate about advancing diversity in tech, and currently leading several initiatives aimed at growing Hispanic American technology talent, Accenture’s Rocio Lopez says: ‘The one piece of advice I would give to anyone is to be authentic.’

As a Mexican woman-in-tech for over two decades, Lopez learnt through Accenture’s Hispanic American Employee Resource Group (ERG) that she needed to be authentic about what she brought to the table as a talented Hispanic technologist.

‘For the longest time, I was trying to run in a different size shoe – actually a male size 8. It wasn’t until I met my ERG family that I realized I like my 7.5 size red high heels,’ she comments.

Longevity in her career

Lopez has a long career at Accenture having worked for the professional services company for 22 years since leaving University. Currently leading a team that helps the company and its clients adapt the latest IT solutions and flexibilities, she connects with Accenture’s business leads to understand their day to day, on the job behaviors. This helps her innovate new solutions to get them performing at their highest, delivering the best they can to clients.

‘I love it when I see them adopting the latest technology and get their feedback that it’s made their life easier and helped them to be more efficient. I’m excited that my job allows me to be creative and present and deliver ideas that transform the way our teams work. Being able to experiment and challenge my team to learn new technologies is the part I love the most,’ comments Lopez.

Increasing Hispanic Leadership in IT

‘Inclusion and diversity is an inherent part of Accenture, and as a company, we are committed to advancing diverse talent in technology,’ states Lopez.

One initiative led by Lopez, of which she is particularly proud, is the Accenture sponsored, Hispanic IT Executive Council’s (HITEC) Women’s Program, aimed at growing Hispanic American technology talent.

‘HITEC is an organization whose focus is to develop the next generation of Hispanic IT Leaders, an ethos in common with Accenture, as we share a commitment to advancing diverse talent in tech and increasing Hispanic leadership in IT around the Globe,’ she comments.

She describes the program as a breakfast series and learning session, focused on developing, retaining and attracting women in tech careers by bringing them together in one place to network and establish connections. Lopez believes the key to the Accenture and HITEC mission is the structure they have in place to carry out the strategic goal to ‘push up and pull up’ its’ workforce and members. The Accenture partnership with HITEC, including the Accenture sponsored Women’s Program, demonstrates a partnership whose focus continues to be the growth of Hispanics in technology careers.

Lopez is proud and excited to lead the Women’s focus with HITEC and says, ‘I already see the impact the program has on inspiring women along their journey and I’m looking forward to this coming year and the technology learnings that our women will gain during the sessions.’

Support and Mentorship build success

For Lopez mentorship has played a critical role in her career, ‘I could not have a career without this. You need a mentor or sponsor to keep you honest about what success means and to help you along in your career journey,’ she comments.

An example where the importance of mentorship came in to play for Lopez was when she was given the opportunity to participate in the HITEC Emerging Executive Program and was assigned a C-Suite mentor, Ramon Baez. She notes,
‘The relationship I built with Ramon was key to a turnaround in my career journey, as I was facing some critical career decision points at Accenture. The conversations we had, helped me gain tremendous self-confidence and inspired me to believe that I could be CIO of a company.’

As a leader at Accenture, Lopez also is a mentor to people for whom she is directly responsible for engaging, supporting and growing. She is passionate about encouraging her mentees to be authentic as she believes it generates great thinking and increases their level of engagement overall. She comments, ‘My professional role model is our global inclusion and diversity lead, Nellie Borrero, an amazing, authentic woman that has managed to stay true to her values throughout her great successes.’ Lopez believes that every employee at Accenture is extremely talented and that it is her obligation as a company leader to ensure that they are listened to and tended to,
‘We are changing the game within the Accenture family by staying close to every single individual and focusing on their unique needs and wants. We create a place where everyone is a member of the family that is always cared for and nurtured,’ she says.

Commitment to Diverse Talent Pools

Lopez’s passion for advancing diversity in tech has led to her involvement in Accenture’s sponsorship of teams of Cristo Rey High School students to code at Accenture. She describes Cristo Rey as the largest network of high schools in the United States whose enrolment is limited to low income youth. Its distinctive approach to education equips students with the knowledge, character and skills to transform their lives. From freshman year, Cristo Rey schools blend rigorous academics and four years of professional work experience to and through college.

‘I became involved with Cristo Rey because I wanted to promote STEM jobs for these students in the Chicago area. To that end I proposed and created a program within our CIO organization that sponsors diverse students in to programming roles. This has evolved our internal IT talent strategy and has led to us identifying new talent,’ states Lopez.
Her passion for inspiring Hispanic American students to continue their education and to seek a career in tech along with her overall commitment to technology careers and diversity has led to Lopez being named on the Board of Cristo Rey High School.

Family

Even outside of work, Lopez continues inspiring young people to take up careers in tech. In the fall she will travel to Leon, Mexico, where her family is from. She will use her time there to inspire her teenage nieces and nephews to consider a tech as a career choice.

She comments, ‘They ask me questions about my Facebook posts during my network events, as they are excited to see me travel the world and meet so many new people. My answer is always to go in to technology! It’s very cool and allows you to truly impact the world we live in!”

/by

Voice of Experience: Sarah Churchman, Talent, Inclusion and Wellbeing Leader, PwC UK

Sarah ChurchmanUnderstand what drives you and find your passion early on, advises Sarah Churchman, who has lived her own advice after embarking on an unexpected career in human resources.“I like to say I got a rookie start in human resources,” says Churchman, who had always thought she wanted to be a lawyer. After studying law and realizing it wasn’t for her, she took some time to travel and then embarked on a human resources career that she has maintained for almost 30 years. “It wasn’t the career I thought I’d have but I’ve been delighted to take this path,” she says, citing the huge variety of work she has done from rewards programs to recruiting.

Helping PwC Lead as a Diversity Champion

Introducing PwC to the idea of diversity and inclusion back in the early 2000s represents a highlight as one of the professional achievements of which she is most proud
“While we had always been an equal opportunity employer, we had never measured our level of success,” she says. Since the beginning, and through the various mergers the firm has undergone, Churchman has helped spearhead the initiative. Today its diversity strategy is a business priority and PwC UK is recognized as a leader for its work.

She helped the firm look at work/life balance in a practical way, realizing that the environment and culture, combined with policy, can make a difference. And she made sure that a diversity agenda was integral to the broader talent management agenda.
“It’s exciting to look at the values we want to promote and the culture we want to create and realize that inclusion is at the root,” she says.

Under her management, PwC became one of the first firms to experiment with unconscious bias in 2005. While commonplace today, at the time not many organizations were exploring its impact.

She also helped introduce the concept of sponsorship combined with mentorship as a way to drive diversity, and published a groundbreaking gender pay gap survey. “Our maturity in this area means we’ve been a step ahead of the curve, always aiming for the next big thing,” she says.

Establishing an Inclusive Talent Culture at PwC

Most people believe they are open-minded, and it’s only when they see data that shows the opposite that they become interested in changing their inclusion mindset, Churchman has found. That’s why a key part of the diversity and inclusion initiative has been to track solid data around talent management decisions. Showing who’s being promoted and hired by gender and ethnic background is critical and serves as a way to prove that very little of a company’s exclusion is intentional, but rather an unintended consequence. “Bringing diversity to the forefront is fundamental to moving an organization forward,” she says.
And that includes making it a societal issue as well. “Organizations are a microcosm of society and there shouldn’t be expectations on women that are different from men in terms of who should be a caregiver. We’re trying to evolve the workplace, but we have to evolve society as well,” she says.

Resilience as a Key to Female Career Success

Churchman has long championed resilience as a key component of PwC’s well-being strategy, emphasizing it as a core skill as part of PwC’s leadership development strategy.
She finds that most women tend to be resilient, because in many cases they are juggling two jobs – at work and at home. “Women and men need to maintain a razor-sharp focus on where they want to go, and realize the importance of bouncing back from setbacks,” she says.

Cultural issues, however, have historically gotten in the way; for example, stereotypes that assume some people don’t want to be leaders. “I see that women can hold themselves back by ruling themselves out and not believing they can do the job at the next level.”
She encourages women to share their ambitions with others who can help them on their journey, rather than just assuming they will know. And outside of work, she advises professionals to choose their long-term partner carefully. “Don’t be the one who tries to do everything,” she says.

Family Life Matters

Churchman has seen the benefits of an equal partnership play out in her own life, saying that her family is a real leveler for her. She has been able to combine her career with raising two children, who are now adults, ages 22 and 20. “I find it incredible; how did that happen?” she says, adding that they will always be her “little prince and princess,” fitting since they are called George and Charlotte.

They have always been part of her career as well; in fact, she says that they have always been her biggest critics. “They would give me honest – and occasionally brutal — feedback when they would hear me on the radio,” she laughs. Always up for a family trip, she is looking forward to a family holiday to the Amalfi coast in Italy.
She now shares her home with a labradoodle called Poppy, which means her relaxing and thinking time includes long walks. In addition, she makes time for charity work; she was a trustee for a breast cancer charity and is now looking forward to joining the board of another group, the Employers Network for Equality & Inclusion, which is working to support employers committed to driving the diversity agenda forward, an endeavor she anticipates will complement her work at PwC.

/by

Sheila Patel, CEO of International Goldman Sachs Asset Management

The common thread among the successful women Sheila Patel has mentored over the years is their willingness to engage their networks, mentors, sponsors and managers in their ambitions and their journey.

“Two-way communications holds both women and their stakeholders accountable for their progress, and accountability is the key to advancement in the years ahead,” she says.

Moving Around, Moving Up

Sheila PatelPatel has employed that strategy throughout her career. She feels fortunate that her career has taken her to three different regions, allowing her to work in multiple areas of finance throughout the last 24 years. “The constants of deep client relationships and rewarding partnerships with colleagues have paved the way for many transitions, as new opportunities emerged and Goldman Sachs has provided me with the room to grow,” she says.

She began her career as an analyst in investment banking at a different firm in New York, and then took a hiatus from the industry to explore retail, where she worked for one of the few women CEOs at the time. She soon realized she missed the fast pace of finance and earned her MBA at Columbia, while simultaneously working in derivatives sales and trading.

In 2003, she joined Goldman Sachs, where she has worked in both Asia and London. Over the years, Patel held a variety of roles in the Securities Division, culminating in becoming co-head of Asia Equities Distribution, before moving to London to join the Investment Management Division in 2009.

For Patel, this internal mobility represents the professional achievement she is most proud of – the transition from the “sell-side” to the “buy-side.” During this time, she moved from Singapore to London and undertook a major change in role and responsibilities following the financial crisis.

“It was a great opportunity to identify the skills I had that transcended divisions, such as strong relationships with clients, strategic management capacity and broad market experience,” Patel says. “The firm empowered me to expand my business and focus on investment performance despite the difficult market conditions. That allowed me to help grow the team while retaining our culture, our client base and assets over the following years,” she says.

Today, as CEO of International Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Patel works with clients across EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and Asia Pacific Ex-Japan to identify a broad range of investment opportunities around the world. Regular travel throughout Asia, the Middle East and Europe offers her an unparalleled vantage point to understand global capital flows and investor views.

New Developments Transform The Industry

Patel is particularly intrigued by recent efforts in two spaces – ESG (environmental, social, and governance) and Smart or Active Beta. “As with any new concept, part of the excitement is seeing the diverse ways our clients take and use these ideas and tools,” she notes. For example, there is widespread debate on whether the purpose of ESG is to drive better returns or better societies, but success over the past few years indicates it can be both.

Active Beta, which explores factor-based investing and indexing away from traditional market cap weighted benchmarks is a concept that offers a new dimension to passive index investing and could be transformative in the years ahead.

Patel notes that the ongoing technological transformation of the industry is a fascinating trend. She highlights the advent of technologies such as artificial intelligence, algorithmic or “robo”-based advice, and blockchain transactions as new concepts that will likely dramatically change the industry.

The Skills That Define a Successful Career

As many professionals can attest, it’s easy to assume early in a career that intellectual ability and business-relevant education are the main keys to success. But Patel has found that as you gain experience and insight, “you realize there are many smart people in our industry and the world, but not all of them can communicate complex ideas or develop long-term relationships.”

Since her first year as an analyst, she has saved all of her reviews, which have provided enlightening reading as she progressed through her career. One of her first analyst reviews suggested she should focus on client relationships and communication abilities, as they would be the key to her success.

“I discounted that feedback in my youth, when compared with the quantitative and analytical successes I felt myself achieving, but as I matured at work I realized the truth of the advice I received. Businesses of all kinds are about people – your colleagues and your clients – and fostering those relationships and networks are the foundation of any successful career.”

Success Is Built Through Curiosity and Relationships

Her advice to women is to continually focus on expanding horizons and goals and remain curious to the elements of the industry that are constantly changing, from market conditions to technology and client needs. New developments that drive the industry can also create personal opportunities, from new financial applications to technologies to evolving client bases, where women can make their mark.

“What makes finance evolve is the intersection of people, capital and ideas, and women at all stages of their careers need to drive that evolution,” she says.

Patel has found her role as a partner sponsor of the Asia Women MD’s Network particularly rewarding. The group focuses on providing support and advice for women aspiring to grow and advance within the firm. Many of the women MDs who are now part of the network have that group to thank for their mentoring and support to reach the MD level, she says.

In addition, she finds that the group has also had a tremendous impact on clients, who appreciate the unique panels and discussions the network organizes, especially if their own organizations don’t offer a robust women’s network. She finds that the geographical spread and diverse market environments of Asia make it especially important to develop a broad network, and she is proud that this group can offer a unique blend of commercial and personal empowerment for the women of the region.

A Traveler’s Eye

An avid traveler, Patel appreciates that living in Europe and Asia has given her family unique opportunities to visit a wide variety of far-flung places.

“Chances are you will find our family somewhere off-the-grid, where mobile phones don’t work very well,” she says, adding that it is both stressful but ultimately relaxing for her type-A personality.

Patel’s entire family loves safaris and remote fly fishing adventures, and she uses these adventures as an avenue to indulge her amateur photography hobby. “The great thing about my work is that my camera can always come along too, and if I get a spare minute, there is always something beautiful to capture, whether I’m in Muscat, Mumbai or Milan.”

/by

Voice Of Experience: Beth Campbell, Senior Vice President, Citadel Securities

Voice Of Experience- Beth Campbell, Senior Vice President, Citadel SecuritiesBeth Campbell has spent her career listening, learning and leading. She has built a strong track record of results in a traditionally male-dominated industry, and has done so through hard work and a disciplined focus on building expertise in her field. In addition, one of the keys to her success has been developing as many relationships and connections as possible, and then focusing on both learning from them and keeping them close as part of her personal network. “Whatever role you’re in, you can find people at all levels — managers, peers, direct reports and clients, who will be integral to your journey.” As she has seen firsthand, these connections will help open doors throughout your career and can ultimately lead you to the perfect role.

Building a Career of Entrepreneurial Ventures within Established Firms

After graduating from NYU Stern, Campbell began her career at Bank of America, handling prime brokerage multi-strategy accounts, a new business for the bank at the time. One of her accounts was Citadel, and her efforts and dedication contributed to the firm inviting her to help launch the sales effort for a new hedge fund administration platform in 2007.

“It was a unique and exciting opportunity to build a new business for such a reputable, respected firm,” Campbell says, and the beginning of an interesting career working for “start-up” divisions within the larger firm.
She worked in that business for four years before it ultimately was sold to Northern Trust.
She then worked briefly in business development at another hedge fund, but a year later returned to Citadel as Head of Sales for a technology business within Citadel.
“I had loved working at Citadel and helping to build a business for the firm before, and because I kept the relationships strong and doors open, Citadel invited me back to lead the sales effort for its technology business at the time,” she says, ultimately handling it for over three years.

In 2015 Campbell was internally recruited to work on the FICC Sales and Relationship Management team at Citadel Securities, the firm’s market-making business, which was another new venture for the firm. Launched in late 2014, it rapidly ascended to top market share, becoming a top 3 dealer of USD interest rate swaps on the Bloomberg SEF (the largest trading platform for those products) in under a year. Campbell needed to learn the business in short order to make immediate inroads with clients and prospects.

Skyrocketing Growth

Citadel Securities’ fixed income business has seen tremendous growth in the past 18 months. In response to client demand, in less than two years the division has expanded from a single product – vanilla U.S. dollar interest rate swaps (IRS) – to a fuller fixed income offering, including an array of USD IRS products, EUR IRS, U.S. Treasuries and CDX. The team continues to aggressively roll out new products, including a comprehensive product pipeline for the year ahead. “Our greatest successes come from listening to our clients, which helps us develop products that meet their liquidity needs,” Campbell said.

The FICC market making business brought on hundreds of clients in what she calls an “intense, challenging, but successful first two years.” Its efforts were recognized when Citadel Securities was named “Interest Rate Derivatives House of the Year” by both IFR and Risk Magazine, the first time that these prestigious honors have been awarded to one firm in the same year. “It’s exhilarating to be part of the team that has earned such notable recognition in such a short period of time,” she says, adding that she feels proud to work with a team comprised of several women in senior roles and benefits extensively from their experience.

The industry as a whole is evolving, as fixed income markets continue to transition to electronic trading. This trend plays to Citadel Securities’ “sweet spot,” she says, giving the firm an edge over traditional market participants.

Confidence That Comes with Experience

Looking back on her career, Campbell says she wishes she had always been as confident as she is now, though she realizes that comes with time, as you hone your expertise.

In a traditionally male-dominated industry, women have to learn to find their voices and expect to be treated as equals from the outset. According to Campbell, one of the keys to professional growth is conducting yourself with honesty, integrity and passion.
“The key is to find something you really care about so you can be authentically passionate,” she says. “Think long and hard about the roles you take and leverage mentors who can help you make the career choices that are the best fit for you.”

A Satisfying Life Involves Interests Outside of Work

Campbell says it is important to find a firm that supports you both inside and outside of the office. Whether training for a marathon or planning a wedding, she appreciates the flexibility that Citadel has always provided. “Ahead of my wedding last year, I was juggling hundreds of new clients and looming projects, but the firm still gave me the time I needed,” she said.

/by

Voice of Experience: Barbara Reinhard, Head of Asset Allocation and Senior Portfolio Manager for Voya Investment Multi Asset Strategy and Solutions

Experience- Barbara Reinhard, Head of Asset Allocation and Senior Portfolio Manager for Voya Investment Multi Asset Strategy and Solutions“Self-learning is a key path to growth,” says Voya’s Barbara Reinhard, “whether you’re learning something big that will change your career or something small that will make your day-to-day life easier.”

For example, Reinhard taught herself time-saving Excel tricks such as using shortcuts to manage big data sets. “You can participate in an Excel class, but until you’re playing around with it yourself, you won’t know what you need to. It’s the difference between reading about a vacation and actually taking one,” she says. “If you can teach yourself, you can learn anything.”

That skill came in handy when she first started out as a fixed income analyst. When Reinhard saw challenging bond markets on the horizon, she looked beyond fixed income and learned what she could about equities to expand her skill set and opportunities. “It’s easy to become very specialized, but your intellectual curiosity trumps all.”

A Career In Asset Allocation

During her 20 years at Morgan Stanley, Reinhard worked in the Fixed Income, Institutional Investment Management areas and eventually became deputy Chief Investment Strategist. Advancing from an analyst to a managing director was an unusual path, she acknowledges, but one that beckoned because of the ongoing opportunities she sought.

In 2011 she joined Credit Suisse as Chief Investment Officer for private banking in the Americas, running discretionary asset allocation portfolios. Five years later, in April 2016, Reinhard joined Voya.

Of her professional achievements, she’s most proud of becoming a managing director, earning her Chartered Financial Analyst® designation and being hired by Voya: she set her sights on the position as soon as she met the Multi- Asset team.

Not only does Reinhard appreciate the challenging work at Voya, she finds it particularly rewarding because of the firm’s mission to be “America’s Retirement Company.”

“Every individual in America at all wealth levels — from a Rockefeller to a Reinhard — will face retirement,” she says. “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.”

To help make smart decisions, Voya completes an annual exercise in October where they develop 10-year asset class forecasts and anticipate the peaks and troughs that markets might see over the next decade. This becomes the foundation for their future asset class strategic investment recommendations.

Reinhard worries that the finance and analytical elements of a career similar to hers might be off-putting to women, especially those who specialized in liberal arts and think that they need to be more mathematically and quantitatively inclined. But the truth, Reinhard says, is that statistics and quantitative theories are actually relatively easy to learn, as they are very finite. “Once you’ve done it once, you can do it 100 times. Don’t be put off by the quantitative aspects of the industry,” she says.

Urging a Savings Mentality From a Young Age

Reinhard sees one of the industry’s biggest struggles as trying to help Americans think about retirement. “It’s difficult when you’re 25 to save for that long-term goal; you can’t even intellectuality conceptualize it,” she notes. But she has seen the importance of starting early. The youngest of five children and raised by parents who were products of the Great Depression, she started saving for retirement with her first paycheck.

“The most important contributor to my retirement account hasn’t been an investment decision I made, but rather letting my asset base compound year in and year out. Compounding interest is one of the best mathematical advantages you can give yourself,” she says, stressing that the one thing young adults should do is put money toward their retirement as early as possible.

The Career-Changing Influence of Mentors and Sponsors

Reinhard credits some of her success with two sponsors who paved the road for her based on her goals, helping her acquire the skills she needed to earn subsequent promotions.

She advises that whether your mentors and sponsors are formal or informal, neither of these people should be your boss. A sponsor is typically far more senior in the organization, someone who sees your value add and will champion you. By cultivating these relationships, and making sure that the leadership team in the organization knows you, opportunities and connections will happen that can change your career path.

The best way to gain that visibility is to be ready for unexpected opportunities that might present themselves, the quintessential “elevator experience.” Reinhard is always ready with a two-minute anecdote in her back pocket about a recent significant business win or something material to the investment strategy she is working on. For example, when the S&P finally broke new highs, she ran into Voya’s CEO and was able to give him a quick analysis and recommend he use the information when he met with important shareholders over the next couple weeks as a proof point for why active management still works.

The key, she says, is to adapt your ideas over the years as your career expands so you always have something ready for your two-minute speech.

And for women who are more senior, she urges them to sponsor a younger professional. For her part, she’s always found someone to watch out for, maybe someone who volunteered to help with an unpopular or time-consuming project, which she says is a smart strategy to gain a champion. “I’ve gotten the most bang for my buck by fixing things that were broken when others said it couldn’t be done.”

Family, Running and Volunteer Work Balance Her Work Life

A former marathon runner, Reinhard says that physical fitness tops her priority list as a calming influence that can help control how she reacts to markets. While she devotes most of her non-work hours to her husband and young son — “they are the most important people in my life” — she makes time for non-profit work as well, serving on the finance committee for the Jerome Green Foundation, a group involved in activities related to education advancement, social justice, arts, health and human services.

/by

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.

Save

/by