Voice of Experience: Martha Ruiz, Partner, PwC

Martha Ruiz, PwC For Martha Ruiz, having a family provided an unanticipated career boost. “I learned that it’s ok to say no and become comfortable with what’s best for me,” she says, noting that as her priorities shifted, she experienced an increased confidence. “Family sets a counterbalance with your career, and you become better at knowing what’s important and setting priorities.”

PwC has been the perfect environment for her to grow her successful career, joining the firm’s general tax practice directly out of college. She soon migrated to the entertainment and media group in Los Angeles, where she provides tax compliance and advisory services to a variety of entertainment clients throughout Southern California.

It’s a vibrant field, given the new ways that consumers are consuming content that change long-held industry paradigms. Broadcasting has evolved to become tailored to a more fragmented audience, a shift that will continue as video on demand and streaming technologies continue to grow. “The industry will continue to mold its business around these changes and it’s to the benefit of the consumer,” she says.

An Oscar-Worthy Performance

This specialization in the entertainment field is what provided her the honor of becoming the Oscars® balloting co-leader in 2015, overseeing the team and balloting process that takes place during nominations and the finals. As such, Ruiz was only one of two partners who knew that Spotlight would be named Best Picture.

“It’s a unique spot to realize that you know the final winner before the rest of the world,” she marvels.

But even the golden glow of the Oscars® pales when she is asked to name her biggest professional achievement, which for her was becoming partner in 2011. “I joined the firm for all the opportunities it availed me and took advantage of all the doors that had been opened to me,” she says, mentioning mentors and coaches who have helped her funnel career decisions. “When I started, it wasn’t with the objective to be a partner but only to get experience; however, as I progressed within the firm and saw what an achievement it was for those around me, I began to have the desire to become partner. Now I can help coach others within the pipeline.”

Mentoring Others

The pipeline is an important aspect to Ruiz, who balances busy client engagement with a leadership role on recruiting efforts. “Talent is our future, so we are invested in making sure we have the right skill sets and the best and brightest coming through our door.”

She’s also active in the “Aspire to Lead” program, where students from various campuses experience the firm and join in panel discussions via a webcast that links all the PwC offices. This year the event focused on gender equality and featured Geena Davis and Dawn Hudson.

As she works with younger talent, she reminds them that it’s especially important for women to learn to build their confidence and tools to use their voice. “We have to train ourselves to say the things that are on our mind even when it feels hard,” she says, adding that’s one of the benefits of diversity – different views.

Mentors can play a valuable role by providing a different experience or perspective when tackling an issue or challenge.

“Reach out and talk through a situation with someone with whom you feel comfortable,” Ruiz advises. “You don’t have to go it alone because they have been there.”

And, it certainly doesn’t have to be formal relationship. “Throughout my career, I’ve had a variety of people I can bounce ideas off of and seek perspective, which gives me a better sense of how to tackle something.”

Now she can share that vantage point when talking to younger associates, helping them see the bigger picture. And she urges her peers to take the time to do the same, as they will reap the benefits when they take time to foster others’ career success.

“You might be working with someone indirectly, and as time flies and you see them flourish and become your peer, the value and enrichment you get from having watered that plant is so important.”

Family First

Ruiz is a big proponent of the family leave that PwC offers, having utilized it twice when her kids, now 11 and 7, were born. “Many of my contacts at other companies were envious of the flexibility I had to decide when I was coming back, and then when I did return, I felt really supported by partners with the transition. There has been an enduring sense of gratitude that the firm is doing the right thing.”

She says that the firm’s culture embraces flexibility and the ability to do work anywhere. “PwC takes the broader view that every individual may be going through different stages, and therefore, flexibility can look different for each person.”

For her that means dedicated vacation time, including a recent family trip to Hawaii that included her parents and siblings. “It was a calm, relaxed setting that allowed us all to catch up and for the kids to spend quality time with their grandparents.”

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Intrepid Women: Lindsey Pluimer, Founder and CEO With My Own Two Hands

Lindsay Pluimer, With My Own Two HandsFrom playing basketball in the WMBA to founding a nonprofit to help women in Africa, Lindsey Pluimer is an intrepid woman.

While Lindsey Pluimer was playing basketball and studying communications at UCLA she wrote a paper on the lack of media presence during the genocide in Darfur and committed to one-day traveling to Africa. Little did she know that commitment would change the course of her life. That trip happened when after playing two years of professional basketball Lindsey joined a nonprofit volunteer trip to South Africa. It was on that trip that she decided she would retire from playing basketball in the WMBA and instead start a nonprofit committed to helping kids in need thrive as she instantly fell in love with the kids and saw firsthand how a little went a long way for the children.

Pluimer founded the organization “With My Own Two Hands” and they provide sustainable solutions to projects in Africa that help benefit orphaned and disadvantaged children and youth in need. She states,

“Our dream is to provide all children with an education in Africa, but we understand that in order to provide an education you must also provide water, food and shelter. Therefore, we are committed to providing aid within the areas of education, shelter, water, and agriculture.”

They have recently tackled the issue of forced marriages and female circumcision with the goal to provide young girls a safe refuge by building a rescue dormitory for the HELGA Rescue Project in Kajiado, Kenya. Two weeks after the grand opening we received word that the dormitory was already at full capacity (42 girls). Those 42 rescued girls are now safe from being forced into marriage and are provided access to education. We also just built a greenhouse with the St. Ann’s Orphanage in Kikopey, Kenya with collaboration from JCREW and EDUN fashion companies.

Pluimer comments that her motivation comes from her own upbringing, “I was fortunate enough to grow up with a loving family, safe community, and received an amazing education. I realized how fortunate I am and that it is my responsibility to be a part of a cause committed to giving children better access to education, health, water, and food.”

What are the biggest challenges? She states that being an international organization and getting people to connect to a cause outside of their local community can be tough. She says,
“We do not have the luxury of easily showing people our project sites unless they join us on our volunteer trips. We have to work very hard to show people directly how their donations go a long way for children in need.”

Advice for those interested in this path?

Pluimer encourages women interested in the nonprofit sector to remember how important their work is. She observes, “People who are called to this work have to have a big heart and a lot of drive, but when you know your career is changing lives, work becomes more meaningful and important. I would suggest finding a mentor. I have a couple great mentors that have been very helpful in guiding my efforts to grow my organization. Also remember to network! Relationships are everything!”

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Voice of Experience: Marie Louise Kirk, Partner, Goldman Sachs

Marie Louise Kirk, Goldman Sachs“If you’re surrounded by inspiring people, junior or senior, you’ll be able to work through complex problems,” says Marie Louise Kirk. “They become your source of energy and creativity.” She recommends that professionals develop friendships with the colleagues around them and notes that the relationships she has cultivated throughout her career at Goldman Sachs have helped her succeed. “We all have tough days once in a while, but you have to move on and not let those frustrations inhibit your success. My office friends always help me do that,” Kirk advises.

As Kirk puts it, she is “Goldman Sachs born and bred,” initially joining the firm as an intern. She is now head of FICC Client-facing Engineers for the Americas, responsible for client strategies and solutions. Kirk also serves on the Firmwide Technology Risk Committee and the Securities Division Client and Business Standards Committee.

Originally from Denmark, she was the first in her family to attend university abroad, after being accepted to Harvard. “I come from many generations of Vikings so it was a huge deal when I got a scholarship to attend Harvard from the Crown Prince of Denmark.” She also ended up meeting her now-husband as a classmate at Harvard University.

She describes her experience at Harvard as “eye opening and life changing,” and now serves as a trustee on the board of the Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark Fund for Harvard University.

Although many companies came on campus to recruit, Kirk says that she was won over at her first Goldman event hosted on campus, because of a connection she made with a senior female professional at the firm. “She was so relatable and passionate about her work,” Kirk said. After interviews in Boston and London, Kirk was offered an internship in London on the trading floor. She began working full time as an interest rate derivative trader following graduation. “Trading was at the heart of where things were happening,” she says, describing it as very dynamic, though with a steep learning curve, where she received lots of opportunities to learn.

Data Shows the Way

After several years on the trading desk, Kirk realized that she wanted to become a financial engineer because she enjoyed the quant work, but also wanted to work with clients. Reflecting on this role Kirk says, “This is what I’m passionate about.”

In 2006, Kirk transitioned to the engineering team, and in 2008 she was asked to move to New York to lend her expertise. She arrived in New York two weeks before Lehman Brothers went under and at the time there was a need for her derivative skill set: “Quant skills come in especially handy in tough times,” she says.

In her current job, she appreciates that the role allows her to find solutions for clients – she says she does her best to help clients make money and manage risk and their businesses better.

The advancements in data science and machine learning for how the firm services its clients better are exciting aspects of her work. “We are really figuring out how we can be more relevant to our clients at the right time with the right content.” Kirk notes that her team lets “data be a leading indicator to help guide us and give clients the best and most relevant service possible.”

Although the firm’s risk-management activities have always been driven by data, Goldman Sachs is now starting to apply data to a much larger extent in other areas. Data can create huge efficiency improvements, Kirk says, as well as smarter, more scientific decision-making in areas that were previously driven by more subjective analysis, anecdotes and gut-feeling.

“The change that has taken place in the last couple of years and what’s predicted for the near-term is mind blowing,” she says. “Through data and technology there will increasingly be ways that machines can perform the more manual functions that humans have had to do. It will allow all of us to focus more on the high-value activities in our business.”

Proudest Achievement is Facilitating Success for Next Generation

Kirk says she was proud to be named a managing director in 2009 and partner in 2012, but that she’s most proud of her role in building next generation. “Recruiting talented people, coaching them with the right mix of support and push and ultimately seeing them flourish is wonderful,” Kirk says. “Helping create the next generation of successful leaders is a true legacy. And now seeing them naturally turn around and start supporting and pulling up the generation behind them makes me even prouder and, frankly, quite emotional.”

As Kirk says, “It’s gratifying to know there is a virtuous cycle that will benefit generations that will last way past any one person’s time at Goldman Sachs.”

Savvy Advice on Perfectionism

When asked what advice she wishes she’d known earlier in her career, Kirk notes that no great advice can replace the personal growth that comes from a journey of ups and downs. “No life is perfect. No career is perfect. The sooner you find peace with that truth, the sooner you will find your path to success.” She cites Winston Churchill’s quote: “Success is not final; failure is not fatal; it’s the courage to continue that counts.”

She sees that many people in the workforce, especially those of us with Type A tendencies, become obsessed with perfection and the perception of perfection, but she advises peers and junior employees to be comfortable with not always trying to be perfect.

“To be really creative and innovative, you have to push boundaries and give it your all,” she says. “You have to keep the right balance between being on your toes, but not so obsessed with perfection or fear of failure that you become scared of your own shadow.” Managers are critical in providing the psychological safety to help overcome some of these issues and create an environment of authenticity and ability to be your own diverse self, she says.

Kirk warns that when you apply that same standard of perfectionism to marriage, kids and friends on top of work, you will break.

“If you aim for perfection, you may feel you have to choose between being the best at work and in your personal life and that you can’t do both. But if you change your attitude and approach, you may end up doing both better.”

Throughout her years at Goldman Sachs, Kirk has been involved in many of the firm’s internal programs, and she has found that one element they have all had in common is the social glue of community and connectivity, which have helped her remain excited to go to work every day.

A Full Life Outside of Work

Currently expecting her third daughter, Kirk says she has her hands full with two other girls, ages 10 and 5, and a husband with a thriving career of his own.

Yet she still finds time to nurture girls on the path to STEM careers. “It’s upsetting when I see them lean out, and often at such a young age, all because of stereotypes,” she says. “It’s fine to make a conscious choice at 16, but sometimes they start opting out at age 6 before they understand their true talent and interests.”

In her family, it’s easy to focus on women who are successful at math. “We good-naturedly ridicule dad, who’s not a math guy,” she laughs. “For now my daughters think math is a girl thing.”

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Voice of Experience: Nikki Darden, Program Director for Global Rewards, Citi

Nikki Darden, CitiWhen Nikki Darden was first starting her career, she took care to conform to cultural norms. “I would look at those who were successful and think I had to dress like them or present myself the same way,” she says. “But I know now that the more comfortable you are with yourself, the more you drive value for your employer with the qualities that differentiate you.

“I’m a Southerner; I’m a woman; and I’m a minority. I used to water it down, but now I embrace those traits that make me who I am.”

Finding a Career Path That Resonated

Darden has spent her entire career in financial services, although not as a banker. She started with NationsBank in Charlotte (now Bank of America) as a marketing analyst and then moved into the team that was focused on what was then called “PC banking.” As the predecessor to internet banking, customers would receive floppy disks to do banking on their home computers, a very advanced service at the time.

While involved with planning and launching new products, she became frustrated with what seemed to be a lack of customer focus, mainly an understanding of the impact of initiatives on customers. She requested a move to a branch management leadership program where she rotated through four branches over a year to learn how to run a branch. It was a critical juncture in her career as it changed her trajectory. She realized that she didn’t want to be in sales, but rather that she was more interested in how customers consumed and interacted with products and services.

For the following few years, she worked for a strategic research firm in Washington, D.C., that was focused on financial services, followed by 12 years at American Express focused on loyalty and engagement.

For five years she has performed a similar function at Citi, expanding to include a strategic focus on rewards. “I enjoy my work that puts the customer first and creates solutions that enrich their lives, while growing revenue for the business,” she says.

Constant Challenges, Constant Learning

Each day is full of new challenges, none more so than what she’s currently working on, “this baby I’ve recently birthed and now am bringing up through toddlerhood,” she says.

And that is launching a consistent rewards program on a global scale. Initially they intended to roll out the same program everywhere, but soon found that it needed to be localized to deliver consistent value across markets. “My role is constantly challenging and I learn something new every single day. I’m confident that has never happened in my previous positions,” she says.

The loyalty industry is always growing, with the challenge of taking advantage of innovations without watering down the value proposition and making loyalty programs a commodity. “We want our customers to engage with Citi in a meaningful manner and feel emotionally connected to the brand and what it offers,” she says.

Embracing the Value You Bring

Darden finds it energizing to see the ways women are revolutionizing the loyalty industry. “There are some incredibly inspiring women who are bringing unique perspectives to the table,” she says, citing their value in creating the emotional connection that drives revenues.

She believes mentors can help drive career success; she herself has leveraged several mentors and created champions to help position herself throughout her career. At Citi she now finds herself as a mentor, both formally and informally, to several younger women across the organization. “It’s important to help them think strategically about their long-term careers as well as gaining valuable insight on day-to-day interactions – to have someone with more experience to bounce ideas off of,” she says.

And for both younger women and men, she urges them to be their authentic selves, but also to remember that their boss is not a millennial. The great energy and ways you challenge traditional thinking is absolutely needed, she tells them, while also reminding them to understand their audience. “Try to communicate in a way that brings them in instead of shutting them out. In a large company you are dealing with superiors who are not necessarily like you so you need to respect that.”

At the same time, she is enjoying learning from others around her about both the global arena and the digital experience, two areas of rapid growth that are relatively new to her. “Those of us who are more established need to push the boundaries and engage with whatever trend is next. That’s how we stay sharp and show value,” she says.

A Travel Bug

Darden recently developed a passion for travel, now taking the time to explore with colleagues when on a work trip. Through Citi’s Global Talent Development program, where employees spend six months abroad, she visited Brazil, which she says was her turning point to becoming someone who wanted to explore new cultures rather than just take a vacation. “I’m more interested in learning about cultures and consumers in a different place,” she says. “The best part is that it is also relevant to my job.”

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Men Who Get It: Jamie Broderick, CEO, UBS Wealth Management, UK Jersey

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Jamie Broderick, UBS Wealth ManagementWhile there are many different motivations for championing diversity, such as political, emotional, social, or even a sense of justice, Jamie Broderick of UBS Wealth Management has chosen to focus on business success as the key factor

“When considered as a business issue, it illuminates diversity and inclusion as a topic that everyone should be concerned about, not just those with a personal passion,” he says. “When framed as a business imperative, it enfranchises everyone, including men. You don’t have to be PC, progressive or female; you just have to be a business person.”

Broderick joined the firm three years ago, previously, serving as CEO for JP Morgan Asset Management Europe where he worked for 19 years.

“You can’t create a successful business unless you have an inclusive culture, which encourages a workplace where people can thrive,” Broderick says. And when he talks about diversity and inclusion, he doesn’t just think about gender, but other areas such as LGBT, disability or ethnicity.

He speaks from experience, having transferred to the financial industry from academia 30 years ago. “Not that many people would have looked past the mainstream qualification profile to hire me,” he acknowledges. “It’s probably not a coincidence that the team I moved to was led by women. In an industry dominated by men, they were able to see the potential in a non-mainstream profile.”

Diversity as a Business Issue

Broderick points out that by creating the business case, companies will start to track progress and create targets, just as they treat all other business challenges. “There is no other business issue that people would have let drift for 10 years,” he says.

“You must involve men, as they are half the workforce and most of senior management,” Broderick says. “Diversity and inclusion has an impact on the ability to create a high-performing organization where people remain, thrive and grow, but to shift the dial, you must involve men.

One key way to address the issue is to raise awareness through training in unconscious bias, which he believes should be a component of all line manager training.

He says that most workplaces won’t find overt examples of disparaging remarks or the like, but that biases can creep into everything we do, which offers frequent opportunities to challenge one another.

“Unconscious bias training shows you the extent to which the behaviors that hold people back are pervasive,” he says. “We need to have a broader understanding of diversity of styles and constant support to think about how we do things and how we can improve. There are plenty of opportunities for introspection.”

For example, he suggests texting a meeting leader to ask them to consider the dynamics in the meeting they are holding. He says that meetings need to be constructed so that everyone gets a chance to voice their views, even those who aren’t naturally assertive.

He explains that there are always those who are just as smart and have ideas just as good, but they prefer to hold back and not grab the podium. They may be waiting for entry points that never arrive, and meeting chairs who are sensitive to this dynamic can help create those points of entry.

Extending Diversity to Mentoring

Broderick highlighted the female mentoring program he runs which takes a reciprocal approach, requiring senior women mentees to also act as mentors for more junior colleagues, thus driving the culture of coaching deeper into the organization. This intergenerational approach ensures those who receive also give.

He also recognizes the mutual benefit for mentors. “When I act as a mentor to a female colleague, I help one person progress better. But if she reverse mentors and gives me insights, as a senior manager, that ends up affecting hundreds of people who are now being managed in a different way.”

This is just one component of the Diversity and Inclusion program he sponsors in his UK business. A Women in Wealth networking program was created to focus additional attention on the benefits of connecting women and helping to network more effectively.

“Leaders need to provide more than emotional and moral support. They must incorporate diversity into their business and make sure the business takes it seriously.”

Broderick’s perspective and support for diversity and inclusion was recognized recently when he was named “Champion of the Year” in the CityWealth PowerWomen Awards 2016.

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Voice of Experience: Anissa Thompson, Managing Director, Accenture

Anissa Thompson“The best piece of advice I have ever received is that no one will, or should care, more about your career than you do,“ says Accenture’s Anissa Thompson. Thompson lives by this advice and is constantly seeking opportunities to expand her knowledge on a variety of issues, to stay relevant and to seek feedback on how she is doing. She believes it is essential that her and her peers make sure they build out their succession plans and ensure that they are full of diverse candidates whilst taking the time to nurture future leaders.

Thompson finished graduate school with a Master’s Degree in Public Administration. Eager to find work as a policy analyst she started her career at a global policy think tank and spent two years as a research assistant, working primarily on research for the United States Army and Joint Chiefs of Staff. She describes this experience as, ‘excellent,’ but was keen to effect actual solutions that solved problems facing the public sector and began to explore other career options. She found herself drawn to management consultancy and began working at Accenture in 2001.

Variety within the same career

Over the course of her 15 years at Accenture, Thompson has worked across industries serving a diverse array of clients ranging from the US Federal Government, to an energy corporation and a large telecoms firm. In 2009 she moved from working with clients to an internal role where she was asked to build and lead a sales support team to help Accenture respond more effectively to proposals. That decision and role represented a major turning point in Thompson’s career and ultimately led to where she is today as the Director of Accenture’s North American Proposal Response Center, where she manages a team of proposal development professionals.

“I’ve been extremely fortunate to be able to explore new career paths. My main professional motivations have always been interesting work and the opportunity to work with great people and I’ve experienced both at Accenture – I have never been encouraged to simply continue down the path on which I started. As a result of moving my career into a new direction of my choosing, I was able to build an internal sales support function that has achieved a very positive reputation and been replicated throughout.”

Currently, Thompson is excited about expanding the services that her Sales Support team provide at Accenture, so that they will be involved throughout the whole entire Sales lifecycle, enabling more sales and greater efficiency. An area that is of particular interest to her is how at Accenture they are doubling down on automation, especially in the area of content creation.

By conquering this work, Thompson comments, “we are able to create content for our sales collateral using software rather than “search and find” efforts, thus allowing us to respond to proposals with greater speed and efficiency.“

She is also enthused with how they are finding creative ways to better source and staff their resourcing needs through crowdsourcing platforms and are always looking at innovative ways to get their messages across visually, helping bring to life Accenture’s focus on all things digital.

On a personal note she is excited about the impact they are making in the local D.C community.In January she volunteered with Urban Alliance – a local non-profit that empowers disadvantaged youth to succeed through internships, training and mentorship – during Accenture’s Martin Luther King Day of Service, one of the largest corporate efforts in the country. 1,500 Accenture people volunteered at more than 85 projects in the Metro DC area. Thompson is presently involved in another exciting project outside of her day to day role, leading Accenture’s relationship with the 11th Street Bridge Park Organisation – one of Accenture’s non-profit partners in the D.C area.

Thompson describes it as ‘a multi-partner project to transform an old bridge into the city’s first elevated park: a new venue for healthy recreation, environmental education and the arts’.She recently completed a pro bono skills based volunteering project to refine their strategic plan.

Mentoring and Sponsoring Others

The professional achievement of which Thompson is most proud, is the number of women and minorities that she has helped excel to executive level at Accenture, both on her own team and in her mentoring circles. She has received great mentoring at each stage of her career and very much believes in ‘paying it forward’. Thompson began by registering as a mentor on Accenture’s Global Mentoring Program and shortly thereafter was matched with an African American Female who was a new hire at the company. Over the course of 18 months she helped her navigate her path at Accenture, sharing career advice along the way.

“For me”, Thompson adds, “it was very gratifying when I received an email from her announcing that she had been promoted to the next level.”

For women across every industry she would encourage them to find a sponsor internally and seek support from mentors formally and informaly. Throughout her career Thompson has learnt that you will face challenges.

“The reality is, many of the decision makers you will encounter may not look like you, but it is important to understand that this is not a deterrent to success,” she states. She believes that for women especially, it is important to seek sponsorship and support from a diverse array of people versus turning to just those within your demographic.

Thompson is proud to work for a company that has not only announced its’ commitment to gender equality, but one that is committed to supporting the professional goals and aspirations of its’ more than 130,000 women globally. Accenture recently announced an investment of over $840 million in learning and professional development in 2015, which includes a range of training programs to develop the next generation of women leaders. Personally Thompson mentors four women personally and many more informally.She partakes in learning and networking opportunities during events like Accenture’s celebration of International Women’s Day, which she has previously co- hosted in D.C.She has also had the great fortune to work directly for a strong woman leader who also serves as her career counsellor- helping her to define her own path to success and to ensure she achieves it – and to sit in a highly diverse organisation with many senior women reporting in to her.

In her spare time she loves to travel and recently spent time in Buenos Aires, Rio and San Juan, Puerto Rico over the holidays. She expresses that she is fortunate to have a geographically dispersed set of friends and that she spends time abroad almost monthly. She is an avid reader and is never without her kindle. Some may find the most surprising thing about Thompson is her love of football, or soccer as it’s called in the US. She supports FC Barcelona and DC United and given the opportunity will happily while away a weekend watching the various European leagues play on television!

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Mover and Shaker: Shirley Murray, Senior Lead Program Manager, TIAA-CREF

Shirley Murray, TIAA-CREF“With every new role, you have to try to understand the bigger picture: what is being done and why,” says TIAA-CREF’s Shirley Murray. “After you have that ‘aha moment,’ you can often find better ways of doing something instead of sticking with how they always have been.”

Murray attributes that mindset to one of her mentors, her high school math teacher. “I really blossomed under her new approach that helped me understand both the ‘what’ and the ‘why,’” she says.

That perspective helped Murray in her first career as a math teacher. It still helps in her current role at TIAA-CREF where she focuses on deciphering the ‘why,’ instead of just doing what was done in the past.

During her time as a math teacher, Murray realized her love of programming when she created an introductory computer course for students. She then leveraged these skills to take a programming role in an actuarial firm. Soon after, Murray moved from her native Jamaica to the United States, where she joined TIAA-CREF in its New York City office. Murray began her career as part of the rotational development program within the actuarial department and has been with the financial services firm for the past 27 years.

A Focus on Efficiencies

Murray has served in several roles that involved programming and managing operations across many different groups, including both insurance services and the corporate actuarial department. She helped oversee the production of the firm’s financial statements and helped develop a tool for management reporting, an application that is still in use.

After this success, she had the opportunity to move to the firm’s Charlotte office to lead a group responsible for calculating accumulation values and overseeing financial controls. In this role, Murray helped install a suite of applications as part of the organization’s master record-keeping initiative. In 2013, she moved to the information technology department to lead a newly created group that supports the actuarial function, with the goal of streamlining their technologies to allow the group to devote more time to their analytical roles.

Streamlining processes has been important to Murray throughout her career; in fact, one of the accomplishments she’s most proud of was a project in 2011 that helped create more efficient processes that ultimately decreased the time involved in the daily pricing of products by two hours. “We overcame lots of challenges to roll it out,” she says.

She’s also excited about a current project that entails tracking data to see how it changes over time and how they can use that historicalinformation to create assumptions that can help them project into the future. “Using past behavior as a model helps our business divisions,” she says. Two of the projects she’s working on are also breaking new ground by providing automation for processes that were formerly completed manually.

Her work was recently acknowledged with TIAA-CREF’s “IT Outcomes that Matter” award, which she received for her work as part of a cross-functional team with members from across IT.

Learning the Ropes of the Corporate World

From her background as a teacher, where she was able to determine the delivery of her curriculum, she had come to the corporate world excited to get involved in a faster-paced industry. Murray realized that regardless of the industry or firm, there are always going to be challenges. “I learned that you have to be patient and find ways to be proactive to overcome obstacles.”

Having benefitted from the support of mentors and a sponsor, Murray has learned the importance of having someone watch out for you and in turn has become the mentor of other African-American females throughout the years.She recognizes that being a minority in the workplace can be difficult, yet advises those in similar situations to focus on your performance. “Sometimes only positive experience can overcome these biases, so I just do the best that I can regardless of my role or the challenges I face, and ultimately this mentality has allowed me to progress in my career.”

Another one of her best pieces of advice for others is to make sure that you plan for the long term, not just the short term – whether for your career or a project. “You have to move knowledge from one role into the next, thus building rather than compartmentalizing.” And, she adds, don’t be afraid to take risks and challenge the status quo.

Among Murray’s hobbies when she’s not at work are doing puzzles, particularly jigsaw puzzles, and traveling, especially to Jamaica to visit her mother and brothers.

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Voice of Experience: Carol Noel, Senior Director, Team Leader, BNY Mellon Wealth Management

Carol Noel, BNY MellonBy Cathie Ericson

As important as hard work is, success is built on your relationships, says Carol Noel, senior portfolio manager and team leader for BNY Mellon Wealth Management. “The skill set you needed in the beginning of your career is not the skill set that will drive you forward. In the early part you focus on hard work, and while that’s important to provide access and recognition, you have to constantly ask for feedback, course correct and build out relationships in order to move to higher levels,” she says.

Making a Difference in Private Wealth Management

After earning her bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and her master of business administration from Georgetown University, Noel worked at Bankers Trust Company for five years, and then joined BNY Mellon’s rotational leadership development program. From the beginning, she was part of private wealth management, a group that focuses on client relationships to help high-net-worth families achieve their financial goals.

Noel’s career epitomizes longevity: She has been with the group for 18 years and now leads a team of 13 professionals.Over the years, she has mastered all aspects of the business, from managing portfolios and researching stocks to managing people, executing business plans and guiding important client relationships.

She is particularly proud that her team earned recognition from BNY Mellon’s corporate leadership, which welcomed the group into the prestigious Chairman’s Circle in 2014 as the top revenue team. “Our successes represent a team effort of doing well for both our clients and the firm,” Noel says. “I work with an amazing group of people who care as deeply about the clients as I do, and we appreciated the recognition for our collective success,” she adds. “It was a nice topper to our efforts.”

The team continues to explore new ways to grow the business, including reaching out to new client segments where they have expertise. One such area is in supporting endowments, where they are working to provide services around philanthropic endeavors.

Over the years, she has watched the wealth management industry change dramatically, with clients seeking a more holistic approach to their wealth planning. Clients today expect more than just investment performance: They might be seeking advice on how to handle the long-term care of a grandparent or to provide for a child with autism. Approaching them with a 360-degree view of their financial and family situation allows her team to provide better solutions.

Building Your Career Involves Others

Noel has found that women will often believe it’s their responsibility to fix any problem on their desk. But that’s not the case, she says, underscoring that having the right team to resolve an issue is just as good as doing it yourself. “Bring together the right people to share the challenges that have to be met” she says, adding that a robust network should include people in your department as well as in others, and should cross cultural, gender and hierarchical lines.

She also advises women to start off by differentiating themselves from the pack. “There are lots of talented people, but you have to show that you can be successful, whether that’s meeting financial goals or working collaboratively with internal partners.” She says that if you take accountability for managing your career, you’ll go farther by being intentional and strategic.

“It’s not offensive behavior to be offensive about your career,” she says, even though that might seem contrary to what many girls learned growing up. “Having and executing a plan is vital to moving ahead. It’s not a negative thing to say you want a certain role and go for it. Have coffee, ask colleagues for an informational interview.”

And while she believes that women should help each other, she sees value in having both men and women as sponsors. “The diverse background in your network will help you get where you want to be.”

To that end, Noel is active in Impact, a multicultural Employee Resource Group where she’s a mentor and also participates in the Women’s Initiative Network (WIN). In addition, she has piloted a leadership development program designed to encourage people with diverse backgrounds to seek senior leadership.

“The firm is a strong supporter of building up good people internally, as much as hiring externally. They’ll look anywhere for the best people.”

A CFA charter holder, she also stays active in professional groups, including the New York Society of Security Analysts and the CFA Institute.

A Balanced Life

Noel finds her quest for a balanced life is getting easier as her two kids get older. She and her husband enjoy traveling as a family and her children “are enjoying the ride now too,” she says.

Equally important to that balance is giving back, and Noel is a member of the finance committee for the Havens Relief Fund Society, a foundation that provides one-time grants to help struggling families overcome imminent financial crises.

“I do what I love, and I never run away from a challenge. “

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Margaret Anadu, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs

Margaret AnaduPatience. That’s a word that Margaret Anadu, managing director at Goldman Sachs, would recommend to others in the industry, especially her millennial cohorts.

“There is some truth to the millennial stereotype that we want everything in business right away,” she says. “But I’ve found that the hard work you put in during your early years will really bear fruit later on. Whether it was changing roles or working on a tough transaction, everything I went through along the way made something else in the future easier. Tenure is something that I encourage my generation to respect and place value on.”

Anadu joined Goldman Sachs’ analyst program directly after graduating from Harvard in 2003. She says that the program was the ideal entrée to both the firm and the industry as it allowed her to learn all facets of the business and form a close-knit group of colleagues whom she relies on to this day. She spent her analyst years in the firm’s Securities Division, delving into the markets and helping to serve the firm’s clients. Taking advantage of the firm’s opportunities for mobility, she spent her final year as an analyst in the Urban Investment Group, where she climbed the ladder to eventually become a managing director. “I loved it when I started, and I love it today,” she says.

Impactful Work

Goldman’s Urban Investment Group deploys the firm’s capital by making investments and loans that benefit urban communities, largely in underserved neighborhoods. When she first started, investments were in the $2 million range; in 2014, the group committed $300 million in its biggest commitment for a project to date – the Essex Crossing project on the Lower East side.

“That illustrates the growth of the firm’s appetite in terms of these transactions,” she says. The capital is being used to transform a moderate-income community on the Lower East side [C1] to create a new multifaceted neighborhood that includes affordable housing, market rate housing, a community center, a senior center, new retail and more.

Along with the increased transaction size, interest in the sector has grown from all sides – from other corporations, institutional funds and even business schools which now offer classes in impact investing. “The more types of entities that get involved, the better for our work,” she says, adding that it’s been extremely rewarding to watch the next generation of impact investors develop, including her team of 30 “incredibly smart, ambitious people,” as she describes them.

Putting Stock in Early Career Advice

Anadu says she wishes she’d recognized that all the advice she got early in her career would end up being so pertinent along the way. “People at our firm take a lot of time to sit down and mentor you, and I’ve realized that along the way, the advice I’ve used the most is what I heard back when I started. If I’d known how relevant it would all be, I would have captured it in a notebook,” a practice she uses these days, which she recommends as a way to reflect and invest time in thinking about your career intentionally.

She also advises women who are starting out to realize that their network and mentors should be comprised of people at all levels. “A mentor is traditionally thought of as someone senior who will lift you up, but peers and even those who are junior can be impactful,” she says, adding that those she began with at Goldman as analysts have been helpful all along the way, giving advice on projects or how to view a client issue differently.

She says that the industry is continuing to evolve with more senior women, and the ranks will continue to grow, offering more opportunity to mine their examples of success and how to balance work and family. “All the efforts we are making today will have impact on the senior level landscape 10 or 15 years from now.”

Anadu says she grew her own mentoring network through her involvement with Goldman’s Emerging Leaders Program, designed for high-performing vice presidents. In addition to gaining a senior sponsor, she was able to build a network across the firm through the panels and informal events, developing useful contacts and mentors who have helped as she advanced.

Hobbies Then and Now

As a new mom, Anadu notes that she now spends most of her free time with her six-month-old daughter but she still makes time for her favorite hobby, walking, which dovetails well with her work. “I love to walk the streets of New York and learn about new neighborhoods,” she says.

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Voice of Experience: Meredith Addy, National Chair Patent Litigation, Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP

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Meredith AddyMimi Addy is probably the only artist/electrical engineer/lawyer/MBA you will ever meet. And each part of that description represents an interesting facet that has contributed to her successful and varied career.

Addy initially earned a degree in electrical engineering for one important reason: she recognized the value of being financially independent, and when researching which careers were the most lucrative, engineering came out on top. To maintain a balance, she combined it with a double major in something about which she is passionate — art.

After graduation, she decided to parlay her technical education into a career that was more “people-facing” than a typical engineering career and pursued law school to become a patent lawyer.

New Degrees, New Opportunities

With the ‘90s recession in full swing, Addy’s background as an electrical engineer lawyer gave her an advantage, and she joined Willian Brinks Olds Hofer Gilson & Lione (“Brinks”). She remembers how privileged she felt to be an associate at the large, established intellectual property firm and worked there for 17 years.

While an associate at Brinks, she returned to school at John Marshall Law School to earn her LLM in intellectual property, which introduced her to new areas of law, but one of the biggest benefits was the networking opportunities the school offered. Her teachers were federal judges and top practitioners, and she also forged meaningful relationships with her peers that have paid off as they have risen in the industry.

One important connection she made was with the Honorable Paul Michel, a federal appellate judge specializing in patent cases. She told him that if he ever needed a law clerk, she would love to be considered, and a year later, his office contacted her about an opening, which she applied for and earned.

“That clerkship really focused my career,” she recalls, adding that it was a bold move that put her on a new path.

After a year in Washington, D.C., she returned to private practice at Brinks where she focused on federal appeals in patent cases. She was named a partner in 2000 and stayed there until 2011 when it appeared the firm was going in a divergent direction. “Because of the great people, I would have loved to have stayed at Brinks for my entire career, but I got to a point where I needed something different than the firm was able to offer.”

She had learned that she enjoyed the process of managing, building and growing teams so turned her attention to finding an opportunity where she could run a practice. She moved to Steptoe & Johnson’s Chicago office as managing partner and head of their office, which she doubled in size during her tenure.

“It was fun to be collaborating with the people whom you respect in the community and whose company you also enjoy,” she says.

While there, she started to note that the practice of law was changing and that individual skills were no longer enough to gain an advantage so she returned to school and earned her MBA at the University of Chicago. “At various points in my career, different accomplishments appear to be my biggest achievement, but right now it’s earning that MBA because it reinvigorated my interest in my career and in new ways that I could succeed.”

She then landed at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, which was looking for someone to chair and grow the patent litigation group, and she was eager to apply her managerial skills to running the practice and large litigation teams.

Along with her legal work, Addy is currently focused on trying to develop a new model for reviewing and billing legal services. “Most clients are looking for a better way to forecast to management what the legal costs should be,” she says.

Women in the Legal Field

Addy believes that there are issues that will always make it harder for professional women than men. “If I’m the one having the child, I have to take time to be with the child, and that will affect my career path. Life is about choices: You can’t have it all, all of the time, but if you plan well, you can do a lot,” she says. “Even in today’s legal practice, however, there are subliminal biases you can’t get rid of, and no matter how hard we try to level the playing field, women will always be working harder.”

As a lawyer and former engineer, she understands firsthand the importance of encouraging more women to pursue careers in male-dominated industries. She sees a need for more networking-based women’s groups for mentoring and business development opportunities. “We can be successful in the system as it is, but women need to help women,” she says, adding “We network differently than men do, and that’s a fact.”

Addy, who wishes she had had the confidence and assertiveness when starting out that she developed later on, feels passionately that women need to be taught to be assertive because you will never get what you want unless you ask for it, even pursue it. “People will notice your good work, but that’s not enough. You have to ask for assignments and opportunities and put yourself out there. If you don’t ask, the answer is always no.”

On the Home Front

Addy still embraces the creative side of her nature, saying that creating and collecting art relaxes her mind and enhances her legal career. But her best stress relief? Her daughters, Jackie, age 14, and Meaghan, age 12: “fantastic athletes, outgoing girls and my buds.”

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