Mover and Shaker: Leonora Xhekaj, Vice President of Operational Risk Management, Voya Investment Management

Leonora XhekajLeonora Xhekaj remembers being asked by someone she admires: “What is more important to you, being liked or respected?” Although she said “both” at the time, over the years she has learned that everyone might not like you, but most will respect you when you establish credibility and act professionally with colleagues and others, regardless of their experience, association or job function.

This philosophy has helped lead to Xhekaj’s successful career ascension. She started at Paine Webber (which was subsequently acquired by UBS) as a client services associate in the institutional equity sales area, providing research to institutional clients. While there she developed a reputation as someone who was persistent and reliable – arriving at work at 5 a.m. if needed to get the job done.

In 2000 she joined Voya Investment Management, previously known as ING U.S. Investment Management, and, at the time, they were involved in a number of M&A consolidations. “I learned early in my career on the buy side that change is the one constant you can count on, and it is something I learned to adapt to and embrace.”

Xhekaj, who earned a B.B.A in management and finance from Baruch College, has held her current role in risk management since 2009. She supports the equity investment platform, structured assets and alternatives group and institutional distribution, as well as other business support areas, such as operations.

Over the years, she has held a variety of positions, including leading the business resilience program for Voya IM including managing crisis events such as Hurricane Irene and Hurricane Sandy. In the days leading up to each, Voya IM activated contingency plans that had been developed and tested, allowing the firm to continue business operations uninterrupted with remote capabilities for all staff with essential functions.

Xhekaj is most proud of her contributions over the years that have led to the development of the company’s effective risk management program that partners with the business to identify, analyze and mitigate risks. “I appreciate that I can contribute to teamwork that benefits the end client, and have opportunities to lead initiatives for the firm that involve collaboration with multiple business areas,” she says.

The operational risk function was relatively new when she assumed the position, offering her an opportunity to help create and establish a key function for the company. “It’s amazing to be in this position where I can offer foresight as we evaluate risks and that I can contribute to enhance programs or processes that add value.”

Working Girl

Even though family and friends warned her that Wall Street was a “man’s world,”Xhekaj learned much of her early career impressions from the movie Working Girl, where she remembers identifying with Melanie Griffith’s character and wanting to be one of those women who succeeded based on talent and skill.

She found breaking into the environment more challenging than expected, but she quickly recognized that becoming a subject matter expert would allow her to push through those barriers. “I was able to earn a seat at the table. I was accepted because I earned respect,” she says. “You can be your own worst enemy if you dwell on the fact that you’re often outnumbered. I decided I needed to think differently and the actions I took showed I belonged and could achieve success.”

Earlier in her career, Xhekaj hesitated to seek mentors and was less vocal about volunteering for stretch roles. But with senior sponsors advocating for her, she realized that they were seeing possibilities in her work that would lead to advancement. Her cadre of mentors ended up being an organic mix of men and women offering a diversity of age and specialty, from backgrounds in risk and investment functions to operations to technology. “I saw it as a major benefit that I could tap into all those resources, views and perspectives to gain as much information on different angles and functions as possible.”

Recipe for Success

From those diverse perspectives she has identified a number of colleagues who display qualities that she would consider important for a role model: humble, inspirational, insightful and credible. One manager in particular stands out for her ability to defuse and navigate through uncomfortable situations with grace and poise.

Over the years Xhekaj has amassed a list of values and principles that she believes provide a path to success: integrity; respect; valuing differences; a positive attitude; avoiding excuses; building relationships, engaging people; and appreciating differences in skill sets. She has also always admired those who don’t say ‘that’s not my problem,’ but contribute to meaningful discussions and provide recommendations instead; or those who are willing to roll up their sleeves to collaborate even if it’s not officially part of their role.

Advice for Balancing Work, Family and Outside Life

At a conference recently, one of the speakers mentioned how outsourcing helped her balance work and life, and Xhekaj realized she had not heard outsourcing used in this context before. She saw that outsourcing everything from housekeeping and other chores to child care can be achieved in a number of ways, such as asking family and friends for help and relying on your partner to contribute more if you both work.Xhekaj says her mom has been her biggest advocate and supporter of all aspects of her life.

Finding that balance has been essential, as Xhekaj is active with a number of groups that grow her professional skills outside of her job commitments. She has been involved with Voya’s New York Women’s Network, her town’s Professional Moms Network and also participates in informal networking and other leadership skill-building conferences and opportunities. Always eager to stay sharp in her field, Xhekaj is a member of a number of industry associations, such as the Security Industry Financial Marketing Association and the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP).

Married with two kids, her priority is to spend as much time as she can with daughters Leyla, age 10, and Hana, age 8. “Both inspire and motivate me to continue to contribute to our culture and community,” she says. She shares her passion for charity, helping with the March of Dimes and juvenile diabetes organizations, as well as other local charities in her town.

She also loves to travel, and together her family has explored different cultures from Germany and Switzerland to Kosovo, Antigua, Montreal and Quebec. Closer to home, the family regularly visits local monuments and historical sites, and as avid readers, they love nothing more than a Saturday in front of the fire at their local library.

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Voice of Experience: Olwyn Alexander, Partner, Investment Management, PwC Ireland

Olwyn Alexander“As you move through your career, you realize the importance of networks and relationships,” says Dublin based Olwyn Alexander, who leads PwC’s EMEA Alternative Investments group. “It becomes easier and more natural as you get more specialized in your industry, but it would be such a career boost if as a younger recruit, you could make it a priority to meet new people and invest in those relationships.”

After earning her Bachelor of Commerce and Master’s in Accounting at University College Dublin, Alexander began her international career at PwC with a quick start. “On a Wednesday they asked if I’d be interested in leaving for Dallas for six months on the upcoming Saturday,” she recalls, knowing that it would provide unparalleled experience.

She subsequently worked out of Boston during a particularly busy season; returned to Dublin; and went to New York City with her fiancé for a planned 18-month engagement that became four years.

While there, she specialized in hedge funds and private equity, a role that set foundations for her future. She enjoyed the challenging work, as well as the opportunity to collaborate with great peers and partners and oversee many projects in the Caribbean, where they would work hard and then scuba dive on a Saturday.

When she returned to PwC Ireland, she realized that her experience was very valuable: The United States was ahead of Europe at the time in this industry, so what was her standard experience was ground breaking back in Europe. Since the industry was just emerging in the U.K., much of her role was developing and marketing the practice, which paved the way for her to become a partner in 2004.

Investing in Her Career To Keep Up With Change

Other moves she made have strengthened her expertise in the area. She earned her Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 2003 which she found to be an important investment in her career because it bolstered her credentials for target clients, such as hedge fund managers. She also became involved in an international trade association for alternative assets and co-authored a global guide to hedge fund valuation in 2005, prior to the crisis that was revised and reissued in 2012. She also sat on a working group on valuation for The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) as an expert post crisis.

Being asked to be part of an expert working group for IOSCO and her election to the Alternative Investment Management Association’s Global Board were thrilling professional achievements for Alexander, as has been her work winning new clients and expanding the business. As an example, she cites a client where they were just able to secure substantial new projects as a result of the strong relationship and good work they’ve delivered since 2005. “It’s very rewarding when that’s acknowledged,” she says.

Looking forward she knows the industry will continue to have exciting developments, with asset management moving center stage amid increased efforts to get private money into investments. While the United States is a more developed market in this area, in Europe and Asia funding remains heavily weighted toward banks as the traditional source of funding but with new, tighter controls on bank lending, asset management is playing a larger funding role as an alternative way to raise money. “It’s very exciting to see the changes in our industry with lots of deals around property and private equity. Rather than just investments in stocks and bonds, we are seeing investments in real projects and businesses where we can see the capital go to work.”

In addition, she is excited to see the growth in digital and fintech investments that are being developed at an unbelievable pace of change.

Succeeding Among Limited Diversity

She says that the industry is still heavily male-dominated, so it’s important for women to rise above it and not allow that to be intimidating. One area where she sees that young women need to be mindful when working among men is not to second guess themselves. “If there’s a big job, men will say, ‘This is why I should have it,’ while women will worry if they can do it. You have to have confidence in your own abilities so you don’t preclude yourself from something that could be interesting and challenging.”

Alexander cites the need to raise awareness around the “He for She” initiative, which opens the discussion and encourages people to consider their own personal bias and whether they are being fair with opportunities. But she sees that gender diversity is just one area that needs support. “We have to consider gender, culture, nationality and age because everyone brings different perspectives,” she says, adding that the speed of development means that it’s more important than ever to know what younger people are thinking and doing.

Family Makes the Difference

Alexander tries to make the most of her personal time with her two daughters, ages 7 and 4 and her “amazingly supportive husband who reassures me in those doubting moments.” For her own relaxation, she’s an avid horse-woman and regularly competes in dressage and show jumping events. “It’s important to have a commitment to something non-work related to ensure you enforce your own work-life balance.

By Cathie Ericson

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Intrepid Women: Sandy Chaikin, Co-Founder of Chaikin Analytics

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Sandy ChaikinFrom cosmetics to commodities to travel and tourism, Sandy Chaikin has successfully re-invented herself and her career.Starting in marketing roles, she fine-tuned her skills to open her own consulting firm and a Bed & Breakfast in Connecticut.When the stock market fell in 2008 and she lost 40% of her investments, Chaikin decided it was time to transform once again. After co-founding Chaikin Analytics in 2009, she is now helping other women re-invent themselves as confident and profitable stock market investors.

After graduating from the University of Denver with degrees in Sociology and Psychology, Chaikin moved to New York and started her career in the cosmetics industry.She held senior marketing roles at L’Oreal and Elizabeth Arden. Chaikin then moved to her home-town, Philadelphia, and took a marketing role at The Franklin Mint.

“Marketing a service or product is the same formula in any industry – identify your audience, have a unique product, know how to promote, package and price your service,” she said.

In 1995, Chaikin moved to Connecticut and opened her own marketing consulting firm. It was also around this time that she segued into the travel and tourism business by opening a Bed and Breakfast.

“My personal experience owning a B&B attracted other inns and before I knew it, my consultancy was 100% focused on travel and tourism.You have to be immersed in something to market it and that’s why I was so successful, because it was my business, too.I was an innkeeper and I knew from my own experience how to market an inn – I knew what worked and what didn’t – which I then applied to my clients’ businesses.”

During her days as an innkeeper and marketing consultant, Chaikin invested in mutual funds.

“As my consulting business grew so did my 401K plan and I didn’t feel I had the inclination or knowledge to manage this myself,” she said. “On a recommendation, I met with a portfolio manager and hired a professional.”

When the markets fell in 2008, Chaikin became concerned about her investments.

“I asked him repeatedly if we should make some changes to my portfolio,” she recalled. “I remember calling him several times but he advised me to hold on to the investments. I didn’t have the confidence to over-ride his judgment.”

Chaikin ended up losing 40% of her 401K.

“This was a devastating turning point because I thought I was doing the right thing,” she said. “When you need advice, you go to a professional so I was upset this professional didn’t help me.I took the money out of his control and was determined to do this on my own.I put my money in Vanguard and started investing it myself.”

The Birth of Chaikin Analytics

Sandy’s personal losses in the stock market using a financial advisor was the inspiration behind the launch of Chaikin Analytics. She knew there was a need in the marketplace for novice investors like herself to have access to investment tools that professionals used so she could take control of her own investments.

Partnering with her husband, Marc Chaikin, a 40-year Wall Street veteran, they founded Chaikin Analytics.

“Before he retired, my husband Marc created tools for institutional investors on Wall Street.In 2009, he watched as millions of dollars were coming out of brokerage firms and into self-managed accounts like mine,” she explained.“We decided to take the tools he created for the pros and apply them to individual investors.”

The Chaikin Analytics model takes into consideration 20 different factors that professionals analyze when looking at a stock and boils everything down to one easy-to-understand rating.The ratings categorize a stock as bullish, bearish or neutral.The Chaikin Power Gauge model is also one of the only models that blends technical indicators with fundamentals. Most investors use either technical indicators OR fundamentals – Chaikin’s blends the two.

“I spend about 15 minutes a day monitoring my account and only invest in about 8-10 stocks at a time,” she explained.“I started investing in Comcast and Ebay, both had a bullish rating, and they went up 40-60%, so I was off to a good start. I also picked the two best-performing stocks in 2014, Southwest Air (LUV) and Skyworks (SWKS), and found them early on. I also knew when to get out at the top. 90% of my investments are in individual stocks.”

Chaikin said that if she can manage her own investments with no prior experience, other women can do this too.

Empowering Women in the Stock Market

While Chaikin Analytics is for all types of investors, she targets female baby boomers as well as emerging women.

Focusing on female investors is a smart move.According to BMO Wealth Institute, women currently control 51%, or $14 trillion, of personal wealth in the United States and are expected to control $22 trillion by 2020.

Chaikin Analytics is collaborating with NASDAQ to present frequent webinars educating their audience, of all levels, on how to invest in the market. Her curriculum includes knowing what to buy and sell, timing the ideal exit and entry points, how to avoid common pitfalls as well as how to shed insecurities about investing.

Chaikin cited a study done by Fidelity that only 28% of women feel confident making decisions about their financial investments on their own.This means that 72% of women don’t feel they have the knowledge to participate in the stock market.

“I have found that women are overwhelmed with financial information and find the stock market off-putting, which is believable because I found the stock market like that too. This is why we created this system, it puts everything together in one neat package…. I break it down to following 5 simple steps to build a killer portfolio.”

Besides collaborating to produce webinars, NASDAQ asked Chaikin Analytics to create 3 indices for the Exchange; the NASDAQ Chaikin Power US Large Cap Index, the NASDAQ Chaikin Power US Small Cap Index and the NASDAQ Power US Dividend Achievers.All the indices outperformed in 2014 by 52%, 77% and 49% respectively.

“We took the stocks that are in those funds, overlayed the Chaikin Power Gauge model, and then removed the non-performing stocks,” she explained. “We re-balance once a year.”

Chaikin e

xplains that the NASDAQ webinar collaboration is a pilot program and they hope to expand to other investor communities soon. Her most recent webinar has attracted about 900 attendees.

“Just like marketing an inn, you have to immerse yourself in the stock market if you want to be credible.This is why my webinars are so powerful,” she explained.“I use stocks I invest in as examples – I am one of them.”

Most Proud Accomplishment

While Chaikin has been able to reinvent and transform herself successfully throughout the years, she said conquering her insecurities about stock market investing is her greatest accomplishment.

“This was the one area of my life that I felt I didn’t manage successfully,” she said.“It’s great to have a profitable portfolio and to be making money investing. However, the benefit you can’t put a price on is the tremendous amount of confidence that you get by managing your money and your future.”

Chaikin will continue to produce webinars and help women gain the knowledge and confidence to manage their own investments.After re-inventing herself and her career throughout the years, she believes other women can transform themselves as well.

“It doesn’t matter how old you are,” she said. “Never stop learning and transitioning.”

By, Jessica Titlebaum

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Men Who Get It: Bill Brucella, Senior Managing Director/Divisional Chief Information Officer, TIAA-CREF

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Bill Brucella“Take ownership of your career by identifying key influencers and mentors who can help you,” says TIAA-CREF’s Bill Brucella, who believes that women should develop their own brand, which can include advocating to get visible opportunities and taking on stretch assignments.

Brucella started his own career as a software developer more than 30 years ago. “I did that for five years before I figured out that there were more talented people in that space,” he says with a laugh, “but then I realized that maybe I could lead them.” He transferred into project management and quickly grew into other management roles all while staying in the tech space. Along the way, Brucella held a variety of positions that covered a breadth of IT roles – data center management, networking, systems administration and managing software development teams. Prior to joining TIAA-CREF, he was a senior vice president for a major software development firm. With 150 reports, Brucella managed consulting sales, delivery and data warehouse development for firms in the banking and brokerage industry.

Brucella’s move to TIAA-CREF was deliberate: having worked for technology vendors his entire career he made a quest to work for the end-user side and enjoy a better work/life balance. His new role as a development manager with a staff of 30 may have seemed like a step back, but it removed the travel and very long hours that had been so pervasive.

“I had a young family at the time, and I figured if I have to work 50 to 60 hours a week, I could at least be close to home” he says. In addition, he saw the career move as an interesting opportunity to become a subject matter expert in the fields of trading and portfolio management technologies.

Seventeen years later, he knows he made the right decision. He has since advanced into leadership roles with added responsibilities and is affiliated with a company that he is proud of.

“TIAA-CREF had a great reputation then, and it’s even better now in terms of how it treats its employees. It has always valued diversity and there have been so many cultural elements that are appealing. I knew it was a place where I could grow my career in a reasonable manner.” He mentions the company’s emphasis not just on results but how they are achieving them, ensuring that they have strong, positive relationships with both customers and employees, for example.

For Him, Diversity is Personal

Having worked primarily for women, Brucella has had excellent experiences, one of the many reason he cites diversity as being extremely important. He has also seen firsthand the fallout when gender diversity is not supported: Earlier in her career, his wife experienced sexual discrimination on the job, and he saw how damaging such a situation could be on one’s career when the incident was not resolved satisfactorily. Additionally, with a daughter about to graduate from college, he wants her to be acknowledged in the workplace for the skills that she will bring to the table. Diversity also dovetails with his religious faith, which is founded in treating everyone with fairness and respect and also acknowledges women with leadership roles.

Of course he also sees the benefits of diversity from a business case perspective. “I have always had women on my leadership team, and I find that you get a better thought process, more opinions and innovative ideas with diverse candidates and coworkers.”

That’s why he insists on a diverse slate of candidates, even extending a search if need be, and assigns high-visibility projects deliberately. “I am gender-neutral when it comes to projects and assignments and make sure everyone has an equal chance at these opportunities to build skills and relationships.”

Another area that he keeps in mind is flexibility, and recognizing that sometimes the majority of the work load at home falls on women. “I want them to know they are not disqualified because they have extra family responsibilities. It’s about focusing on the outcomes and not just the hours and the process.”

Advocating for Women

Brucella takes his roles as mentor and sponsor seriously, serving as executive sponsor to the company’s IT Leadership Council for Women and actively advocating for qualified women to be considered when leadership opportunities arise. He recently heard from a woman that he’d been mentoring and had worked with for several years. She wanted to be considered for a leadership role on an IT team, but couldn’t get an interview although Brucella was certain that she had the skills needed. He was able to reach out and urge the hiring manager to consider her as a candidate, and she ultimately got the job.

Another time he worked with a woman who wanted more public speaking opportunities, so he encouraged her to take a Toastmaster’s public speaking class and then placed her in situations where she could present to leaders.

“We need to be visible advocates for promoting women and diversity in leadership roles. I am committed to develop my team, and so I am available on an ongoing basis. Mentors have to be active.”

But most importantly, Brucella believes that encouraging diversity through mentoring is a two-way street. “It’s rewarding to see someone move up in their career, and climb that ladder when they realize that they can and they want to.”

Rooting Out Unconscious Bias

One of Brucella’s goals is to make it safe for people to challenge him; that if they feel they’re not being treated fairly, he has an open door and will accept criticism without being defensive.

“I want someone to ask me if there’s a reason they didn’t get an opportunity. The best way to counteract any unconscious biases that you or others have is to seek feedback.”

For example, recently, he distributed an article he’d seen on bias in the technology industry, and someone who worked for him said it resonated. He responded by sending the article to the larger team, and asked a women leader to gather feedback and help raise awareness by speaking up if they encountered any bias.

Brucella believes that at the end of the day, women should feel empowered to take ownership of their careers, build their personal brand and identify key influencers and mentors who can help them, while continuing to challenge leaders and peers to actively address bias in the workplace.

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Voice Of Experience: Carol Johnson, Senior Vice President, Global Consumer Technology, Citi

Getting Comfortable With Discomfort
 
Carol Johnson, CitiWomen can have a tendency to stay in their comfort zone for too long, says Carol Johnson, Senior Vice President, Global Consumer Technology, at Citi. “Along the way I was fortunate to have people who encouraged me to explore new roles, which was pivotal to my success. It’s tempting to stay where you know your role well, but you can have more impact on a higher plain by leveraging what you know and bringing it to a new platform.” In fact, Johnson says that one of the keys to success is to take the next step in your career before you think you’re ready, which requires adapting to operating in an uncomfortable zone at any stage of your career.
 
And those moves outside her comfort zone are precisely what’s helped Johnson ascend the ladder.Her first position as a computer programmer piqued her interest in the field, spurring her to continue her academic pursuits at night in computer engineering. That led to an IT role at a regional bank, where she held various positions from developer to systems analyst, and eventually worked into a technical team manager role. When the bank was acquired and went through organizational changes, she chose to view it as an opportunity, rather than a setback. “That role had set me up for career success: I had learned new technology, increased my professional network and had advanced into a role as a manager,” she says.
 
Moving Up Through the Ranks
 
A management stint at another bank followed, and then she was contacted by an individual  from a leadership network she was part of, who had moved to Citi and offered her a new challenge there as a program manager to help replatform Citi’s credit processing on the consumer side. The challenge of reengineering the system rounded out many of Johnson’s skills, and led to another similar opportunity but on a much larger scale: replatforming the customer service desktop system for North America Cards.
 
This new role led to the professional achievement she is most proud of so far – playing a leadership role contributing to the system from code to deployment. “I am very proud that the system is still used all over the world and gave me the opportunity to shine in a stretch role.”
 
Her next move was back as an individual contributor as chief of staff, where she was able to expand her network with other leaders and into various other lines of business. This valuable experience led to another program management role, followed by a senior development leadership role. “Every day I’m challenged,” she says, working on transformative projects where no one has a concrete answer. “You partner with people inside and outside the organization to gain knowledge and best practices.”
 
At present, one area of particular interest for her is incorporating aspects of behavioral science into operating models, which before were rooted in process, software development and life cycles and now have evolved to include team dynamics as well as more robust information that helps to understand customers and their buying trends. “Today, product development is customer feedback-driven. You watch Twitter to see which features they like, and adapt to take that into account,” Johnson says. “It’s so different from the past, where we laid out defined requirements and drove development to get there.” She sees this model translate to team organization as well, where you can see the benefits of people working together rather than in siloes.
 
 
Network and Pivot to Move Up
 
Reflecting on her career, Johnson says she wishes she had worked earlier to expand her network to colleagues in more senior roles. “It wasn’t until late in my career that it was demystified – senior-level professionals seem to know everything, but when you get to know them, you recognize that they are puzzled by things as well. They just have developed techniques to help them with making decisions and involving subject matter experts where appropriate.”
 
She has seen that by extending your network outside your immediate management stream or area of expertise, you gain access to a wider range of people from whom you’ll receive mentoring and sponsorship, which helps you feel more at home when you take those risks.
 

One of these networking opportunities has come to Johnson through her membership in Citi’s Women’s Network. “This program has helped me expand my network of women leaders at all levels of the organization and learn that they too were challenged by what I’ve faced. Hearing their stories can be so helpful.”

 

In addition, she is active in the Women in Technology initiative that Citi launched in 2013 to encourage more girls in junior high and high schools to consider the many opportunities that exist in the tech field. “I have a passion for this as I wish there had been something similar when I was that age.”
 
Recharging Outside Work
 
Though Johnson says she didn’t consider herself an athlete in high school, she took up running five years ago and finished her first marathon three years ago. “It’s not only a wonderful release, but it has helped me see that although I’m not an expert, I can conquer it.”
 
With a diverse and rich friend and family network, she feels grounded and reinvigorated by spending time with them. “I encourage young women to not compartmentalize their lives but look at their family as partners in their career. They are invested in your success as well, and you can find a lot of support and insight you didn’t even know was there.”
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Voice of Experience: Hilary Packer, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs

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Hilary PackerHilary Packer has found that many women believe they need a five- or 10-year career plan, but she is proof that there’s another way: her career has worked out well even though she didn’t plan each step along the way. “You have to know yourself and whether you want to stay with what you’re doing or try something new.”

After studying computer science at the University of Michigan, Packer earned her graduate degree and then began her career in financial services – celebrating 20 years in the field and 10 years at Goldman Sachs this August.

Though she spent her 10 years prior to Goldman Sachs at three different firms, it was primarily with the same team which moved firms as a unit. During those years she specialized in front office trading systems for equities and built excellent relationships with her two previous managers. “We are friends to this day, and they were great for my career, offering me amazing opportunities. But I realized they were championing me for less technical client-facing roles because I work well in that high-pressure, fast-paced environment, and at the time I wanted to alter my path and manage a development team.”

She decided to send her resume to Goldman Sachs for that type of job, and realized it was the perfect fit.

“I loved being on the trading floor in the thick of it,” she says of her first positions at Goldman Sachs, working with trading systems and equities technology. She spent the next seven years in different roles within equities technology, including swaps trading, electronic trading, client-facing work and order management.

Packer says she then put her hand up to try something different than equities technology and was told she would be great at asset management technology – she took the plunge and found the buy-side to be a fascinating change.

Forging A New Path through Technology

After learning that role, she was ready for something radically different, and that’s when she moved into her current role in social and collaboration technology, building platforms that are both traditional and innovative.

“It’s an exciting opportunity to be really connected with what’s going on in the world of social media and how we can apply it internally.”

For example, she has worked on an internal blogging platform that just celebrated its two-year anniversary, and she was proud to take a moment to see how many people had been connected through it and how many posts had been shared. “It really has elevated the power of the crowd within Goldman Sachs; we have so much knowledge to share that makes people more productive and efficient. This makes it easier to focus on the value add that Goldman offers, rather than spending time finding information.”

Packer says that at its roots, Goldman is a tech company so it’s exciting to see the rate of change going on and help people learn the best way to apply the innovations. Packer helps oversee hackathons, which Goldman Sachs holds both internally and on campuses as a recruitment tool. “It attracts people who love programming, and the exciting part is that you don’t know where the people who take part will come from — they might be English majors who built an app on their phone.”

In fact, she encourages those who might be interested in entering the field to just take the plunge. “Don’t be afraid, because technology is as much art as it is science. Some women get scared off by the concept of it, but it’s so rewarding. When people say, ‘That must be really hard,’ I look at what they’re doing, whether they’re a teacher or lawyer or something else and think, ‘Well, that’s also hard.’ It’s all about taking the time to learn, and then you can do anything.”

Women Supporting Women

Packer hasn’t felt she has experienced barriers because she’s a woman, but she would add that at certain points in her career she wished there were more women in the field.

During her masters of software engineering program at Carnegie Mellon, for example, she was the only woman among the 15 full-time participants. “Prior to joining Goldman, I had never had a woman manager.At Goldman, I’ve had a tremendous opportunity to work with smart, technical women at all levels.While the number of women in the field is getting better, there is work to be done.”

That’s why she works to help women connect by creating communities of women in technology across the company. She found that while she might be one of only a few women in her specific group, three rows away there may be more women in another team, so she has worked to help create those bigger communities.

And, it’s why one of the achievements she’s most proud of is her role as co-head of the Women in Tech network in the Americas. “I feel really grateful, and it is such an honor to be asked to lead it,” she says, adding that she’s always benefited from women who have acted as role models, mentors and sponsors.

“Along the way there have been a number of colleagues who really did amazing things for me, helping me and putting my name in the hat for opportunities. They did it because it was the right thing to do, and now I’m in the positon to do the same for other women.”

Giving Back Through Women in Technology

One aspect of the Women in Technology (WIT) network Packer enjoys the most is its partnerships with external organizations.Through the Anita Borg Institute, they are one of the sponsors of a conference called Grace Hopper Celebration for Women in Computing, expected to attract 12,000 attendees.

They also work with Girls Who Code: Goldman just completed its third year of sponsoring the Summer Immersion Program, where 40 high school girls were in the office for seven weeks learning to code. “We looked at their final projects at the graduation and talked to them about career paths. They are smart and energetic, and I have no doubt that I’ll be working for them really soon,” Packer says.

A third program she champions is called Geek Speak, where they focus on helping women present on technical topics in a credible, thoughtful way. “Public speaking is hard in the first place, but hitting the right level of technical detail adds another challenge,” she says. The group focuses on a select group of women, by offering them mentors and providing coaching. Members prepare a presentation to give before a friendly group of senior leaders who then give them real-time feedback.

She says of the women she’s met through her career that they have built an amazing support network. “When we spend time together, I always walk away feeling it was time well spent – that I gained a different perspective or solved a problem.”

The Travel Bug

Outside of work, Packer spends every spare moment she can traveling. “People are always asking where I’m going next,” she says. Traveling also allows her to mix in her other hobby, photography. Among the places she’s been on her trips that have spanned six continents are a cruise to Greece, three safaris, Botswana and the Great Wall of China. Her favorite places to visit? “Those with no cell service,” Packer says with a laugh.

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Voice of Experience: Heidi Stam, Managing Director and General Counsel, Vanguard Group

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Heidi Stam“Choose something that you love because if you love what you do, work hard and learn as much as you can, everything else will come.”

Directly out of law school Heidi Stam took the law firm route as was suggested, working for a large firm and then a boutique firm. She realized litigation didn’t resonate so she switched to deal work, which she describes as the antithesis of litigation. “I loved helping two parties build a solution together,” she says.

After having her first child, though, she started debating her options and found out that the SEC was looking for lawyers. With her experience in corporate deal work, she believed it could be a good fit until she learned they were offering a position in the investment management division. Unfamiliar with that vein, she turned it down – and was surprised when two days later one of the interviewers called her and expressed their disappointment that she had passed. They offered a chance for her to come back and talk to attorneys and get a feel for the work; so instead of a day of interviews, she had two attorneys at her disposal to learn more about the role, which she eventually accepted.

“It was the best thing I’ve ever done,” she said, ultimately spending 10 years in five different positions at the SEC, which eventually led to her role at Vanguard. “You never know what will present itself to you, and being open minded and flexible can help your career.”

A Company on the “Vanguard”

When Vanguard’s CEO contacted her, she said she was particularly interested because of her high regard for the company: In her role at the SEC she had had the opportunity to see all the investment management firms and mutual fund companies in the country.

“I knew Vanguard was a special company with top-notch leadership and terrific values; it was a risk worth taking to leave Washington and join them.” She joined as head of securities regulation in 1997, and became general counsel in 2005, joining the senior executive team.

The firm has been expanding internationally and so the legal and compliance function has been growing simultaneously. Part of her role will be to build that function for the next decade, which involves working globally in different cultures and countries and through different legal systems and compliance regulations.

“We’ve embraced the challenge because we’re excited about the opportunity. Seeing the team collaborate on this work makes for a rich and exciting experience,” she said.

Other industry developments that she will help oversee include the growth of Vanguard Personal Advisor Services in which Vanguard is offering a hybrid model of a professional advisor paired with an online experience that they believe offers a superior approach at a very low cost. The service recently launched after two years of preparation and Stam believes that it’s a model that will work for investors at all stages of life. “Our mission is to offer the best chance for investment success and we think this program will deliver that. “

For Stam, the achievement she is most proud of is her ability to teach others as she grows her team. “When I look back on my career, what’s most satisfying is the ability to have touched all those people along the way. Hopefully they feel they learned something, or I put them in a better position to lead or otherwise progress.”

That achievement underscores her philosophy that a great team dynamic produces superior results. “Understanding your role within a team and what you can do to help create a strong team environment is very important as you move through your career.”

Increasing Women in Leadership Positions

Stam says that her industry seems to attract a higher representation of men than women and that creates its own challenge: women should not be daunted by the current numbers. To that end, she says she is privileged to be one of the founding members of Vanguard’s Women’s Initiative for Leadership Success (WILS), which was started seven years ago.

The WILS organization is designed to support the women at Vanguard and create an environment that fosters development and encourages women in their leadership abilities.

So far she says there has been great success, with more than 4,000 members and an increase in internal promotions as more women pursue senior leadership roles. “We’ve helped women at Vanguard see what they can do, and now we’re focusing s on external hires.”

As Stam points out, the funnel doesn’t have a high representation of women, but the company is committed to patient hiring because they know the benefits that women in senior roles offer.

Although the firm has an equal overall representation of women and men, she said that their goal is to make sure there is similar diversity in senior leadership roles. “It’s been a personal pleasure to see the number of women role models increase,” she said.

On the home front, Stam has a “wonderful husband,” and four adult children.

“The last one was a two-fer” she says, indicating her 21-year-old twin girls, as well as a son who is 26 and a daughter, 28. “I wouldn’t change a single thing.”

By Cathie Ericson

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Voice of Experience: Reena Agrawal Sahni, Partner, Shearman & Sterling LLP

Reena Agrawal Sahni“I don’t like to give advice because I believe that we each find our own path in life, but I do try to lead by example,” says Reena Agrawal Sahni, a partner at Shearman & Sterling and head of the firm’s US Bank Regulatory practice. “And that is important to me because I have learned from watching the examples set by others.”

As early as her first job after law school, clerking for Judge Jon O. Newman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Sahni found such a mentor and exemplar. “Working with someone of that caliber who was excellent at everything he did, but did it with ease, grace and good humor, gave me a model for how I wanted to conduct myself professionally,” she recalls.
After the clerkship, Sahni spent several years in private practice, gaining experience in a variety of corporate practices, such as bankruptcy, capital markets, M&A, internal investigations, and bank regulatory issues, and in the latter found a niche that was especially fascinating. “I found that the bank regulatory practice was the perfect mix of transactional, academic, and advisory work. It never gets boring because it is so client focused. It is all about the clients’ needs regardless of where that takes you,” she says.

Sahni then spent two years at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in New York, where she led investigations into securities fraud. She says moving from private practice to the government was especially gratifying, where again she was fortunate to benefit from the example of hard work in the service of the public interest set by her colleagues at the agency.

Expertise in Demand

That experience was cut short when the financial crisis hit in 2008. The financial regulatory landscape changed dramatically, and with her bank regulatory expertise much in demand, she returned to firm work, focusing on Dodd-Frank-related developments.
In August 2014, she joined Shearman & Sterling as a partner in the Financial Institutions Advisory & Financial Regulatory practice. Much of her work is with foreign clients who are dealing with U.S. regulations, an aspect of the work that she finds endlessly interesting. “We are really helping clients solve problems and accomplish their business objectives in a heightened regulatory environment,” she explains. “The industry as a whole has been undergoing a seismic shift in regulation and supervision, and it is an exciting time to be practicing in this area. Significant policy questions about what the regulatory framework should look like are still being debated. I feel fortunate to be a part of that debate.”

Reflections on Women in the Legal Field

Reflecting on her career, Sahni says that she wishes she had appreciated how much value she was bringing to clients by working hard and being creative, even in her early years. “As a junior associate, there can be a tendency to underestimate your contributions, especially when you’re working with so many experienced people,” she says. She encourages others to realize their worth and the significant value they bring to the table.
Sahni advises women entering the industry to seek outpeople who they admire and on whom they’d like to pattern their careers. “Be bold and learn from their experiences,” she says. “They’ll be willing to talk to young lawyers about how they progressed, and even though everyone figures out on their own what works for them, you can learn a lot by inquiring about the paths others have taken.”

She herself has learned a lot from the women she considers her mentors and peers, noting, “I’m constantly inspired by the way that the women I meet manage their careers.”
Though relatively new to Shearman & Sterling, she has been impressed with the level of commitment that the firm has to women and diversity in general. She’s currently involved with the women partners’ group, where they share best practices for how to connect with clients in different ways.

Having a one-year-old and a five-year-old at home doesn’t leave Sahni much time for hobbies, but she tries to balance her passion for her work with time with her family. “I was concerned on our last family vacation when our five-year-old wanted to stay up late writing my work emails for me,” she says, laughing. “But I was proud of the example my husband and I are trying to set for her and her sister to work hard and accomplish your goals.”

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Voice of Experience: Leslie McNamara Managing Director, Partnership Management, Citi Retail Services

Leslie McNamara -Portrait image“Your career is a marathon not a sprint,” says Citi’s Leslie McNamara. “I spent my early years focusing on a vertical career path and how I could achieve the next level, but over the course of my career, I’ve learned it’s been the horizontal moves that expanded my horizons the most and helped me develop entirely new networks that have paid off.”

McNamara has been in her current role since 2011, providing strategic direction and oversight for Citi Retail Services’ private label and co-brand credit card programs. She has spent the past 30 years either in or serving financial institutions in consumer lending business lines.

Early on she heard the career advice to “follow the money,” and she took it to heart, aligning herself with revenue-producing P and L management roles, with work that has been rooted in relationship management. In her current role she works closely with Citi Retail Services’ “partners” — the retailers the business represents. This requires a clear understanding of what drives sales for retailers and how credit programs contribute to the bottom line.

Despite earning impressive career wins, McNamara always focuses on her future potential and what she will deliver to the business. “I prefer to look through the windshield rather than in the rear view mirror,” she says, adding that there are two times professionals should reflect on their past: when translating experiences to qualifications for new roles and when self-assessing at the end of the year. Even then, she feels that while annual reviews might incorporate a retrospective, the summary should focus on how you will apply what you’ve done to your next stage. “Your biggest career achievement should be what you are going to do next week or next month and not what you’ve done in the past,” she says.

Using Research to Benefit Retail Partners

Currently, McNamara is enjoying her involvement with a series of projects and initiatives supporting the engagement of millennials in the business. One particular project involves collaborating with the human resources group to define best practices around proactively hiring and creating an environment that nurtures millennials and shows them the fulfilling career paths available at Citi.

And, she is sponsoring a complementary project with students from the University of Arizona’s Terry J. Lundgren Center for Retailing that mines Citi data and solicits insights into how millennials are thinking about shopping and how they differ from previous generations. Among the findings have been that millennials might be a little delayed in their spend behaviors but ultimately look similar to previous generations.

“Citi Retail Services has a vast repository of information and ancillary data sources that allow us to be uniquely positioned to probe to find patterns. Our goal is to provide this value to our retailer partners. We want to help them supplement their own research and understand trends in the future of retail and how our business can capitalize on them.”

Other findings include that the economy has fundamentally changed since the Great Recession, including not only enormous shifts in the regulatory environment but also generational thinking about relationships with credit.

“There’s a new face to U.S. consumerism based on where we buy and how we pay,” she says, “and we have to understand spending trends and the future of retail, including issues the credit industry will face as we work to help our retailer partners be successful with strategies that address loyalty and media placement, for example.”

The Shift in Role Models

When McNamara began her career, there was a dearth of female role models. “I wasn’t able to see others who had successful career patterns, but I’ve seen a big shift in the past five to 10 years, both within Citi and throughout the industry.” Now she says she sees women who head up businesses and hold significant titles. “I can envision that success for myself, and I know that other generations can see it too. There has been a significant shift in the pipeline toward a more equitabledistribution of candidates.”

She suggests that young women starting their careers need to be more willing to take risks and display more confidence in their abilities. And she believes that women at her level need to continue to focus on advocacy and pulling others through.

One caveat she has for millennial women starting out is that they come from a different perspective where their surroundings have been more equitable and they haven’t been exposed to noticeable gender differences. However, as they join a multi-generational workplace, they might be surprised to find a different mindset and realize that it is still important to make connections with women’s networks or diversity networks. “Younger women need to understand how to navigate workplaces that might not reflect their previous experiences with gender parity.”

McNamara has been active in Citi’s programs for women at various points in her career with the company. Early on, she participated in the Women Leading Citi program when it was just forming and has seen firsthand its value in networking and opportunities among graduates. “The mentoring and advisory components have been very powerful to me, and I have also benefitted from seeing other women I’ve sponsored and mentored succeed.” Motivated by the company’s efforts, she recently became executive sponsor for the local Citi Women’s network at her site in Wilmington.

Diva Worthy

McNamara readily acknowledges her husband, whom she calls her “life partner,” chose to be a work at home dad to help support her travel schedule. “I simply couldn’t have had this career path without him,” she says. She has a 20-year-old son, an Eagle Scout who is currently a junior at High Point University. “He frequently reminds me that everything I encounter is a first-world problem,” she says with a laugh.

And, she just enjoyed one of the highlights of her year: the annual “Diva Weekend,” which includes a cadre of women who have worked together over the years. The multi-generational group is composed of different life stages, from a newlywed to a couple of grandmas. “This long weekend is the perfect combination of personal and professional advice, food and fun, and it is inspirational through and through.”

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Voice of Experience: Leann Balbona, Managing Director, Tax – Global Mobility Services, KPMG

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5033967967One of the best ways to enhance your career, according to KPMG’s Leann Balbona, is to speak up. “It’s important not only to demonstrate you can do a good job, but you have to tell people, too. Managers can’t read your mind, so you have to let them know what you’re interested in for the next step in your career progression,” she said, adding that otherwise, they might not know if you are ready or willing to move to a position that might be a perfect fit. “Tell them that if they see an opportunity for x or y, you’d like to be kept in mind.”

That has been key to the ascension Balbona has achieved in her career, which she describes as both interesting and rewarding. Currently a Managing Director with KPMG’s equity tax practice, she has traveled around the world and worked in five different countries on projects. “The ability to be creative has always been important to me because of my natural curiosity so it’s been wonderful to have had so many opportunities.”

One of those opportunities that helped shape her career was being asked 15 years ago to be a team lead on an important IT projectto help build a web application from the ground up. Web technology was just emerging, and this role offered the chance to learn more about using this new technology to automate international tax processes and assignment management. After developing the application, she was able to spend three years on the road, traveling throughout Asia, Europe and North America to meet with corporate clients and discuss how they could use it to enhance their businesses and better manage mobile employee populations. To this day, some of KPMG’s largest clients, as well as the internal KPMG teams, use this technology to manage their mobility programs and deliver services.

Now, as Balbona is one of the leaders in the rapidly growing Global Incentive Compensation Services, a business in KPMG’s Global Mobility Services Tax practice, she finds it particularly rewarding to build a team, create efficient processes and deliver a service offering that truly helps clients become more tax compliant in delivery of equity awards to their employees around the world.

A great way to give back is to serve on boards.Balbona has served as a leader of KPMG’s New York office’s Network of Women for five years. This leadership experience with one of the firm’s largest offices helped position her for her current role as a board member of the Global Equity Organization (GEO), a non-profit trade organization.In this position, she helps guide the organization, which serves the equity industry from an educational and trade perspective on best practices and industry trends. “The current regulatory pressure and enhanced emphasis on corporate governance means that companies must be ever vigilant and focused on mitigating risk, especially since the mobile workforce can create unintended liabilities and multiple tax obligations. It’s more important than ever to proactively address and properly report tax obligations in an efficient manner to avoid unplanned costs for the company,” she says.

Advice for Early Careerists

Balbona’s experience underscores that “Big Four” firms are a great place to start and build a career, with their emphasis on a strong foundation in accounting, tax and advisory with a focus on both classroom and on-the -job training and advancement. There’s also a high potential for challenging and unique assignments including international assignments or projects, which are important opportunities to take advantage of early in a career. “The skills you learn at a Big Four firm will pay dividends throughout your career.”

She also believes that while mentors are important, sponsors play an even more vital role as you move up the chain. “I can’t emphasize the impact of having someone watching out for you, offering opportunities and championing you when you are not in the room.”

Building a strong network is key and it doesn’t happen without effort. Balbona urges professionals to build personal contacts by getting out of the office for lunch, coffee or networking events. “Others are more willing to help you if they know you on a personal level,” she says.

A Progressive Work Force

Over the years, Balbona has seen an evolution in policies and perspective that has increasingly led to the retention of high-performing men and women. She has seen that achieving work/life balance is increasingly important to all professionals. “Here in the 21st century, where technology has allowed so much more flexibility in our industry for alternative work arrangements, such as working remotely, I don’t feel as though there are gender-based issues.”

Despite these advances, Balbona sees the value of women’s networks after spending five years leading the chapter in the New York office. “It was a great way to give back to the organization and mentor our women professionals while developing programs to help them become better leaders,” she said, adding that she was able to meet people she otherwise wouldn’t have met, who have served important roles over the course of her career.

While there, she helped pilot and roll out a program that is already having an impact on retention. Intended to help younger professionals manage their career and life choices, it provides a framework for evaluating their progress and then setting actionable goals and priorities.

She also recently completed a one-year program at the Executive Leadership Institute for senior women, which was led by an external coaching firm and attended by both KPMG partners and managing directors, as well as those from equivalent levels from other companies. She found that mix provided an interesting perspective and the skills she learned have already enhanced her leadership.

At Home and Around the World

Close to home, Balbona supports Harlem RBI and YWCA and enjoys walking her dog in Central Park. She also loves traveling with her husband and meeting people in other cultures around the world. “Journeys come in all shapes and sizes, and you can learn from all of them, whether you’re at home or abroad.”

By Cathie Ericson

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