Voice of Experience: Lori Fellela, Senior Director, TIAA-CREF

I’ll take it.

Lori FellelaThis simple, but powerful phrase has been the mantra of Lori Fellela, senior director at TIAA-CREF. “I’ve been fortunate throughout my career to have leaders who’ve given me feedback and the opportunity to take on more challenges, and part of that is because I have been the person who has stepped up and said ‘I’ll take it.’ It’s crucial to raise your hand and volunteer for the projects no one else wants, to get yourself outside of your comfort zone – that is how you’ll get to your next role,” says Fellela.

Fellela started her career — literally learning by doing — when at the New York Daily News, she was responsible for installing and configuring PC components. “Not only did I learn a lot about PCs, hardware and software, I also got a lot of insight into what not to do, since my manager did not hold back on providing pointed feedback,” she says.

After that, in a software development role at PepsiCo, Fellela worked with a talented management team. It was in this role that she realized software development was not the best fit — interacting with a keyboard all day drained her energy. She subsequently moved to a project management role, where she led an initiative to bring in the company’s first major database platform. She soon relocated to New England and signed on with Fidelity Investments.

Hired to provide production support for a niche piece of software, after six weeks Fellela concluded the role was not challenging enough. She walked into her manager’s office and told him the work required wasn’t a full-time job. Her manager offered her the role of managing the UNIX team – something that was outside of her general comfort zone.Recognizing her capabilities, attitude and expressed willingness to take on additional responsibility, her manager continued to offer her challenging opportunities to build her leadership skills. For example, when she learned that the firm had one year to replace an old piece of software, a project that no one else wanted to take on, she volunteered.

“That’s how you make a name for yourself, by doing something no one else wants to do. This approach has been a consistent theme for me, and something I credit for the trajectory of my career.”

The project ended up being highly successful, which cemented her importance to the team, a
cohesive group of four with whom she still stays in touch.

After 16 years at Fidelity, Fellela relocated to Charlotte to work for TIAA-CREF where she says she again has a wonderful manager who gives her plenty of leeway. “You have to show that you have confidence in your own decisions,” she says.

Technology at the Forefront

In her current role as executive infrastructure manager, Fellela has responsibility for end user technology for the firm. She is proud of the work she is doing and the team that she has built. “My bench of direct reports is very strong. They have had a huge, positive impact on how the employees of TIAA-CREF do their jobs, and ultimately service our clients.”

One aspect of the job that she is most excited about right now is the conversations that they are having about what the user experience needs to be. Concepts being discussed include how users leverage elements like social collaboration in the business place, and what physical devices they will want to use in the future. The goal is to drive flexibility in choice for the end users, while still maintaining best practices in security — which she acknowledges can be a dichotomy. “The common thread is around figuring out where our end users will want to be in a few years, and helping to get them there in a secure way.”

The Value of Networking

When TIAA-CREF wanted to launch a women’s council last year, Fellela again raised her hand to say “I’ll take it.” She came up with the out-of-the-box idea to host a “Food Truck Rodeo” event to provide information [and snacks] while getting volunteers to sign up for council activities – an event which received great reviews.

Fellela recommends that women take advantage of mentoring and networking programs not only by attending events such as the Rodeo, but also by volunteering to be part of the teams that make them happen. These opportunities offer employees the chance to raise their visibility because others can see you in action. This also helps one establish and expand on their firm-wide network. “I have made wonderful connections that otherwise wouldn’t have been possible without a reason to meet and work with these women outside of my day-to-day routine.”

She credits her current manager with helping her see the importance of developing a network. As a “master of relationships,” he gave her some wise advice: it’s important to know someone before you ask them for something or they ask you. She has since made it her mission to get out there and meet people and has seen a huge pay-off.

As a tool in the arsenal of networking, Fellela recommends people arm themselves with three questions to ask to start conversations; though she cautions that it shouldn’t be about what you need from them, but what you can do for them. However, she adds that it’s perfectly ok not to be an expert and for other people to know that. “I wish I’d had the self-confidence to ask people to explain things,” she recollects. “It’s important to learn to ask for information or help without concern for appearing weak.”

Family Ties

Outside the office, Fellela, a self-described gym enthusiast, says she loves to work out and is a weight lifting coach on the weekends. Her 22-year-old daughter has started enjoying it as well. “The whole coaching aspect is fun,” she says. “I work with a lot of women in the gym, providing technical coaching and encouragement, and I see how getting stronger really helps boost their confidence. They are all great — they just need to hear it.”

Her 26 year-old-son is a professional chef, and her daughter is finishing up her undergraduate degree in physical therapy and is planning to attend grad school. Her husband, an officer in the National Guard, is currently stationed in Kosovo.

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Mover and Shaker: Maureen Erokwu, CEO, Vosmap

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Maureen Erokwu“Anything worth having is worth fighting for,” says Maureen Erokwu, CEO of Vosmap.

“We hear success stories about career journeys, but more people need to see what the process looks like and understand that it’s going to be hard. Sometimes we give up right before it all comes together, but you have to go through the ugly stage first and resist comparing yourself to those who have already been through those phases.”

This sage advice comes from someone who created her own thriving career by focusing on her skill sets and passions.

After graduating and beginning a career in business development, Erokwu decided to take a step back and mindfully determine what impact she was going to have in the world.

She focused on developing her interest in photography, which not only showed her the importance of passion but helped her meet people who opened up a new world – as they were inviting her places to capture a moment, she determined that she could parlay her passion into a career.

“I learned that in some ways, it doesn’t matter how good you are; it’s how you market yourself and tell your story, and that’s what determines if the world will know who you are.”

Having begun her career in Florida, she returned to the livelier pace of New York and landed a contract with Google. Most people consider Google a technology company, but she discovered that with Google Maps, there’s the element of life imagery which gave her the opportunity to combine photos and technology — two things she loves — into her current role creating imagery of businesses on Google and ensuring the photos meet technical standards.

Erokwu says her success has come from three simple steps: have a vision, build the team and then constantly test and pivot if you have to. “Don’t give up when it gets hard, but use those failures as learning opportunities,” she says. “It just means you are that much closer to getting it right.”

Appreciating the Chance to Mentor and Role Model

The professional achievement she is most proud of so far — being able to monetize something she loves – is also allowing her to fulfill another one of her goals. “I am finally getting to a place where I can share my story and inspire other women to explore career paths. It’s not just about me, it’s about the people that I can impact. That’s my high,” she says.

And it stems from her early experience not having the mentors she needed, which she now realizes made her journey more frustrating than it had to be. Although she always had great support from her family, it wasn’t the guidance she needed to run and build a business and therefore her success took longer. And that’s why she encourages people to seek out mentorship early on. “It helps you fast track,” she acknowledges.

Though she never had one particular role model, she worked to create her own. “If I read about someone in an industry article who had wisdom I could capture, I would make them a role model in my mind. I encourage people who don’t have a dedicated role model to keep their eyes open for qualities that are what you need,” Erokwu says, adding that she also greatly admires the foresight of Elon Musk and what he’s done with his brand.

Her desire to be a mentor also plays out in her daily work, which involves helping local businesses find marketing opportunities. “We’re not only mapping them, but we’re hosting events and giving them tools they can leverage online to really stand out and make their business successful.”

She encourages women to find support groups because she has seen that something incredible happens when women work together. “Sometimes when there are men in the room, women get silent, but when you find spaces with just women, you are going to be your best self.”

When women find spaces that validate them wholeheartedly, they can move to the next level. For Erokwu, those “communities of allies” included Digital Undivided and Lesbians In Tech.

Opening up the World

As an advisor for the group, she says it has been life-changing to share their mission and has also created opportunities for professional development, such as speaking on panels.
Although her work focuses on New York, the nature of it takes her to places worldwide, fulfilling her desire to travel.

“My love for photography has turned into a love of programming,” she says, adding that she taught herself how to code.

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Voice of Experience: Alaina Percival, CEO, Women Who Code

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Alaina Percival“When you see someone doing a great job, applaud her,” advises Alaina Percival, the CEO of Women Who Code. “It’s more difficult for women to talk about their career successes, but if you don’t, no one will know to recruit you, ask you to speak at their conference or invite you to be on their board. Being able to publicly discuss your career success is crucial to advancement.”

Percival knows from experience the importance of shining a light on your strengths. She began her career in the footwear industry with a job at Puma running their niche products division, which included collaborating with designers and overseeing any major projects that weren’t shoe related.

While there, she learned an important skill – having to secure deliverables from people who were far senior to her in the organization. That dynamic meant that she couldn’t tell them what to do, so she had to figure out how to make them want to do it. “It was a skill that has translated well to my current role, since Women who Code is a volunteer-driven organization,” Percival says. “We can’t tell people what they have to do, we have to inspire them to want to work toward its missions.”

After Puma, she decided to return to school to earn her MBA and then went to a small women’s performance shoe company as corporate brand manager for women-specific volleyball and basketball shoes. Her major challenge there was helping the niche company compete with brands like Nike, only without their resources.

From Footwear to Tech

Eventually, she decided to move on from footwear, and begin to consider cities where she’d like to live. She chose San Francisco because of its many opportunities in the tech industry. “It was a struggle because I’d always worked with footwear, but I felt like I needed to switch gears and start over and find my path.”

She started consulting with tech companies and then became engulfed with Women Who Code, just as it was getting started. After teaching herself how to code, she began organizing events and finding sponsors; she found that her background in community development lent itself well to scaling and it became a passion project for her. At the time, she was working for a startup, and then when it got acquired by Yahoo, it provide the opportunity to bring Women Who Code into her next day job, where she was running the charitable arm of Riviera Partners.

“I was working with a lot of engineering executives, but fewer than 5 percent of them were women. I saw the experiences and opportunities they had and started bringing those into Women Who Code’s programs. That is where Women Who Code’s mission of inspiring women excel in their careers was formed and how I knew we could make a difference.”

Within a few months, she had filed for non-profit status and a trademark and built out a budget, and then realized that in nights and weekends, she was essentially running a huge organization that deserved the opportunity to shine. She decided to leave her day job and focus exclusively on Women Who Code.

Making a Difference Through Women Who Code

And that is the achievement she is most proud of so far: the impact Women Who Code is having on the careers of its leaders in the tech industry – their careers are ascending with awards, board appointments, press mentions and invitations to speak at conferences.

“The most exciting part is that the Women Who Code leaders whom we are helping empower are women who are dedicated to seeing other women excel. Their influence will impact the industry exponentially,” Percival says.

Looking at the industry as a whole, she sees that Women Who Code holds an important role in the landscape: already, they are seeing the benefits of reaching out to women and girls to showcase technology careers. Although they have made huge strides in attracting talented women to the field, they are still leaving at too high of a rate. “The conversation now needs to be about creating a better place for women in the industry and helping them navigate their career path. When women do enter the industry, there are not enough role models and they don’t see women well represented at the individual contributor level.”

The group has a weekly publication called Code Review that highlights everyday career successes of women – whether they have won an award, landed a new job or promotion or launched a new product. “We want to champion these women and create the feeling that it’s normal to share your successes, since it can be harder for women.”

Advice for Young Women: Code

According to Percival, all industries are becoming “technology industries,” whether it’s finance or footwear, so increasingly future executives will be those who have a background and understanding of technology. She herself wishes she had learned to code earlier and she urges women to learn the basics, by even taking one coding class. “In areas where women are underrepresented, the issue will only be exacerbated as we see top jobs going to those with a background in tech. It is essential they learn skills like coding as early as possible.”

In addition, she advises women to always set goals, whether they are clear on what they want to do or not. “Lay out that goal and work toward it; you can always change your mind later,” she says. And she underscores the importance of building a network authentically. “Approaching networking as relationship building is key, because then those people become more than just contacts: they become friends and your allies whether you need help in two weeks or two years.”

How Companies Can Win In the Talent Quest

She also believes that companies have a responsibility in the drive to bring more women into the field, and she advises them to really spend time thinking through how they can attract and retain women.

One key area is to make sure they are paying women fairly. She recommends companies analyze salaries and make changes if there are discrepancies that are gender-related. “If there’s an across-the-board percentage of people getting paid less, it’s expensive not to balance that out,” she says. Otherwise, companies will lose out on the women in the last 15 years of their career when they can provide the most value to the company and act as role models and mentors.

“You can’t afford to lose them when they’re the most experienced.”

By Cathie Ericson

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Men Who Get It: Naveed Sultan, Global Head of Treasury and Trade Solutions, Managing Director, Citibank

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Naveed Sultan“If there’s a fundamental disconnect in the area of diversity, businesses will not have the outcomes they could, as there will be significant lapses in their performance,” says Citi’s Naveed Sultan. “That’s how important I believe this issue is, not only to me, but to our organization as a whole.”

As head of the Treasury and Trade Solutions division of Citi’s Institutional Clients Group, Sultan oversees one of Citi’s largest global businesses, which handles multi-country client relationships. This business provides an integrated suite of treasury, cash management and trade finance services to multinational corporations, financial institutions and public sector organizations and it runs the industry’s largest proprietary network with banking licenses in over 100 countries. “Our work goes to the heart of the topic of diversity,” says Sultan. “In any global business the talent mix must reflect the footprint, the cultural attributes and ability to adapt and understand the notion of inclusion. For a global organization to be successful, it must incorporate those elements into its business model.”

Sultan began his career in Pakistan, where he worked for a few years in corporate banking before taking a sabbatical to study in the United States for his second management degree, which he earned at Sloan School of Management at MIT. “My decision to study in the United States was driven by my desire to gain exposure to a diverse academic environment and interact with people with different backgrounds,” he says. “It was one of the best decisions I have made because it gave me a very rich experience.”
Upon graduation, he changed his line of specialization into transactional banking, extending into operations and technology, and joined Citi in Saudi Arabia, moving through several positions and geographic locales over his 23-year tenure to his current role.

A Diversity Champion

To Sultan, retaining a diverse talent pool makes business, economic and social sense. “It’s simply the right thing to do, but more than that, there is vital business and economic logic to it,” he says, mentioning a robust body of research that proves diversity contributes to a stronger business due to a better working environment and more informed decisions.
“The notion of diversity in a broader context has always resonated with me, but it’s even more compelling and convincing when you consider the business case,” he says.
Growing up, Sultan says his economist/banker father told him that he would be among the first generation in Pakistan to make the transition into an international environment, to live their lives in a global world. Along with that, he cautioned, would come the need to never pass a value judgment on someone who’s different, but to appreciate people for what they are and have a sense of inclusion.
“That lesson stayed with all of us, and that’s why I realize it’s an important mindset that managers need to have – the ability to value people for what they bring, rather than focusing on their shortcomings,” he says.

Valuing Differences

Sultan realized early on that you can’t confuse style with leadership. For example, somebody who is understated is merely exhibiting a different style and may well be an equally effective leader as someone who is more dimensional and extroverted.
“As managers we have to condition ourselves to develop an appreciation for different kinds of leaders,” he says, even though he has seen that supervisors often subconsciously believe that everyone should converge toward one common style of management.
But, as he points out, if you do that, why do you need diversity? As Citi has evolved rapidly in regards to this dimension he says that awareness has risen exponentially throughout the company. “Ever since I joined Citi, I have been participating in diversity discussions and how we should implement policies to make organizations more responsive to the notion of diversity.”

 

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Mover and Shaker: Christina Smedley, Brand and Communications Officer, PayPal

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Christina Smedley“The skills you need to navigate the corporate world are ‘earned,’ not ‘learned,’” says PayPal’s Christina Smedley, who is quick to clarify that doesn’t mean that newer professionals don’t offer value to add. She believes that you have to find ideas from anyone around you and cites her experience with creative interns as an excellent example. “Ideas come from everywhere but some skill sets take time to learn.”

Born in Jamaica, Smedley grew up in England and had her first job on a factory line, where one of her tasks — inspecting clear shampoo bottles for flaws – provided her first entrée to the importance of quality control and paying attention to details.

Prior to joining PayPal, Smedley worked for Edelman, where she was global chair of consumer marketing which entailed telling stories for big brands. One of her many initiatives during that time was helming Dove’s award-winning “Real Beauty” campaign where she helped change the way that people look at beauty — an important crusade both professionally and personally, as she has a teenager daughter. Prior to that, she handled worldwide communications for Amazon, helping change the way people would shop during a time when most people had never even heard of the website or the concept of online retail.

In her current role at PayPal, she is responsible for communications and marketing for global consumers and making sure the company is connecting them with tools to move money more simply.

“Money is such an intrinsic part of life, and it is changing faster in the next three years than it has in the past 20 years,” she says. “It’s exciting to be part of that narrative, and it’s why I’m passionate about what I do.”

At PayPal one of her roles has been to unify the brand globally including rebuilding the website and launching a new brand image; previously, due to its meteoric growth, the brand looked different in Australia than in Germany, for example.

And that’s what keeps her inspired in her day-to-day work: the opportunity she sees ahead to make it simple for people to move their money and provide a secure, effective double-sided network for merchants.

Sponsors and Mentors Play Valuable Roles

During her career ascension, Smedley has benefited from both sponsors and mentors and sees a role for both. Her trusted mentors have been people with whom she can share dreams and aspirations, but her sponsors have been those who have pushed her in ways she didn’t even think she was ready for.

“A sponsor might put you forward for a stretch assignment you hadn’t considered or a promotion you weren’t even asking for. Women tend not to put themselves out there, but you have to push yourself even if you think you aren’t ready; just take that deep breath, jump in, and ask for feedback.”

Along the way she has worked with women whom she says have left an indelible mark as mentors, and she’s also able to find qualities she’d like to emulate throughout different business units within PayPal. For example, she feels inspired by the customer service team, who can ably handle tough moments and respond positively under pressure.

Continuous Learning

She acknowledges that it’s as important to have a pause in your career as it is to drive forward, though assuming that philosophy can be challenging for individuals who are focused on advancement.

“We have so many influences and when you’re in the middle of a dynamic industry, it’s sometimes challenging to just stop for a moment and assess what we’re trying to do as a team, but that’s when you’re learning nuances and skills.” She says that she underscores that concept to those she mentors – that doing the same job for a period of time allows to you to hone the craftsmanship that will ultimately make you a better professional.

Smedley actively supports PayPal’s Women’s Initiative, a company-wide initiative that enables women throughout the organization to advance their careers through conferences, networking and continuous learning.

Smedley says she loves to travel and has brought that drive to her family, including her 16-year-old twins. In addition, Smedley is passionate about literacy and supports programs that advance the skills in her native Jamaica, since she has seen the impact that learning and reading can have on communities. “It’s vital to me to look after my homeland,” she says.

By Cathie Ericson

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Voice Of Experience: Pam Dunsky, Managing Director, Client Services Technology at TIAA-CREF

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Pamela Dunsky“In today’s business of constantly adapting to keep pace with the rapid growth of digital technology you have to stay centered to be successful on this dynamic journey called a career. With all of the different twists that you encounter over the course of your career, there’s a lot that can throw you off track,” says Pam Dunsky, Managing Director at TIAA-CREF.

Dunsky knows that keeping centered in thoughts, energy and mood is an important discipline to find both in work and in day to day life.While for some this may be achieved through yoga, meditation, the gym, or music, for her being centered has come through her training in martial arts. Dunsky elaborates, “Tying together my personal passion, with my business life, has allowed me to use my training to keep perspective and balance dealing with it all— both personally and professionally.”

Trained in martial arts for more than 20 years, Dunsky travels regularly to Japan, and she and her husband own their own school where she teaches and trains. She enjoys the physical aspects but also the discipline and value of lifelong learning. Dunsky sees many parallels between martial arts and the business world, and uses that thinking to strategize and help others navigate the day.

Starting Out Strong

Prior to delving into the martial arts, Dunsky graduated from the University of Dayton with a degree in computer science. This led to her first position as an intern with Mead Data Central (now LexisNexis). The company was such a good fit that she worked there three different times as it grew from 300 employees to 4500, and alternated stints with AT&T in the interim – flexibility was crucial at that time as her husband completed medical school.

Dunsky had a well-rounded early career, moving across all technology delivery groups with positions including: development, project management, management of software delivery, applied research, infrastructure and data systems. Additionally, she acquired experience in a diverse set of industries including electronic publishing, telecommunications and financial services. Landing in financial services with Fidelity Investments in 2001, Dunsky joined TIAA-CREF in 2011 because she loved the firm’s values, and its commitment to its clients’ financial well-being to and through retirement.

Overseeing a Transformation

Since joining TIAA-CREF, Dunsky has taken on a challenging role as a transformative leader, and was recently promoted to the IT Leadership team. With over 800 staff members in her organization, she is excited about spearheading the expansive efforts to transform the firm’s operating model in the retirement space. “We are making great progress with this effort.Transformation requires a focus on customers and a strong collaboration between business and IT when it comes to envisioning, planning, designing and executing the type of changes that impact across the entire organization.Change is hard and it takes leadership at many levels every day to make it happen,” she says.

Dunsky has been focusing on process leadership, change management and agile delivery models.She recognizes that this is a constant learning process, but knows that collaboration, strategic thinking and pragmatic customer-centric actions will keep her team on the right path. What we need to deliver through technology is rapidly changing, but so are the ways we work.And women have unique and very effective skills to bring to many of the emerging models.

Advice from the Top

Dunsky does not shy away from a change or challenge at work, nor does she overlook the importance of building networks and having coaches and mentors. “Over the course of time you get a full appreciation of the importance of a diverse network and building relationships with people from whom you can gain continual support and dialogue over a long career.”

She urges women not to sell themselves short, but to always be ready and prepared to go after opportunities, even before they arise. “While you may not be clear on what’s the next best step, being open to lots of possibilities and in dialogue with leaders around the organization to make sure your talents, contributions and interests are known really helps,” she says. “The best opportunities come from people making the connection to you when they hear of projects or positions that make them think of you, but they have to know you and know your capability and brand for that to happen.”

Women Make it Happen

Smart companies embrace women in technology, believes Dunsky. “We bring valuable, diverse perspectives. We are highly organized. We are able to lead, collaborate and deliver in all aspects of design and execution.”

Dunsky has been involved in TIAA-CREF’s IT women’s network, as well as in its Women’s Employee Resource Group (ERG), for which she is starting a new chapter in New Jersey. Both organizations have shown the ability to drive tremendous engagement and forward the development of women in business and technology. Dunsky also devotes significant time to mentoring and coaching other women in the organization. She recently participated in the kickoff event for a group mentoring program to share experiences and to encourage other women to join take advantage of mentoring opportunities.

“We have to continue to find and leverage talented women in technology. The number of women coming into IT from universities has been declining, but there are more diverse roles in and around technology in the digital age than ever before.IT has been a tremendous career opportunity with challenging work and extremely bright and capable colleagues.

“Lean In discussions over the past few years have done a lot to reenergize the conversation of women — for clarifying their ambitions and seeing all the opportunities around them.We have so much to offer to the company and to each other in our unique journeys and that is one of the things I love about my work every day,” Dunsky says.

For growth of women in technology to continue, she sees a serious need to engage with schools and support programs to encourage technology as a possibility for young women.Young women are often entrepreneurial, confident and not afraid to try new things.Helping them get their start can be rewarding for both parties.

Dunsky is optimistic about the opportunities for both young females, and herself, in the evolving world of technology.

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Voice of Experience: Leah Guggenheimer, Director at Burford Capital

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Leah Guggenheimer“You can always recover from being wrong if you have enough of a track record of overall success, but you can’t recover from no track record at all,” says Leah Guggenheimer, a director at Burford Capital. She recommends that professionals get outside of their heads and jump into discussions, believing that if you do it often enough, you’ll have enough opportunities to be right that it won’t matter if you miss occasionally.

This viewpoint has been honed over the many career paths that Guggenheimer has taken as a master of reinvention. “My unusual career path might appear random, but there actually was a method in place,” she says.“I curated each job to build on my proven skill sets and find new experiences.”

Guggenheimer began her career as an attorney, where she represented plaintiffs in employment and consumer fraud class actions – work that she eventually found tedious, due to the slow pace with which anything was accomplished. She wanted to transition to a new career, and with the realization that it was up to her to explain her transferrable skills, she was able to parlay marketing work she’d done on her firm’s website into a position in marketing and business development at a 100-person intellectual property firm.

Her aptitude became clear as she worked on a large technology and business transformation project, which put her on a career path in business process and operations management. Subsequent positions introduced her to all aspects of change management, from learning how to assess a business from top to bottom, to managing people and performance, budgets and profitability.
Those skills allowed her to open her own consulting practice, specializing in what she calls “punchy consulting projects” designed for a quick burst of operational growth. “It’s rewarding to come in and be the objective outsider, helping businesses grow by showing them what they can build on and how they can change.”

It all came together in her current role, which bridges both her legal background and her investment operations expertise. Burford Capital is a global finance and professional services firm focused on law, investing in commercial litigation assets via expense funding, monetizing of contingency arrangements, securitized debt facilities linked to legal claims, litigation-related insurance and judgment enforcement.After six years of rapid growth, Burford Capital needed someone who really understood both operations and complex litigation to help them grow and scale their business processes, and Guggenheimer had the perfect background to take on the challenge.

Make Your Own Way

Guggenheimer’s career trajectory is proof of the wide variety of professional paths that can be pursued for a rewarding career. “I would advise people to first figure out their strengths and what they like to do and then look for jobs that leverage those capabilities. Don’t get caught up on job titles or prestige,” she said. “Your core capabilities should dictate how you design your career.”

She also advises women not to feel pigeonholed: their skills are likely transferrable and they become even more professionally attractive by evolving their expertise. She herself was nervous when considering leaving law, but asked herself what was the worst that could happen. “If I didn’t succeed, I still would have learned something useful, and with every skill you develop, it’s that much easier to shape the roles that fit you and offer what you need to be challenged and interested.”

Stick With It

Guggenheimer’s career has been spent exclusively in law and finance, traditionally male-dominated industries. One barrier for women she has frequently seen is that they don’t have the confidence to speak out. Studies suggest that whereas a man only needs to feel 10 percent confident in what he is saying, a woman might need 80 percent confidence.

“This becomes a major issue in an industry where confidence in the face of risk is crucial to success. It’s imperative that women cultivate the confidence to believe in their inner voice.”

Recently Guggenheimer attended a roundtable for professional women with young children, some of whom were lamenting the difficulty of sustaining challenging careers and wondering if they should scale back. Her advice to anyone feeling like they want to quit is to stay with it a little longer. “You’re going to feel overwhelmed at first. But what feels insurmountable at first blush will get that much easier as you establish systems and routines.”

Over the years she has developed a core group of women to help support her own career, called “Ladies who Sup,” a nod to the fact that they were working so couldn’t have lunches together. The community was formed around where she lives, in New Rochelle, N.Y., rather than where she works. “It was a gift to have this community of working women who lived in my neighborhood and could provide the resources and community support we all needed,” she says. “Meeting for dinner was a great way to network and build friend relationships with others who shared the challenges of being working moms.”

Guggenheimer has a passion for travel, a bug she caught during a gap year after college and before law school when she backpacked around Asia. She loves to hike and SCUBA dive, preferring places where she can go off the beaten path to really get away and unplug. Her love of other cultures is evident in her philanthropic pursuits as well: for the last five years, she has volunteered for AFS, a leader in educational exchange programs for high school students, as a liaison as well as a host family for an exchange student from Thailand.

“The world is wide and is meant to be explored.”

By Cathie Ericson

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Voice of Experience: Kristen Garry, Tax partner at Shearman & Sterling LLP

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Kristen GarryKristen Garry will always remember the advice she received while interviewing for an associate position at Shearman & Sterling LLP.

“Do something you enjoy because you’re going to be spending a lot of time at it, and do it with a group of people that you’ll enjoy being with,” advised a firm partner.

Today, Garry, a tax partner in Shearman & Sterling’s Washington, D.C. office, is still enjoying her work and her time with fellow lawyers at the firm and her clients.

Unlike many successful professionals who take a bit of time to find their way, Garry’s path to becoming a tax partner was more of a straight line:She majored in government in her undergraduate studies at Cornell University, with an eye on law school, and gained exposure to the tax field before choosing NYU’s law school, top-ranked for tax, where she subsequently earned her LL.M. in Taxation.

After clerking for Judge James Halpern in the U.S. Tax Court, she decided to stay in Washington, D.C. and join Shearman & Sterling at a time when there were no women in the tax department in D.C. – though she was soon joined by another. She became a partner in 2008, an achievement she is particularly proud of since the firm has been such a perfect fit for her.

Always a New Challenge

Garry concentrates on both transactional and planning work, helping clients with IRS audits and appeals as well as with matters at the U.S. Tax Court. She recently had a victory on a highly technical issue where auditors had proposed significant adjustments – to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars – and she and her team were able to prove to the IRS that the client was 100 percent correct on the law.

On a policy front, the team is busy advising clients, including helping to interpret sparse IRS guidance in certain areas that continue to present challenging situations to clients.There is always ambiguity in the law, and tax law is no exception.As a result, the firm’s clients – both in the U.S. and globally – often struggle with tax rules that might be old or outdated and look to Garry and her colleagues for guidance.“You want to be able to offer your clients some level of comfort in a scenario that’s not cookie cutter, especially with respect to financial products,” she says.

Earning the Recognition You Deserve

Garry advises young women who are starting out to remember that they often need to advocate for themselves.“It took me a while to realize it was OK to self-promote.I would know that I had done a great job, but then I realized I had to advocate for myself.You can’t always let your actions speak for themselves,” she says.

And, she emphasizes that careers are more apt to flourish when women are doing what they enjoy, whether it’s through a practice group or industry focus. “You won’t work as hard if you’re not enjoying it,” she says, “and if you’re only putting in the bare minimum, you’re not going to be as successful.”

Maintaining a Pipeline for Women

Since there are few women in tax at Shearman & Sterling and, generally speaking, in law, Garry has appreciated an outside informal tax study group where tax professionals meet to discuss financial products.“It’s an interesting group of men and women from both law and accounting firms,” she says.“It’s encouraging to see other women who have succeeded in the tax field.”

Garry has noticed that the numbers of women in senior leadership positions in law seem to dwindle as they climb the career ladder.“I look around and wonder why we aren’t better represented,” she says.She notes that while law school classes are roughly half women, only about 20 percent of partners in big law are women.She encourages her peers to join her in letting women associates know that it is possible and there is a path to partner if they want it.

At Shearman & Sterling, she has been active in the firm’s women’s inclusion network – WISER (Women’s Initiative for Success, Excellence and Retention) – since it formed nine years ago.Garry has also played an integral role in the Women Partners’ Initiative, which has steadily gained momentum over the past few years.At the firm’s annual partners retreat, for example, the Women Partners’ Initiative has evolved from a fledgling add-on session to become its own event as a mainstay of the larger partner gathering.

Two years ago the women partners held their first separate formal business session to define key objectives where the group could accomplish the most positive change.Now the program includes sessions focused on business development initiatives to learn more about each other’s practices, which creates the opportunity for cross selling and referrals.At the last meeting this past January, noted leadership expert Dr. Arin Reeves of Nextions discussed unconscious bias.Her presentation, which was open to both men and women partners, focused on how to be aware of the issue and overcome it when it comes into play.Garry is currently working on securing another compelling speaker for the upcoming meeting, which will take place in January in Florida.

Away from the office, Garry has found golf to be a wonderful way to unwind – and also an important outlet for networking. She first started playing when a tax client she represented was invited to a golf outing hosted by Shearman & Sterling.

“I did so much work for and with this client that I realized it was important to go, and I didn’t want to sit on the sidelines,” she says, adding that was the spark that first led her to pursue the game.

As she has gotten more adept at the game, she finds it to be a good way to relax and spend time outdoors.“Golf offers a great way to spend time with clients,” she says. “But social and business benefits aside, I am competitive and always want to improve.As all golfers like to say, I’m getting better!”

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Voice of Experience: Laura Martinez, PwC US Assurance Diversity Leader

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Laura MartinezOne of the best pieces of advice that PwC Partner Laura Martinez heard early on has carried throughout her career: how important it is to engage with as many people as possible. “Early in your career those people are peers, managers, mentors and coaches, and you need to build relationships and be open to their coaching and guidance,” she says. “You’d be surprised how many people are willing to help you if you just reach out.”

Martinez has spent 25 years at PwC, specializing in serving registered investment companies, investment partnerships, hedge funds and private investment advisors. Most recently she served as the San Francisco Financial Services market team leader. When she first started her career there, becoming a partner wasn’t yet on her radar. “I’ve had great mentors during my whole career, and as my seniority has increased, so have my goals. When I first started, most of my mentors were managers and senior managers, but as they became partners, I was able to hear more about that track and my interest developed.”

Named partner in 2004, she credits that as her most important professional achievement, but adds that now she has the opportunity to help support others through the process, which she finds extremely rewarding. She encourages senior women never to underestimate the important role of serving as a mentor and support for younger women.

Diversity Always a Focus

Involved in diversity initiatives from the beginning of her career, Martinez was recently named as the diversity leader for PWCs US Assurance practice, the largest audit and risk assurance practice in the United States. She’s proud of this new role where she can devote time to thinking about diversity inclusion and how she can help shape and lead diversity initiatives. “It’s key to engage all levels in the firm, from our partners down to our youngest professionals, to get them interested and involved in driving sustainable impact.”

She sees her role in talent management and cultivating a diverse workforce at all levels as vital to the firm’s overall strategy, as well as being an area in which she and PwC can provide guidance to clients who are also dealing with similar issues.

Reminiscent of her advice to build a network is her belief that it should include people who are not exactly like you. “We often search for mentors who are just like us or what we think we want to be, but that means we can miss out on learning from some great individuals who may appear to be very different,” she says. “That’s the beauty of a diverse and inclusive work force – valuing the differences will make you a better professional.”

Women as Part of Diversity Initiatives

Martinez is proud of PwC’s culture that supports women and diverse professionals and helps them succeed.

In fact, she believes that some of the challenges women face are about trade-offs. “Every professional has to make sacrifices, but women have a harder time reconciling those choices,” she says. “We struggle with them and place a bigger burden on ourselves, especially when women explore having a family and a meaningful career,” Martinez says, adding that women can overthink opportunities and worry about failure and the impact of our trade-offs first.

And that’s why she encourages women to realize that they have limitless opportunities and they must be fearless about looking for them and taking advantage of resources firms offer to help them develop the skills and the network that will further a career. Whether women are at a junior or senior level, she sees that there is always an opportunity to grow and improve.

She attributes much of her success to the fact that she has always taken advantage of the resources offered, including those for gender and ethnic diversity, which have enhanced her skills and helped her develop into a better professional.

Over the years she has seen the offerings evolve to be more relevant to women’s needs as they also evolve, mirroring the changes in Corporate America through Lean In initiatives and other conversations about developing more diverse and female leaders, as well as gender equality. “We’re highly focused now on sponsorship, enabling early career success and career flexibility, all the while working to come to a better understanding for why such a gap exists among women leaders in Corporate America.”

She cites the “He for She campaign,” which supports PwC’s drive to not only be visible out in the marketplace but encourages people internally to support these causes.

Multi-Tasking in Her Free Time

To make the most of her off hours, Martinez participates in hobbies she enjoys that her whole family can do together – whether it’s golf, movies or travel.

Philanthropy is important to her – she has led PwC’s national recruiting efforts at her alma mater, University of California at Berkeley. And, even in her charitable endeavors she does double duty. “I love to partner on community service efforts with my team and my clients,” she says. “I can engage with my colleagues while giving back to the community and having a whole lot of fun in the process.”

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Voice of Experience: Jacqueline Lawand, Vice President and Senior Real Estate Portfolio Manager, Voya

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Jacqueline lawand“When hard work and results aren’t recognized by others, which will sometimes happen, you have to advocate for yourself.”

That is the lesson Jacqueline Lawand has learned during her rise at Voya, where she is proud of the fact that she has been able to drive business, and exceed goals, no matter what geographic area she was assigned or their subsequent challenges.

Describing her career path as largely linear, Lawand earned a double major in finance and real estate, completing three internships in the field during her college years. An active member of the Finance Management Association and Real Estate Society groups at her college, she first became familiar with Voya, previously known as ING U.S. Investment Management, during a joint field trip in her senior year. After meeting with the management team, she stayed in touch and ultimately joined the firm right out of college as an analyst.

For the past 11 years she has worked her way up through four different positions, to the one she holds now as vice president and senior real estate portfolio manager.

Along the way she has taken on international assignments, twice spending two weeks in Santiago, Chile which she believes helped pave her way to her current role. Fluent in Spanish, Lawand spent part of her childhood in Honduras, which offered her an international perspective she appreciated exploring through those assignments.

She also earned her MBA at the University of Georgia while working, part of her goal to make herself more valuable to the company. “One key path to success is to recognize your gaps and weaknesses, as well as those in your company, and seize the opportunity to grow and advance by filling those gaps.”

Lean In, Be Yourself to Succeed

One lesson she wishes she had learned earlier in her career is the importance of “leaning in.”

“I wish I hadn’t pulled back but had developed the confidence earlier to volunteer for challenging projects, knowing that I was equipped to handle the curve balls along the way.”

Lawand says that one of the keys to her success has been the sponsors both within and outside the company that have wielded influence and helped her become better established both at Voya and within the industry as a whole.

“It always came to me as a surprise when someone would say, ‘I’ve heard great things about you,’ when I wasn’t even aware someone was advocating on my behalf.”

She also credits robust programs at Voya that foster women leaders with training programs and initiatives and mentoring opportunities.

Both a mentor and mentee, she has found them key for learning new perspectives. “I would definitely recommend that others participate in mentoring programs, whether formal or informal, as the benefits are well worth the time invested.”

Describing the real estate industry as “still very much  predominantly a man’s world,” Lawand says she initially tried to be “one of the guys,” but realized that wasn’t sustainable. “I started to be more authentic and transparent and, as a result, was able to forge better relationships and earn credibility. Being ‘you’ can really help your career.”

Finding Balance

As a new mom, Lawand is learning the challenge of juggling a growing family with a prospering career. “I want it all, but it requires balance, which has been a learning experience for me,” she says, adding that her husband is a good advocate. “He believes in a collaborative approach at home which helps me manage career and family life.”

She and her husband run half marathons together and also enjoy traveling. They have visited South Africa and much of Europe and South America, and the family recently took a trip to Alaska.

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