Voice of Experience: Stephanie Smith, Managing Director, Global Head Credit Operations, Goldman Sachs

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Stephanie SmithCuriosity and a willingness to say “yes” have been the driving forces behind Stephanie Smith’s successful career in the hypercompetitive Wall Street environment.

Smith joined Goldman Sachs in July 1999 at the height of the dot-com boom. Though her background was in marketing, she was drawn in by the interesting work that Goldman was doing in e-commerce and spent five years developing strategy for the business. Then, in 2004, she leveraged the many internal relationships she had formed through networking to pursue a new opportunity in the firm’s Operations Division.

While Operations was not necessarily an expected career change, she was immensely curious about the space. Smith was offered an opportunity to join the Client Onboarding team, which is responsible for creating new accounts for clients across all products traded by the firm. “I was quickly catapulted from being a team member working on projects to leading a team of 20,” she recalls. “I was out of my comfort zone, but loving every minute of it!”

Her next “yes” was to the Credit Operations group. “Again, I had no background in this specific industry but was curious about the product and the business. I realized that even if I didn’t have direct experience, I was highly motivated to learn and excited to dive into the opportunity to try something new,” Smith says. “Ultimately I felt supported by the firm that if it didn’t work out, they would redeploy me. Trying something new was 50% fun and 50% challenge.” She soon rose from her initial regional oversight to managing the global team of over 400 people.

In her current role, Smith is excited to be constantly challenged to learn new regulatory rules, partner with her peers and team to develop implementation strategies and develop ideas that will build operational efficiency in the support of fixed income and derivative products.

She relishes a role that enables her to think strategically about issues such as how the firm should build its technological architecture, what consortiums it should join, and what its response should be to proposed rule changes. “We are working with industry partners and leaders internally on how to scale this business and what technological infrastructures we should put in place to help us in the future.”

She says that many of the current changes are driven by the changing regulatory environment and also because of client demand. “Our clients are looking for more creative ways of generating and preserving revenue, and at Goldman Sachs we continually challenge ourselves to develop solutions that meet their needs.”

Just Say Yes

Smith’s advice, especially for women, is simple. “You have to take a chance and speak up, ask questions and expand your network.” Smith says women have a tendency to opt themselves out – after achieving academic success in school, they tend to withdraw when surrounded by a team of smart people. This manifests itself in staying quiet if you don’t have the perfect answer or know 100 percent about a product or solution.

“I was guilty of opting out early in my career, but by working with mentors over the years I’ve learned that we’re all just trying to figure it out,” Smith says. “The beauty of success is harnessing the power of the team — I bring something to the table, you bring something and collectively we develop an answer.”

And that is the advice she believes young women need to hear as they start their career: to jump in with both feet; take risks; and say yes.

“Even when I didn’t know all the details of what I was asked to do, I trusted my managers and said yes, in spite of the butterflies in my stomach. It wasn’t always easy, but it was always worth it.”

This “yes” mentality, combined with her curiosity, is what has led Smith up the ladder.

Along the way, she has learned valuable lessons about perspective and pivoting. Each success and setback is part of a broader journey and should not be evaluated in isolation.
Smith acknowledges she had roles in which she performed well but didn’t feel sufficiently motivated. However, she notes, “I learned something through every experience that led me to my next step, whether it was because I met new and interesting people or learned about a new line of business.”

She says she is most proud of her opportunity and ability to change course in her career. Smith remarks, “I joined the firm in the Securities Division headed in one path, then pivoted to Operations where I was heading down the path of being a strategic individual contributor, and then I pivoted again to management. That’s the beauty of Goldman Sachs — it doesn’t matter where you start, you have the ability to remake yourself multiple times throughout your career.”

Mentoring Emerging Leaders

Smith is active in the firm’s Emerging Leaders Program, which identifies up-and-coming diverse leaders within the firm and offers a network where they can receive coaching and establish informal and formal mentoring relationships.

While she is now able to speak about successfully navigating the firm, she didn’t arrive understanding the rules of the road, some of which she attributes to her background as a first generation immigrant.

“I didn’t know what to expect or how to navigate Wall Street,” she says, adding that although she worked extremely hard during her first couple of years and achieved success, her exposure and impact were limited because she kept her head down. “I assumed that if I worked hard, someone would recognize me, but it wasn’t until one of my managers challenged me to be more vocal and develop my network that my career took off.”

Smith is sure to share her advice across the spectrum of diversity found at Goldman Sachs, be it racial, gender, sexual orientation or cultural. “By celebrating our diversity, we create a more cohesive firm that makes us more effective in our day jobs.”

Goldman Sachs also values diversity outside of work. The firm sponsors and partners with several successful organizations that promote the development of diverse talent. Smith currently serves on the board of one such organization, Council of Urban Professionals (CUP). Founded in 2007, this non-profit’s mission is to connect, empower and mobilize the next generation of diverse business and civic leaders in financial services, legal, media, entertainment and both non-profit and public sectors.

“I love CUP because it allows us to supplement our leadership development as a firm. We can create networks and informal connections between Goldman Sachs professionals and our peers in the industry.”

Outside of work, Smith spends time with her husband and two sons, whom she says keep her grounded and focused.

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Men Who Get It: Justin Gmelich, Global Head of Credit Trading, Management Committee Member; Goldman Sachs

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Gmelich Justin“Embracing diversity is like a subway car — it should run underneath everything you do.” Justin Gmelich, who has been with Goldman Sachs for 17 years and was named partner in 2004, practices what he preaches bringing his devotion to diversity to both the workplace and to his family and life experiences.

The father of six, including four daughters, Gmelich is intimately familiar with the dynamics of diversity. He understands the opportunities and challenges ahead for his own daughters in the workplace, drawing from his personal experience and the insight from his wife, a former mortgage bond trader, and sister, who also works on Wall Street.

“This awareness definitely weighs on how I think about the world and what I’d like to see happen on Wall Street in general, and at Goldman Sachs in particular,” Gmelich says.

“Building a better framework to get the most out of the organization requires a different viewpoint around diversity. I’m keenly aware of the dynamics at Goldman and committed to working to bolster our culture and atmosphere to allow all our people to succeed.”

Starting Them Young

As part of Gmelich’s passion for education, he and his wife have invested both time and energy in creating the next generation of leaders.

They developed a scholarship program in their son’s name to fund private education for at-risk kids through high school. The program has resulted in more than three dozen graduates around the country.
These philanthropic endeavors migrated into the development of a need-blind STEM high school, Trinity Hall in Monmouth, N.J. Their oldest daughter, a sophomore, is part of the inaugural class.

Gmelich says that the goal of the high school is to change the way our society teaches girls about their job opportunities. “There’s some cultural bias that steers young women away from rigorous quantitative career paths,” he says, adding that Trinity Hall focuses on coding, physics, math and other skills needed to succeed in STEM careers.

Mentoring at Work

This allegiance to raising up the next generation of successful women is complemented by his current work at Goldman Sachs. “I wear the hat at work and at home,” he says.

To that end, he is active in a program at Goldman Sachs called the Women’s Trader Initiative, which he says is meant to demystify the trading function, as well as provide support and sponsorship for women traders in a department where there are fewer female role models.

He says that his goal as a mentor is to be involved in people’s careers by acting as a sounding board. “The best traders are those who can learn from other people — if you’re an effective mentor, you’re trying to prevent your mentees from making the same mistakes you might have made. I think it creates empathy when you share your own war stories of how best to navigate the job.”

Over the years Gmelich has found that one secret to career success is to embrace the tough conversations and seek appropriate feedback. “Many of the most successful people in the organization are the ones who want to spend 55 minutes of a 60 minute feedback session knowing what they can do better. That’s what makes people grow and develop.”

He says that it’s the obligation of mentors to offer that feedback through the lens of constructive criticism. “We can disagree but we don’t have to be disagreeable.”

Gmelich knows that the best way for leaders to advance those conversations is to underscore the importance of communication and accessibility “You have to use the type of mitigating language that lets people know they can speak their mind, by setting up a communication system where people are comfortable coming to you early and often.”

One way to nurture that feeling of trust is for leaders to show vulnerability and empathy, so that colleagues can see that even if he has a senior role, he’s overcome challenges in his career like anyone else.

“There’s a lot of humanity around that,” he says. “Empathy really matters and whether the recipient agrees with your perception or not, they appreciate that you are trying to give visibility to their career – someone is thinking about how to help them succeed.”

Diversity Must Be Omnipresent

Gmelich doesn’t believe in the common perception that the benefit of diversity advocacy goes to those who receive it. “We mistake the beneficiary,” he says. “With socioeconomic leveling I believe those who benefit equally are those who are getting the exposure to different viewpoints when we open the door.”

He says that when you look around Goldman Sachs, the decision-making process is strengthened when diverse groups actively participate and bring new approaches and perspectives to solving traditional problems. “It’s critical for any organization to realize that.”

As Gmelich demonstrates through his personal and professional life, diversity isn’t a switch you can flip on and off. “You have to practice what you preach in every aspect of your life.”

He advocates that those who want to expand their world spend time volunteering, whether at a high school or another non-profit that speaks to them.

“The more you do it, the better you get,” he says. “When I think about the interplay between my diversity work at Goldman Sachs and my philanthropic endeavors, you could say I’m a believer, both on and off the job.”

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Mover & Shaker, Gina Love, Counsel at Shearman & Sterling LLP

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Gina LoveMore than 10 years ago, while attending the annual convention of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), Gina Love realized that few people attending looked like her.

“I literally started counting people of color – especially women of color,” recalls Love, a counsel at global law firm Shearman & Sterling. Of those she met, several were from New York, so Love and her new acquaintances came up with the idea of organizing a get-together of people with diverse backgrounds as a networking opportunity when they returned to convention the following year. Their outreach was decidedly grassroots – emailing people they knew and handing out fliers — so they were stunned that word had spread so fast that they were joined by nearly 200 people.

“We knew we were on to something so I started organizing it as an unofficial event at ICSC every year, securing sponsors, inviting speakers and raising money,” says Love, adding that Shearman & Sterling has been unequivocally supportive over the years. For 11 years, Love kept the event afloat on her own time, which though laborious was extremely rewarding. “It’s amazing to see the room clogged with people, many of them telling me that they come to ICSC’s convention primarily for this event,” she says. Eventually, though, she realized the reception needed to be self-sustaining, and ICSC agreed to officially take it over.

Today, the ICSC’s Diversity Reception is attended by anywhere from 600-850 people and has a long list of impressive financial sponsors and speakers from throughout the real estate industry. At the 2014 event, the ICSC announced the creation two scholarships: the “Retail Real Estate Diversity Scholarship” to offer tuition assistance to graduate students entering the retail and real estate industries; and the “Love Scholarship for Diversity,” named in Love’s honor to offer tuition assistance to sophomore, junior and senior university students belonging to an underrepresented minority group. “The whole thing started so innocently, and it was amazing to watch how it grew,” Love says. “It was really wonderful to see that my decade of work to increase diversity in the real estate industry was honored and appreciated by the leadership of ICSC, and I am delighted the legacy will go on.”

Real Estate Roots

Love chose a career in law because she felt it offered a way for her to showcase her strengths in writing and research. She preferred the business-oriented classes during law school and though she did a rotation in litigation, Love gravitated toward a specialization in real estate. Her family had built a background in various facets of real estate – from her aunt who was a broker and real estate investor to her grandfather who had built a residential development and construction company in Jamaica, W. I. , where she is from – so it was an industry with which she was quite familiar. And she has not been disappointed by her expectations of a career in law. Ever since her initial stint as a summer associate, she viewed the field of law as one with multiple challenges, but also extremely rewarding moments.

Recently, Love experienced one of those moments when she helped close a key phase of a complex international deal she had been working on with her Shearman & Sterling counterparts in Germany, along with Mexican counsel. “There were cultural differences to navigate but we had a solid team and it was very satisfying work,” she says. “That kind of international transaction is a real focus for me and for our firm.”

That is part of the appeal of the real estate specialization for Love – the constant diversity. For example, she is also representing a high-end luxury fashion client that recently received a significant influx of capital and is opening stores around the US.

“One of the reasons I really like real estate is because I feel as though it’s one of the only segments of law where you can see the creative result of your work,” she explains. “Real estate attorneys in New York can walk around this city and see visible, tangible signs of what he or she has accomplished — We aren’t the architects or the developers, but as lawyers, we do a lot of the ‘behind-the-scenes’ work to make it happen. Sometimes law is hard to explain to others, and I find the real estate specialty to be one of the few where you can really show people something you had a hand in creating.”

Mentors Helped Her Succeed

Love knows that mentors and sponsors have had a major impact on her career. At her former firm, Nixon Peabody, she knew of at least four partners in the real estate practice area whom she said were extremely supportive of her career from the beginning. “I would say that they really guided, guarded and watched over my career,” she recalls fondly.
Now, she has mentors both inside and outside Shearman & Sterling. At Shearman & Sterling, she says she has been guided and supported by real estate practice leader Chris Smith, who has been particularly helpful in the areas of networking, developing client relationships and deal work.

She also has an ongoing mentor relationship with a former colleague at Nixon Peabody, Elizabeth Moore, who is now General Counsel at Consolidated Edison. She says, “We were drawn to each other because she also has Caribbean roots, and we just related really well. It’s fascinating to talk with her about the different facets of her career, since she has had so many completely different roles. She was in State government then became a labor and employment law partner before becoming the GC of Con Ed. We talk frequently about how to deal with specific professional situations, but also just in general how life is going. Our relationship has been very valuable.”

A Clear Plan for Growth

When Love reflects on the qualities that have set her up for success, her method is simple but effective. “I set my goals, chart my plan and start working toward it,” she says, noting that it’s imperative to have multiple plans of action to address eventualities that might come up. She says this approach is something she learned from her father, her biggest role model, who worked as a chemical engineer but also earned a business degree. “You have to adjust periodically to what isn’t working anymore and take personal responsibility for what you do.,” she says. “The road might not always be smooth, but you can get there with a clear but flexible plan.”

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Men Who Get It: Larry Hughes, CEO BNY Mellon Wealth Management

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By Cathie EricsonLarry Hughes

Larry Hughes “gets it” for many reasons: he knows what it’s like to come from a “diverse” background, since he himself comes from a blue-collar upbringing – not what one might expect from the CEO of a wealth management business. Additionally, he has an ambitious 29-year-old daughter who is much like the up-and-coming women he works with around the globe. But most of all, he “gets it” because a diverse and inclusive workforce makes good business sense.

Hughes has been at BNY Mellon Wealth Management for almost 24 years, holding eight different roles over the years.

And throughout his tenure he has actively championed the business case for diversity. As committee chair of BNY Mellon’s Wealth Management diversity and inclusion committee, he saw the diversity agenda as more than just gender, race, age or religion – he believes it also encompasses social status diversity, a viewpoint he holds due to his background growing up in inner city Boston. The son of a truck driver father and waitress mother, Hughes knows what it’s like to forge his own path. He has held a job every day of his life since he was 10, including working his way through college and his MBA program.

“I value people who are self-made and come from all walks of life; in fact, I consider it an advantage that I didn’t have a privileged upbringing. I had the opportunity to learn so much working my way through school, earning practical expertise that some others may not have.”

Championing Women Formally and Informally

Although he holds an inclusive view of diversity and inclusion, Hughes nonetheless has been a tireless advocate specifically for women’s advancement across the enterprise. He is a keen supporter of a variety of development programs that cover mentoring, rotational development, engagement, internships, career development and career advancement training through an initiative called “Career Talk,” where business leads hold national conference calls that address a wide range of topics focused on skills and capabilities development.

Hughes has mentored talented women over the years both through formal programs and also through informal interactions. “Just today I met with a Wealth Management colleague who worked her way up in the organization from when I hired her as an analyst years ago. I have taken an interest in her development and offer advice whenever I can,” he says. He stresses that each mentorship opportunity teaches him as well.

In fact, that is the goal behind the firm’s Reverse Mentoring program, where he recently spent a day experiencing the challenges of an associate level employee whom he recently spent the day shadowing.

He also holds periodic lunches with a group of a dozen or so relatively entry to mid-level employees, including many women, where he offers career advice, similar to that which he has given his own daughter over the years. “It’s common-sense advice, but, people love it when I share.”

Among the tips are: “Do anything it takes to get the job done; don’t let ego get in the way; working hard still matters – work a little harder than anyone else; and try to understand other people’s objectives and find common ground.”

“One of the most rewarding parts of my job is spending time with employees who are at an early stage in their career, and are so energizing and enthusiastic in a different way than others.”

He also has been a strong advocate for flexible work arrangements. “I am always considering how we can accommodate employees and provide for an inclusive environment,” he says, noting that the issue is important for both men and women, and extends beyond child care to other family care and any case where flexibility might be needed. This is particularly important within Hughes’ business, where the competitive Wealth Management landscape keeps him keenly focused on retaining talent.

Looking Past the Surface

Hughes acknowledges that he has many opportunities to act as a sponsor in his role, because he has the luxury and obligation to step out of the day-to-day viewpoint and look at the big picture. In addition to his role as CEO for Wealth Management, he is also the Chairman for BNY Mellon New England and this provides him the opportunity to influence and help set the tone across business lines and into the broader organization.

“My role is to consider factors like ‘What are we trying to achieve?’ ‘Why is it important?’ I can take the more strategic role as I look at promoting the people who will position our business for success.”

Many times that manifests itself as identifying a candidate who might lack one particular skill but offers leadership potential for the future. Hughes then can figure out how the company can provide resources to coach them around the skill they need to develop. And, at an enterprise level, it also manifests itself in the types of programs and initiatives he supports on behalf of BNY Mellon such as diversity forums and external networking events focused on the advancement of women in the workplace.

Leading by Example

Hughes knows that having a diverse team as direct reports is also crucial. The leaders attend a training program on overcoming unconscious bias and being open-minded about candidates and opportunities. He expects his management team to own and drive the diversity and inclusion agenda throughout their businesses in support of a workplace that attracts and retains diverse talent at every level of the enterprise to support clients globally as a great place to work.

“I make sure I have people on my management team who challenge me, every day,” he says, pointing to his own team which, for example, includes a CFO who is a female African American and is also among other senior women on his management team who bring diverse viewpoints and challenge him differently.

As he considers his leadership team, he notes that across all their regions, there are more women leading markets than men. “If we don’t have a strong and capable group of women in key positions, we can’t be successful in the business,” he says. “Promoting diversity will feed on itself, as more senior women and people with diverse backgrounds become mentors to others who can then see the path ahead.”

Hughes seizes the opportunity to consider diverse candidates when considering internal mobility or external hiring. He sees it as his job to challenge his team to think differently. It’s not always about the perceived easy answer; it’s important to take the extra time and extra step to get it right. Hughes knows that thinking long-term on decisions being made today is critical.

He mentions a specific search for a leader for the largest market, the New York region. Though Hughes didn’t have a predetermined outlook, he said he needed to see a diverse set of candidates, which took time. Without this established focus at the start of the recruiting process they may not have found the senior leader whom they ultimately ended up hiring.

“That’s the kind of thinking we have to put into practice, insisting on being able to consider candidates who are women, LGBT or ethnic minorities,” he says.

Part of his role is to explain to employees why diversity and inclusion matters.

Every business is different but wealth management is very diverse,” he says. “Clients want to know the organization they are dealing with is inclusive, and that people like them are welcome and can succeed. There are communities where you need to have people who can fit in and socialize, or you’ll never be able to connect with them. Without diversity, you’ll only be successful in certain niches.”

“People readily grasp social justice, but I need them to understand the diversity business case as well.”

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Mover and Shaker: Karen Heath-Wade; Vice President of Mutual Fund Sales, Nationwide Financial

Karen HealthBy Cathie Ericson

Karen Heath-Wade, Vice President of Mutual Fund Sales for Nationwide Financial, is a great example of someone who seeks and plans for career opportunities. Over her career in the Financial Industry, Karen has progressed from being an analyst to managing a team of analysts; to conducting external sales to leading the national distribution efforts of external wholesaling teams. Quite simply, she’s performed every job along the way, from her beginnings as a sales assistant to her stint on the “other side of the table” as an advisor. Through it all though, she has maintained that the secret to career success is knowing the industry inside and out, and understanding your current job before you look at the next one.

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Voice of Experience: Candace Ewell, Principal, PwC US

Candace Ewell“Be open to a career that isn’t exactly what you thought it would be. I don’t know that anyone can predict the opportunities and challenges they will face when they are only 18 and in college,” says PwC’s Candace Ewell.

And that is particularly sage advice coming from a current PwC principal, who spent the first seven years of her career as a nurse. Ewell thought that the healthcare industry would be her career path, but when she decided to go to law school with the goal of studying health law or health policy, a core tax class piqued her interest. “I had a lot of fun in tax; I really enjoyed my professor and the content. It was the first law school class that I really connected with,” she says.

When she returned for the third year, her professor offered her guidance on finding other tax courses and she ended up continuing straight through to complete her Master’s of Law (LLM), in part, she says to prove how serious she was about tax.

After graduate school, Ewell took a position at the IRS Associate Chief Counsel corporate division. While she appreciated the foundation it gave her in understanding the IRS and how regulations and guidance were promulgated, she also felt she was missing the bigger picture on how taxpayers work to be compliant, so she decided to move on.

Ewell’s next stop was in the Office of Advocacy at the Small Business Administration, where she was involved in new ways of thinking about compliance for smaller businesses. While there, she learned all she could from that perspective, but felt the isolation of being the only tax person and decided she wanted to be in a larger community of professionals. She found her home at PwC in mid-2007. “It was a challenging environment to get lots of experience quickly at a faster pace and higher level. It really was a lot of fun.”

In July 2013, she was named principal, which she considers the professional achievement she is most proud of. “I didn’t come to the firm thinking it was an option; I was just looking for an interesting community and challenging work, so being able to achieve this honor is very gratifying.”

Right now she is thrilled to be at the forefront of a new wave of information reporting, a broad subject that has developed over the past years to become more global. She has watched foreign governments embrace information reporting to help improve global compliance. “I get to talk about what I do every day to people and governments that never considered they could ask for so much information. Here in the United States, we have a culture where tax compliance is expected, but it’s not that way everywhere.”

She sees the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) as having a big impact worldwide. Other new regulations, including basis reporting which follows the sale of securities, that will continue to dominate her work are also of significant impact. Of particular interest to her are the information reporting requirements for payments made on the Internet. “It is fascinating to learn how Internet commerce works and how they engage with their customers and clients.”

“Merging Gracefully”

Ewell learned an important career lesson from her first start in the nursing field, the art of “merging gracefully.” In other words, she says she would often approach a new challenge with the belief that she could bring a new perspective and that she knew as much as other, more established professionals. “That got me in trouble when I assumed I knew more than the people whom I reported to. Through this journey, I’ve learned that when you’re starting a career, you’re excited and focused and yearn to make a big impact. But it’s a matter of picking your spot — you have to see that you will have the opportunity to bring perspective, but you can’t start with the ‘bull in the china shop’ mentality.”

Her other advice to those beginning their careers is to have patience and let your career develop. “We let go of some of our goals and desires because we ‘quit early,’ putting them to the side before we get started. You have to be open for how opportunities will present themselves.”

Ewell says that one of the reasons it was an easy decision to come to PwC was its mentoring program, which includes both a coach and relationship partner. “In addition to the fact that this was a community of high-achieving people, I knew that it would be useful to have designated points of contact to call on and help me get to the next stage of my career.” She says that since she is a bit of an introvert, she finds one-on-one coaching to be the most valuable, among the many other programs PwC offers for women in the workplace.

And she says that she takes seriously the charge to now give back to both women and men and facilitate the opportunities for them to meet their goals. “I try to be as candid as possible about how the firm works and the types of experiences people need to meet their goals. I was lucky enough to have people do that for me and I want to do it for others.”

Carving out Time for Renewal

And, as careers mature, she said it’s key to remember that this is high-pace, high-demand work, and it’s vital to carve out time to renew and take care of yourself, something she thinks all women struggle with.

For Ewell, that renewal comes when she carves out time for her family. Married for 20 years, she has an 11-year-old son who is a swimmer, so they spend lots of family time at the pool. Another favorite family activity is delivering food to seniors together because as she knows, anything you do together becomes family time.

By Cathie Ericson

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Voice of Experience: Mylan Denerstein, Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher

rsz_mdenerstein-press_1-171x240Mylan Denerstein, partner in the New York office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, is a woman driven to leave a positive impression on the world. Her career is best characterized as one that takes ahold of opportunities to grow and empower those she serves.

Public Service

As a 1993 graduate of Columbia Law School and Skadden Fellow, Denerstein began her professional life working for the Children’s Defense Fund in Washington, D.C. This opportunity led to a position with the Department of Justice as a special assistant to the Attorney General in charge of the Criminal Division. According to Denerstein, the experience “was a great introduction to Washington and how things worked there.” But DC couldn’t hold her for very long.

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Mylan Denerstein

“Generally, people want to help you with your career, but you have to ask. Anybody can be your mentor, but you can’t let your fear of rejection get in the way of asking for help, or asking for advice.” – Mylan Denerstein

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Voice of Experience: Pamela Click, Director and Senior Development Manager, TIAA-CREF

Pamela Click“You will work hard, but it will be rewarding,” says Pam Click of a career in technology. Now a senior manager and respected technologist at TIAA-CREF, Click’s hard work has finally paid off.

Her path to her current position at TIAA-CREF was somewhat circuitous: After earning a degree in accounting, Click started her career as a management consultant with Andersen Consulting (now Accenture), working with various clients in industries as diverse as consumer products, utilities and oil and gas.

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Kathryn Kaminsky, Partner, PwC

Kathryn KaminskyKathryn Kaminsky will be a panelist at theglasshammer.com’s 4th Annual Navigating, Negotiating, & Building Your Strategic Network Event on February 26th.

“There is a lot we can learn from men in the workforce,” says Kathryn Kaminsky, a Partner at PwC. “When they leave early to attend one of their kid’s sporting event, they do it with pride. They don’t slink out of the office — they’re excited, and women should behave that way too.”

Kaminsky, who started her career with PwC in Canada before moving to the firm’s New York office, has always been cognizant of the fact that she works in an organization where only 19 percent of the partners are women. “Male relationships are critical so I have always tried to build my relationships to be gender neutral,” she says.

Going on her tenth year as a Partner, Kaminsky has appreciated that during her 20-year tenure at PwC, she has been constantly challenged, noting the opportunity to be in a career where she can do different jobs at the same place. She’s moved from the asset management space to banking and capital markets.

“Being admitted to the partnership is definitely the professional achievement I am proudest of,” she says, adding that she is always looking forward to the new experiences and new engagements that she will undertake as she moves up the partnership ranks.

The industry is constantly changing and she is fascinated by where it might go. “Ten years from now, will we all bank via cell phone??” she muses. She sees huge potential for disruption in the financial services industry, especially with tech companies that can stay nimble and entrepreneurial since they are not hampered by the regulations that banks have to grapple with.

Confidence Builds Careers

Kaminsky sees confidence as a trait that women need to learn to develop as they progress in their careers. “It can be hard to be in a room where you are the minority but you have to speak up – you can’t be in a meeting and not talk.”

That confidence translates into knowing how to discern among competing priorities. “You have to evaluate internal versus external focus,” she says, noting that in a client-based business, you often need to choose the client side.

One thing that Kaminsky has learned over the course of her career is that “this too shall pass.” She says there are times that she wishes she’d had a thicker skin and realized that what seemed like a big deal at the time wouldn’t be in the long run. “I wish I hadn’t taken things so seriously and lost sleep over things that I shouldn’t have cared about,” she says.

She knows from experience that you have to have a stellar work performance, but success is based on more than that. “Aim high – don’t just put your head down. Get out and meet people – growth comes from experiences and relationship building, both internally and with clients. Business books alone won’t tell you what’s going on in the world, you have to get out there.”

And while you’re out there, she advises having some fun. “In the 20 years that I’ve been at the firm, I definitely could have had a little more fun!”

Lessons to Be Learned from Men

“Many people don’t like to hear it, but there are lots of things men do very well that we could emulate,” she says. For example, she appreciates that men are more open in how they talk about things. She says they’re more apt to admit they’re having a bad day, or discuss something they’re struggling with rather than sit behind a closed office door by themselves.

They also are more likely to own the career decisions they make. Currently, she works in the New York office while her family has relocated to the west coast for her husband’s job. “Men commute all the time, and don’t have any problems with it. I have found that my schedule allows me to focus on work during the week and home on the weekend, which is a benefit for everyone, but somehow that is not as accepted with women as with men.”

As part of her desire to create a gender-neutral network, Kaminsky has worked within the wide range of programs PwC offers – some specific to women, and some geared toward general career development. In particular, she has benefitted from an Advocacy and Sponsorship group which matches professionals with more senior partners. Over the years, her male match became a friend, sponsor and advocate, someone she confides in on a regular basis. Kaminsky says that women don’t necessarily need to be sponsored by women – it’s more important to just make sure it’s the right person.

And she finds that at PwC mentorship is inherent in a wide variety of day-to-day activities even aside from dedicated programs.

Still, she says that there is competition even as you climb the ranks, and she feels fortunate that even though she has great male friends and sponsors, she has a network of four to five women who are the ones she calls upon for the closer friendship that everyone needs. “It’s important to remember that not everyone is a competitor.”

Weekends Are For Family

Mom to three boys – an eight year old and seven year old twins, Kaminsky in many ways feels her dual life allows her more focus than if she was home every night. Throughout the week, they FaceTime and talk, and she is able to have “me time” on the plane each way. That allows her to focus exclusively on her kids when she is home. This fall she was the association treasurer and team mom for her twins’ Pop Warner football team. “Our weekend is extremely active with family time with the kids,” she says, always ending with Sunday night dinner. “That’s what weekends are for me – 100 percent focus on my family. They know all about my work life and are very involved with it. But when I’m home, I’m home.”

By Cathie Ericson

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