Intrepid Woman: Loreen Arbus, Film Producer and Executive, Chair of Women Who Care Luncheon.

rsz_1rsz_loreenarbusBy CEO and Founder Nicki Gilmour

Loreen Arbus is a woman of many worlds and has certainly lived a life less ordinary.

She is already known by many as a change leader, a thinker and a doer, a career woman, a supporter of the arts, a member of numerous boards, an ally for people with disabilities and a major philanthropist in the US. When I recently spoke with her, I was delighted to experience firsthand her relentless bravery to tackle the hard topics with grace, which makes her completely deserving of the “Intrepid Woman’ mantle bestowed upon her.

How does she manage to be in so many worlds at once?

“I grew up as an outsider. It can be the best and worst thing to be not included since it can make you a better person, or do great damage to the individual,” Loreen said. She continued, “I feel lucky that it has made me a better person as I can identify with other people’s experiences as outsiders and help them to navigate their way to success.”

Perhaps her background of growing up as a once marginalized child has allowed her to defy labels or categories. It may have also given her the impetus to continue learning via new experiences, which span cultural aspects as well as humanistic endeavors, such as Co-Chairing the upcoming 13th Annual Women Who Care Luncheon to benefit United Cerebral Palsy of New York City Women who Care Luncheon at Cipriani’s in NYC on Wednesday May, 7th.

Loreen founded The Women Who Care Luncheon as an ode to unsung heroines like her sister’s caretaker Miss Karen Hansen. Loreen recounted to me that her interactions with Miss Hansen were life enhancing, and she accredits Miss Hansen with teaching her unconditional love due to the way that she cared for her older sister who had severe disabilities. The Karen Hansen Caregiver Award is a major part of the luncheon. It was Loreen’s parents Leonard H. and Isabelle Goldenson who co-founded the nation-wide organization of United Cerebral Palsy in 1949. UCP has a number of programs to help children with disabilities, including a favorite program of Loreen’s –an advocacy program that empowers adults and young people with skills to go to Albany and advocate directly for themselves with state representatives.

“I most often support causes in a specific way. I like to meet the people that I am helping, it replenishes my soul to experience the change that is taking place,” explained Loreen.

She encourages others to tour UCP and see how eager the children are to learn, play sports and word games. Loreen believes that connection to the mission of any charity can come alive; the closer one can get to connecting with the people driving it. Loreen also currently is the Executive Producer of the award winning documentary, “A Whole Lott More”, a film that aims to bring more awareness to employment issues for people with disabilities

On Being a Change Leader
Loreen’s trailblazing career in television meant that she pioneered where no woman had gone before as she was the first woman in to head up programming at a major U.S. television network, a feat she accomplished twice. Another noteworthy achievement to mention is that she spearheaded the inclusion of cable to be recognized within the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences EMMYs award system whilst she was at the Showtime television network. She understands the power of asking and ‘darn hard work,’ and mentions that she wishes women would be less apologetic around owning their hard work.

Loreen commented, “The greatest gift that I was given is that I can look at all sides of an issue. It is very exciting to be part of my mission that can lead to changes being made.”

Certainly, her unwavering dedication to helping others, and her ability to create space for other perspectives to come alive and become working ideas, is a striking feature about her.

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Voice of Experience: Amanda Blanc, CEO of Commercial Lines and Personal Intermediary, AXA Insurance UK

amanda blancAmanda Blanc began her career in 1989 as the first female and youngest branch manager at Commercial Union. She achieved many other top positions during the following years, which taught her one important lesson: a lack of confidence can stop many women from reaching their true dreams.

When she mentors other women she realizes that, when looking at the list of competencies in job descriptions, they focus on that one particular qualification that they do not meet. In contrast men will feel qualified for the job if they meet six out of ten competencies.

Women in the insurance industry have several barriers which they must overcome, and confidence is one of the qualifications that keeps this business, as Blanc described, “a man’s world, particularly at executive level.”

However, Blanc’s belief in her potential has led her to work as a consultant for Ernst & Young, as the regional director for AXA’s commercial intermediary business, as the distribution and customer services director at Groupama in 2003, as Chief Executive of Towergate Retail Division in The Towergate Partnership and, starting in 2011, as CEO of Commercial Lines and Personal Intermediary in AXA.

Her confidence in her abilities is only one of the reasons for her success. “I don’t do regrets or looking back. You just need to learn from any mistakes and move on without dwelling,” she explained.

Insurance and the Financial Crisis

Blanc identifies transparency as one of the key issues that the insurance industry must face, and knows that AXA’s effort to be more transparent with their customers is an important challenge.

“Insurance is notorious for indulging in acronyms and technicalities that are all but impenetrable to the man on the street. We are working on being much clearer, in layman’s terms, about what is and isn’t covered in a policy and what steps our customers can take to ensure that they do not breach any of the policy conditions. It might seem like a small thing, which it is, but it is pretty fundamental. I want our customers to be absolutely clear about what it is they are buying and how they use the policy when they need to.”

She also recognizes that “banking has received most of the public vitriol following the financial crisis, but the wider financial services community had much to feel sheepish about too, and insurance has certainly not been immune to some of the behaviours that have had such a catastrophic impact on banking. As financial institutions, we have lost the faith and trust of our customers, [whose] starting point now is that we are going to fleece them, and so they treat us accordingly. That is a shocking situation to find ourselves in and one that we must change.”

“It’s not going to change with lip service or marketing ploys. The only way we are going to get the customer back onside is by changing the way we behave, creating business models that deliver shareholder value through good customer experience and making sure that the necessary change in culture genuinely permeates throughout the business,” Blanc said.

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Movers and Shakers: Triinu Magi, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Neura

happy man with womenTriinu Magi, Co-Founder and CTO of Neura, a company leading the trend on the Internet of Things, has always believed in paving her own path. Growing up in Estonia, Magi was instilled early on with the idea that everyone had the opportunity to create their own successful future. This mentality and entrepreneurial work ethic has shaped Magi throughout her professional development.

“This established the foundation that made me the leader I am today,” said Magi.

Drawn to Innovation
Magi entered the workforce at the young age of nineteen and she noted that in every role she held, innovation and technology were always two key focal points. Before she branched out on her own to create Neura, Magi spent over fifteen years working in various computer and network security related positions.

During the period when Estonia was establishing their independence from Russia, Magi played a key role in developing the Estonian e-government services and she was instrumental in creating an independent security analysis for Estonia’s e-voting system. Later in her career, Magi worked in research and innovation for Israel’s RSA Security.

“Without these experiences, I would not be able to hold the role I do at Neura. I consider each of these roles to have been stepping stones that have led me to where I am today,” said Magi. “I definitely feel like I was in the right place at the right time,” added Magi.

While Magi acknowledges the part that her previous roles have played in her success, she is proud of the fact that she had the courage to follow her passion and her heart by forming her own company. “I encourage every woman to follow their passions by doing what they love,” said Magi, “and this will involve a lot of hard work, but in the end it will be extremely rewarding.”

Magi has always gravitated toward innovation throughout her career, which is why it is no surprise that she started Neura one year ago. “We are excited about the work we are doing with the Internet of Things and exploring the interconnectivity of technology that will ultimately make our digital experiences more personalized and more human,” Magi explained.

She continued, “I believe that Neura will be the solution that enables the Internet of Things movement to provide trustful, intelligent and adaptive services to connected devices’ users. This is the future of technology, bringing intelligence to connected ecosystems, and we’re very excited to be a part of it.”

Women in Technology
“Do whatever it is you love to do,” advised Magi. According to Magi, women need to be careful not to create their own barriers by self-selecting out of opportunities. “By doubting our abilities and lacking confidence, we enable the negative stereotypes that surround women in technology,” said Magi.

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Voice of Experience: Heather Kafele, Partner, Shearman & Sterling

Heather kafeleLooking back on her career, Heather Kafele, a Washington, DC-based litigation partner at global law firm Shearman & Sterling, remembers that she was not exactly sure which career path she wanted to take. She was certain about one thing, though: “I was very passionate about the world’s injustices.”

Before going to law school, Kafele had the opportunity to reside in Kenya on a grant to study international development. There, she was able to do some soul searching and considered many different options, including earning a Ph.D. in philosophy and staying in academia or taking an alternative route to practice law. After taking both the GRE and the LSAT admissions exams, Kafele decided to pursue a legal career.

“I loved law school,” said Kafele, “and I continued to follow a non-traditional path.” Instead of spending her summers at big law firms, Kafele worked at the public defender’s office and was convinced this is where she would start her career after graduating from law school. However, faced with a pile of debt after graduation, Kafele made the prudent decision to join a big firm before pursuing her passion of becoming a public defender.

Life had something else in store for Kafele, however. She discovered that the type of work she did at Shearman & Sterling was extremely rewarding as it involved cutting-edge and thorny legal issues, diverse clients and industries, and an opportunity to travel and see the world.

“I never expected to stay at a big firm, but I found myself passionate about the work,” Kafele said. “Being a trial lawyer means working with witnesses, documents and facts to weave together a compelling story and draw judges and jurors into that story. This process is both challenging and thrilling.”

“Women have a unique ability to connect with other people – including judges, jurors and witnesses – which are a true asset for women litigators,” she added.

One of the most significant and memorable experiences in Kafele’s career came when she had the opportunity to participate in a three-week jury trial on a big antitrust case. “These cases rarely go to trial so this experience was very unique and exciting,” Kafele noted. Recently, Kafele represented Ardagh Group in a high-profile litigation brought by the Federal Trade Commission challenging Ardagh’s acquisition of Saint Gobain’s US glass container business. And just this week, Kafele scored a significant victory on behalf of several major banks upholding New York’s “separate entity rule” and extending it (for the first time) to document subpoenas.

Special Interest in Cartel Law and Pro Bono Work

Kafele has extensive experience in international cartel enforcement matters, handling complex multi-jurisdictional cartel and grand jury investigations, as well as class action litigations. According to her, many more jurisdictions other than the US and EU are developing cartel laws or enforcing existing cartel laws, making it an international norm and changing the way companies do business. She explained, “The dynamic of cartel law has really changed, which makes it a very exciting area to work in. Since Shearman & Sterling is a global firm, I advise companies all over the world and help them investigate issues, understand the US process and coordinate with counsel in other jurisdictions.”

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Voice of Experience: Edith Cooper, Executive Vice President and Global Head of Human Capital Management, Goldman Sachs

edith-cooper-193x193For the last six years, Edith Cooper has been the Global Head of Human Capital Management at Goldman Sachs. In other words, she is responsible for the well-being, development and promotion of Goldman’s 32,000 employees worldwide. While this is no small task, Cooper loves the people-centric aspect of her role. “Our people are our number one asset,” said Cooper.

She continued, “This is a dynamic business and our priorities evolve alongside the markets. As a result, there is an increased focus on managing people, leading people, and leveraging the diverse set of experiences that our people bring to the table.”

The Dynamic Space of Human Capital Management

Cooper’s role at Goldman Sachs has also evolved over the last 17 years as she has transitioned from sales and trading into managing clients and people. According to Cooper, the last five years have been especially challenging, however, new opportunities to serve clients continue to emerge. She noted, “as markets and organizations continue to expand and globalize, we now more than ever must pay attention to and respond to global trends.”

“Clients need us to have 24/7 awareness of market drivers and opportunities in order to facilitate growth, and part of my role is to ensure that our people are well positioned to add that value to our clients,” Cooper added. She explained how important it is to attract people to the organization who are not only individually excellent, but also embrace the fact that delivering client satisfaction is very much a collaborative effort.

According to Cooper, technology is changing the human capital management space in a number of ways including by enhancing and expanding recruiting efforts. “The connectivity is constant,” noted Cooper, “and our reach is global due to online tools and advancing technologies.” This is elevated by the fact that the Millennials who are beginning to fill the halls at Goldman Sachs have been raised around technology, and incorporate it into everything that they do.

“The challenge used to be in gathering information, but now that so much more information is easily accessible, the opportunity to add value is by connecting information and leveraging it strategically,” said Cooper.

Expanding the Dialogue of Women’s Career Advancement

Cooper acknowledged that there has been significant progress for women in the workplace, but that there is more work to be done. “In order to be successful, an organization must ensure that there is diversity at every level,” she explained. According to Cooper, the ongoing conversations around professional women encourage people to broaden their perspective and expand the dialogue.

For Cooper, a great source of pride comes from the fact that she has had the opportunity to grow her career at Goldman Sachs while also maintaining a great home life. She attributes this to the fact that her support system –both at work and at home –has been strong and steady. While this has worked for her, she encourages women to determine their own degree of work-life balance by recognizing that there are multiple paths to take and choices to make throughout the length of your career.

“Women who believe that they can go out and be excellent at every single thing on a daily basis are likely setting themselves up to fail. You must pick your spots and create your own definition of success,” added Cooper.

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Intrepid Woman: Nell Merlino, Founder and President, Count Me In

nell_merlino_headshotBy Michelle Hendelman

When Nell Merlino created Take Our Daughters to Work Day, it was a natural extension of the work she always envisioned herself doing – that is creating opportunities for women to advance themselves and showing them the pathways available to achieve their goals. “For as long as I can remember, I have always been interested in the role women play in the economy and helping women understand their own economic impact,” said Merlino.

According to Merlino, both of her parents always emphasized the importance of being self-sufficient and acting as a change agent within the community. Now, Merlino, the Founder of Count Me In for Women’s Economic Independence –the leading non-profit provider of resources for female entrepreneurs who want to grow their business into a million dollar enterprise –is accomplishing both of those things very well.

“The structure of Count Me In gives aspiring female business owners the opportunity to focus on the growth of their business by giving them a robust peer-to-peer community of other ambitious women to work through the challenges with,” said Merlino. “I am so proud of creating a group where women can learn from each other,” she added.

According to Merlino, a central tenet of each Count Me In program is teaching women how to pitch their business succinctly and persuasively. “We challenge women to condense their business idea into a two minute pitch, which forces them to drill down to the essence of who they are and what they have to offer,” she said.

On Having a Rewarding Career
Merlino stressed how important it is to understand the value of coupling your passion in life with the prospect of making money. “Many people think that in order to enjoy the freedom of entrepreneurship, you have to let go of the idea that you will make a lot of money,” said Merlino. She continued, “You can find something that you love to do, or that you are really good at doing, and figure out a way to make a great living out of it.”

This is one reason why Merlino believes it is important for young women and girls to see professional women being successful. She noted, “Young women need to be able to see themselves in that role and be shown the pathways to get there.” By exposing young business women to conferences, meetings, or networking events where they can visualize what their own future can look like, they will begin to believe in the possibilities and opportunities available to them in their own career path.

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Voice of Experience: Minal Patel, Managing Director, Managed Services Business Development, SunGard

Mina Patel 2Minal Patel, a Managing Director at SunGard, started her career in banking at Barclays Bank in the UK over twenty five years ago. At Barclays, she had the opportunity to participate in an accelerated training program that rapidly moved her through various areas of retail and wholesale banking. Although she had the chance to experience different aspects of the industry, Patel ultimately decided to explore career options outside of banking.

“I joined a technology startup that was looking for business expertise to build a treasury management system. I was able to apply my business background, which in turn exposed me to IT operations and the entire software development lifecycle,” said Patel.

She continued, “This experience led me to another tech startup focused on derivatives trading and risk management. I switched gears to focus on the sales and account management side of the business. We were a new operation in Europe, with a very small team, so I was involved in everything from pre-sales support, getting in front of prospects, contract review and working with customers. After a couple of years I decided to transfer to the New York operation to focus on that market. All of this was great experience for building my career.”

When the second startup was acquired by SunGard in 1998, Patel stayed on board and has been with SunGard ever since. She attributes her longevity at SunGard to the fact that she has been able to adapt and take on different roles within the company. “It has been exciting to have the opportunity to do a number of different things while remaining at the same company,” noted Patel.

Her Work at SunGard

During her tenure at SunGard, Patel’s responsibilities have spanned from running a global client and professional services team (around a set of trading and risk solutions) to taking on a horizontal role focusing on expanding SunGard’s global development and delivery capabilities.

Over the last 2 years, her role has been focused on further developing the managed services business within SunGard Financial Systems. Patel partners with each of the Financial Systems business groups to shape business and operational plans that will advance their managed services agenda – and grow the company’s overall managed services portfolio. “Figuring out the best ways that we can evolve as a company alongside the industry – and our clients – is one of the most exciting things about my job,” said Patel.

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Movers and Shakers: Mary Ruane, Senior Manager, Assurance, PwC Ireland

Women workingOne of the most important lessons that Mary Ruane, Senior Manager of Assurance at PwC Ireland, has learned throughout her career is that if you do not take the initiative and express your interest in new opportunities, they might pass you by. “If you want to try something new or different, just speak up,” advised Ruane. She continued, “There are endless opportunities and you will find that taking initiative and displaying an eagerness to learn can go a long way.”

With this attitude, Ruane has been able to enjoy a variety of different roles and experiences at PwC, where she is currently responsible for establishing and building strong relationships with clients, internally and externally. “It is an interesting time in asset management right now, partnering with our Clients who have weathered the storm of the credit crisis and are now dealing with the wave of regulation that followed,” said Ruane.

Career Path at PwC

Ruane graduated from Dublin City University in 2001 with a degree in Accounting and Finance. Shortly after, she joined PwC and planned to complete her auditing qualifications while working full-time. “I joined Assurance and was assigned to the asset management department, which was more by accident than design at the time. However, I quickly recognized that asset management was a growth industry that held a lot of different opportunities and that a chartered accounting qualification would provide a great basis for any professional career in Ireland or internationally” she recalled.

Ruane had a lot on her plate as she was learning the asset management industry, assisting clients with their audits, and studying for her professional qualifications exams, but after she passed her exams Ruane expressed her interest in supporting the development of young PwC professionals facing the journey she had just completed. . “Every year, we receive training on both technical skills and soft skills, and when the opportunity to get involved in the learning and education department presented itself, I took advantage of it,” said Ruane.

She trained and worked as a tutor in the learning and education department for about two months where her role involved teaching the intensive training course to new associates. Ruane enjoyed training so much that she continued to teach courses for the next four years. “At one point, I had trained the same group of people for three years in a row at different career levels, which was an extremely rewarding thing to do,” Ruane noted.

As a result of her commitment to training and on the job coaching, Ruane recently received a coaching award to recognize her developmental impact. “I benefitted greatly from coaching, and it is something that I have always believed strongly in from my first day at PwC,” she noted.

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Women in Tech: Leaders of Tomorrow | Whitepaper

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It seems like today women are better positioned than ever before to rise to leadership roles in technology. Not only do companies have many kinds of support structures in place, such as women’s networks and leadership development courses, but there is an increasing number of women at the top who can serve as role models or inspiration. Externally, groups like the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT), the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology, Girls Who Code, and other organizations aim to support women in the industry and increase the percentage of women entering the tech space as well.

Nevertheless, women are still a distinct minority in the technology workforce – and an even smaller proportion of corporate leadership. In the 1980s, women represented a peak of between 35 and 40 percent of the computing and information technology (IT) workforce in the U.S. By 2011, that percentage dropped to about 25 percent, according to NCWIT. This coincided with a decrease in the percentage of women majoring in computer science degrees in college.

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Voice of Experience: Mary Beth Bosco, Partner, Patton Boggs LLP

stephanie_martin-222x300To Mary Beth Bosco, her former career as a graphic designer and her current as Partner at Patton Boggs LLP aren’t as diametrically opposed as some would assume.

“I was working in New York designing book covers, where you’re given limited space to get your message across. It’s the same thing when writing a brief or giving an oral argument,” Bosco said.

After growing tired of the “starving artist route”, Bosco went to law school and clerked at a D.C. law firm where her focus was government contracts, an experience she cites as invaluable.

“So much of law school is theoretical and for me, it was important to learn by doing,” the partner said.

As partner at Patton Boggs, where Bosco has been since 1985, she counsels new and experienced government contractors on matters involving contract compliance and opportunities in the federal marketplace, drawing on more than 25 years of experience with both regulatory and litigation matters.

“The federal government buys everything from paperclips to battleships, which keeps my work very interesting because you’re always learning about a new industry,” Bosco laughed. “I love solving problems as they come up. It’s not my job to say, ‘No, you can’t do that.’ It’s my job to say, ‘This is how you can do it.’”

Diversity Leader

Bosco was the first female member of her firm’s Executive Committee, as well as the firm’s first Chief Diversity Partner. As the Chief Diversity Partner, Bosco is committed to starting over from scratch if that is what it takes to move the firm’s diversity goals forward. The partner is interested in driving diversity at the firm in real, tangible ways. This, she says, requires new innovations; something she’s calling “Diversity 2.0.”

“We want to recruit the best talent and if that requires pulling everything apart and starting over, that’s what we’ll do,” Bosco said.

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