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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Voice of Experience: Marie Chandoha, President and CEO, Charles Schwab Investment Management

Chandoha,_MarieLooking back, it’s clear to Marie Chandoha that finance was the field for her. As a little girl, Monopoly was her favorite game and she can still remember telling her aunt that she wanted to be a banker. The declaration came from her nine-year-old self and though it wasn’t exactly where she would end up, it was close enough, as Chandoha is currently president and CEO of Charles Schwab Investment Management where she manages $241 billion in assets.

“I was always good at math and although I had some other aspirations along the way, I wound up studying economics in college and a few years after graduating, I read an article about mortgage-backed securities, which seemed like a great way to apply my analytic and math skills,” Chandoha said. “I was able to land a job as a mortgage-backed securities analyst at Morgan Stanley in the mid-1980s and the rest is history.”

A Distinguished Path
Over the course of her career, Chandoha has worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, spending the first half of her career working on Wall Street. Afterwards, she would leave her mark at Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and Credit Suisse, where she eventually became the managing director in charge of Global Fixed Income and Economics Research at Credit Suisse. She eventually shifted her career to managing money, but instead of advising clients on how to invest, she found she preferred to put her ideas to work and do the investing herself. So Chandoha became the Senior Portfolio Manager at Montgomery Asset Management and later went on to lead Barclays Global Investments (BGI’S) Global Fixed Income business.

“There are a few things that I think distinguished my career path. First, I had a willingness to take risks and that has helped me take meaningful steps in my career. There were several roles I accepted where my manager or a new company was looking for significant change in a short period of time and in some cases, there had already been failed attempts to implement the change or a turnaround,” Chandoha said. “I remember being told at one firm, ‘I admire you for taking this job. It seems impossible.’ In some cases, I knew that if I didn’t succeed, I’d be out of a job. But I love a challenge. These situations aren’t always the most comfortable, but if you succeed, there’s nothing like it to demonstrate a track record of results.”

Chandoha says that when preparing for a senior-level role, it’s important to gain exposure to a variety of roles and functions in the field to evolve your skill set. At one time or another, she has been an analyst, computer programmer, securities analyst, trader, and a portfolio manager.

“I’ve managed everything from research departments and technology groups to a global asset management business. Taking on a global assignment is an invaluable learning experience in many ways, and can open up a range of opportunities,” Chandoha said.

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Voice of Experience: Eileen Madden, Head of Institutional Client Service and Relationship Management, ING U.S. Investment Management (ING U.S. IM)

women shaking handsMoving toward her senior year in college, Eileen Madden’s future was still very much undecided. She considered pursuing a career as an actuary, while also thinking about obtaining her PhD in economics – this, after being offered a fellowship at Penn State during her senior year. On the cusp of graduating, Madden had the opportunity to meet with and be advised by different people in the insurance and investment management industry and she learned about the career options available to her.

So intrigued by the options available to her, Madden pursued her MBA and achieved the CFA chart holder designation. She is now Head of Institutional Client Service and Relationship Management at ING U.S. IM. Clearly, this was the field for her.

“I was attracted to the opportunity to use my analytical skills to pursue a career where I would be working with people and gaining exposure to so many aspects of the business. I am thankful I took this path,” Madden said. “Once I obtained my CFA, I very briefly entertained the idea of moving over to be an investor or trader within the asset management part of the business, but was already well established in my role and enjoying the career path I was on, working directly with clients, consultants, and all constituents in our business.”

Learning On The Fly

Madden cites her first job at Aetna as a great learning experience. Soon after being hired and trained, there was a major restructure at the firm and over 100 people were laid off. Madden says those who remained were left to do the full spectrum of work, so she was handed a large caseload of clients in all different phases of the pension client lifecycle.

“I had to learn and work fast and I found it very interesting and challenging. I flourished in this environment and became an expert in various areas of pension administration and contracting,” Madden said. “I gained a strong sense of confidence in my abilities to learn and to work through complex and difficult situations on the fly. I apply those skills every day and I still really enjoy and learn so much from my own clients.”

Every Day Challenges

Madden says that managing teams while also taking on individual responsibilities is a challenge, but refuses to give up either because it is well worth it to find a way to navigate both worlds.

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Voice of Experience: Marie O’Connor, Partner, PwC Ireland

Women workingMarie O’Connor, a Partner at PwC Ireland, was always interested in mathematics. However, when she decided to pursue Accounting at the College of Commerce, Rathmines, she encountered a slight hurdle. At the time, this business school had not yet opened its doors to female students, but this would change when O’ Connor submitted her application.
“All it took was for someone to knock on the door, and then the barrier came down,” noted O’Connor.

While O’Connor was completing her Accounting degree in business school, she applied for a traineeship position at a PriceWaterhouseCoopers firm where she was one of six females accepted in a class of fifty total graduates. This program established the foundation for O’Connor’s career at PwC Ireland, where she would eventually become the first woman to be made a partner. “I have stayed at PwC for my entire career,” she said, “and I am quite fortunate to have had a variety of roles and experiences here in Ireland and internationally as well.”

A Rewarding Career at PwC Ireland

Becoming a partner at PwC is one of O’Connor’s proudest professional achievements. “Since becoming a partner, I take pride in representing PwC Ireland around the world and enabling Ireland to be a place where companies want to do business,” said O’Connor. She also looks back at the twelve years she spent successfully leading and growing the Investment Management team practice as a very rewarding period in her career.

O’Connor noted, “Today, locally we have 350 people in the Investment Management practice and 17 partners, of which half are women. Growing this practice and developing the networks was very important for me.”

According to O’Connor, the regulatory environment of the asset management industry is presenting many challenges for companies trying to remain competitive while continuing to forge strong client relationships. “There is so much regulation in Europe right now, and more in the pipeline. It is critical for asset managers to be involved in discussions around all these issues to ensure that we can make sense of the regulatory agenda and enable companies to do good business while building trust with investors,” said O’Connor.

She added, “At the end of the day we all want to grow sustainable business”, In addition to the diverse career path O’Connor has enjoyed at PwC, she has also benefited greatly from various non-executive director roles she has had the opportunity to participate in. “Being able to see business from a different angle has contributed to my own professional development and has given me a new range of ideas and experiences to share with others,” noted O’Connor.

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Voice of Experience: Natasha Granholm, Partner, PwC US

natashaNatasha Granholm began her career at PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP) as an intern and is now a partner and though she’s clearly a success in her field, she laughs when admitting that her interest in accounting was by happenstance. She was really only looking for an “easy” honors class in high school that would allow her to boost her GPA, but her teacher saw something in her and decided to enroll her in accounting competitions. “There is such a thing as an accounting competition, I promise,” Granholm laughed.

Once in college, she didn’t have an “absolute desire” to enter accounting, but knew it was worth exploring given her propensity for the field.

“The real appeal to me was that it wasn’t just about computing numbers. Accounting is theoretical; it’s not just about being good at math,” the partner said.

Early in her career, Granholm did a little of everything, from serving clients in the tax-exempt sector to M&A, an area she was particularly drawn to because of the dynamic and fast-paced nature of the work. She even did a “tour of duty” with PwC’s national M&A group in Washington, D.C. where she says she grew both personally and professionally.

“It opened up my point of view and gave me a more global perspective,” Granholm said.

Redirecting
Not too long after Granholm returned to Chicago from D.C., the economy began to decline and when the US economy fell into a recession in late 2008, the deal markets came to a halt. At this time, she was pregnant and decided to take some time off from work to focus on her family. When she returned in 2010, the economy hadn’t fully bounced back and Granholm wasn’t sure which direction to take her career in, though she did know she wanted to continue at PwC.

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Thought Leader: TJ Huntley, Managing Director, Internal Audit, Citi

TJ HuntleyThis month, TJ Huntley, Managing Director of Internal Audit at Citi, celebrates 22 years of working in the financial services industry. She remarked, “This industry allows you to make a difference with customers and clients and simultaneously engage in various analysis of key risk, independently assess the design and operating effectiveness of key controls, and engage in various operational process initiatives.”

As the financial services industry has evolved over the years, so has Huntley. Throughout her career, she has always embraced change and new challenges. This, she noted, is a key component of professional growth and development. Huntley advised, “You cannot survive as a leader if you are not equipped to handle changes that may be required in your strategy, vision, or leadership style. Innovation requires change.”

Huntley added, “You have to believe that you can contribute at a fast pace in an environment full of change, like the financial services industry, where so much is happening from a regulatory perspective.”

Navigating the Regulatory Environment of Financial Services
According to Huntley, the challenges presented by regulatory compliance are currently a key focus for senior level executives in financial services. “Right now, various organizations are going through a series of transformations, looking at what they do and figuring out how to do it better. Having a strong and independent internal audit department is important for interpreting, assessing, and identifying the gaps within an organization, and advising the boards on the risks and independent audit assessments associated with different business practices.”

Regulators have what Huntley referred to as heightened expectations for large national banks and federal savings associations to strengthen the minimum expectations and force organizations in the financial services industry to look at their risk management practices, which include assessing the controls to mitigate risk and demonstrating sustainability of those controls. “These expectations are driving the actions of all the critical banks,” said Huntley.

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