Voice of Experience: Veronica Augustsson, CEO, Cinnober

Veronica AugustssonThis week The Glass Hammer is profiling successful women in the derivatives industry.

By Jessica Titlebaum

In just 12 years, Veronica Augustsson went from developer to CEO of Sweden’s Cinnober, an international independent software company delivering trading, clearing, and surveillance solutions.

After graduating from The Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm with a master’s degree in computer engineering, Augustsson began her career at Cinnober. Soon, she moved from developer into a technical sales support role and worked on a variety of projects in this position. She also spent 14 months in New York as onsite support at the American Stock Exchange (AMEX).

“I am very lucky to have the experience in New York because it is a big financial center,” Augustsson said. “While working on the AMEX trading floor, I was able to learn the rationale behind the trading.”

One of Augustsson’s biggest projects as an architect and developer was the trading system that Cinnober built for Turquoise, a European hybrid system launched by a conglomerate of banks to coordinate on and off exchange traded derivatives clearing.

Technology & the Derivatives Industry
The derivatives industry is quickly evolving because of Dodd Frank regulation, which among other things, has pushed off exchange-traded derivatives, also known as over the counter (OTC) contracts, on to exchange platforms.

Augustsson believes people with technology skills should get involved with regulatory matters.

“Technology is the driver and for the derivatives industry, it means there are no limitations,” she said. “My concern is that the regulators don’t know enough about technology so they sometimes make the wrong decisions when writing rules. I think the technology-skilled people need to be involved in regulation as well. Why, for example, is risk in real time not a requirement in many markets? Why is there not a discussion around real-time settlement?”

With the knowledge to ask the tough questions and the guts to start an industry discussion, it is no wonder Augustsson was able to climb the ladder at Cinnober. She was promoted to head of sales in January 2012 and offered the role of CEO just 10 months later.

Practice Makes Perfect
One of the factors Augustsson credits to her career success is that she played a variety of sports from the time she was four-years-old. Handball, which she played for 20 years, was her favorite.

“You have to understand the game and always be one step ahead,” she said. “I had very good split vision.”

According to the CEO, there are a lot of similarities between sports and the office.

“You learn the value of team work, how to give and take feedback on performance. Nowadays people often ask if I work a lot of over time. I just see it as I’m practicing,” she said.

Women in Tech Stand Out
While we’ve all heard about the challenges of being a woman in a male-dominated industry, with the tech industry being painted in a particularly harsh light, Augustsson asserts that being a woman in the male-dominated tech industry actually worked to her advantage.

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Voice of Experience: Ann Gonzalez, Director, Financial Services Advisory Group, PwC US

Ann GonzalesThis week The Glass Hammer is profiling successful women in the derivatives industry.

By Tina Vasquez, Managing Editor

Ann Gonzalez, a director in PwC’s financial services advisory group, says that thus far, her career has been “exciting, ever-evolving, and unexpected,” with one opportunity leading to the next.

“If anyone had told me when I started out over 15-years ago that I would be helping banks respond to derivatives regulatory reform, I would have never believed them,” Gonzalez said. “OTC Derivatives was a new field to me at the time and the industry has since continued its rapid rate of change. This near constant change has kept me very much engaged.”

The director began her career as a finance controller at the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp (DTCC) when it was incubating DerivSERV. When the business request for FP&A support was made, Gonzalez says she immediately raised her hand and was soon contributing to building its business case and later monitoring its financials.

“This role enabled me to learn all aspects of the business and the industry while contributing to building a business,” Gonzalez said. “I later switched to the business line and held a series of operations, client management, and product management roles, all of which I learned and developed significantly from. My time with Deriv/SERV was like catching lightening in a bottle, an incredible experience with an amazing team.”

One of Gonzalez’ proudest career achievements thus far was being nominated to participate in PwC’s Breakthrough Leadership, which is a conference for the highest performing women directors at PwC. It’s an elite group to contribute to and learn from, Gonzalez says.

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Voice of Experience: Yvonne Downs, COO Futures Division, Jefferies & Co., Inc.

YvonneDownsThis week The Glass Hammer is profiling successful women in the derivatives industry.

By Tina Vasquez, Managing Editor

Yvonne Downs is COO of Jefferies LLC futures division, though her 30-year long career in the futures industry began after she graduated from college and began looking for a job in accounting/finance.

“A friend suggested I consider joining the Chicago Board of Trade in their compliance department auditing firms who were users of the futures markets. I went to the interview and found that it was a fast-paced business that was in a constant state of change. I was hooked immediately,” Downs said.

The COO says that when she entered the industry, it required making decisions quickly, having a deep knowledge of the intricacies of business process, a strong financial background, and a strong sense of one’s self.

At the Chicago Board of Trade, Downs worked her way through all aspects of the Exchange business, from working on accounting for the futures business, financial analysis, trade practices, to looking at how trading and settlement occurred and assisting in the development of new products and services for the Exchange. Downs became SVP and ultimately oversaw the compliance/enforcement activities, coordinated with the Clearing Corporation, and worked with the executive committee and board of directors on strategic and governance issues.

Downs has also managed compliance efforts at top global brokerage firms, leading the effort to develop global compliance programs during periods of expansion in what Downs says was the “fast-paced and quickly evolving world of derivatives trading.”

“I am most proud of being able to be successful on both sides of the futures business, on the compliance side and on the revenue generating side,” Downs said. “It means that I have been able to strike the balance between ensuring that things are done with the best interests of all participants: the customers, the employees, and the firm.”

Developing Relationships
Before starting her career, Downs says she wish she would have understood the importance of developing relationships.

“I was very focused on working hard to learn all the aspects of the business and I wish I had taken a bit more time to get to know my peers, colleagues, and leaders within the firms,” Downs said. “I have found that it is the relationships that you develop along the way that make you successful and are as important as your understanding of the business.”

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Voice of Experience: Christina McCaughey, Managing Director, Futures & OTC Clearing Sales, State Street Global Exchange

Christina McCaugheyThis week The Glass Hammer is profiling successful women in the derivatives industry.

By Tina Vasquez, Managing Editor

Christina McCaughey has had a storied career in the financial services industry, which has included being the go-to expert when futures trading began to migrate away from the floors onto the screen. She has worked for some of the industry’s biggest names across three countries and become a prominent figure in the derivatives industry, but it’s a career that she could have missed entirely.

McCaughey came from a family of engineers, so when it was time to enter college, engineering seemed like the clear choice. It didn’t take long for her to realize that engineering wasn’t for her. “I quickly wasn’t happy,” she laughed. After she decided to leave the field of study, McCaughey spent a semester taking only classes that interested her, including Econ 101. It led to a degree in the field – and a burning desire to work on Wall Street.

“I graduated in the early 90’s during a recession. I didn’t have an MBA. I was reading the newspaper every day and Wall Street sounded so dynamic and full of opportunity, but the question was how to get there,” the managing director said.

The key turned out to be an international program that required going to business school in Germany for a semester, followed by an internship with a Fortune 500 company in Germany. So enthused by the idea, McCaughey extended her education by a year just for the possibility of receiving an internship at Salomon Brothers (now Citigroup).

“I wanted it so badly and I believed this would be the opportunity to get my foot in the door. If I could just get in, I was confident I could prove myself,” McCaughey said. “I thought I would be there for six months tops; I ended up working for Salomon Brothers/Citigroup for over 11-years. It was the opportunity I needed, so I never looked back.”

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Voice of Experience: Lynn Martin, CEO, NYSE Liffe U.S. and New York Portfolio Clearing

Lynn MartinThis week The Glass Hammer is profiling successful women in the derivatives industry.

By Jessica Titlebaum

Lynn Martin’s father played a large part in getting her to where she is now. As an engineer, he worked long hours and six day weeks, but always made it home in time for family dinner. Following in his footsteps, Martin pursued a career in computer engineering. After graduating magna cum laude from Manhattan College with a BS in Computer Science, she worked full time at IBM and went to graduate school at Columbia University for Mathematical Finance.

“I did not have the usual programmer personality,” Martin said. “I have a very quantitative mind, but I had no idea what I wanted to do. During grad school, I interviewed everywhere, from quant desks at banks to law firms specializing in IP litigation.”

Martin first heard about the London International Financial Futures Exchange (Liffe) in her coursework at Columbia when studying financial modeling, which is also how she came across Euribor. Short for the “Euro Interbank Offered Rate”, the average interest rate that European banks borrow funds from one another at, the Euribor was an important reference rate in the European money market.

“Around the time I completed my master’s coursework, I heard about a business development position at Liffe in New York,” Martin said. “They were looking for someone with a technology background to connect users in the US to their newly-launched electronic platform. I only had a cursory level of knowledge of the products they traded.”

Emerging Woman in Derivatives
As an emerging woman in derivatives, Martin was hired at just 25-years-old as vice president of Liffe to build the distribution of the LIFFE CONNECT platform in the United States. With a large responsibility at a growing new company, Martin learned quickly that you need to “know what you don’t know.”

“Any time you walk into a new job thinking you know everything about that job or company, you are doing yourself and the company a disservice,” she said. “Every company has subject matter experts. Ask them questions when you are unsure about a topic. Most importantly, though, treat the subject matter experts with the respect they deserve.”

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Voice of Experience: Gail Cohen, Vice Chairman and General Trust Counsel, Fiduciary Trust Company International

:ÌpBy Tina Vasquez, Managing Editor

Gail Cohen says that her career in law “happened by happenstance.” Out of college, she was hired by a trust and estate attorney because she could type, but ended up staying with the firm for 10 years during which time she became a paralegal, attended law school, and became an attorney.

“When I finished college and began working for the law firm, I thought about going to law school, but I had no clear direction,” Cohen said. “I had no idea what kind of law and honestly, at the time I had no idea what trust law was.”

After working at her first small law firm, Cohen spent several more years working for a large international law firm, Cohen then took a position with Fiduciary Trust, where she has spent the last 20-years of her career, now serving as vice chairman and general trust counsel. Currently, she is in the process of opening up a new office for Fiduciary Trust located in Boca Raton, FL.

“This is the kind of work that truly excites me because it’s entrepreneurial,” Cohen said. “I’m spearheading the project and it’s a lot of responsibility: a new office in a new market, requiring that we build our reputation. It’s almost like a start-up. It’s thrilling!”

The Challenges of Leadership
As vice chairman and general counsel, Cohen is a leader at Fiduciary Trust and as such, her biggest challenge, she says, mirrors the challenge leaders in any industry encounter: making sure the people you’re working with can do their job well.

“Day-in-day-out, that is a big responsibility and a big challenge,” she said. “The goal is to give people the tools, resources, and knowledge they need to accomplish their role and fulfill their responsibilities.”

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Voice of Experience: Samantha Kappagoda, Chief Economist & Co-Founder, Risk Economics, Inc.

Samantha KappagodaBy Hadley Catalano

Samantha Kappagoda, Chief Economist and Co-Founder of Risk Economics, Inc. in New York City, loves puzzles. She sees equations and hidden patterns woven throughout all aspects of life – from the Fibonacci sequence in a nautilus to the socioeconomic trends of an aging workforce – and feels compelled to solve them.

For Kappagoda, who is also the Co-Lead Investigator at the RiskEcon Lab for Decision Metrics and a visiting scholar at Courant Institute for Mathematical Sciences at New York University, analytical problems are the fuel driving her dedication to her profession. An occupation she sees more than just a career, but a perpetuation of the legacy of all female mathematicians and statisticians.

“There have always been women scientists, but the current perception is not necessarily accurate, in that their contributions are under-represented,” said Kappagoda, recently named the 2013 Women of Distinction by the Girls Scouts of Greater New York.

Kappagoda explained that women have always had significant scientific influence, although the archetype of the profession often tends to be misleading.

“One of the main barriers to success for women in STEM is that the world does not tend to have the complete picture of these women’s great accomplishments and contributions to their fields,” Kappagoda said. This includes women like Ada Byron King, metaphysician and founder of scientific computing, as well as actress Hedy Lamarr, who patented an idea in 1942 for frequency hopping, which later supported secure military communications and mobile phone technology.

This is why Kappagoda encourages women pursuing economics, statistics, and mathematics to develop skills and build camaraderie.

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Voice of Experience: Gloria M. Grandolini, Country Director for Mexico and Colombia, World Bank

gloriagrandoliniBy Irene Solaz (Madrid)

Gloria M. Grandolini, Country Director for Mexico and Colombia at the World Bank, has never regretted her choice. She began her career as a traditional macroeconomist when she joined the World Bank 23 years ago, and later substituted her technical responsibilities for those of an executive working for the strategic and management dimensions.

“Since day one I have been working and taking decisions aimed at providing better opportunities to others, with a wider understanding of the global context, and the political and socioeconomic dynamics.”

Experience in the World Bank
It wasn’t easy in the beginning. Ten years ago, as a macroeconomist, she became the World Bank Treasury Manager and, later, the Director of the Financial Products group.

She felt overwhelmed because she did not have any experience in this area, and managing a group of traders and Finance PhDs as well as working with the increasing responsibilities of the 2007-2008 global financial crisis proved to be hard. But the management skills she had learned in her previous jobs allowed her to “bring a different perspective to the group”.

“I feel most proud of mentoring more junior staff along my career. Today, I feel pride and joy when I see many of them succeeding and reaching managerial positions.”

Grandolini has learned a lot along the way. “The chemistry and loyalty with the people you work with, both your boss and your closest colleagues, make a huge difference in terms of work environment, support, trust and ultimately your success.”

She also notes that “all money-related arrangements need to be stated in writing. Verbal agreements are not enough. And I’m not referring to salary arrangements but to any work-related matter or agreement related to money matters – such as budgets!”

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Movers & Shakers: Stephanie Weimer, Regional Vice President, ING U.S. Investment Management (ING U.S. IM)

 

women shaking handsWhile attending Pennsylvania State University, a friend’s father, who was President of Sun Life Financial Distributors, told Stephanie Weimer that she absolutely had to get into financial services. “I looked at him like he was crazy,” Weimer laughed. He said, “‘You’re smart and there aren’t enough women in the industry. If you enter it, you’ll be really successful.’”

He was right, of course.

Weimer is now Regional Vice President where she wholesales various mutual funds and separately-managed account products throughout the New England area. This is Weimer’s sixth year in the role and she has consistently ranked as one of the top salespeople for the company, despite covering one of the smaller regional areas.

From CIA to ING

Even upon entering the industry in 2006, Weimer still had no idea that financial services would be her career path. She had every intention of being a field agent in the CIA. When her friend’s father – the same man who urged her to enter the industry – offered her a job as an internal wholesaler with Sun Life, she gave him a one-year commitment as she waited for a background check with the CIA to clear. The problem was that her clearance went through quickly. As a woman of her word, she decided to maintain her commitment with Sun Life.

“It worked out for the best. I don’t dwell on it and I’m truly happy with where I am – and I’ve really come to love this industry,” Weimer said. “I learned the ropes with Sun Life, beginning as an internal wholesaler. In less than two years, I was offered a job as an external wholesaler with ING U.S. IM. That’s a quick move from internal to external.”

Interestingly it’s the skills that Weimer believed would make her successful in the CIA that have proven to be the most helpful in her success in financial services.

“I love to figure out what makes people tick and find out what they need and help them find a solution. Effective communication has proven to be one of my strongest assets,” Weimer said.

The Business of Golf

Weimer says that when first starting out in the industry, she wishes she would have understood the importance of having a good golf game. In first grade, her mom enrolled her in a junior golf league, but she had no patience for it.

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Voice of Experience: Christina Minnis, Managing Director in Healthcare M&A Investment Banking, Goldman Sachs

Christina MinnisChristina Minnis says that upon graduating from Yale in 1987, she had no real experience in the financial services industry and absolutely no Wall Street experience. “I was an intern at a bank and that was the extent of it,” Minnis said.

She obtained her Master of Management degree from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in 1991 before forging her career with Goldman Sachs beginning in 1998, where she began as a vice president in the Investment Banking Division (IBD), focusing on leveraged finance deals primarily for the financial sponsors group. In 2001, Minnis joined the Fixed Income Division as part of Capital Markets and focused on industrials followed by healthcare. She was named managing director in 2004 and partner in 2008.

Today, Minnis is co-head of Goldman Sachs’ Healthcare Group in the Americas and head of the Healthcare Leveraged Finance Group and the Pension Strategies Group. She serves as a member of the IBD Operating Committee, and the Global Recruiting Council, while also co-heading global recruiting for IBD and serving as the chair of diversity for IBD.

Healthcare: A Thriving Industry

Of her many achievements, it is her work in the Healthcare Group that Minnis is most proud of.

“I’m incredibly proud of what we have built in our Leveraged Finance healthcare franchise. When we started, the healthcare leveraged finance revenue was less than $10 million and the team consisted of myself and an analyst,” Minnis said. “Now we’ve built our team up to seven people, and we’re fully integrated into banking. It’s been an amazing collaboration and a terrific accomplishment.”

It’s an interesting and exciting time to be working in healthcare from the perspective of the investment banking industry. The Affordable Care Act has created a great deal of change, and though Minnis says there are many challenges, there are also “great opportunities.”

“So many people choose the healthcare field because they want to add good to the world by developing useful technology and helping the quality of care. This is a dynamic time in history for this industry and though the role I play in investment banking is very different, it’s exciting to be a part of it,” Minnis said.

The People Part

Minnis says that many coming into the investment banking industry are unaware how crucial good client skills are.

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