Voice of Experience: Linda Drumright, General Manager of IMS Health’s Clinical Trials Optimization Solutions Group

DrumrightLindaBy Michelle Hendelman

“My father was a long time IBM employee, and when I was in seventh grade he brought home a pamphlet describing the computer sciences career path at IBM. On the back it stated how this was a good career path for anyone who excelled in math and science, but it also indicated that there were few women in the field at the time,” explained Drumright.

She added, “It was at that singular moment and because of the statement on the back of the pamphlet that I decided to pursue computer science.”

Career in Technology

Drumright followed through with her plan and eventually graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in Computer Science. Despite her father’s connection to IBM, Drumright set her sights on smaller tech firms in her job search immediately after college. “I wanted to work for a smaller company because I felt like it would give me a better understanding of how the business ran and an appreciation for how all of the different roles within a company work together to create a product,” explained Drumright.

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Voice of Experience: Julie Gorte, Senior Vice President, Sustainable Investing, Pax World Management

This week we are profiling amazing women in investment management ahead of our annual career panel event on the 5th November for women in the industry who want to make it to the top.

julie_gorteBy Michelle Hendelman

Julie Gorte, Senior Vice President of Sustainable Investing at Pax World Management is on a mission to save the world. Well, not exactly, but she does believe that by changing attitudes toward climate change and the environment on Wall St., she can make a significant difference. “I am interested in the intersection between climate science and investment,” said Gorte. “For a long time, portfolio managers and analysts did not see climate change as an issue they needed to be concerned with, but this is something I have been committed to changing since I entered the investment industry in 1999.”

Gorte completed her Ph.D. in Resource Economics while she was working full-time for the Office of Technology Assessment, a former government agency that advised congress on matters related to science and technology policy. When this agency was defunded in 1993, Gorte spent several years working for different non-profits before deciding to move to the private sector.

“I received a call from a recruiter about a position in sustainable investing,” said Gorte, “and it occurred to me that the guiding star in my career up until then in every position I held had some element of saving the world or at least doing something to help. I started working at Calvert Investments and then came over to Pax World several years after that.”

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Movers and Shakers: Maya Venkatraman, Vice President, Senior Research Analyst of ING U.S. Investment Management

women on boardsWhen Maya Venkatraman, Vice President and Senior Research Analyst at ING U.S. Investment Management graduated from college with a degree in Painting & Fine Arts, she never envisioned a career path that would lead her toward financial services. “There is no road map in the arts the way there is in many other fields,” she said “and I was fortunate enough to recognize this as I was finishing up my undergraduate degree.”

Being raised in a family of entrepreneurs, Maya developed an interest in how businesses run very early on. When she realized a career in the Arts was not her calling, Maya decided to attend business school at Cornell where earned her MBA with a concentration in finance. She explained, “Finance seemed like a really natural fit for me since I love numbers, the story they tell, and the picture they paint about a business.”

Career Path

Although she was ready to begin her career in finance, Maya realized that securing a job in the industry might be more difficult because she lacked the job experience that many other MBA graduates have. She persevered, however, and continued to network until she found the perfect opportunity to get her foot in the door. “I was lucky enough to meet some senior executives from ABN Amro during a trip to Holland in my first year of business school and I was offered a summer internship,” said Maya.

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Voice of Experience: Lisa Ferraro, Managing Director, TIAA-CREF

This week we are profiling amazing women in investment management ahead of our annual career panel event on the 5th November for women in the industry who want to make it to the top.

lisa_ferraroBy Michelle Hendelman

According to Lisa Ferraro, much has changed for women in finance over the past three decades as she has worked her way up from an Associate to a Managing Director. “I don’t view my success as a zero-sum game for an individual contributor anymore, and I’ve learned that people who are successful in their industries are interested in diversity and inclusion to help others and their businesses grow,” she said.

As the Portfolio Manager, Energy and Infrastructure in Global Private Markets at TIAA-CREF, Lisa Ferraro oversees a $2.2 billion private equity portfolio which is invested in oil and gas production as well as renewable energy projects. Ferraro comes from a family of entrepreneurs and has always had a keen interest in how businesses successfully operate. “Having curiosity about the fundamentals of the companies I invest in and respect for developers that are trying create value has guided how I built my career,” said Ferraro, who holds a B.S. in Economics from The University of Pennsylvania Wharton School with a dual degree in Marketing and Entrepreneurial Management. “I read financial statements, and projections like a book, to see what story they tell about the company and management team. I get tremendous satisfaction from helping companies grow, which makes me a valuable private equity partner.”

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Voice of Experience: Kimberly Mounts, Founding Partner, President and CEO of MAP Alternative Asset Management Company, LLC

This week we are profiling amazing women in investment management ahead of our annual career panel event on the 5th November for women in the industry who want to make it to the top.

sm_kimberly_mountsBy Michelle Hendelman

Kimberly Mounts, Founding Partner, President and CEO of MAP Alternative Asset Management Company, LLC (“MAP”) built a successful career working with fixed income derivatives for two of the industry’s top firms: Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. However, if there was one thing she wished she knew earlier in her career, it was just how rewarding and fulfilling it would be to open up her own asset management company. Since Ms. Mounts founded the firm in 2006, MAP has grown into a premier institutional risk management and hedge fund consulting firm advising some of the largest public and corporate pension plans on over $35 billion of assets under advisory.

Selected as one of 140 business leaders to attend the White House Business Leaders Forum in 2011 and one of Institutional Investor Magazine’s 2012 Rising Stars of Hedge Funds, Kimberly Mounts’ persistence and dedication has established MAP as a leading risk management and hedge fund consultant. In addition, one of the largest public pensions awarded the firm a consulting contract for their hedge fund platform and a $40 billion state pension selected the firm as their investment risk consultant for their $18 billion defined benefit plan. MAP’s advisory work includes total portfolio risk management for public and corporate pensions, and a foundation. As part of the firm’s hedge fund advisory services, MAP researches, selects and combines the best-in-class fixed income managers with a particular focus on emerging, minority and women-owned hedge funds. The firm was recently named one of the Top 100 Emerging Businesses in California for 2013 by DiversityBusiness.com.

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Voice of Experience: Kerry Jordan, CFA, Director of Marketing and Chief Compliance Officer, Chicago Capital Management L.P.

This week we are profiling amazing women in investment management ahead of our annual career panel event on the 5th November for women in the industry who want to make it to the top.

Kerry Bio PicBy Michelle Hendelman

When Kerry Jordan, CFA, Director of Marketing and Chief Compliance Officer, Chicago Capital Management L.P., was first starting out in her career, she wished that she knew how to remind herself that everything would be alright. She explained, “If you make a mistake, you have to acknowledge it, learn from it, and move on from it.”

It is also important to recognize early in your career just how vital it is to act with integrity, competence, and respect and to maintain a credible reputation. “Always make sure you are acting in the best interest of your clients and your firm,” added Jordan. “I cannot emphasize this enough.”

Kerry Jordan began her career with the NASDAQ Stock Market conducting insider trading investigations on the stocks that traded in that market. “After six years of doing this, it gave me a really good orientation in compliance,” said Jordan.

While she was employed at NASDAQ, Jordan was also hard at work earning her graduate degree in finance and her Charter Financial Analyst designation, which she said gave her a broad based foundation in financial analysis and management. “When I completed my graduate studies, I started working for Bank of America on its derivative structuring team in Chicago working with Fortune 500 companies designing and implementing strategies to mitigate risk,” said Jordan.

Career in Finance

After a seven year career at Bank of America, Jordan moved to the hedge fund industry where she currently works. “My derivatives background allowed me to transition into the hedge fund industry since my first position was with a hedge fund that had a very heavy derivatives portfolio,” Jordan explained. “They were having difficulty explaining derivatives to investors, and I was able to take a complex portfolio and break it down into language that investors could understand.” she added.

Currently, Jordan works as the Director of Marketing and Chief Compliance Officer at Chicago Capital Management where she has been able to combine her experience in derivatives, compliance, and asset management. In this role, she is particularly excited about the way distribution has changed in asset management. “There are many different platforms available that enable smaller managers to access institutional money,” said Jordan.

She added that the next few years should be a dynamic time in the industry as a battle for distribution starts to develop. “As there is more access to capital online through crowdfunding, electronic exchanges, and other sources, there will be a significant shift in how capital allocation to hedge funds works,” Jordan explained.

Jordan indicated that earning her Charter Financial Analyst designation stands out as one of the most challenging but rewarding accomplishments of her career so far. She also pointed out that working on a derivatives trading desk for seven years, with mostly male colleagues, was extremely rigorous, but helped to shape who she has become professionally.

In order to help strengthen investor confidence in the financial markets, Jordan dedicates much of her time volunteering with The CFA Institute on various initiatives. “Restoring ethics and integrity is one of the most important elements to the continued success of the capital markets,” Jordan said. “Global markets have experienced so much turmoil over the last five years which has resulted in distrust in the financial services industry,” she added.

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Voice of Experience: Laurie Carroll, Managing Director and Index Specialist at Mellon Capital

This week we are profiling amazing women in investment management ahead of our annual career panel event on the 5th November for women in the industry who want to make it to the top.

sm_carrol_laurieBy Michelle Hendelman

In 1989, Laurie Carroll became a breast cancer survivor. “Being a breast cancer survivor in a male dominated atmosphere was hard, but it motivated me to work even harder and embrace every challenge,” said Carroll, “and I had a lot of supportive male colleagues around me who understood what I was going through.”

Laurie Carroll graduated from Seton Hill University with a degree in Business Management. At the time she attended, Seton Hill was a women’s college. “I wish I knew at the time that I wouldn’t necessarily be accepted in the business world,” said Carroll. “Within my family, and within the tight knit community at Seton Hill, you were never told that you couldn’t achieve something,” she added.

“That was really eye-opening for me. For example, when I started at BNY Mellon over 20 years ago, I wasn’t invited to the investment management meeting even though I was managing money,” Carroll said. “This has changed,” added Carroll. “Women are more involved and they are moving higher within the industry.”

Career Path

“When I graduated from college, Pittsburgh did not have the strongest job market, so I bought a one-way ticket to Houston where some of my family members lived,” said Carroll. Within three days Carroll found a position at an up and coming investment management firm called Aim Management. “I was hired to do basic office work,” recalled Carroll, “but that is how I got my start in the industry. I was about the 20th person to be hired at the company, which was later sold to Invesco.”

Carroll learned the business of investment management by being proactive and taking advantage of opportunities to advance her career whenever she could. She explained, “Whenever someone left the company or something changed, I asked to take on the new role or task. This is how I moved up in the business.”

After five or six years of working in the investment management industry in Houston, Carroll moved back to the Pittsburgh area when she accepted a position at one of the first investment management divisions at BNY Mellon. Since then, Carroll has worked in several investment management subsidiaries of BNY Mellon. “I am proud of the flexibility I have displayed throughout my career,” said Carroll, “and I am proud of the great teams I have had the opportunity to manage.”

Another career highlight Carroll noted as critical to her professional development was the international assignment she accepted a couple of years ago, to live and work in London. “I knew working abroad would be challenging on both a professional and a personal level. There is a different atmosphere and a different way of doing things, so I had to learn how to fit in to that culture,” said Carroll.

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Voice of Experience: Robin Cohen, Partner, Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman

sm_robin_cohenBy Michelle Hendelman

“I knew very early on that I wanted to be a lawyer, but the path to where I am today was somewhat accidental.” Robin Cohen fell in love with law in elementary school when she participated in a program that gave her the opportunity to get firsthand experience in the legal field. “Students were able to leave school twice a week and do something that you were interested in pursuing later in life. I worked downtown in a common case court where the judge tried a lot of criminal cases.” This experience served as the foundation for Cohen’s bright future in the courtroom.

Career Path

Cohen left law school unsure of the career path she wanted to follow, but she very quickly developed a passion for litigation. “When I got my first assignment, and was told it was an insurance case, I assumed I would be representing the insurance company, but in fact I was representing the policyholder,” said Cohen. She continued, “This really fit my personality. I enjoyed being the plaintiff and moving litigation forward.” Since then, Cohen has been a key player in the insurance coverage area, representing big organizations in complex, and sometimes even groundbreaking cases.

The last trial Cohen prosecuted in December definitely stands out to her as one case of which she is particularly proud. “The trial team consisted of attorneys I have practiced with for a very long time. We work together like a well-oiled machine. It was a complex case and the jury came back within five hours and found in favor of our client.” She continued, “From the culmination of all the mentoring work I had put into the team, I was so proud of them and the success we achieved.”

Another source of pride for Cohen in her career came when she was about seven or eight years out of law school and an important client asked her to be lead counsel on a big environmental coverage case. “I was very young to be doing this,” recalled Cohen, “and it was one of the first environmental coverage trials in the country. The client so was happy with the outcome of the trial, they gave us a party at the Rainbow Room. And it was as a result of that case that I was able to develop so many clients.”

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Voice of Experience: Hilarie Bass, Co-President, Greenberg Traurig

sm_bass_hilarieBy Michelle Hendelman

Hilarie Bass, Co-President of Greenberg Traurig, emphasized the importance of defining your personal level of success and mapping out a career path that will enable you to get to that level.

According to Bass, all lawyers should look at their careers through a long lens. “Think about what you want to achieve in five years and create a vision for what that definition of success will look like,” explained Bass. “Being a really good technical lawyer is a precondition to any level of success in the practice of law. That being said, technical ability in and of itself is not enough,” she added.

Career at Greenberg Traurig

Bass has a unique career path in that she has spent her entire career at one law firm. “I came to Greenberg Traurig as a summer associate, accepted a job offer on the spot, and have been here for my entire legal career,” explained Bass. She became a shareholder in 1987, and in the mid-nineties Bass became the head of the Miami Litigation Group.

After leading the litigation group in Miami, Bass spent eight years as chair of the Global Litigation Practice for Greenberg Traurig. She then became Global Operating Shareholder for three years, which gave her the unique opportunity to work with the chairs of all the practice groups at the firm.

Since February, Bass has been getting up to speed in her new position as Co-President. “In this role, I have a lot more opportunities for interaction between our lawyers and our clients,” said Bass.

“The achievement I am most proud of in my career, outside of practicing at Greenberg Traurig, is having served as the chair of the ABA litigation section, which is the largest section of the American Bar Association.”

She continued, “The other moment I am proud of is my work on a pro bono case in which I represented two foster children that led to the finding of unconstitutionality of the statutes that prohibited gay people from adopting in the state of Florida. We raised the legal issues from the perspective of two fit children rather than the adopting parents.”

“It was great to be able to use the law in the way I have always thought about it,” Bass said, “which is a tool for social change.”

Currently, Bass is approaching the end of almost four and half years of litigation in a major case involving Chinese drywall. She explained, “Post-Katrina, it made economic sense to import drywall board into the US. Between the real estate boom and the post-Katrina reconstruction, there was a high demand for drywall. As it turned out, the imported drywall contained an excessive amount of sulfur, which will deteriorate anything made of copper or silver in the house.”

Bass continued, “I represented many of the big public builders across the country who repaired their homes on behalf of their homeowners. We have had a lot of success reaching settlements with various parties. I am glad we are coming to a positive end on this case.”

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Intrepid Woman: Yesi Morillo-Gual, Founder and President, Proud To Be Latina

rsz_morilloThe Glass Hammer is celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month by featuring profiles of Hispanic Women Business Leaders all week long!

By Michelle Hendelman, Editor-in-Chief

As a successful senior level Latina at one of the largest global financial services firms, Yesi Morillo-Gual recognized that she was one of few Latinas to hold a Director position. This was one of her primary motivations for starting her Latina networking organization, Proud to Be Latina, three years ago.

“I have been in Corporate America for twenty-one years,” said Morillo-Gual, “starting at the administrative level and working my way up to where I am now.” She continued, “I started Proud To Be Latina because of some of the challenges I faced in my own career. These included things like not knowing how to navigate the landscape, not knowing about the unwritten rules, not having a lot of support, and also not really believing that I belonged because the majority of my colleagues did not look like me.”

As a result, Morillo-Gual found herself creating individual barriers that she admits, in hindsight, probably did not exist. She explained, “I saw other women around me doing this same thing, and that is not to say barriers did not exist, but we were creating more barriers for ourselves. This motivated me to create a platform of empowerment for Latinas to learn from one another, empower, and encourage each other to reach their full potential.”

One of the most important ways Morillo-Gual carries out the mission of Proud To Be Latina is to be a role model and mentor for other professional Latinas who also feel like they are the only Latina in the room at times. The organization also has several programs [PDF] designed to bring professional Latinas together to network and share experiences.

Networking Opportunities for Latina Professionals

Morillo-Gual said, “One of these programs is the EmPower Hour, which is a conference call held on the first Monday of every month. We bring in experts in a field or topic and individuals on the call can ask important questions and discuss relevant issues.” Morillo-Gual mentioned topics discussed in previous EmPower Hours include how to build wealth, learning how to say ‘no,’ and how heritage can be a source of strength for advancement.

“Some Latinas think they have to leave their heritage behind to succeed in corporate America, which is not true at all,” explained Morillo-Gual.

Another program Proud To Be Latina hosts is EmPowered Latinas Connect, a networking event held three to four times a year. At their most recent event, which took place last Friday, they addressed the issue of the unconscious bias Latinas have created against each other and how to overcome this. “We had a really honest conversation about what our responsibilities are to other Latinas,” said Morillo-Gual. These events offer a safe space for professional Latinas to express themselves on these important issues impacting their career advancement.

Finally, Proud To Be Latina hosts an annual Latina EmPowerment Conference to help women bridge the gap being Latina, being American, and never compromising their identity to succeed in their careers, according to Morillo-Gual.

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