Voice of Experience: Nancy Mellard, Executive Vice President & General Counsel, CBIZ Employee Services Division

NancyMellardBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“I’m a Midwest girl, born and raised,” said Nancy Mellard, Executive Vice President and General Counsel at CBIZ Employee Services Division, and National Leader of CBIZ Women’s Advantage, the firm’s women’s program. “It’s my 20th anniversary at CBIZ, and it sounds bizarre to me that anyone could be anywhere for 20 years!”

Mellard studied English as an undergraduate and then enrolled in the University of Missouri Kansas City School of Law. “I went on to law school thinking I would be a great litigator, only to realize that I truly loved using my law degree as General Counsel in a corporate setting.”

It took a few years to figure that out, she said. She worked for the state of Missouri after she graduated, but two years later, she took a General Counsel position. “I found that I’m really great at building relationships – and as a lawyer in a corporation, providing counsel, you have to understand relationships. I liked that – it got me up in the morning.”

She continued, “I knew pretty early that I wanted to be a senior officer and use my credentials to climb the corporate ladder.”

Not only has Mellard done just that, but she remains focused on building strategic value. Last year, she led CBIZ Women’s Advantage to bring in over $1.4 million in business.

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Voice of Experience: Eliza McDougall, Partner, Bank Finance Practice, White & Case

McDougall_ElizabethBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Originally from Toronto, Eliza McDougall attended McGill University and then spent a year working in venture capital marketing. “I decided I needed to get further education and applied to both business and law school.” She enrolled in a joint JD/MBA program at the University of Toronto and, following a summer internship at Milbank,Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP, she decided to go into law. McDougall spent the next five years working in their global project finance group. Subsequently, she moved into the leveraged finance group when the firm established it as a separate practice area and then moved to White & Case as counsel in 2010.

She became a partner in White & Case’s Bank Finance Practice on January 1st of this year.

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Voice of Experience: Janet Adams, Head of Strategic Projects and Change Management for Group Regulatory Affairs, Royal Bank of Scotland

janetadamsBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

One of the major challenges women face in the financial services industry, said Janet Adams, Head of Strategic Projects and Change Management for Group Regulatory Affairs at RBS, is a shortage of female role models. “It can be daunting being in meeting after meeting where you are the only woman or there is a minority of women.”

“We have three new female non-executive directors at RBS, and our Chairman is actively committed to developing women in senior positions so we do have successful female role models,” she said. “I have been mentored by two of the more senior women here over the past five years and benefited greatly from this.”

It’s also incumbent on women to reach out to role models, she said. “You need to go out and find them and approach them.”

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Voice of Experience: Libby Cantrill, Senior Vice President, PIMCO

LibbyCantrillBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“Don’t be afraid to ask and don’t be afraid of your own voice,” said Libby Cantrill, Senior Vice President at PIMCO. “A lot of times, women don’t think they deserve to be in the room, to have a seat at the table. They do.”

One of the key lessons she has learned throughout her career is the importance of asking for the career opportunities you want. “Women are often afraid to ask for things and put themselves out there. But all of the most interesting things and opportunities that I have experienced in my own career are the result of asking for them,” she said.

She continued, “The other thing I’ve learned is that no one will manage your career for you. I would advise women to be proactive and strategic when thinking about the next steps in their career advancement.”

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Voice of Experience: Liz Bingham, Managing Partner, People and Talent, UK and Ireland, Ernst & Young

lizbinghamBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“In order to attract and retain the best people, we have to make sure that we are looking at talent through a diversity and inclusion lens,” said Liz Bingham, Managing Partner of People and Talent for the UK and Ireland at Ernst & Young. “This is an area I am completely passionate about. As a school leaver (non graduate), a woman, and also an out lesbian, I tick quite a few gender diversity boxes.”

Bingham rose through the ranks at Ernst & Young as a member of the firm’s restructuring business, eventually becoming managing partner of the $150 million practice. Last year, she decided she was ready for a new challenge, and was appointed to the UK firm’s leadership team as Managing Partner for People and Talent. Now she is keenly focused on taking learning and development, diversity and inclusion, and employee engagement to the next level.

“I want to be sure talent in every shape and form is nurtured, to create a more meaningful experience for every individual who works for the firm for however long they stay with us,” she said.

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Voice of Experience: Kelly Williams, Group Head and Managing Director, Customized Fund Investment Group, Asset Management Division, Credit Suisse

KellyWilliamsBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Kelly Williams, Group Head and Managing Director of Credit Suisse’s Customized Fund Investment Group, believes that networking is critical in the private equity business – especially for women.

“Too many people focus solely on doing deals, and not as much on being part of firm building,” she said. “Networking and relationship development with both entrepreneurs and investors are equally important for building a sustainable career. That’s where women need help in this industry.”

Williams, whose group manages over $28 billion of assets on behalf of clients globally, is the founding chair of the Private Equity Women Investor Network, and believes that by playing a bigger role in generating business, women can raise their profile across the industry.

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Movers and Shakers: Jane Newton, Partner and Wealth Manager, RegentAtlantic Capital

janenewtonBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Jane Newton was drawn to Wall Street fresh out of her graduation from Tufts University. “What better place is there for an econ major who wants to learn about business in the Big Apple?” she asked.  “I wanted to learn from the smartest people around.”

Newton joined JP Morgan, working in investment banking for 12 years, then moving to private banking for another six. “Switching to work with high net worth clients was probably the best strategic decision I could have made – having that direct impact on the important people I work with and their families.”

She continued, “And moving to RegentAtlantic Capital seven years ago was the other best decision I’ve made professionally. The firm has fostered my leadership and created an environment where I can hone my focus and skills toward a specific market.”

Now Partner and Wealth Manager at RegentAtlantic, Newton is also an enthusiastic advocate of networking, especially for women. In 2010, she launched the annual Wall Street Women Forum®, an event designed specifically for high-level women on Wall Street to help them continue their professional success. “Conceiving of the Forum takes me totally out of my comfort zone. I created something from scratch to meet a need I identified. The Forum changes women’s lives in a way I didn’t expect from the beginning and it has touched a nerve. There’s a gap we’ve been able to fill for these professionals,” she explained.

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Voice of Experience: Maria Castañón Moats, Chief Diversity Officer, PwC

Maria MoatsAccording to Maria Castañón Moats, Chief Diversity Officer at PwC, simply acknowledging diversity isn’t enough to unlock its benefits – companies must engage with diversity to really experience its value. “I’m getting out there and talking to different people in practice about why it’s important for us to engage with each other when it comes to diversity,” she said.

“Think about behaviors – like inclusion. We need to understand not only how we are similar, but we need to understand how we are different.”

“Taking an interest in that difference and leveraging that makes us better as a team,” she explained. “If we could all behave as advocates for one another, think of how powerful that would be.”

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Intrepid Woman: How I Got My Career Back on Track as a New Mom

kellycepedaContributed by Kelly Cepeda

I lost my job at Goldman Sachs in the midst of the 2009 economic meltdown, and soon after, I found out I was expecting my first child. Taking a break from work to spend time with my baby was something I had always looked forward to, so I thought the timing was perfect. It wasn’t until the start of 2011, when my son turned a year old and I felt that he was ready to be “let out into the world,” that I realized how much time had actually gone by.

As I began to revise my resume and speak to people in the financial industry, I realized how far I had fallen behind my peers. The gap in my resume was daunting. Would someone really want to hire me after I had been away from the corporate setting for such a long time? I realized that choosing to be a stay-at-home mom had taken a toll on my self-confidence, but there was no way I was going to get anywhere feeling sorry for myself. I had the relevant experience, and I had worked for excellent firms, including New York Life, Bears, and Goldman Sachs, and I had an unbeatable enthusiasm about returning to work. Why not hire me?

Well, I can tell you, not too many people appreciated that I took leave from my career to be there for my son, in his first year of life, and most were not shy to express this. To make matters worse, there were those who poked fun by calling me a big dreamer for believing that I could still have a career. If my so-called friends thought this way, then what would actual employers say? One friend even suggested that I lie about the reason I chose to take time off – to actually deny having my baby! To me, choosing to be a stay-at-home mom was a gift. I was very proud of having made this choice, and there was no way I was going to hide it.

Hearing these negative voices made things even more challenging. I have always been a dreamer, a trait that has enabled me to visualize the life I want to have and follow the right path to make those dreams come true.

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Movers and Shakers: Lynne Laube, President and COO, Cardlytics Inc.

LynneLaubeBy Robin Madell, San Francisco

Tradition may come to mind before innovation when thinking about the financial services industry. But for Lynne Laube, president and COO of Cardlytics, Inc., innovation has consistently come first. “I have always been excited by innovation and knew that was where I wanted to focus my career,” she explained.

After starting her career at Bank One and then spending 13 years at Capital One, most recently as vice president and COO, Laube decided to take a more entrepreneurial route. She co-founded Cardlytics, which offers targeted advertising within banking, in the summer of 2008 with Scott Grimes, Cardlytics CEO. Yet even while serving in her earlier roles in banking, Laube was always on the lookout for opportunities to innovate—and found several.

Over the years, Laube worked on products that have since become ubiquitous in the industry, but at the time were cutting-edge, such as balance transfer, micro-business lending, and private-label lending. “I love creating new products, building new businesses, and trying new models,” she said. “When I joined Capital One, they were at the forefront of innovation within consumer and business lending.”

Toward the end of her tenure, she began focusing on payment innovation, and played a major role in the creation of decoupled debit, a groundbreaking and controversial product. While the product ultimately was unsuccessful, Laube’s work in this area helped her see the potential for other innovations with financial services. “I suspected it would be easier to innovate from a new company rather than within the walls of a very large bank, and that is when I left Capital One and started Cardlytics,” she said.

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