Ten Inspiring Voices

iStock_000014186302XSmallBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Today we’re celebrating our 2000th post (check out our Founder and CEO Nicki Gilmour’s article this morning on inclusive leadership), by reflecting on the things we’ve learned while working to inform, empower, and inspire women to break the glass ceiling.

As Editor of The Glass Hammer, one of the most fulfilling parts of my job is the opportunity to interview extraordinary women and tell their stories through our profile series like Voices of Experience, Movers and Shakers, and Intrepid Woman.

Today I’m sharing ten things I’ve learned from our Voice of Experience profiles that have personally impacted me and my journey – I hope you’ll find them just as inspiring!

1. Think About the Kind of Life You Want to Live

To illustrate the importance of what she called “living the life of the possible,” Sheree Stomberg, Head of O&T Administration, Global Operations & Technology Chief Administrative Office at Citi, shared a moving story about her grandfather.

“He lived life with no regrets – he was very active into his 90s. He lived the art of the possible,” she said. “When he was 65 he suffered a heart attack. The doctor said he must live a life without physical exertion, not eat food that was too hot or drink things that were too cold… he looked at the list and tore it up. The doctor said he wouldn’t live 5 years.”

She continued, “When he was in his 70s, we went mountain climbing in Alaska together. And when he was 75 he went back to tell the doctor about it.”

“I’m not advising people to discredit medical advice,” she joked. “But he always looked for how to move life forward. That’s what I mean about living the life of the possible.”

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Voice of Experience: Suni Harford, Managing Director and Regional Head of Markets for North America, Citigroup

sunniharfordBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“I’m constantly learning in this job,” said Suni Harford, Managing Director and Regional Head of Markets for North America at Citi. “And that’s great after twenty-five years in the business, to say I learn something new every day.”

Harford, who co-heads the firm’s women’s initiative in addition to her day job, shows inspiring enthusiasm for her career – and, she said, it comes from doing work she enjoys.

“It sounds silly to say that the most exciting thing I’m working on right now is just doing my job, but these markets make for interesting days, and it’s very rewarding.”

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Voice of Experience: Kathleen Hughes, Managing Director, Head of Global Liquidity Sales, Goldman Sachs Asset Management

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Kathleen HughesShe advised, “Think strategically about how you build your brand. This is something I personally had to learn – the bar gets higher and higher in this industry, and it’s not enough to keep your head down and work. Of course, you have to produce. But you also have to promote your success and build your brand in a different way.”

And, she said, how you build that brand depends significantly on your firm’s culture. “Our culture here tends to be team-oriented. Relationships matter.”

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Voice of Experience: Kelly Mathieson, Managing Director, Global Custody and Clearance Business Executive, J.P. Morgan Worldwide Securities Services

KellyMathiesonBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Helping write the recent tri-party repo reforms has been a significant source of pride for Kelly Mathieson, Managing Director of Global Custody and Clearance Business Executive at J.P. Morgan Worldwide Securities Services, and is one way she’s making her mark on the industry.

“I think my proudest professional achievement has been the opportunity to be involved in and lead part of the reforms mandated by the Fed for the tri-party repo market movement,” she said.

“The market crisis occurred in ’08, and I picked up the clearing business about a month after that,” she continued, adding that Lehman was a notable client at the time. “It really gave us unbelievable insight into how that market model was not working effectively.”

She continued, “We made recommendations in May 2010 and have been working on the reforms’ implementation, and I’m quite proud of that. It will transform how that model works, and it will impact the generations to come.”

Mathieson, who was recently named of one of American Banker’s top 25 women to watch continued, “It was a Herculean amount of work and I’ve never been involved in something like that before.”

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Movers and Shakers: Alison Maitland on How The Way We Work Will Change

alisonmaitlandBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

According to Alison Maitland, co-Author of Future Work: How Businesses Can Adapt and Thrive in the New World of Work, it’s time for companies to adapt to employees’ needs – rather than the other way around. By doing so, she believes, companies can unlock untapped potential and productivity – particularly when it comes to women – and that’s good for business.

She explained, “We need corporate cultures to adapt to the two new realities of workforces and careers. First, that women are nearly half the workforce in most advanced economies. And yet many organizations are still built and designed by and for men of another era. That is no longer suitable for today’s workforce. “

“There is a connection between the way work is done and women’s lack of progress to the top.” Location should be removed from the equation when evaluating work, she continued. “Really, it’s results that should count rather than hours spent in the office.”

Future Work was released in the UK in October and in the US on the 8th of November, and discusses the urgency with which corporations need to address a changing workforce as the global marketplace becomes more complex. The book is co-written with Peter Thomson, a former HR director and a long-time expert on new ways of working.

She explained, “We both thought the way we work is crazy, and that there are much better ways to be doing it, and change is on the way.”

Maitland and Thomson interviewed over 60 executives and experts around the world and surveyed managers in their research for the book. “The majority of these managers expect there to be a revolution in working practices in the next decade. The book has a driving vision to explain how work can be done better and how people can be more productive, in a way that is good for people, good for companies, and good for the environment,” she said.

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35 Under 35: Simone Koo, Vice President, Institutional Equities, Morgan Stanley

simonekooBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

When asked about career advice, Simone Koo, Vice President, Institutional Equities at Morgan Stanley responded with a laugh. “I’ve only had about eight years of my career.”

She continued, “I’m probably the youngest in the COO organization – and I take quite a bit of pride in that. And of course, there are people with years of experience ahead of me to learn from and develop my career.”

“But I would point out that business management, and management overall isn’t just something to do if you are older or experienced. You have to start early – and I’ve also been lucky with the bosses I’ve had. They have made so many opportunities available to me.”

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Intrepid Woman: Laura Yecies, CEO, SugarSync

laura_yeciesBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“This was not a hot topic for me until three years ago,” said Laura Yecies, CEO of SugarSync. “Gender issues were not something I focused on. I had this idea that there were plenty of female CEOs – maybe not 50/50, but that there was a good amount.”

She continued, “Then I became a female CEO.”

Yecies said the turning point was when she attended a conference held by her company’s investors. “There was not one other woman at the meeting. I was blown away.” Not only was Yecies the only woman at the meeting, but she was the investors’ first and only female CEO.

“I realized there was more of a problem. It was really consciousness-raising.”

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Voice of Experience: Charlotte Crosswell, President of Nasdaq OMX Europe

charlottecrosswellBy Jessica Titlebaum (Chicago)

“You should hear some of the stories we share,” said Charlotte Crosswell, President of NASDAQ OMX Europe, about discussions she has with other senior level women.

“Like staying up until one in the morning making cupcakes with New York [executives] on speakerphone from my blackberry.  You have to really want a career and children.”

It is a Tuesday morning and Crosswell is sitting across from me at a coffee table at the Hilton hotel in Chicago.   She flew in from London that Sunday night, had plans to fly to New York the following day and then back to London on Thursday.

While being a mother is somewhat new to Crosswell (her daughter is three years old), the business travel is something she has been doing for most of her career.  Crosswell has been all over the world from China to Israel developing business for two prominent Exchanges. 

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Intrepid Woman: Leaning In – A New Graduate in the Real World

EJThompsonContributed by EJ Thompson (New York City)

This past May, Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, stood in front of me and told me to “lean in.” To jump in, make a change, think big, to “pick a field…and ride it all the way to the top.” It was Barnard College’s graduation ceremony, and all around me were 600 women who, just like me, had completed their education. We had, over the past four years been trained to believe in ourselves as women, as leaders, as intellectuals, as scientists, as writers, as human beings who could make a difference. And Sandberg stood in front of us and told us that yes, there were still inequalities in the work place, but we were poised to make changes.

Her speech was replayed across the country – it was a main photo of the New York Times, it was mentioned in the Huffington Post, Forbes said that she “crushed it.” It was described as a speech for the ages, the one that would be remembered, the most influential one of the graduation speeches that year. It was the speech that sent Barnard College’s class of 2011 off into the great world, and we were ready for it.

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Voice of Experience: Lucy MacDonald, Managing Director, London and CIO, Global Equities, RCM

LucyMacdonaldBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

For Lucy MacDonald, Managing Director of RCM and CIO of its Global Equities division, developing a communication style that works is an important part of developing leadership skills.

“It means being able to speak your mind and add value without frightening people away,” she explained with a chuckle.

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