Voice of Experience: Yolanda Cash Jackson | Equity shareholder in the Government Law & Lobbying Practice Group & Member of the Management Committee of Becker & Poliakoff

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yolanda cash jacksonBy Cathie Ericson

“It’s important never to put limitations on yourself based on how others see you,” says Becker & Poliakoff’s Yolanda Cash Jackson. “While it can be challenging to be the first and break new ground, since there’s not a pattern, you have to learn to take directions from your gut and people you trust.”

These words have served Jackson well during her years in law, which she considers her second career, after seven years in retail. During law school she worked as a summer law clerk for the oldest law firm in Miami, where she was subsequently offered a position as an associate and stayed there until former colleagues opened another firm and hired her.

Within a year, the founding partners got a divorce, her husband passed away and she found herself at a personal cross roads. She went to a midsize firm where she was doing litigation, until she got an interesting offer from a friend with whom she had grown up in the community where her father was a pastor. He was running for Florida State Senate, and she helped oversee community outreach on his behalf. He then asked her to head up his state Senate campaign as his campaign manager and that was it — she was hooked on government law.

She developed a proposal to start a government services firm within her firm, but they rejected the proposal since the majority of their work was based on hourly payments, rather than retainers, and they didn’t see it as a financially sustainable model.

Soon after, a friend referred her to Becker & Poliakoff, where she started in January 1999 with the agreement she would do both litigation and government work. The campaign niche grew so rapidly that soon she was able to focus exclusively on government outreach.

“Unfortunately I’m still a rarity as an African-American lobbyist in a for-profit corporation,” she says, adding that she sometimes gets pigeon-holed based on race although she has been able to successfully work across both sides of the aisle. “I certainly often catch people by surprise,” she says.

Some of her most impactful clients have been historically black universities, where she can see she has made a true difference. In addition, although she has worked with numerous municipalities, she is most proud of Miami Gardens, a city with the largest concentration of middle-class minority citizens south of Atlanta. She began working for them 12 years ago when they had one employee; they since have grown to more than 500 employees with a multi-million dollar budget. One of her biggest achievements has been helping establish them as the third largest municipality in Dade County. Since that time, Miami Gardens has hosted Super Bowl 2013 and a nationally recognized jazz festival.

Making Strides within the Lobbying Industry

While Jackson says she can feel a change in the acceptance of women in visible roles on the lobbying floor, she says that there are still certain industries like insurance and banking that remain male dominated. However, she says a sea change is already underway and with more women coming into the legislature, she has seen the rally of support as women legislators ensure women have access.

As she works with younger women, she sees a continuing challenge in impressing upon them the importance of maintaining a certain decorum – from how they dress to how they interact with clients and legislators.

“Men might not be as concerned about going to dinner or drinks with a legislator after hours, but a woman needs to think about it,” she says, noting that women have to be more careful that their achievements are never called into question based on relationships. “Appearances and reputation are paramount, and often younger women don’t instinctively realize that,” Jackson says.

Regarding women she considers her peers, Jackson believes that they need to remember to support one another. She cites the movie Hidden Figures, where the women were focused on helping each other achieve the next milestone — discussing challenges and celebrating each other. Naturally this type of interaction is less common in a competitive environment like lobbying where you always have to win, but there’s a balance between being competitive and cutthroat, she notes.

Jackson sees a place for women’s groups, but mentions that sometimes there can be duplication between other networking groups. Careful never to want to be seen as “the diversity partner,” she balances the needs of gender-specific networking with overall industry involvement.

Seeking Balance

Another area she has seen great strides being made as millennials impact the workplace is in work/life balance. Jackson remembers bringing her daughter to work years ago and letting her fall asleep on the couch if a project needed completion. Now, women are more apt to go home and be with their families, which is important, and yet, the pendulum could be swinging back slightly. She says she sees a reoccurrence of comments such as “Oh they’re never in the office” regarding professionals who work from home. “You know who’s doing meaningful work, and yet face time still matters,” she says.

That said, one of her goals for 2017 is balance. In her line of work particularly, it’s hard to separate work from pleasure since she thrives in her role as rainmaker and opportunities are always around her. For example, she met one of her current clients at the hair salon.

One important outlet in addition to her family is work she does with philanthropic organizations, including Children of Inmates and the Florida Children’s Initiative, both of which have expanded throughout the state since she’s been involved. She also has put her heart into her position on the board of the Urban League as well as her church.

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Voice of Experience: Angela Harrell, Senior Vice President, Corporate Responsibility, Voya Financial; President of Voya Foundation

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LC_Harrell-Angela_full By Cathie Ericson

“Women sometimes feel like they must have all of the answers in a male-dominated industry,” says Voya’s Angela Harrell. Harrell believes that women tend to put pressure on themselves, and hang back, rather than apply for an assignment or position because they might not feel like they check every single box. Men alternatively may only have half the necessary skills, but apply because they plan to manage the uncertainties as they arise. “As women, we need to believe that we are capable and can achieve whatever we set our minds to do. Perfection can be the enemy of good,” she says.

This translates to the board room or in meetings. “Women sometimes risk coming off apologetic or even discount their own expertise with phrases like, ‘You may have already thought of this, but …’ or ‘This might not be a good idea, but ….’ If you have an idea, sell it,” says Angela. “If you are going to speak up, do so with conviction.”

A Varied Career, Focusing on What Really Matters

After earning degrees in foreign affairs, Harrell expected to move into international work. Instead, after grad school, she joined a consulting firm and subsequently an executive recruiting firm, which relocated her to Atlanta. As a Coca-Cola Scholar, she had ties to The Coca-Cola Company and soon joined them as a project manager in the chairman’s office, coincidentally replacing another Coca-Cola Scholar.

There she worked for the chairman and CEO, eventually moving into public affairs and communications, where she performed a wide variety of functions, including executive speech writing, media relations, internal communications, overseeing the annual report, the sustainability report and global photography. During her tenure she travelled extensively, including spending two years as an expat in South Africa.

Two years ago, she joined Voya Financial, where she heads up the corporate responsibility function and serves as president of Voya Foundation. “It is truly a culture that embraces corporate responsibility and all its facets, from ethics and integrity to sustainability and serving clients in a way that reflects our mission and values.”

A Service Ethic

This ethos is evident throughout the company. While Voya employees donate to charities at what Harrell calls “an extraordinary level,” employees are equally as generous with their time. Harrell oversees Voya’s National Day of Service (NDOS), where 60 percent of the company’s 7,000 employees (and 100 percent of its senior leaders) logged 13,500 volunteer hours this year.

For the event, employee-led committees across the country selected community projects for volunteerism efforts. Employees embraced the opportunity to interact with a diverse network of project participants, all in the name of serving the community. Harrell sees this effort as one that encourages ongoing volunteer behavior, since many people desire to help but are daunted at the prospect of diving in on their own. “Volunteering with colleagues to make a difference in a community infuses a different kind of dynamic into relationships and really reinforces the power of working together. In 2016, family members were invited to participate in the event.”

Harrell has acquired a more holistic understanding of how corporate responsibility manifests in financial services, affecting everything from environmental, social and governance (ESG) influences on investment decisions to the importance of transparency and disclosures. “It’s exciting to see businesses and individuals increasingly take ESG into financial investment considerations and think about the long-term impact on people and the planet,” she says.

Imparting Lessons to the Next Generation

When looking over her career, Harrell notes that her achievements of real significance have involved empowering others. “I am proud of how my team members have stretched themselves, either to transform an existing program or to develop a new, groundbreaking one,” she says. “When I stand back to consider my achievements, they center around enabling others to flourish by providing guidance and coaching as a partner, rather than being prescriptive,” says Harrell. “If you give guidance and help clear the runway, people can really soar.”

She adds that the best feedback she can get is positive input about a member of her team. “That is how you multiply and scale your effect,” she says.

Part of this focus stems from her early years when she was self-reliant to a fault, determined to accomplish everything by herself. But that attitude can preclude opportunities to understand other people’s perspectives and how they might approach things, which can influence you to think creatively. She soon realized that asking for help or input would allow her to grow, rather than reflect weakness.

“The kind of leader I want to be is the one who says, ‘How can I help you?’ but lets people succeed on their own,” she says.

She also encourages young women to think about their own personal brand and how they want to be perceived by others. “It’s not about being someone you are not. It’s about making sure you are yourself in all facets of your life,” she says. “If there is too much dissonance between who you are at work and who you are in your personal life, it can be exhausting. You can be your own true self and be successful.”

She mentions one woman who said she was always feeling pressure to “not be too nice” and be less emotional, which was contrary to her personality. Harrell urged her to choose the path where she could be herself, while ensuring that she wasn’t so nice that people would walk all over her.
She reminds senior women to pause and make sure they are continuing to build relationships with those around them, with a special recognition of more junior women.

“Part of our responsibility is to reach our hands down and bring others up with us,” she says, adding that it can be informal and doesn’t need to be overly time consuming, like connecting during lunch or for coffee. “We have to transfer some of the strength we have to those who are less experienced.” As such, Harrell often mentors other women and is active with many of Voya’s employee-led committees.

Noting that many women lead the community-oriented groups at each of Voya’s sites, she says those roles allow women to hone leadership skills they might not otherwise obtain. She recommends women take advantage of leadership opportunities within employee resource groups or through the mentoring programs their companies may offer. They help women flex their leadership muscles and meet colleagues they wouldn’t normally interact with often.

A Global Citizen

An avid traveler who has lived in eight countries and traveled to more than 50, Harrell is serious about her globe-trotting. She is an adventurer who immerses herself in different cultures. “I love learning about culture through the way people greet each other, their dress, food and all other nuances you experience when you get off the beaten path. It really fuels me,” she says.

Equally intrinsic are the many experiences she can obtain right in New York. “The entire world is here, no matter what I want to see or eat or the language I want to hear,” she says. “It’s amazing to literally be surrounded by the world.”

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Voice of Experience: Mar Gallardo, Partner, Diversity & Inclusion Leader, PwC Spain

mar gallardoBy Cathie Ericson

Everything takes its own time, says PwC’s Mar Gallardo. “Our career is not a crazy competition for short-term successes, and everyone should drive their career with a medium- or long-term perspective. As you make decisions, you may even learn that some of them were wrong, but learning from mistakes allows you to become stronger and more resilient,” she says.

A Life-Long Career At PwC

Gallardo has honed her long-term career at PwC, joining in 1987 as an auditor. Initially she focused on Telefonica, the major telecom company in Spain, and clients in the automotive sector. Since 1996, her activity has been focused on CIP clients (industrial, automotive, retail and consumer and pharma), including auditing and advising clients on the IPO process, U.S. GAAP and IFRS conversions and in accounting and compliance approaches. She was promoted to partner in 2003, the first ever female partner in PwC Spain.

In 2006 Gallardo assumed responsibility for the assurance practice for industrial products and automotive, as part of the assurance executive committee. She has since added responsibility for business development and is currently the CIP leader and the Diversity & Inclusion leader since 2012. In addition, Gallardo is a patron of the PwC Foundation in Spain and a member of the advisory board of Expansion, a financial newspaper in Spain.

Gallardo says she can’t point to one specific achievement she is most proud of, because after 28 years at PwC, she sees that her success has been a combination of many factors. “When I look back to the start of my career, I see all the experiences acquired, all the projects I have participated in, all the people I have met, and all that I have achieved, and I feel very proud of the sum. I feel very privileged to be able to continue enjoying and learning at work every day.”

The Importance of Retention

Right now, Gallardo is immersed in the many changes and transformation that the CIP industries are facing, as she works with her team to build solutions — adding value to clients while differentiating themselves from competitors in the services they provide. And that demands that they continue to attract, retain and develop the most diverse talent to allow for different points of view.

“As diversity leader in PwC Spain, I know it’s imperative to have diversity as a strategic priority embedded in our organization,” she says, noting it is even more important, due to new EU legislation, which among other requirements, has defined a Mandatory Audit Firm Rotation (MFR) that is impacting the audit market in many ways.

“We are dealing with a significant transformation of our firm and it is more crucial than ever to attract and retain the best talent. With women representing half of the new joiners each year, we cannot afford to lose female talent later in the pipeline.”

However, it is a fact in Spain that industrywide, more women than men leave before they reach leadership levels.

“Lost female talent at upper levels is a complex problem with many contributing factors both structural and corporate,” Gallardo says.

Since women still shoulder the bulk of home and child-related responsibilities, they often choose not to pay the price of long hours at the office. In addition she notes that as result, women have less time to dedicate to developing professional relationships and therefore can have less visibility inside the organization. Finally, some women demonstrate less self-confidence and therefore find it difficult to ask for promotions; although she sees this changing as millennials enter the workforce with increased confidence.

Finally, she sees that the culture of companies can present a barrier, due to unconscious bias, which affects leadership styles and how decisions are made and relationships formed.

“This is not a social question, but one of financial impact,” Gallardo stresses. “We have to be focused on retaining that talent as a business issue.”

That’s why she urges women entering the industry to drive their own career and exude confidence, unafraid to be ambitious and participate in open discussions regarding professional development and their objectives.

And she urges her peers to make the effort to support other women to grow and overcome the barriers they encounter in professional development, by dedicating time to be role models.

“I am convinced that if we dedicate time to know, understand and support female professionals along their careers, as their formal and informal mentors, and let them work in a flexible manner focused on objectives, we will be able to retain and advance women at all levels.”

Gallardo says she is focused on establishing objectives and implementing measures in light of the information obtained from the firm’s diversity balance scorecard. Built in 2010, it is a detailed analytical process which contains data on all key process of human capital affecting the professional development of women in PwC.

“What can´t be measured does not exist and it is crucial to have quality information to analyze and subsequently establish measures of accountability,” she says. Their work on the scorecard was reinforced with the adoption of the Global Inclusion Index, the PwC network D&I accountability framework.

In addition, Gallardo emphasizes that care is a key value, as they seek to understand each individual and what matters to them. “We have to make the effort to recognize the value each person contributes, while supporting others to grow and work in the way that brings out their best.”

A Full Life, Inside and Outside of Work

While Gallardo acknowledges that it would appear difficult to balance a demanding work schedule with family life and hobbies, she says that careful planning can allow you to accomplish all your goals.

Gallado couldn’t be prouder of her children, ages 17 and 20, and makes time for annual skiing and beach trips with her family. “Vacation is important to allow you not only to explore new places but share quality time with your loved ones,” she notes.

Since she was young, she has enjoyed snow and water skiing, tennis and paddle ball. In addition, she loves listening to music and is just one year away from a degree in music theory.

“While I have many hobbies, I have to say that I also really have fun working. It cannot be any other way.”

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Voice of Experience: Paget MacColl, Partner, Investment Management Division, Goldman Sachs

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By Cathie EricsonVoice of Experience

“Develop great friendships at work, across the industry and at every level,” recommends Paget MacColl, Partner at Goldman Sachs. “If you’re working with people you have a strong relationship with every day, work is more rewarding and certainly more enjoyable,” she says.
Through both formal and informal networking, MacColl says she has developed deep, lasting relationships, which she notes are critical to advancing one’s career. She stresses that networking outside the firm can be more challenging but is equally important.

Achieving Success and Sparking Other Young Women’s Ambition

MacColl began her career in Goldman Sachs’ Securities Division Debt Capital Markets Group, which offered broad exposure to various types of investments and clients. In her third year at the firm in 2001, she moved into the Investment Management Division and joined the Alternative Capital Markets Group. Growing on that team, she came to co-lead the group and oversaw fundraising for private equity funds and other alternative investments, a space that experienced tremendous growth from 2001 until 2007. “It was an exciting time to be in this group because of the huge growth in the alternative investment industry. I got to see the height of the market, and then after the financial crisis, I saw the depths that the industry reached. Both provided great learning opportunities.”
In 2012, MacColl took a brief hiatus from the firm to work for a client, a former Goldman Sachs colleague, where she quickly realized that life outside of Goldman Sachs is very different. “The grass is not always greener,” she said. “I call it my five-month dose of perspective.” Due to strong relationships with mentors and sponsors, she returned to Goldman Sachs. Upon her return, MacColl was asked to build out an institutional capital markets team within the Investment Management Division. In this role, she works with investment teams and institutional sales, leading fundraising campaigns for various investing strategies.
In addition, she now oversees the middle-market sales team in GSAM as well as the firm’s relationships with global investment consultants, which she says is an exciting challenge given their high level of sophistication and intricate relationships. “It’s an interesting dynamic; we need to work with consultants collaboratively, yet sometimes we compete with one another.”
MacColl says being named partner is the professional achievement she is most proud of since beginning her career as an analyst. An active mentor and sponsor to other women, she has also been involved in recruiting. “I love seeing the spark in young women’s eyes as they think, ‘I can do that too.’”

Be Master of Your Career

MacColl says it’s important for younger professionals not to assume that managers and decision makers are aware of their career aspirations. “Communication is imperative. You need to communicate what you want and obtain the feedback you need to move forward,” she reminds women. “Finding great mentors, sponsors and friends you trust at work is critical to this, but it’s also important that you’re prepared for and make yourself open to receiving the toughest feedback.”

She also advises women not to be afraid to ask questions. “I learned so much about my career and potential career trajectory, as well as about the firm and how my colleagues viewed me while I was leaving the firm. When I returned, I realized there were so many questions I hadn’t asked the first time around. This is your career and your future and the onus is on you to ask those questions.”

Creating a Village Inside and Outside of Work

MacColl currently heads the Firmwide Women’s Network, which is comprised of 6,000 people in the Americas, 25 percent of whom are men. She is also a member of the Governance Board of the Wall Street Women’s Alliance, a group of senior women leaders at financial firms that come together to foster commercial outcomes, but also provide mentorship and best practices to one another. “It is a network of women I truly value,” she notes.

She also believes that women can be their own toughest critics and they have to remember that it’s impossible to do everything perfectly as they take on more responsibility and become more senior, often while simultaneously raising a family.

“I frequently see women put pressure on themselves to achieve ‘perfection’ in every aspect of their lives, which can be isolating and destructive. When you share your challenges with others, you realize everyone is facing similar issues and it makes you more accessible and helps you reframe your own reality. You can’t possibly do it all, and you have to remind yourself it’s a marathon, not a sprint.”

Her strong family life is bolstered by longevity: she met her husband, who works at Credit Suisse, in college. In addition to two daughters, aged ten and five years old, they have an eight-year-old son.

In an engaging example of the adage, “It takes a village,” they live near their tight-knit families, including her two sisters who live on her same street. “My husband’s siblings and my sisters have kids that are all of similar ages. As you can imagine, we spend a ton of time together,” she says. “We’ve created our own village and are fortunate that ours is family, but I’ve come to realize that anyone who wants a long and successful career needs to find a community of people who can support them.”

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Voice of Experience: Nicola Morris, Senior Vice President of Corporate Development, WEX

nicola morrisBy Cathie Ericson

People truly do want to help, says Nicola Morris, reflecting on a lesson she’s learned over the years. “When I received offers for guidance or building out networks and relationships, I wish I had understood the value and not been as shy and reluctant to take people up on their outreach,” she says, when looking back on her career. “It’s a hard thing for many people to do, especially when you’ve not yet proven yourself, but once you progress in your career, and see how much you want to help others, you look back and realize the offers you received were equally genuine. Where I spent time working into the wee hours, I know that some of that effort should have been redirected to having lunch with colleagues or mentors along the way.”

Change Dynamic As a Career Constant

“Winding.” That’s the word Morris uses to describe a varied career covering sectors such as government, startups and financial services, and functionalities that have entailed IT strategies, product marketing and M&A.

When she looks at the diverse journey, however, she sees one unifying theme: helping companies maintain the leading edge for how they grow and expand, whether it’s through new products, acquisitions or an expanded marketplace. “I’ve had a patchwork of experiences that have come together to create an exciting, interesting career,” she says.
At WEX, she focuses on shaping the direction of the company through the decisions she makes now that will influence tomorrow. “We have to understand how to meet the customer’s needs today and then realize what our reality will be tomorrow to map out the journey that will get us there.” Doing so involves deciding on the steps and executing, whether success will be achieved through new product sets, business ventures, investments or expansion into new global environments.

Technology will be the driving force in her company as the business model coalesces around blockchain, AI, mobile and IoT – developments that will have a meaningful impact on most businesses but particularly ours, she says, as they focus on how they can imbed payments seamlessly through various technologies. She says it will be particularly interesting to see how the sharing economy’s inevitability will drive evolution in many industries, and the changes that will be wrought by this pivot from a consumption economy.
Another heavy influence comes from a macro-demographic perspective and the effects it will have on customers’ needs, as well as what it means for her company’s internal employee base and generational shift to consider how millennials work differently than Gen Xers.

The Value of Relationships To Bolster Your Career

Morris thinks of her professional life in terms of the people she leads, and how they contribute to the future of the company, which is why she names her teams and the professional accomplishments of the people she’s worked with and for as the achievement she’s most proud of.

Being better and working harder is a key component to the success puzzle, she stresses, but you have to balance that with relaxing and going with the flow. “You have to be the one they want in the boat because you’re good, sure, but because you have those other pieces to your personality as well,” she points out.

She finds that as a general rule women still tend to underplay their achievements and be more self-deprecating, where they should focus on accentuating these success.
“We need to recognize our own unconscious bias, and the lens through which we are viewing the world and work environment. Then we can determine how we can address it to be better leaders, employees and colleagues.”

Morris found that early in her career, it was challenging to be one of few women in a male-dominated environment, because of how they form relationships by socializing. “The connections you make during casual conversations and events do shape the way people work — who they will think of for a new assignment, for example,” she says. And while she points out that it’s rarely intentional, recognizing the dynamic of unconscious bias at work and figuring out how to put yourself in situations where you can reap positive benefits will help you move ahead.

Balance in the Workplace and Beyond

One of WEX’ core values is ensuring there are policies that are balanced for all employees. For example, the company just launched a new parental leave policy, very intentionally focused on both parents, not just maternity leave.

“I look at my own situation with three children and two careers, and I know it would have been great for each of us to have had the flexibility. It wouldn’t have made sense for only me to take leave, because of where our careers were at the time we had children. It’s about giving family the flexibility rather than just the mom,” she says.

With three kids, ages 15, 17 and 13, Morris laughingly notes that her family and their hobbies are her hobbies too, whether it’s sports or music. She notes that proximity to big cities has helped nurture both those interests for the whole family.

Morris says WEX encourages the team to give back through philanthropy so she enjoys her work on the boards off two local nonprofits, Center for Grieving Children, which provides peer support for families who have gone through loss, and the Portland Symphony Orchestra. “These two organizations represent a nice balance, and I really appreciate that my involvement is so positively supported by my company.”

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Voice of Experience: Lia Turri, Partner, PwC Italy

lia turriBy Cathie Ericson

With a 20-year track record of success at PwC, including 10 years as partner, Lia Turri has always specialized in the financial services sector, developing a strong client services background. She has focused on engagements with leaders of Italian companies and helped oversee IPOs and a variety of special projects. This longevity has helped her guide clients as the industry ushers in changes brought by the effect of new technologies. “It will be a completely different environment in five to 10 years and my goal is to help my clients adapt,” she says.

Heading Up Diversity Efforts Region Wide

In addition to her client services roles, Turri was asked in 2016 to coordinate diversity strategy across PwC offices in the Middle East, Europe and Africa after a successful stint as the diversity leader for Italy.

She has embarked on a listening tour, as she works with the diversity leaders across the region to hear their key priorities and understand the successful actions they are already implementing, thus enabling teams to share best practices with one another.

The first step in any change management process, she says, is to determine current priorities and then adopt a scale of measurement so you can track progress and make sure the actions you’re putting in place achieve the desired results.

Diversity can be measured in many ways, such as gender, culture and age, but the team has found that gender is something that can be most effectively monitored. Currently, 18% of partners across the footprint are female, so that is an easy metric to focus on for improving. “We are losing competencies if we don’t keep women at higher levels,” Turri points out, so it’s vital to share successful best practices.

Turri has found that initiatives across Italy have already brought positive results, as the team has received feedback from clients that the increased diversity has been noticed. She appreciates the opportunity she has been given to head this initiative and is eager to get everyone on board.

“It’s gratifying to be able to work across the boundaries and be in touch with people from other offices and areas. It has truly helped me recognize how many amazing people are working within PwC,” she says.

Growing the Pipeline

Turri has been active in a mentoring program called Sharing the Future, which is designed to help increase the pipeline for the partners of tomorrow by pairing senior managers with mentor partners. The pilot was such a success that they decided to continue the program with a new group of mentees, and all the partners who participated the first time elected to continue with the program — a success from both sides.

One of the messages that Turri shares with younger associates she works with is that you have to make sure that you are in the driver’s seat of your career, rather than letting others decide for you. For example, she says it is a common occurrence that a young woman will have a baby and others will start counting her out. “They might decide that her family has taken precedence, so they don’t invite her to participate in interesting projects because they think she won’t have the capacity, yet they haven’t even asked her what she wants.” Turri cautions against letting other project on you and your career.

“Blind spots are the the measure of the other person, not you,” she says, and yet they can affect the opportunities you are offered. In that way they can influence whether you can achieve a goal and will allow others to impact your career trajectory if you let them.

She also finds that in a male-dominated industry, many women assume they need to act like a man to progress in their career, but eventually they realize they are submerging the qualities that set them apart.

Finally, women need to support each other, she says. “Women have a great power, and if they are working together, they can great results.”

Along the way she has learned the importance of getting that support, even at home, through her two kids, ages 20 and 16. “They keep me energized in whatever I’m doing at work or at home,” she says. “They are very supportive of me in my passions and interest. Because I put a lot of time into my work, they encourage me to remember to always seek balance.”

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Voice of Experience: Carey Kolaja, Global Chief Product Officer, Citi FinTech

carey-kolajaBy Cathie Ericson

“Earlier in my career, I thought I always had to be right, but I learned that’s just not the case,” says Carey Kolaja of Citi FinTech. “Life is more enjoyable when you remove that pressure you’re putting on yourself and turn to others for input. The collective wisdom can yield a greater return,” she says.

Kolaja has had 21 years in financial services, but a series of diverse experiences – which has run the gamut from start-ups to big banks to consulting firms — has taught her to trust the input of others as she learned new strategies with different companies.

She worked in the information technology department of eBay and most recently came from PayPal, where she experienced incredible growth, seeing the company mature from 1,000 employees when she started to 14,000 when she left. It was an environment where every couple of years the company would reinvent itself, and she oversaw a host of different challenges over 13 years as she rose through the ranks to become Vice President of Global Consumer Products, helping establish the brand to hundreds of millions of customers globally.

Building Programs That Endure

“I am fortunate to have risen to a role that allows me to be at the epicenter of the collision between finance and technology, during a time of great growth and change,” she says. “I am proud of the global products I’ve placed in the market over the years and the impact they’ve had in transforming consumer buying behaviors,” Kolaja adds.

Not only has she made her mark on products, but programs as well. At eBay she was asked to establish a women in tech program that started with 50 and ended with 1,800 by the time she passed the baton. “It continues to live on, and it’s exciting when you can build things that endure. I have always defined successful leadership as making others better as a result of your presence, and making sure that impact lasts in your absence,” she says, noting that the programs that have been most meaningful are those that were organic, rather than mandated from the top down.

Managing Industry Disruption

The team Kolaja now works with, Citi FinTech, has been set up within the past 12 months — a unit charged with “designing and delivering the bank of tomorrow,” as the industry moves forward to stay relevant in this fast-moving space. “There’s been some disbelief that what we were trying to do would happen,” she says, given that there are such stringent policy restraints, and the huge leap involved in its aim to meet customers in their day-to-day lives and access their money whenever they need to in today’s digital and mobile world. “The odds are against us but if you look at what we’ve accomplished so far and what we have in the works for the months ahead, it shows that you can’t discount the banks,” she says.

The disruption has happened throughout the industry, as people’s identities have moved from the physical to the digital realm, and every company from established firms to startups are trying to figure out how to enable people to safely and confidently make financial transactions. As the physical bank’s role continues to change, the industry will continue to reimagine the personalities that financial instructions have, by learning from fintech and other industries.

“The expectations have changed and it’s all about enabling transactions for our customers when and where they want, and often while they’re doing something else,” she says.

“While a customer is eating dinner she remembers she needs to check her savings account for an upcoming family vacation. How do we help in that moment? We will continue to transcend traditional touchpoints as we engage customers on their terms and meet their goals and aspirations.”

Part of the change in the industry is being wrought by a general change in the trust dynamic in society at large, she believes. Whereas people used to trust institutions, now they trust brands. We used to trust hotels, and now we stay at people’s homes in the Air BnB society.

But embracing this transformation is part of who Kolaja is and how she has always led. “I have always coached my team by leading with the fact that you have to be able to imagine that the possibilities of change are endless, and that those who change the world are those who believe they can.”

She has learned the value of empowering others, and her global role has allowed her to see what she can learn in different cultures that was relevant across the board. That notion helped her to understand the value of diverse thoughts, experiences and points of view. “Most boundaries – whether they are cultural or organizational — are usually artificial, and exist in your own mind,” she says, noting that you can’t let others impose their boundaries on you.

Although she hasn’t felt subject to gender differences in the workplace, she understands that others look up to her for the strides she has made in fintech. When someone pointed out that she had found a way to break the glass ceiling and therefore had the responsibility to be a role model and speak out, she accepted that charge. Now, she is proud to say that 50 percent of leaders in Citi FinTech are women.

Speaking Out to Achieve Success

One piece of advice she offers women is to give themselves permission to speak, rather than always waiting for an invitation or a safe environment. It was during a week-long leadership program that her coach noted that people would listen when Kolaja spoke, despite her always waiting to be asked to speak. The coach advised her to make a habit of speaking up in the first three minutes of any interaction, which Kolaja says helped her believe that what she had to say added value. “That’s such an important coaching element for women in general,” she says. “I am the only one who can give myself permission to speak. That leadership program happened more than 10 years ago but I’m reminded of that lesson every day. If we limit ourselves, then ultimately we’re the ones who lose out.”

Kolaja says she tried and failed to separate her work and personal lives, so she incorporates them as much as she can. “Sometimes I need to be a mother in the middle of the afternoon and sometimes I need to be an employee at 10 p.m. Technology is helping me with both, and now the physical-digital balance is what I contend with.”

As a family of self-described “risk takers,” she and her husband and two boys, ages 14 and 10, love to travel as a family and golf and scuba dive. Recently they spent five days in Costa Rica with no devices. “Scuba diving allows us to spend time together, and it also allows us to be truly present. Now that we’re connected even while we’re in the air, the sea is the one remaining place we can have solitude.”

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Voice of Experience: Rana Yared, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs

rana-yaredBy Cathie Ericson

“Stand out by owning your own details,” says Rana Yared of Goldman Sachs, offering advice she learned as an analyst. “Commit to knowing the specifics of every assignment and how they relate to the bigger picture. That’s how you establish you reputation as a thinker, not just a doer,” she says, noting that this advice has helped propel her career.

After earning a BS from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, a BA in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania and an MSc from the London School of Economics, Yared believed her next step would be to earn a PhD. However, she says, “a function of luck, great mentorship, and letting opportunity come to me rather than having a pre-set plan,” propelled her on an alternate path.

Never before having considered a career in finance, Yared joined Goldman Sachs as an analyst in 2006. She moved up the ranks, eventually becoming a Managing Director in 2013, and today she leads both the New York and London-based Principal Strategic Investments (PSI) teams in the Securities Division, which are responsible for market structure strategy and the firm’s financial technology assets. In this capacity, she represents Goldman Sachs on the boards of several companies that PSI has invested in.

“I’m excited about the team’s role in reimagining how we serve our clients as we improve both the workflow and the quality of information that we can share in this time of digital transformation,” she says. Goldman Sachs is at the forefront of harnessing financial services innovation, and the transformation within the firm has been exciting. “There’s been a fundamental change in our business model and how we approach capital and liquidity,” she says. “It’s been fascinating to think of ways to optimize these varied opportunities.”

Yared is not only proud of the work the team has done for the Goldman Sachs franchise, but also that she has become a leader for the next generation. One career milestone she cited was being asked to speak at the First Year Securities Analyst Orientation. “I always remembered the female partner who spoke at my orientation upon joining the firm, and the impact her comments and advice made on me. It’s an honor to be trusted with making a first impression on our newest joiners,” she explains.

She also reflected on the moment she was able to tell her parents she was promoted to Managing Director. “As the child of immigrants, I was proud to share with them my accomplishments.”

Work Hard, Play Well

One of the lessons Yared has learned over the years is to have more fun. “When I first joined the firm in New York, I enjoyed the work but didn’t take the time to fall in love with the city,” she says, noting that it was initially challenging to manage her work-life balance. When she moved to London with the firm in 2008, she placed an emphasis on maintaining a balance between work and her outside activities. Now that she has returned to New York, Yared has remained committed to establishing ties to her neighborhood and exploring the city.

Another mentor provided a different success formula that has stuck with her: Q x A = E. “This means that the quality of one’s communication times its acceptance equals its effectiveness. In other words, the way that your message is delivered and heard is as important as your content,” she says.

Improving on all the advice she has received is a constant work in progress, but there’s another area that takes no second thought: “If there’s a day that your conscience is tested, that’s the day to walk away,” she says with conviction. “If something is making it challenging for you to sleep easy, you’re in the wrong place.”

Active in Programs Inside and Outside the Firm

Yared highlights that Goldman Sachs’ Women’s Career Strategy Initiative, a program tailored for associates, helped her refine key attributes, such as messaging and presentation skills. She recognizes that the bar of excellence can be higher for women to meet in the workplace. “It’s a tricky balance on how you should portray yourself, but it has become easier to navigate as my career progresses,” she says. She strongly supports the Female Trader Initiative, where female analysts and interns who have strong quantitative skills are provided mentorship.

A devotee of philanthropic causes, particularly those related to public education, Yared is a member of the Penn Fund Executive Board at the University of Pennsylvania and sits on the advisory board of Wabash College’s Democracy and Discourse program. “I was especially proud to have been asked to join the advisory board of this school, which has a long history of educating first-generation college students,” she says.

In her spare time, Yared loves traveling, cooking and photography.

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Voice of Experience: Meltem Cagan, Managing Director – Country Team Head for Turkey, UBS

By Cathie Ericson

Meltem Cagan made an assumption that many women do when they’re starting their careers. “I always thought delivering the results was the most important component, but now I see that relationships and how you position yourself politically are hugely important, particularly in financial institutions,” she says.

Very numbers driven, she underestimated the critical nature of perception, which created some unfair situations in her view. “If you concentrate on delivering results, that’s important, but there’s this other component I wasn’t aware of at first that factors equally,” she says. “As a logical and straightforward person, I realize I was naïve to not understand this as a significant element in the industry, and I am eager to share that knowledge with others.”

A Career Destined for the Top

Cagan’s career has had a clear theme: Start at the bottom and climb the ladder. That was the case when she started as a trader in Turkey: During her 10-year tenure, she ended up running the trading floor for a medium-sized bank. Then she decided to move to wealth management, which took her to London with Citi where she started as a private banker and built her business before being asked to head Citi’s private banking business.

After her Citi stint, she joined Morgan Stanley to fulfill her desire to work for an investment bank; three-and-a-half years later she was approached by UBS, fortuitous timing since at the time Morgan Stanley was planning to sell its business. She happily accepted UBS’ offer to join the biggest wealth manager in the Turkish market, where she has been for almost three years.

“My career has taken me through all types of banking, and due to my team’s success, I have always been offered increasing responsibility. That’s what drives me,” she says.

She appreciates the current flexibility she has and the opportunities she’s had to work in Turkey and London, where she is a managing director. “It was a difficult ascent as a woman and I am proud of my career path,” she says.

Over the past three years, she has been focused on growing the business and is excited to see how they can take it to the next level. “Rather than growing 10 percent, I’m wondering how we can double it,” she says, noting that it’s not just about growing the business but enhancing their reputation. “We would never grow the business at the expense of our reputation. The challenge is to successfully do both together.”

With that goal in mind, Cagan also acknowledges the industry is going through a difficult period in terms of growth. Still not fully recovered from the 2008 crisis, many countries are experiencing anemic growth, which keeps interest rates low and injects a great deal of volatility into banking, creating a low- or no-growth environment. In addition, in many markets there is much inefficiency and regulation, which can conspire to create a difficult environment to deliver results. “We have to deal with cost pressure and margin pressure, but we will be successful,” she says.

Barriers for Women are Largely Self Imposed

“Most women, including myself, are perfectionists. We expect too much of ourselves and can be harsh and critical. But this mindset puts you in a situation where you don’t highlight what you are good at and that can translate into a weak position,” she says.

The remedy is to change your focus from what you don’t have, to a “glass-half-full” perspective. Ultimately this will change how you present yourself and help you go into situations like negotiations with a stronger positon.

“Some people are good at marketing themselves and others find it degrading,” she says. “There’s the perspective that you do a good job; the numbers show it; people acknowledge it and you don’t find the inclination to market it, but that can work against you.”

That’s why she advises young women to work on honing self-esteem and confidence, which can be aided when you start as a subject matter expert with a specialization. “While you are increasing your general knowledge, you will increase your confidence. It goes together as a package.”

As women climb the ladder, she encourages them to stay results-oriented, noting that many women work hard and produce lots of activity but not necessarily the outcomes they need. She suggests finding an efficient way to get results, while being mindful of the importance of being supportive of one another and curbing rivalry.

“We can get into competition later when there’s more of us,” she says wryly. “Part of self- confidence is building others up.”

Cagan builds her own knowledge by being active in “A Women’s Network,” which is focused on top women in wealth management. She appreciates its networking environment and forums with trainings on topics such as personal brand, management skills and more.

An Eye Toward Philanthropy and Family

With a family spread between Turkey, the United States and the U.K., Cagan devotes much of her spare time to travel.

“I am naturally a curious person so the diversity of culture enriches me,” she says, not just with her family but with their friends and extended circles.

In addition, she is an active philanthropist and finds it particularly meaningful to support the education of girls in her country, a cause that is dear to her heart. She also is working to become an advocate for incoming refugees, especially girls, offering financial as well as one-on-one help.

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Voice of Experience: Michele Trogni, Executive Vice President, Consolidated Markets and Solutions, IHS Markit

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michele-trogniBy Cathie Ericson

With a longstanding career working for and selling to financial institutions, Michele Trogni, Executive Vice President of Consolidated Markets and Solutions at IHS Markit, shares her best piece of advice – success isn’t achieved by one person alone. It’s all about everyone involved, whether it’s your team, your customers or your community.

In her current role, Trogni leads the delivery of data-driven solutions for customers in product design, technology, and managed services including digital, tax solutions, counterparty manager, Know Your Customer (KYC) and Know Your Third Party (KY3P).

She is responsible for helping customers achieve their business goals and competitive advantage through focused, scalable solutions which reduce cost of ownership, improve decision making, lower risk and engage end clients.

Banking and Tech Combine for Ideal Career

As the first in her family to attend university, Trogni has always been a trailblazer. Her career in banking was built during the 25 years she spent at UBS. She first started as a financial controller, often working on integrations and merger-related projects. It was a very acquisitive time, and she was often required to close transactions in a tight timeframe. “It was a perfect fit for me as a tech-savvy accountant with a rambunctious personality,” she says.

As she took on more and more projects, her career took her from the UK to Chicago. She became more involved with the technology function, which spurred her enthusiasm as she saw the potential of combining tech into future strategy.

After a brief stint in Chicago, Trogni upped roots again and headed to New York in 1997. “My CIO at UBS was impressed with the directing I’d done on a wide variety of merger projects, but he told me that if I want to be given the opportunity to do something big, I have to really know the ins and outs of how it all works.”

Trogni was advised to move into technology to be at the coalface running the IT function, and that’s exactly what she did. “Learning how to run the division was an important milestone that propelled my career. I couldn’t have accomplished what I have, if I had stayed on a superficial level,” she says.

She was asked to become group CIO in 2009, overseeing a $5 billion budget and more than 17,000 employees – an impressive achievement considering there were still so few women in tech. After five years she decided to retire from banking, but her best-laid plans for a year off were undone when she was offered the opportunity to move from building tech to selling it through Markit after just six months into her retirement.

It is a perfect fit: selling products she understands to customers like banks and hedge funds that she knows well. “They know I have sat in the buyer’s seat which is compelling to them,” she says.

Now Trogni is responsible for a much larger role within her firm. In July 2016, Markit merged with IHS to create IHS Markit, a global powerhouse and leader in critical information analytics and solutions that drive economies worldwide. She is excited to bridge two firms from both the cultural and operating perspective, creating a new vision for the combined firm.

Making Sense of Diversity

While Trogni has the intellectual skills to succeed, she also has a high “EQ,” an emotional quotient that has served her well and, she believes, enabled her to navigate successfully as a woman in a world that is heavily male dominated. “Some colleagues ended up obsessing about that, but I never did,” she says.

Prior to the financial crisis, firms were working hard to embrace diversity, but Trogni believes that their emphasis on diversity shifted to crisis management. “We’re gradually getting back to where we were,” she says, but notes that there is still a lot of unconscious bias in the workplace that the next generation will have to deal with – something she feels positive about given the fact that millennials are a less-judgmental generation. “I’m very optimistic that they are the perfect ones to address and overcome it,” she says.

It’s the Team That Leads to Success

Over the years, she has had many peer sponsors and managers, and she believes in paying it forward, focusing on ongoing coaching. “No one’s career can be just about them,” she says.

Trogni feels professionals get the best results when they have multiple sponsors, rather than relying 100% on one person to offer the next opportunity, which can lead to burn out. These various sponsors have modeled qualities she wants to emulate, and she also takes inspiration from West Coast entrepreneurs – people who “break the mold,” like Sheryl Sandberg and Elon Musk.

She also has seen the importance of surrounding yourself with a team that offers different specialties. “I don’t need all Type A people, or sales guys or marketing pros,” she says. “You need a combination of a wide variety of skill sets because you only win when you cover all your bases.”

Of course, a sense of humor, and ability to laugh at yourself never hurts, she adds.

A Robust Life outside Work

Community service has long been an important component of Trogni’s life. She has been active with the UBS-sponsored Bridge Academy, a half industry and half governmental-supported school focused on math and music in a low-income part of London. Through fundraising activities she helped spearhead, the school was able to raise £1.5 million, allowing it to expand to offer classrooms for Sixth Form, the equivalent of US 11th and 12th grades. She also worked with the school to create female empowerment groups that introduced girls to coding and tech.

In addition, she spent four years on the board of NPower, a tech charity that trains young, underprivileged adults in the skills they need to build websites and then matches them with clients.

Mom to four kids, ages 18, 15 and 13-year-old twins, Trogni stays busy with their sports and enjoying the “loud family fun” that kids bring – fitting in CrossFit workouts when she can. The family likes to travel and relishes time spent at their home in Nantucket.

Closing thoughts

When asked to point to career achievements that she is most proud of, Trogni turns to her role leading Investment Banking Operations at UBS during the financial crisis. It was a time of high emotions in the industry as well as tremendous risk, she recalls. “Turning to sponsors, mentors and my team helped to ease this burden and proved to be a time when my EQ really came to the fore. The last thing a leader wants is to get to the top of the hill with no one behind you.”

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