Voice of Experience: Maura O’Sullivan, Partner, Finance, Shearman & Sterling

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

After over 25 years in law, Maura O’Sullivan, a partner in the Finance Group at Shearman & Sterling, has developed a keen understanding of how to serve clients and how to do exceptional work. But she’ll never forget the early days.

One of her early assignments as an associate sparked her interest in complex deals and taught her the importance of making a difference on behalf of clients. “News Corp is a big player today,” she recalled, “but in the early ‘90s, it was having financial difficulty. As a member of the Shearman & Sterling team advising News Corp, I helped negotiate a workout of all of its debt globally. There were over 100 different credit facilities and about 150 lenders involved.”

Even by today’s global standards such a level of complexity would be considered significant – but at the time it was almost unheard of. She explained, “The corporate organization chart – if you put it on the wall – covered 10 feet. I spent my mornings talking with European lenders, my afternoons in the US, and my nights with Australian and Japanese banks. We got all of the lenders to agree to a standstill.”

“That, as a deal, will always stand out because of the sheer complexity and the opportunity to be creative. Starting with News Corp and continuing to this day, workouts and restructuring are among the more interesting things that I do. I like to find solutions that help my clients.”

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Voice of Experience: Jing Hu, Partner, Financial Services, PwC

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Jing Hu, a partner in the financial services group at PwC’s Beijing office, has seen her self-confidence grow throughout her career. When she first joined the firm, she was fresh out of college in New York City. “I think my immigrant background shadowed me. I had a lot of insecurities,” she explained.

But the support and coaching she received from partners in New York, and later in Beijing, made her realize her own strength. “My colleagues had so much confidence in me and gave me guidance and coaching. That helped me be confident in myself.”

She added, “I was lucky to have met those people – working at PwC changed me a lot.”

Currently Hu is beginning work on a new client with a challenging IPO plan. She is also working with PwC’s other Beijing partners on helping the firm distinguish itself from competitors. She explained, “In China, there are mandatory auditor rotation rules for large state-run enterprises as well as financial institutions.” As a result, many companies see auditing as more of a compliance procedure, rather than a value-adding service.

“Differentiating ourselves, and showing how we can add business value – that is something I’m working hard with my colleagues on.”

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Voice of Experience: Mary Strother, Managing Director, Investor Relations, Athenian Venture Partners

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Mary Strother, Managing Director of Investor Relations at Athenian Venture Partners, has built a successful career out of leveraging her differences.

She explained that if your background varies somewhat from the more traditional CVs in your industry, you’ll have skills others don’t necessarily have. The key is to consider your unique qualities as assets. “I mentor some young college women from time to time, and I took one to dinner recently – she was graduating in accounting and beginning to interview for jobs, but she was worried she didn’t have the same qualifications as some of the more typical accounting grads. I felt the same way going into finance early in my career,” she explained.

“Don’t compare your insides to other people’s outsides. Be bold and focus on what it is you can do. The key is to really practice communicating why your background matters,” she added.

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Voice of Experience: Jamie Zimmerman, Founder and CEO, Litespeed Partners

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“I think people starting their careers often make a common mistake – they have an idealized notion of what a career might be, but they fail to investigate the day-to-day,” began Jamie Zimmerman, Founder and CEO of Litespeed Partners, an event-driven fund specializing in distressed debt.

Zimmerman learned this the hard way – she had planned on a prestigious career in law, aspiring to be the first woman on the Supreme Court. But when it came to actually being a lawyer, she discovered she wanted a different career path.

Today, she runs her own fund, doing work she finds fascinating and engaging. “Your life is the day-to-day, and I think it’s very important that you love it, that on Monday morning you get up and you want to go to work.” She continued, “At Litespeed, we are investigative reporters with an investment overlay. Every day, we try to predict and profit from the future. It is always challenging, always interesting, and a lot of fun.”

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Voice of Experience: Carol Sawdye, Chief Financial Officer, PwC

carol sawdyeAccording to Carol Sawdye, Chief Financial Officer at PwC, it’s important to maintain a “sense of urgency” about your career. It took Sawdye 17 years to figure this out, she said with a laugh.

After climbing through the ranks to partnership at PwC, she set out for a new chapter as CFO and COO at the M&A firm Skadden Arps, which led her to a more recent, challenging role as CFO at the NBA. Now, she is back at PwC, working as part of the US Leadership Team to transform the nature of how the firm does business in a rapidly changing, 24/7, global marketplace.

Sawdye explained, “You don’t necessarily need to move to new employers. There are typically a lot of opportunities in the place where you are currently employed to get new experiences and advance your skills. The way to get from point A to point B is not necessarily a straight line.”

“After moving up the ranks at PwC for 17 years, I made the move to Skadden – it was a big leap. But I had the desire to become part of a management team so I just decided to do it. You really need to be willing to see opportunities and take calculated risks.”

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Voice of Experience: Julie Sweet, General Counsel, Accenture

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Reflecting on her career, Julie Sweet, General Counsel at Accenture, says her path was shaped by a drive to do the unexpected. “One thing to note is that I didn’t set out early in my career to be the general counsel at a big company.”

She explained, “Sometimes early in their careers, young people think they have to have it all figured out. But I think it’s important to leave your life open to unexpected opportunities.”

Sweet began her career at the global law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore, and spent ten years there after making partner. In 2010, she made the leap into the corporate space at Accenture. “At each stage of my career, I’ve really focused on doing something that others haven’t done – I call that exploring uncharted territory,” she said.

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Voice of Experience: Stephanie Breslow, Partner & Co-Head of Investment Management Group, Schulte Roth & Zabel

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“You really have to take charge of your career,” began Stephanie Breslow, Partner & Co-Head of the Investment Management Group at Schulte Roth & Zabel. The reason, she explained, is because while partners or senior people may take an interest in you, you have to leverage that interest into advancement.

She continued, “It’s like the television show Downton Abbey – the people who work downstairs know so much more about the people upstairs than the other way around. You know that your firm is going to try to train you, but you will be much more aware of what you need and what you are pursuing than the partners.”

Breslow advised junior lawyers not to be timid about seeking more responsibilities or experience from those at the top. Also related, she continued, is knowing when it’s time to start doling out responsibilities to people who are more junior.

“It’s human nature that people will be happy to let you handle work if you are happy to do it. But you have to learn when to start to delegate or to hand off tasks to someone else so you can get to the next level.”

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Voice of Experience: Sue Rissbrook, UK Partner, PwC

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Sue Rissbrook, UK Partner at PwC, says her advice to professional women is “being true to yourself, being who you feel you truly are, and supporting others.”

She recently moved to PwC’s London office after working in the smaller Birmingham office mainly partnered by men, and was pleasantly surprised by what she found. “I’ve now walked into a diverse set of partners. I see far more of my peers are female and I see them being very supportive of one another, which impacts positively on all partners and the team.”

“We’re supportive, creative, and entrepreneurial, and I think that’s fantastic for people to see,” she added.

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Voice of Experience: Antonia E. Stolper, Partner and Head of Capital Markets Group, Americas, Sherman & Sterling

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

A long-time partner at global law firm Shearman & Sterling, Antonia Stolper heads both the firm’s highly regarded Americas Capital Markets group and its top-tier Latin America practice. How did she achieve so much success? “I’m a great believer in serendipity in my career,” she remarked.

Certainly hard work and a commitment to her clients propelled her toward success too, she continued, but she believes it is important to be open to new experiences. “I do a lot of interviews and talk to a lot of young women, and they always ask, ‘Did you always know this is what you were going to do?’ And the answer is, absolutely not. What I do today didn’t even exist when I was in school.”

“People talk about how important it is to have a plan and I’m not so sure about that,” she added. “You can have conviction, drive and the desire to excel and succeed without knowing exactly where you’ll end up. It’s incredibly important to be open-minded to opportunity.”

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Voice of Experience: Angela Raitzin, Managing Principal and Head of New York Office, Morton Capital Management

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Angela Raitzin, Managing Principal and Head of the New York Office of Morton Capital, says she is dedicated to encouraging women to join and stay in the financial industry.

“I think, particularly as a more senior woman, you have to make time for mentoring. At multiple points in my career, I made it a point to recruit and encourage women to consider financial services and investment banking in particular as a career. Encouraging women to join is the first step but encouraging them to stay, and getting them over the hump from the VP or Director and Managing Director levels is also crucial, “she explained. “Starting over 10 years ago Wall Street made a big push to hire more women and I have seen many positive signs in the past 5 years that they are now making strides to retain these same women.”

She is particularly enthusiastic about the benefits of working in financial advising. As an active recruiter of students from her business school to New York, she says emphasizing the entrepreneurial spirit and the flexible hours associated with financial advising is key. “Both are important to the advancement and retention of women.”

She continued, “For one, you can cast a wide net in terms of your clients. And second, there is much more flexibility to your schedule. In my own case, I didn’t have that degree of flexibility earlier in my career and I think it’s a huge positive.”

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