She 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.”
By 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.”
By 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.
By 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.
This week The Glass Hammer is celebrating Hispanic professional women – each day this week we’ll feature a profile of a Hispanic woman breaking the glass ceiling.
By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)
After graduating from the University of Florida with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a master’s degree in tax, Yesenia Scheker-Izquierdo started as an intern at KPMG’s Miami office. Now a partner in KPMG LLP’s Financial Services Practice, she recalled, “Being born in New York, I always had in my mind that I would move back to New York after college. But I had started working for a very senior real estate tax partner based in Miami who became my mentor and I continued to work with him for many years.”
She added, “But five or six years into it, he retired from KPMG, and I took that opportunity to move to New York.”
In 2005, Scheker-Izquierdo transferred to the New York office and joined its Financial Services – Alternative Investment practice. “It afforded me an opportunity to join a practice that was expanding. My goal was always to become a partner,” she said. And she counts becoming a partner in the New York office among her highest professional achievements.
Additionally, she said, she is proud of her ability to build a new career after moving to New York. She explained, “Moving to New York meant starting over. I didn’t know anyone, and had to build a book of business and find new mentors and sponsors.”
One of the ways she did this, she said, was through networking. “One of the things I decided to do was co-found the Women’s Executive Circle of New York (WECNY) as a way to build my network.” WECNY is a not-for-profit organization with the mission of accelerating the advancement of women from diverse backgrounds to executive positions of leadership.
Currently Scheker-Izquierdo is involved with KPMG’s Alternative Investment practice’s growth initiatives. “It’s an exciting time to be part of this practice and our firm,” she said.
This week The Glass Hammer is celebrating Hispanic professional women – each day this week we’ll feature a profile of a Hispanic woman breaking the glass ceiling.
By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)
“Just this month is my 25th anniversary with Accenture,” began Nellie Borrero, Managing Director, Global Inclusion and Diversity, at the organization.
“When I came on board, I was very focused and aware of the possibility and opportunity to increase diversity,” she recalled. Borrero was the first person to start a full time diversity role, having begun in the New York office, and then expanding the diversity program to the US. “Now, today, we have a global focus,” she said.
“I’m happy about the progress I’ve seen in the culture in my organization,” she said. “We’re incredibly diverse. My mission and objective has always been to create an environment where everyone can feel like they can succeed.”
She continued, “And now people – whether they’re in the US, or India, or Japan – are coming in, feeling a sense of belonging, and that they can succeed.”
This week The Glass Hammer is celebrating Hispanic professional women – each day this week we’ll feature a profile of a Hispanic woman breaking the glass ceiling.
By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)
“I used to be very timid,” began Marilyn Foglia, Managing Director and Head of Latin America at UBS Global Asset Management.
After 25 years in the industry, Foglia has learned her lesson. “I wasn’t always so persistent about getting my ideas on the table – but now I am!” she laughed.
“If you’re too polite and wait for an opening to speak you may never get a voice. Don’t be afraid to ask for what you want. We women tend to think that if we work hard, we will be rewarded. But we have to ask for it.”
By Cleo Thompson (London), Founder of The Gender Blog
A self confessed “start-up junkie”, Tamara Box always wanted to be a lawyer and was told from a young age that she was too argumentative – an ambition and a personality trait which has subsequently stood her in good stead in her career as an award-winning structured finance lawyer and steering committee member of the 30% Club.
“I grew up in Texas and had a great role model in my mother, who worked in the telecoms industry at a senior level. My first international move came when I relocated to London to study at the London School of Economics. Then I returned to the USA and did law at Georgetown. After graduation, I joined Coudert Brothers, first in New York and then in Singapore where I worked for four years and met my English husband. My first “start up” opportunity came early as a founding member of the first overseas office (in Singapore) of US law firm Orrick. In 1997, I moved back to the UK to open Orrick’s London office and I made Partner in 2000.”
After stints at top London firms Tite & Lewis and Lovells, Box landed at Berwin Leighton Paisner in 2006 – the same year in which her son Hugo was born – in order to build their structured finance business from scratch.
By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)
“A valuable lesson I learned over the years is to make one’s mark head first,” said Lupin Rahman, Senior Vice President and Portfolio Manager for Emerging Markets at PIMCO.
Having navigated between academia, the public sector, and the investment management industry, Rahman has developed expertise in how to successfully transition to new opportunities.
When you begin a role in a new company or industry, she explained, focus on networking and building your personal brand. “The first six months are extremely critical to your brand capital and in shaping how others view your work. It’s also the time when networking is the easiest.”
By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)
According to Dr. Sonja Koerner, Partner, Risk, Financial Services at Ernst & Young, women in senior roles in the industry need to see themselves as role models.
“Make yourself available as a mentor,” Dr. Koerner said. She also encouraged senior women to support diversity and inclusiveness in their organizations and drive the debate around things like flexible work arrangements.
“Many women – and some men – would hugely benefit [from these programs]. We should make sure that once women sign up for them, this does not mean the end of their career progression,” she said.