By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“I love the thrill of negotiating and the satisfaction of closing the deal,” said Brenda T. Dieck, Partner in the New York and Los Angeles Bank Finance Practice Group at the law firm of White & Case LLP. “There are so many interesting puzzles to solve,” she explained.

Currently charged with building the firm’s LA bank finance practice, Dieck said, “It’s a unique opportunity to be part of a well-established practice group in New York, and at the same time, have the opportunity to be somewhat of an entrepreneur in LA, building a complementary team on the West Coast.”

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By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“My advice is to be confident in what you do really well. Be open to taking risks, and to new opportunities, leveraging what you do really well,” advised Pam Kiernan, Managing Director and Global Head of Business Development for Deutsche Bank’s Global Prime Finance business.

She explained that when she heard women voicing frustration about their careers, it was usually “the result of an aversion to taking risks at a key inflection point.”

Kiernan said one of the things she’s most proud of in her own career has been her ability to take on new opportunities – moving from an infrastructure position early in her career, to a client facing role, and eventually holding COO roles for the Bank’s North American cash equities business and DB Advisors’ hedge fund business. And now she’s taken on a global role in the company’s prime brokerage business as Global Head of Business Development for Global Prime Finance.

“Be confident, and take the risk,” she said.

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By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“We all have different definitions of success,” said Camille Mirshokrai, Director of Global Leadership Development at Accenture. She continued, “The only way we can define it so to truly know ourselves.”

After almost 17 years at Accenture, the majority of them working in leadership development and succession planning, Mirshokrai has helped design the fabric of the company’s leadership culture. She said, “We have to manage our career instead of the organization managing our career. Be in control of your destiny.”

Mirshokrai said, “It’s important to me, [when working with] groups of women, to urge them to be supportive networks to each other. We have to help the women in generations that come after us. Someone helped us climb the ladder, and we have to help them climb the ladder.

She continued, “The best way to retain women is to take on roles with responsibility for the next generation.”

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By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

According to Pamela J. Craig, Chief Financial Officer at Accenture, the best piece of advice she has to offer is: “Just go for it.”

“It sounds so simple,” she said. “That was particularly the case with my job as CFO… it just came up. And, my husband and co-workers were supportive and gave me the confidence that made a very big difference. It’s easy to lack confidence. It’s harder to have it. Go for it and make it all it can be. This a big deal for me.”

She continued, “Be open to stretch roles and go out of your comfort zone. It’s easy to say, ‘I’m not sure I can do that.’ You should say, ‘I bet I can do that.’”

Moving Up and Giving Back

“I graduated [from Smith College] in 1979 with a liberal arts degree – and I wasn’t quite sure what to do with that. So I entered an MBA program at NYU in Accounting,” Craig began. “After a couple of years, I realized I didn’t want to be an auditor all my life. I switched to consulting.”

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By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“When I was fourteen, I decided I wanted to be a lawyer. I didn’t know what that meant – I didn’t know any lawyers,” Marcy Engel, Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel of Eton Park Capital Management, said with a laugh. Engel went on to attend the University of Michigan and then studied law at the University of Pennsylvania. “During law school, many of my friends were finding jobs with Wall Street law firms. It sounded good to me so I took a position with Sullivan & Cromwell,” she said.

Engel began working in the litigation department, and after three and a half years, she decided it was time to try something new. She explained, “Litigation meant dealing with people’s fights that were three, four, five, six years old. It was very backward looking. I wanted to advise people. I wanted to be forward looking.”

She began a job at Salomon Brothers advising the equity sales and trading groups. “At the time, this was a new area. I had to learn things from the ground up – I didn’t know what a short sale was!” she laughed.

Engel continued, “It was a time of increased regulation, and in terms of derivatives and futures – this was a time when it was really growing.”

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