Voice of Experience: ML Krakauer, SVP, Technology Solutions and Services, EMC

ML_KrakauerBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“One of the things I would encourage is to move broadly. Get as many cross functional experiences as possible – gain multiple lenses to approach issues,” said ML Krakauer, SVP, Technology Solutions and Services at EMC.

Throughout her career, Krakauer has filled a variety of roles: positions in the field and in corporate, as a general manager, and as a functional leader. She says, “From an experience point of view it’s one of the things I count myself very lucky around.”

“One of the things I love about all of the experiences I have had is the very broad view of issues and operations,” which, Krakauer says, has allowed her to become adept at finding multiple ways to solve problems.

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Voice of Experience: Melissa Goldman, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs and Head of Credit Risk, Collateral Management and Cross Divisional Projects, Technology

Melissa_GoldmanBy Pamela Weinsaft (New York City)

Melissa Goldman, a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs and Head of Credit Risk, Collateral Management and Cross Divisional Projects within the Technology division said, “My sister – who grew up with a disability and was wheelchair-bound all of her life – was valedictorian of our high school.” Goldman credits her sister, who passed away around three years ago, with inspiring her to reach higher every day. “It was really about how she operated in the world. Not only was she the most intelligent person I knew, she was also someone who had every reason to be bitter and angry about the hand she was dealt in terms of her physical limitations.’’

Recalling her sister’s inspiring energy, passion for the work she did, and the way she pushed herself and others to always do better, Goldman said, “It is amazing the positive effect she had on the people around her in her all-too-short-lifetime – not only in her professional and academic life, but in her personal life as well. She had the kind of relationships and impact on people most of us would only dare to dream of.” Goldman noted that she tries to make her sister a part of her daily life: “She is a constant reminder of what it means to have challenges, to have tolerance and to persevere.”

Goldman, a Long Island, New York native, studied applied mathematics and computer science at Carnegie Mellon University. “I have always been interested in problem solving and puzzles – always trying to find the best way to get from here to there.” A summer program at the university after her junior year of high school led her to forgo her senior year in favor of early admission. Upon graduation, she was immediately drawn to consulting. She took an entry level job with Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) as an analyst in the technical consulting practice. While she found it fun and challenging, she began to realize that it wasn’t exactly the best fit for her.

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Voice of Experience: Stephanie Fohn, CEO, WhiteHat Security

fohnBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“Really, what I am is an entrepreneur,” said Stephanie Fohn, CEO of WhiteHat Security. “I found out very early on that what I love to do is create something from nothing.”

Fohn is emphatic about her love of entrepreneurship. “I love being an entrepreneur and I feel very strongly about creating – whether creating companies, jobs, or security, which has a positive impact around the world.”

“I would like to see all women become CEOs or COOs,” she said. “The biggest thing is to find something that you love to do – and not everyone can – and stick with it. Don’t give up. It’s so challenging and rewarding.”

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Voice of Experience: Akila Krishnakumar, COO and Country Head of India for SunGard Technology Services

Akila_KK_1-1By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“I’ve had an active career. I’ve moved around a lot in India and outside,” said Akila Krishnakumar, Chief Operating Officer and Country Head, India, SunGard Technology Services. “I’ve worked for 25 years with no real break in my career. It’s just so much fun.”

Krishnakumar is energetic about work – the opportunities she’s encountered, sharing successes with her team, and now the ability to be a role model for her employees. She also emphasizes the importance of continued learning. “I firmly think you have to be open to a wide range of experiences. In every single thing you do, there is learning.”

A Love of Work

“I started my career when I was barely twenty one at Wipro. It’s large and famous now, but then it was a small company, almost a start-up.” Krishnakumar said. “It was the best grounding I could ever hope for, in my career and as a person.”

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Voice of Experience: Sheree Stomberg, Head of O&T Administration, Global Operations & Technology Chief Administrative Office, Citi

ShereeStombergBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Sheree Stomberg, Head of O&T Administration at Citi‘s Global Operations and Technology Chief Administrative Office has dedicated her life to “three pillars:” her work, her family, and her philanthropy. She works as a change agent – as an O&T expert, a dedicated advocate for women’s networks, and fighting global hunger.

“Play full out and make sure you love what you do,” she says. “Follow your passion. If you choose this industry, make sure it’s you passion.”

Working as a Change Agent in O&T

“I have a broadly diverse career path in Financial Services,” Stomberg explained. She began her career in a UBS training program dealing with corporate finance for the oil and gas industry, then becoming senior credit policy officer, then Head of Strategic Planning for the Americas, and finally, Head of Operations and Head of Technology for North America.

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Voice of Experience: Isabelle Jenkins, Partner, Financial Services Consulting, PricewaterhouseCoopers

The Glass Hammer is proud to celebrate women in technology with a week of profiles of women at the top of the tech field. Make sure to check out our upcoming event Women in IT: Staying Technical and Getting to the Top.

IsabelleJenkinsBy Elizabeth Harrin (London)

Isabelle Jenkins took a computerised careers test at university. The results told her to join the army or become a management consultant.

“In retrospect, management consultancy would have been a sensible choice,” she says, “but no one explained what it was. The job counselling I got at university was terrible.”

Today, Jenkins is a Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, in the Financial Services Consulting business – not exactly where she thought she’d be when she was job hunting after graduation, but a job she loves. “When you peel them back, seventy per cent of consulting business problems involve technology,” she explains. “You need to have a technology focus to solve problems.”

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Voice of Experience: Linda Carlisle, Partner, White and Case

Carlisle_Linda_c_silo_JPG[1]By Pamela Weinsaft (New York City)

Linda Carlisle is a straight-talker. This daughter of Texas and partner at White and Case rapidly acknowledges the challenges facing women in her industry.

“In a law firm—back when I started and even today still—you have very few women mentors. You don’t want to be a mother or girlfriend to people: you want to be a colleague, a top partner and a trusted advisor. You want to be respected for what you can bring to the table. But you are also different from many of the people whom you are working with. You’ll very seldom walk into a room and be in the majority. You learn, over time, to handle that with wit and humor and a strong hand.”

An undergrad biology and chemistry major at the University of Texas at Austin, Carlisle believed she would follow her father and brother into a career in pharmacology. Two years later, she decided that she no longer wanted to go that route, and felt her only option was to teach. She married and, upon graduation, she and her husband moved from Austin to Pennsylvania, intending to pursue a career in academia.

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Voice of Experience: Niloufar Molavi, Tax Partner and U.S. Chief Diversity Officer, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Niloufar MolaviBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“Taking risks is not the way I looked at things. I thought of them as opportunities,” explains Niloufar Molavi, PricewaterhouseCoopers‘ Chief Diversity Officer, when describing her career progression. “You have to be willing to step outside your comfort zone.”

Having worked for PwC for nearly 20 years, Molavi has seized upon many opportunities. She began her career as a tax associate in PwC’s Houston office in 1991, and was admitted to the partnership in 2001, working in the firm’s energy tax practice. In 2006, she assumed the leadership role for PwC’s national energy tax practice.

Throughout her career at PwC, and particularly for the last several years, Molavi has championed diversity in the firm’s Houston office. Her efforts grabbed the attention of Bob Moritz, PwC’s chairman and senior partner, who last summer asked Molavi to take on a larger, national role leading diversity and inclusion initiatives as the firm’s CDO.

What most excites her about the new role is the one-to-one connection she is able to make with PwC’s people. “One of the things I’ve always loved about being a professional accountant is the ability to connect with people,” says Molavi. “Everything is about making sure we are building a much more inclusive organization. We want to make sure our people understand and are comfortable working and interacting with people who are different from them. It’s been a lot of fun so far.”

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Voice of Experience: Elaine Sarsynski, Executive Vice President, MassMutual’s Retirement Services Division and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, MassMutual International LLC

Sarsynski_Elaine MassMutualBy Tina Vasquez (Los Angeles)

Technically, Massachusetts is in very close proximity to the bright lights and big city that is New York, but the small town of Hadley, where Elaine Sarsynski, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MassMutual International and Executive Vice President and head of MassMutual’s Retirement Services business, called her home couldn’t have felt farther away. Sarsynski is currently the top ranked female executive at the company and was recently named one of the Top 15 Women in Business by PINK Magazine. But her attraction to business and her early understanding of its most basic concepts actually came as a result of working on her parent’s 60-acre vegetable farm.

“Working on the farm exposed me to the business side of things very early on,” Sarsynski said. “I can remember being a little kid and listening to my parents discuss things like venture capital, wholesale, and investment strategies at the dinner table and I soaked it all up. My mother was actually an astute business woman and was always thinking of clever ways to grow the business and make it profitable. I decided early on that I wanted to be a business woman, too, but I didn’t know it would ever actually take me off the farm.”

Sarsynski’s big chance came when she was just a junior at Smith College majoring in economics. One day, MassMutual came to her campus offering “a Day at MassMutual” to young women interested in the financial services industry. The young college student was eventually chosen to participate in the visit to corporate headquarters and upon making her entrance to MassMutual’s beautiful building, Sarsynski immediately knew she wanted to work at the company someday.

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Voice of Experience: Susan Allen, FCA, CPA, Audit Partner, TICE Assurance Leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers

Susan Allen (C2VR)By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Motivated by a “secret love” of being a teacher, Susan Allen, TICE (Technology, Information Communications and Entertainment) Assurance Leader for PwC Canada and Chair of the firm’s Women in Leadership/Retention of Women initiative, has built her career on her leadership capabilities, and is motivated by a passion for encouraging women leaders.

She began her career at the University of Toronto. “I graduated from university with a geography and drama degree, because I wanted to be a teacher,” Allen explained. “I fell into accounting because I took on a job as the University Cashier, and the world of accounting opened up to me as I started taking courses.” Allen joined PricewaterhouseCoopers in 1981, after taking an introductory accounting course, and was offered a position in training as a new manager – which was perfect for her inclination toward teaching. “Funny that I had to get my CA to be a teacher!” she joked.

A 3 year secondment and two children later, Allen was promoted to senior manager. Commending PwC for the company’s flexibility, she said, “I decided that part time was the answer for me.” Working full time January through April, three days per week May through September, and four days per week September through June allowed her to spend more time with her young children – and still make partner in the regular amount of time.

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