Voice of Experience: Alexandra Lebenthal, CEO, Lebenthal / Alexandra & James Co.

Image via JW Magazine

Image via JW Magazine

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

The best piece of advice I ever got,” said Alexandra Lebenthal, CEO of Alexandra & James, a financial firm specializing in tax-free municipal bonds and high net-worth wealth management, “was in reference to driving a boat. ‘Whatever happens, just relax. You’ll always be able to turn around and get out of it.’”

“Sometimes you glide on the water, sometimes you go against a current – as soon as you relax all kind of things can happen.” She joked, “It’s something I should do much more of in life.”

Lebenthal, so far, has navigated her life’s currents well – in addition to having built a successful company from the ground up, she recently published a new novel, The Recessionistas, a book about New York socialites following the 2008 crash.

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Voice of Experience: Erika Karp, Managing Director and Head of Global Sector Research, UBS Investment Bank

karpBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“I believe diversity is an economic imperative – period,” said Erika Karp, Managing Director and Head of Global Sector Research at UBS Investment Bank and Chair of the Global Investment Review Committee.

A founding member of the UBS Executive Diversity Council, a steering committee member of the firm’s All Bar None women’s network, as well as the business champion behind the creation of UBS Pride, UBS’s GLBT employee network, Karp is dedicated to the value of diversity.

Citing the importance of differentiated perspective, creativity, and entrepreneurship that diverse individuals bring to the table, Karp said, “The challenge for anybody is getting to have an important voice…being heard.”

She explained, “The trick is being both patient and assertive.”

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Voice of Experience: Dorothy Collins Weaver, Co-founder and CEO of Collins Capital

Dorothy Collins WeaverBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“It’s a good thing I’ve been blessed with two things – I’ve been blessed with lots of energy and a love of the vertical learning curve,” said Dorothy Collins Weaver, Co-founder and CEO of Miami-based hedge fund of funds, Collins Capital.

From founding her hedge fund of funds, to supporting an orphanage in Colombia, to chairing the Miami Federal Reserve, to chairing “We Will Rebuild,” the federal relief effort following Hurricane Andrew’s devastation of Miami in 1992, as well as leading several other philanthropic and civic endeavors, Weaver’s boundless energy and love of learning have driven a career spanning continents and industries.

Based on her experience, she advises, “Be in the room where decisions are being made. Roll up your sleeves. Get dirt under your fingernails.”

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Voice of Experience: Rebecca Macieira-Kaufmann, President, Citibank California

Rebecca Macieira-KaufmannBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“Helping others be the best they can be is a big motivator for me,” said Rebecca Macieira-Kaufmann, President of Citibank California.

She focuses on providing the best experience for the customers of Citibank, as well as supporting her team to ensure they have everything they need to win. She said, “Helping customers be financially successful and seeing the team succeed is very motivating. Nothing can make me happier – it’s why I come to work in the morning.”

According to Macieira-Kaufmann, her career has been driven by two things – her love of business and her love of travel. Speaking three languages and having lived in several countries, she said, “I’ve always loved business. I started four different companies – before college.”

“To sum it up, I’m a fourth generation San Franciscan with a global background.”

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Voice of Experience: Annica Lindegren, Partner, White & Case

Foto Lindegren_3x4cm_300dpi_tifBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

For Annica Lindegren, partner at White & Case and head of the firm’s bank finance practice in Germany, a keen focus on providing top service for her clients has been one key to her success – the other is finding a unique balance between her work life and family life. Working in Frankfurt during the week, Lindegren heads home to her family in Spain on the weekend.

She says, “In a sense I have found my work/life balance. When I’m home my priority is my family, and when I am here [in Frankfurt] my priority is my clients (but of course my family is always a top priority). The clients are aware of my travel situation, and it hasn’t affected their view of working with me or the team here.”

And the balance seems to work – Lindegren expresses pride in the team she’s built in Germany, and the success it has seen since the start in 2001.

She continues proudly, “Within 3 years [of starting at White & Case], we were nominated for The Bank Finance Firm of the Year in Germany by JUVE, a guide to the legal profession which ranks lawyers and law firms in Germany. And we won in 2006. We were nominated last year again – all in all we’ve been nominated 4 times with one win.”

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Voice of Experience: Michelle Clayman, CFA, Founder, Managing Partner & Chief Investment Officer, New Amsterdam Partners LLC

N_MClaymanBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“I was born and raised in England, and did my undergraduate degree at Oxford,” began Michelle Clayman, CFA, Founder, Managing Partner, and Chief Investment Officer of New Amsterdam Partners. After graduating, Clayman took a job in commercial banking with Bank of America in London for two years, before heading to California to attend Stanford Business School.

“After business school,” she said, “I took a job at Salomon Brothers in sales and trading, and then, after a few months, was asked to go into a new division called quantitative equity research, and I was there for six and a half years.”

“Then I decided to start my own company – and the rest is history,” she continued.

Clayman has built her career and her company on the value of performance-based quantitative metrics. And she believes performance-based careers, like those in investment management, are more amenable to women. Because they’re based on results, she said, there’s less room for gender bias.

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Voice of Experience: Vivian Tsoi, Partner, White & Case

vivian tsoiBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Vivian Tsoi, Partner at global law firm White & Case, sees opportunity just about everywhere, a trait which, no doubt, plays into her success working in mergers and acquisitions at the firm.

Working out of White & Case’s Beijing office, Tsoi says she is amazed at the attitude of possibility that she sees in her clients in China. She said, “You can really see the growth and see how much they have learned. The level of sophistication they have achieved in just a few years is astounding. It keeps you on your toes.”

“A career in Beijing was, frankly, not something I ever anticipated,” she continued. “But I love being here right now.”

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Voice of Experience: Yvonne Schneider, Senior Vice President Global Commercial Services Technologies, American Express

yvonne

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Yvonne Schneider is a panelist at today’s Women in IT event, hosted by The Glass Hammer.

“I consider myself a global leader,” said Yvonne Schneider, SVP Global Commercial Services Technologies at American Express. “I align employees across five regions around the world and we’re a high performing team. My employees have a lot of responsibility and visibility.”

Schneider’s role at Amex is about managing – and creating – change. She works to create and deploy new solutions to the company’s global corporate client base, she explained. “The adoption of emerging technologies is something we’re paying a lot of attention to. But it’s a matter of putting the right technology at the right time in the right market – the same technology is not the right solution everywhere in the world.”

“What we do is work on automating the workforce,” she said, “and this is changing the face of the world and how it operates and its people.”

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Voice of Experience: Margo Cook, CFA, Executive Vice President, Nuveen Investments

NIHI100705By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

In talking to Margo Cook, CFA, Executive Vice President of Nuveen Investments, its clear that what she’s valued the most throughout her career is her ability to be a part of and to build effective teams.

While her career has taken her from The Bank of New York to Bear Stearns Asset Management, and now to Nuveen Investments, she continues to prize her role as a manager and team builder, investigating and working to improve the dynamic and effectiveness of the groups she’s led.

Cook said, “The most rewarding thing is to have a strong team that works together well. They know how to respond to challenges, and move ahead. It may be more time consuming – but a strong team can accomplish more than a group of people acting as individuals.”

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Voice of Experience: Avis Yates Rivers, CEO, Technology Concepts Group International

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Avis Yates RiversAvis Yates Rivers, CEO of Technology Concepts Group International, has spent her career in the technology sector – and after 25 years running successful companies, she says one of the most important things she’s learned is “put the right people in the right seats.”

Staying ahead of shifting technology, she said, means “hiring the right people with knowledge about the field. They stay on the cutting edge of new technology and know what it means for us and the customer. I wouldn’t be able to do that on my own,” she explained.

“I’m very heavily involved in civic engagement,” she said, pointing to work with the government and politics, as well as non-profit leadership, such as the National Minority Supplier Development Council, the Women Presidents’ Educational Organization and other organizations working to increase opportunities for small, minority and women-owned businesses. She sits on the board of the National Center for Women in Technology.

She continued, “If you’re entering the technology field, understand that your contribution is very much needed and commit to it.”

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