By Melissa Anderson
Gap, Inc. was honored last week with a Catalyst award for its achievements in building diversity and inclusion at the company. Not only has the company made strides in increasing the number of women in key leadership positions, it has also focused on improving opportunities for women of color.
Between 2007 and 2015, the company has increased the representation of women reporting directly to the CEO from 33% to 77%. Forty percent of those top level reports are women of color. Similarly, in the same time frame, the number of women serving on Gap’s board has increased from one to four, two of whom are women of color.
Women also lead four of the company’s five brands, and since 2007, the representation of women at the vice president level has increased from 44% to 49.7%.
“Equality is engrained in everything we do. For us, it was not only the right thing to do, but also a business imperative,” said Dan Briskin, VP of Global Employee Relations and HR Shared Services, Gap Inc., during a panel at Catalyst’s annual conference on Wednesday.
The company’s award-winning diversity initiative, “Women and Opportunity,” was made up of three key pillars, according to Heather Robsahm, Senior Director of Talent Management for Banana Republic, one of Gap’s brands. These include career mobility, results oriented work environments (ROWE), and pay equity.
The vast majority (83%) of Gap’s current female executives are promoted from within, and many, like Robsahm, come from the company’s field operation. As part of its career mobility pillar, Gap has created career readiness programs to ensure employees are able to build their skills and set their career trajectory.
“We have a deep bench for women who are poised the lead the company into the future,” Robsham says.
Instituting the ROWE has helped the company improve accountability and engagement, Robsahm says, and demonstrated that people can own their time and still be successful at their jobs.
Finally, in 2014, the company affirmed it had achieved gender pay equity across its global workforce of 150,000 people. When the company set out to track its workforce pay, executives expected they might come across some gaps, so the company set aside some money to make up the difference in pay for women. But after looking at the data and partnering with an external firm to verify the results, the company found it had no significant gaps and hadn’t needed to tap into the extra cash.
“When you are focused on paying people for the work they do, and you are focused on grappling to get the best talent and focused on paying the market rate for that talent, [pay equity] naturally follows,” Briskin said.
This was the first year Catalyst named only one award winner, which, conference organizers said, emphasizes the impressiveness of Gap’s achievements.
Leadership and Courage
Also speaking at the event was Marillyn Hewson, CEO and Chair of Lockheed Martin, the defense and technology firm that took in over $46 billion in revenue last year.
In a Q&A with Catalyst CEO and President Deborah Gillis, Hewson described her views on diversity. Several years ago, she noted, Lockheed’s senior management realized it needed to get more women and minorities into its leadership pipeline.
“It starts with leadership setting the tone from the top,” Hewson said. She emphasized the importance of taking meaningful action to build diversity.
Today 20% of Lockheed’s leadership and a third of its board are women. But earlier in her career, things were different, Hewson recalled. That’s why today she places such importance on mentoring other women, she said.
She recalled often being the only woman in the room coming up in her career and noted how difficult it can be to deal with negative comments or unintentional slights when there’s no one to share them with.
At one point she was greeted in an all-male meeting with a comment that the others were glad she’d arrived because they ‘needed a pretty face’ in the room. “I said, ‘I guess I’m in the wrong room because I have other things to do,’” she remembered.
“You can be caught off guard, and having the chance to talk to other women about those things makes a difference.”
Hewson chairs the diversity and inclusion council at Lockheed Martin, and requires business leaders to meet with her once per quarter to discuss their strategies and metrics on diversity. She expects them to share information on hiring, promotion and attrition with respect to the demographics of their division. The company has also recently made an effort to incorporate white men into the conversation on diversity, she revealed. Previously, this group had felt locked out of diversity efforts, she said, which was presumably doing more harm than good.
An audience member asked Hewson to discuss a quote by Gloria Steinem: “Women still require an adjective and males don’t.”
When will a woman CEO simply be referred to as a CEO, she inquired.
“This is my fourth year as a CEO, and I don’t get the woman question as much anymore,” Hewson said. “That’s why I want to talk about being a leader.”
She encouraged women who aspire to be leaders to be courageous and take difficult assignments that showcase their capabilities and experience.
“Importantly, you bring the character and integrity that the team needs,” she said.
Develop Yourself
Career Advice, Guest ContributionIf you wait for your employer, you might be waiting a long time.Recently, over glasses of wine, it came up that many of my friends felt like they weren’t being developed by their companies.
“They think we don’t care about career development because they think we don’t care about our careers because we’re millennials. Millennials…such an HR term,” complained one of my friends, who is a consultant.
“At least if they decided to develop you, you’d be getting applicable skills,” said another friend, who leads corporate training programs and is questioning her career. “I want to change my career and I’m not sure how.”
“The only kind of development we get is access to a series of boring webinars that we have to watch in the HR conference room,” said another friend in a tech company. “I fell asleep during the last one.”
Why are companies not developing their employees?
It sucks to stay at a job and not be developed. If you are at a job for a number of years, you should need to update resume every six months with new skills, projects, tasks, and reports. If you don’t find yourself doing that, well, you have an issue. I find myself regularly logging into LinkedIn to post my latest presentations, updated skills, and reports.
So you’re not being developed. Or maybe you want a new career, and don’t want to bother focusing on being developed in your current organization/role. Here are some tips on how you can develop yourself. Ultimately, you’re the one who cares most about your career, so you should be the one taking charge of it.
Really, when it comes down to it, developing your career is your responsibility. It would be great if your employer would help you, and really, any good employer will, but if it’s not happening, you need to make it happen. Develop yourself: it’s the best thing you can do for your career.
Writers bio:
Executive Presence – Do It Your Way For More Trust With Your Team
Career Advice, Career Tip of the Week!Now we all know that if you are a woman sometimes you are damned if you do and damned if you don’t ( see every female leader who ever lived, currently Hillary Clinton could tell you about this in detail I am sure) so the least you can do is not assimilate to behaviors that feel odd to you. However, you can be interculturally competent in any situation- which means reading the room while doing it your way!
By Nicki Gilmour, Executive Coach and Organizational Psychologist
Contact nicki@theglasshammer.com if you would like to hire an executive coach to help you navigate the path to optimal personal success at work
Working mothers – find the company that makes your life easier!
Career Advice, Career Tip of the Week!By Nicki Gilmour, Executive Coach and Organizational Psychologist
Contact nicki@theglasshammer.com if you would like to hire an executive coach to help you navigate the path to optimal personal success at work
Voice of Experience: Molly McCombe, Managing Director and Chief Marketing Officer, Citi Retail Services
Voices of ExperienceFrom Strategy to Leadership
After completing her undergraduate degree in finance at the Questrom School of Business at Boston University, McCombe began her career in a commercial credit training program where she was placed in a lending position, climbing the ladder to become a vice president. She began to consider other possibilities in the business world and honed in on management consulting, attracted by its opportunities to solve a variety of challenging business problems. Setting her sights on that career path, she reverse engineered what it would take to get there and realized a top-tier business school was a must.
After earning her M.B.A. from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, she joined McKinsey & Company and became a consultant for financial services firms, a role she found both fascinating and challenging. Eventually she realized that she was ready to move to an operational role, where she could “practice what she was preaching,” and took a strategic role in the credit card group at HSBC, where she held a variety of positions, including leading business development, digital marketing and product development. She joined Citi in 2011 as part of Citi Retail Services, the division responsible for providing credit cards and related services to stores such as The Home Depot, Macy’s, Best Buy and many more. In her CMO role she is responsible for all aspects of joint credit marketing and analytics between Citi and the retailers, from campaign development and management through execution and assessment, as well as leading Citi’s digital marketing, loyalty, and research groups.
One of the achievements she’s most proud of is making the transition from a strategist and advisor to a manager and operator. “It’s been a 180-degree turn. I love both jobs because they’re different and yet they inform one another,” she says. She enjoys the strategic side — working on thorny problems and helping the client see them through — and also appreciates the day-to-day aspects of leading geographically dispersed teams and tackling tactical and operational issues. “I am a better leader and manager because I’ve done both,” McCombe says.
Managing the marketing of credit card programs with leading retailers puts her in a front row seat to what’s new in both the banking and retailing industries, and she is fascinated by the changing ways that people approach shopping.
“Consumers are in the driver’s seat in how they interact with retailers now, because they can leverage so much information to make informed purchases,” she says. No longer is it just about finding product and price information online, but also considering peer reviews about products and sharing experiences.
“At the same time, consumers are increasingly open to building deeper relationships with retailers,” McCombe explains. “Part of the value we bring to retailers is our experience in this area. We’re using our understanding of consumer preferences to drive more relevant offers to our retailer’s customers and enhance market share for our retail partners.”
The Advantage of Being a Women
McCombe says that women can be discouraged when they don’t see as many women farther up the ladder, which will continue to be a deterrent until the payments industry can promote and retain women at multiple levels. “It’s a challenge to say ‘I’m passionate about this industry, and I’m going to jump in,’ when there aren’t many women on the upper rungs,” she says, citing a niece who just graduated from Northwestern University who had remarked on the lack of women in senior roles. But she advocates that young women view it instead as an incredibly relevant place for women since they are the primary decision makers in households on budgeting and how money is spent. “A savvy organization is going to want that experience and input, whether they’re evaluating their product offerings or their payment options. Since I started, there is a much greater appreciation for a woman’s perspective in this business, and the opportunities are endless.”
And as women do rise to leadership positions, she says they should be sure that they are still focused on growing, learning and taking on cross-functional roles to avoid being pigeonholed.
Grow Your Network to Grow Your Career
Along the way McCombe has appreciated the opportunity to mentor and grow other professionals throughout the years, both on the consulting and corporate side. “I have been able to create a strong network around the globe that is both professionally and personally rewarding.”
She encourages women to participate in programs at their workplace for both educational and networking benefits. “These are terrific forums for junior women who want to get to know senior women; it’s a way to demystify and humanize these senior leaders. When you build personal relationships, you find out they’re just like anyone else, and I found that very empowering.”
She finds that these connections often lead to informal mentoring relationships, the type that are grounded in commonality. “It’s so helpful to have an off-the-record sounding board, where you can talk about challenges and get input on how to handle them. Mentorship and connectivity is incredibly powerful and will help retain women,” she says.
A Rewarding Personal Life
Married to a hospitality professional who owns three restaurants, McCombe appreciates that it has gotten her connected to the Chicago dining scene and its farm-to-table movement.
And McCombe remains connected to her undergraduate alma mater — serving on the Dean’s Advisory Board at the Questrom School of Management at Boston University — for a very important reason: She was able to attend Boston University thanks to an academic scholarship, and now is committed to paying it forward by sponsoring a scholarship for undergraduate women studying finance and analytics. “It’s very gratifying to be able to give back to an institution that gave me my start, and to support the next generation of women business leaders,” she says.
Rising Star: Kavita Joseph, Lead IT Business Manager, TIAA
Rising StarsForging Her Own Path
Joseph, a Lead IT Business Manager at TIAA, had a nontraditional upbringing compared to many of her peers. Although women were encouraged to attend school and have a job where she grew up in India, they were rarely expected to pursue a career. Even in light of this cultural challenge, Joseph was successful in overcoming the stereotypes and pursing her dream of having a fulfilling career.
“When I was 20, very few girls in India moved out of their parents’ homes to live in the big city, but my parents supported my decision to live independently and pursue higher education. I am proud and happy that I was able to break the cycle because it inspired my younger sisters and cousins to do the same thing,” she says. “The whole concept was unusual at first. But my proudest realization came years later when I noticed that not only my family, but my small community in general, had turned a corner in viewing women’s careers as not just an indulgence, but as something very essential.”
Joseph credits her mother for being an exceptional role model. In a society where women were mostly home makers, her mother was the head mistress of a reputable school and also largely in charge of raising her and her two sisters since her father traveled frequently. “Looking back on those years, I can see that my mom was always on top of her professional game, was very sought after in the academia, and through it all she modeled an excellent work/life balance. So growing up as her daughter, observing her tenacity, passion for life and constant pursuit of excellence, influenced me heavily.”
Joseph began her career on an inside sales team, which she describes as “trial by fire.” “I made the classic mistake of not speaking up enough and owning the outcome. I struggled initially because I did not know how to navigate that. Eventually I asked for help and found my very first mentor. That was the beginning of really understanding and realizing the importance of reaching out, building relationships and that it is okay to step outside of your comfort zone.”
After a different role in operations, Joseph joined UBS’s Wealth Management division in Marketing Strategy and Development, before eventually moving to IT. She says her biggest accomplishment was being part of the team that built the first mobile platform for UBS Wealth Management’s field staff, a disruptive program that redefined the way things were done and won the CIO award for technology innovation.
“Due to security concerns, financial services firms are typically conservative when taking technology risks. It was exciting to find the balance between pushing barriers in providing mobile access and allowing our financial advisors to untether themselves from their desks so they could spend time in front of their clients.” Joseph went on to become the program manager until joining TIAA in 2015 in a position in the IT Business Office working on strategic programs.
Mentors Make the Difference
“It was a fairly challenging transition to IT, and I was successful due to my hard work and because I had a mentor who invested in me. Even though my mentor wasn’t a tech person, she made sure that I had the support and tools that I needed to make the transition and that made a big difference,” Joseph says.
Based on this positive experience, Joseph made a conscious effort to coach and mentor others: to be there for them as others had for her. “Diversity programs are great platforms to meet people and learn from their experiences. When I joined TIAA, one of the first things I did was to sign up as a member of one of the local diversity council chapters. Very quickly, I had built relationships with a number of people outside of my group, and that was an investment that will pay off in time.”
She is currently active in TIAA’s IT Women’s Council and helped to spearhead the launch of an IT Group Mentoring Program. This program facilitates visibility, mentorship and coaching for program participants as they aspire toward growth. Although the Group Mentoring Program only has been in existence for a little more than a year, there has already been excellent feedback from the first group who completed the six month-long coaching cycle. “The program has introduced a positive change in the culture of the organization” she says. “I feel like a proud parent.”
Learning to Balance
The Group Mentoring Program is not her only baby, as Joseph also has a five-year-old son. “Work-life integration is all about prioritizing on a daily basis because they are both real commitments. Your personal brand is at play every day. This is something I really appreciate at TIAA – that the culture recognizes you on a personal and professional level.”
She and her husband love to travel, but these days tend to stick closer to home, spending time exploring Manhattan and local Jersey haunts together with their son.
Joseph remains active in philanthropic endeavors, sponsoring a program with her family that provides artificial limbs for children in India.
Giving back to others, whether via these activities or through mentorship, is what brings Joseph joy.
Catalyst Honors Gap for Pay Equity, Leadership Diversity
Career Advice, LeadershipGap, Inc. was honored last week with a Catalyst award for its achievements in building diversity and inclusion at the company. Not only has the company made strides in increasing the number of women in key leadership positions, it has also focused on improving opportunities for women of color.
Between 2007 and 2015, the company has increased the representation of women reporting directly to the CEO from 33% to 77%. Forty percent of those top level reports are women of color. Similarly, in the same time frame, the number of women serving on Gap’s board has increased from one to four, two of whom are women of color.
Women also lead four of the company’s five brands, and since 2007, the representation of women at the vice president level has increased from 44% to 49.7%.
“Equality is engrained in everything we do. For us, it was not only the right thing to do, but also a business imperative,” said Dan Briskin, VP of Global Employee Relations and HR Shared Services, Gap Inc., during a panel at Catalyst’s annual conference on Wednesday.
The company’s award-winning diversity initiative, “Women and Opportunity,” was made up of three key pillars, according to Heather Robsahm, Senior Director of Talent Management for Banana Republic, one of Gap’s brands. These include career mobility, results oriented work environments (ROWE), and pay equity.
The vast majority (83%) of Gap’s current female executives are promoted from within, and many, like Robsahm, come from the company’s field operation. As part of its career mobility pillar, Gap has created career readiness programs to ensure employees are able to build their skills and set their career trajectory.
“We have a deep bench for women who are poised the lead the company into the future,” Robsham says.
Instituting the ROWE has helped the company improve accountability and engagement, Robsahm says, and demonstrated that people can own their time and still be successful at their jobs.
Finally, in 2014, the company affirmed it had achieved gender pay equity across its global workforce of 150,000 people. When the company set out to track its workforce pay, executives expected they might come across some gaps, so the company set aside some money to make up the difference in pay for women. But after looking at the data and partnering with an external firm to verify the results, the company found it had no significant gaps and hadn’t needed to tap into the extra cash.
“When you are focused on paying people for the work they do, and you are focused on grappling to get the best talent and focused on paying the market rate for that talent, [pay equity] naturally follows,” Briskin said.
This was the first year Catalyst named only one award winner, which, conference organizers said, emphasizes the impressiveness of Gap’s achievements.
Leadership and Courage
Also speaking at the event was Marillyn Hewson, CEO and Chair of Lockheed Martin, the defense and technology firm that took in over $46 billion in revenue last year.
In a Q&A with Catalyst CEO and President Deborah Gillis, Hewson described her views on diversity. Several years ago, she noted, Lockheed’s senior management realized it needed to get more women and minorities into its leadership pipeline.
“It starts with leadership setting the tone from the top,” Hewson said. She emphasized the importance of taking meaningful action to build diversity.
Today 20% of Lockheed’s leadership and a third of its board are women. But earlier in her career, things were different, Hewson recalled. That’s why today she places such importance on mentoring other women, she said.
She recalled often being the only woman in the room coming up in her career and noted how difficult it can be to deal with negative comments or unintentional slights when there’s no one to share them with.
At one point she was greeted in an all-male meeting with a comment that the others were glad she’d arrived because they ‘needed a pretty face’ in the room. “I said, ‘I guess I’m in the wrong room because I have other things to do,’” she remembered.
“You can be caught off guard, and having the chance to talk to other women about those things makes a difference.”
Hewson chairs the diversity and inclusion council at Lockheed Martin, and requires business leaders to meet with her once per quarter to discuss their strategies and metrics on diversity. She expects them to share information on hiring, promotion and attrition with respect to the demographics of their division. The company has also recently made an effort to incorporate white men into the conversation on diversity, she revealed. Previously, this group had felt locked out of diversity efforts, she said, which was presumably doing more harm than good.
An audience member asked Hewson to discuss a quote by Gloria Steinem: “Women still require an adjective and males don’t.”
When will a woman CEO simply be referred to as a CEO, she inquired.
“This is my fourth year as a CEO, and I don’t get the woman question as much anymore,” Hewson said. “That’s why I want to talk about being a leader.”
She encouraged women who aspire to be leaders to be courageous and take difficult assignments that showcase their capabilities and experience.
“Importantly, you bring the character and integrity that the team needs,” she said.
5 tips to being happier at work
Career Advice, Career Tip of the Week!Good luck!
By Nicki Gilmour, Executive Coach and Organizational Psychologist
Contact nicki@glasshammer2.wpengine.com if you would like to hire an executive coach to help you navigate the path to optimal personal success at work
Voice of Experience: Christine Low, Corporate Client Solution Operating Officer, Asia, UBS
Voices of ExperienceTo succeed in today’s financial industry, you need stamina, says UBS’ Christine Low. “When you first start out, you have plenty of energy, but as you progress and strive for longevity, you find that you constantly have to rebuild yourself — your stamina and your mindset — and stay fit in your body and mind so you can handle the pace and the diversity.”
Based on Low’s success, it’s clear that she has what it takes.
Moving Around – and Up
Originally from Singapore, Low attended college in Australia and started her career in Singapore. Along the way she has also spent time in Hong Kong and Beijing, finding new opportunities along the way.
Low first served as an auditor for PwC Singapore in the financial services group, then began her compliance career at Merrill Lynch before relocating to PwC in Hong Kong to further expand her experience in the regulatory compliance space.She then spent nearly 10 years at UBS where she started to see her career transform in the hot and expanding space working in different locations and functions.She started out with compliance in Hong Kong, relocated to Beijing to be the first Investment Banking Chief Operating Office for UBS’ China Domestic JV before returning to Hong Kong to take on a wider role as the Investment Banking Chief Operating Officer for Asia.She joined a Chinese boutique investment bank in 2013 focusing on the new economy sector, but returned to UBS in 2015 where she is now Corporate Client Solution Operating Officer for Asia, enjoying the challenge of overseeing more than 300 bankers in the region and working to build the business.
Her move from a regulatory role to COO was a big shift, but one that she was able to accomplish because of the many years of experience she’s had in the industry. She has found her integration in the Chinese culture to be a rewarding aspect. “Since China is an up-and-coming economy, just opening its doors in the financial services area, it’s a fascinating and exciting place to be, learning to adapt and gain the trust of my international colleagues.”
Since China has historically been an equities market-driven industry, she says that her newest challenge is switching the mindset of bankers to focus on M&A in today’s rough IPO environment. “Every day is a learning experience as they become more open to M&A.”
Encouraging the Next Generation
Over the years, she has seen the industry transform to be more diverse, with both men and women seeking balance in their work and personal life. “The industry has embraced this and there has been a big change to now offer the flexibility we need,” Low says, a stark contrast to her early years when it was much harder to be a woman in what was then a man’s world. “Many of the barriers have tumbled.”
She encourages young people considering a career in banking to make sure they understand the industry before jumping in. “It used to be that you learned about banking by working in it, but now you can get a good sense of what it’s like before you start with all the information that’s out there,” she says.
When recruiting or counseling younger colleagues, she says a lot of them view the industry as glamourous, but she makes sure they realize that it’s also very hard work with frequent long hours.
“Young people should consider what they’re good at and what they like so they can focus on that,” she says. She points to her current position as COO as a good fit for her style, working with people, yet not in a client-facing role.
Throughout her career she has made sure to be approachable and to offer informal consultations, where younger professionals can discuss their career path and opportunities within the firm. “I like to work with both men and women to discuss how personal life and work intersect,” Low says.
Travel Relaxes and Opens the Mind
Low makes it a priority to travel and see something new and unknown every few months. “You have to take your eyes off work and then you return stronger and more rested to continue your journey.”
She finds that visiting other places opens her mind to how fortunate she is to be working in Hong Kong and the industry. “We have a good life even though we work hard, and traveling shows us that there are other parts of the world where people are much less fortunate.”
As an example, she relays her eye-opening experiences in Cuba over the holidays. “It makes me realize that despite the frustrations we sometimes feel, we are actually far more fortunate than many people.”
In addition to traveling, Low unwinds by cooking, something that she can use as a daily escape to relax and use her senses.
What We Can Learn from Powerful Women, Past and Present
Career Advice, Guest ContributionFrom media entrepreneurs to leaders impacting their own communities, we can learn from these women’s successes and apply their knowledge to improve our own careers and lives. Here are some key examples of inspirational leaders and their advice for reaching – and exceeding – your goals:
Develop Your Leadership Skills with a Mentor
As the president and CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, Pam Iorio is a shining example of women leaders who are making a difference in their own communities and beyond. Her gift for leadership shows not only through her work with Big Brothers Big Sisters, but also in her past career as Mayor of the City of Tampa and her tenure as leader-in-residence at the John H. Sykes College of Business at the University of Tampa. The author of Straightforward: Ways to Live and Lead, Iorio delivers a strong message about the importance of developing leadership skills. Her message: Learn to lead yourself well so you can, in turn, lead others.
Regions Bank commends Iorio’s work to change communities across America through the power of mentoring and recognizes that career-oriented women can grow and learn from this inspiration. One way women can develop their own leadership skills is by cultivating a relationship with a female mentor
Define Your Personal Brand
Wendy Lane Stevens, the founder and president of national public relations firm LANE, advises women to spend time developing a personal brand that reflects your core beliefs. Every day and in nearly every situation – board meetings, conversation with clients, coffee with girlfriends – your personal brand is on display through your actions, words and decisions. It’s never too late to create a personal brand or modify your current one. Stevens suggests these steps:
Brainstorm and write down 30 to 40 words that describe who you are and the traits you like about yourself or want to improve. After thoughtful consideration, narrow the list to about six words.
Compare your descriptions to the words that three of your role models would use to describe themselves. Use this as a gauge to refine your list.
Ask a family member or close friend to review your words. Are they aspirational and achievable? “You want these words to be authentic and transparent, so you want honest feedback,” Stevens says.
Use the words to develop an elevator speech that describes who you are and what you believe – this becomes your personal motto. Keep it near you – like on your computer or on your phone so you’re constantly reminded of your core values or brand.
Every several months, grade yourself on how you’ve integrated your values and brand into your life.
No matter what your profession, you can glean valuable insights from smart, successful women all around you, including all of the powerful females Regions Bank is recognizing this March. If you’re interested more career insights and guidance for women in the workforce, Regions has shared with us some additional resources:
For Entry-Level Women – Learn How To Budget After Landing Your First Job. When you’re starting your first job, it can be difficult to learn how to budget your money. Regions shares four tips to help you separate your wants from your needs and set yourself up for financial success.
For Female Business Owners – Learn About, and Leverage, the Resources Available to Women and Minorities in Business. The government helps foster growth for women and minority business owners in part by offering tax breaks to companies that work with these businesses. Make sure you thoroughly understand these programs, and take the steps necessary to qualify for them.
For Moms in the Workforce – Balancing Career and Home. When it comes to work/life balance, find the right fit for you rather than an equal balance.
This article was sponsored by Regions Private Wealth Management.
Mover and Shaker: Karyn Cavanaugh, CFA, Senior Market Strategist, Voya Investment Management
Movers and ShakersCavanaugh admits her career path was not as linear as most. She says she spent her 20’s “making money and having fun,” as a consultant. She then had three children in three years, so her priority was juggling that with work. At the age of 40, when her youngest started school, she realized it was time to focus on her next move down the career path she wanted. She took a position in internal business development, using her finance background, and then the recession hit.
“My whole group was kicked out, and that’s when I figured out the importance of networking,” she says. Although she had actively participated in groups for fellow University of Connecticut alumni and Chartered Financial Analysts®, she admits that “it was a brutal time.”
At the same time, Cavanaugh saw a chance to reinvent herself. “I realized I’m a finance person, and my other career paths hadn’t been as fulfilling because, deep down, I’m an investment person who loves looking at the market and following economics.”
By happenstance, she ran into a colleague who had hired her right out of college, who was working for ING (now Voya). He remembered she had been both smart and a good worker, and took a chance on her.
Together, they created and evolved the Global Perspectives program, parlaying $40,000 they had been given in seed money into $750,000,000 over four years. Cavanaugh routinely appears on CNBC, Fox Business News, Market Watch, NPR and other shows as a spokesperson for Voya. For Cavanaugh, it’s a dream position. “I get to manage a portfolio and share my views on the market,” she says. “Things do work out if you work hard.”
Right now, she is most excited about continuing to grow the assets under management and build wealth for the investors. The current volatile market has made her portfolio shine, she says, because it focuses on mitigating risk. “In this type of market, people realize they need professional advice and management,” she says.
The Myth of Corporate Drama
Corporate America hardly lived up to Cavanaugh’s worst fears, where she pictured a back-stabbing TV drama. “The reality is most people just want to do great work, do their job successfully and go home. They do want to help each other.” That’s been a welcome realization that has been confirmed with the wonderful managers she’s had at Voya.
She appreciates the mentorship she receives more than most because much of her early career was spent as an hourly consultant. “My work was well respected and appreciated, but it was different than working for a corporation,” she says. “I didn’t have a clear career path or someone who was watching out to promote me.”
She says that her role models are “all the women who came before me on Wall Street.” When her son was recently accepted at the University of South Carolina, she suggested he research Darla Moore, after whom the business school is named. One of the original female Wall Street pioneers in the 1980s, Moore left South Carolina in her grandma’s car and took the whole industry by storm.
“Women like that blazed the trail and made Wall Street accessible to all women,” Cavanaugh says.
Anything Can Happen
The biggest career lesson that Cavanaugh learned came when she was laid off. “Even if you do everything right, even if you are a good employee, it can happen to you,” she says.
She feels fortunate that she had paved the way for her future success and credits earning her CFA designation as one of her wisest moves. Although she describes the program as “three years of hell,” — only about 20 percent of those who start ever finish – the designation adds an unprecedented layer of credibility as the gold standard in portfolio management. “I’m happy that I had the sense to do it as it has paid off over the years,” she says.
The CFA society provides a key networking niche for her, and she has been active as a president and board member. “It’s easy to get into your own silo and the CFA society provides excellent networking and educational opportunities.” She says she wishes more women would earn the designation since it’s a vital stepping stone to establishing credibility in the investment world.
Becoming Part of the Charleston Community
Since relocating to Charleston, Cavanaugh has mentored local women starting an investment club, helping them learn how to research companies, decipher P/E ratios and sharing her investment knowledge.
Cavanaugh seeks out anything related to the water – crabbing, fishing, boating and beaching. Her three teens keep her busy, and the whole family loves to travel. Most recently they went snorkeling in St. Thomas, and she has taken her daughters to Paris.
She loves living in Charleston and has a goal of trying a different restaurant every time she goes out. “l have become an aficionado of the best shrimp and grits,” she says.