This week we are profiling amazing women in investment management ahead of our annual career panel event on the 5th November for women in the industry who want to make it to the top.
By Michelle Hendelman
When Kerry Jordan, CFA, Director of Marketing and Chief Compliance Officer, Chicago Capital Management L.P., was first starting out in her career, she wished that she knew how to remind herself that everything would be alright. She explained, “If you make a mistake, you have to acknowledge it, learn from it, and move on from it.”
It is also important to recognize early in your career just how vital it is to act with integrity, competence, and respect and to maintain a credible reputation. “Always make sure you are acting in the best interest of your clients and your firm,” added Jordan. “I cannot emphasize this enough.”
Kerry Jordan began her career with the NASDAQ Stock Market conducting insider trading investigations on the stocks that traded in that market. “After six years of doing this, it gave me a really good orientation in compliance,” said Jordan.
While she was employed at NASDAQ, Jordan was also hard at work earning her graduate degree in finance and her Charter Financial Analyst designation, which she said gave her a broad based foundation in financial analysis and management. “When I completed my graduate studies, I started working for Bank of America on its derivative structuring team in Chicago working with Fortune 500 companies designing and implementing strategies to mitigate risk,” said Jordan.
Career in Finance
After a seven year career at Bank of America, Jordan moved to the hedge fund industry where she currently works. “My derivatives background allowed me to transition into the hedge fund industry since my first position was with a hedge fund that had a very heavy derivatives portfolio,” Jordan explained. “They were having difficulty explaining derivatives to investors, and I was able to take a complex portfolio and break it down into language that investors could understand.” she added.
Currently, Jordan works as the Director of Marketing and Chief Compliance Officer at Chicago Capital Management where she has been able to combine her experience in derivatives, compliance, and asset management. In this role, she is particularly excited about the way distribution has changed in asset management. “There are many different platforms available that enable smaller managers to access institutional money,” said Jordan.
She added that the next few years should be a dynamic time in the industry as a battle for distribution starts to develop. “As there is more access to capital online through crowdfunding, electronic exchanges, and other sources, there will be a significant shift in how capital allocation to hedge funds works,” Jordan explained.
Jordan indicated that earning her Charter Financial Analyst designation stands out as one of the most challenging but rewarding accomplishments of her career so far. She also pointed out that working on a derivatives trading desk for seven years, with mostly male colleagues, was extremely rigorous, but helped to shape who she has become professionally.
In order to help strengthen investor confidence in the financial markets, Jordan dedicates much of her time volunteering with The CFA Institute on various initiatives. “Restoring ethics and integrity is one of the most important elements to the continued success of the capital markets,” Jordan said. “Global markets have experienced so much turmoil over the last five years which has resulted in distrust in the financial services industry,” she added.
Voice of Experience: Linda Drumright, General Manager of IMS Health’s Clinical Trials Optimization Solutions Group
Voices of Experience“My father was a long time IBM employee, and when I was in seventh grade he brought home a pamphlet describing the computer sciences career path at IBM. On the back it stated how this was a good career path for anyone who excelled in math and science, but it also indicated that there were few women in the field at the time,” explained Drumright.
She added, “It was at that singular moment and because of the statement on the back of the pamphlet that I decided to pursue computer science.”
Career in Technology
Drumright followed through with her plan and eventually graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in Computer Science. Despite her father’s connection to IBM, Drumright set her sights on smaller tech firms in her job search immediately after college. “I wanted to work for a smaller company because I felt like it would give me a better understanding of how the business ran and an appreciation for how all of the different roles within a company work together to create a product,” explained Drumright.
Read more
Voice of Experience: Julie Gorte, Senior Vice President, Sustainable Investing, Pax World Management
Voices of ExperienceThis week we are profiling amazing women in investment management ahead of our annual career panel event on the 5th November for women in the industry who want to make it to the top.
Julie Gorte, Senior Vice President of Sustainable Investing at Pax World Management is on a mission to save the world. Well, not exactly, but she does believe that by changing attitudes toward climate change and the environment on Wall St., she can make a significant difference. “I am interested in the intersection between climate science and investment,” said Gorte. “For a long time, portfolio managers and analysts did not see climate change as an issue they needed to be concerned with, but this is something I have been committed to changing since I entered the investment industry in 1999.”
Gorte completed her Ph.D. in Resource Economics while she was working full-time for the Office of Technology Assessment, a former government agency that advised congress on matters related to science and technology policy. When this agency was defunded in 1993, Gorte spent several years working for different non-profits before deciding to move to the private sector.
“I received a call from a recruiter about a position in sustainable investing,” said Gorte, “and it occurred to me that the guiding star in my career up until then in every position I held had some element of saving the world or at least doing something to help. I started working at Calvert Investments and then came over to Pax World several years after that.”
Read more
Movers and Shakers: Maya Venkatraman, Vice President, Senior Research Analyst of ING U.S. Investment Management
Movers and ShakersBeing raised in a family of entrepreneurs, Maya developed an interest in how businesses run very early on. When she realized a career in the Arts was not her calling, Maya decided to attend business school at Cornell where earned her MBA with a concentration in finance. She explained, “Finance seemed like a really natural fit for me since I love numbers, the story they tell, and the picture they paint about a business.”
Career Path
Although she was ready to begin her career in finance, Maya realized that securing a job in the industry might be more difficult because she lacked the job experience that many other MBA graduates have. She persevered, however, and continued to network until she found the perfect opportunity to get her foot in the door. “I was lucky enough to meet some senior executives from ABN Amro during a trip to Holland in my first year of business school and I was offered a summer internship,” said Maya.
Read more
Voice of Experience: Lisa Ferraro, Managing Director, TIAA-CREF
Voices of ExperienceThis week we are profiling amazing women in investment management ahead of our annual career panel event on the 5th November for women in the industry who want to make it to the top.
According to Lisa Ferraro, much has changed for women in finance over the past three decades as she has worked her way up from an Associate to a Managing Director. “I don’t view my success as a zero-sum game for an individual contributor anymore, and I’ve learned that people who are successful in their industries are interested in diversity and inclusion to help others and their businesses grow,” she said.
As the Portfolio Manager, Energy and Infrastructure in Global Private Markets at TIAA-CREF, Lisa Ferraro oversees a $2.2 billion private equity portfolio which is invested in oil and gas production as well as renewable energy projects. Ferraro comes from a family of entrepreneurs and has always had a keen interest in how businesses successfully operate. “Having curiosity about the fundamentals of the companies I invest in and respect for developers that are trying create value has guided how I built my career,” said Ferraro, who holds a B.S. in Economics from The University of Pennsylvania Wharton School with a dual degree in Marketing and Entrepreneurial Management. “I read financial statements, and projections like a book, to see what story they tell about the company and management team. I get tremendous satisfaction from helping companies grow, which makes me a valuable private equity partner.”
Read more
Voice of Experience: Kimberly Mounts, Founding Partner, President and CEO of MAP Alternative Asset Management Company, LLC
Voices of ExperienceThis week we are profiling amazing women in investment management ahead of our annual career panel event on the 5th November for women in the industry who want to make it to the top.
Kimberly Mounts, Founding Partner, President and CEO of MAP Alternative Asset Management Company, LLC (“MAP”) built a successful career working with fixed income derivatives for two of the industry’s top firms: Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. However, if there was one thing she wished she knew earlier in her career, it was just how rewarding and fulfilling it would be to open up her own asset management company. Since Ms. Mounts founded the firm in 2006, MAP has grown into a premier institutional risk management and hedge fund consulting firm advising some of the largest public and corporate pension plans on over $35 billion of assets under advisory.
Selected as one of 140 business leaders to attend the White House Business Leaders Forum in 2011 and one of Institutional Investor Magazine’s 2012 Rising Stars of Hedge Funds, Kimberly Mounts’ persistence and dedication has established MAP as a leading risk management and hedge fund consultant. In addition, one of the largest public pensions awarded the firm a consulting contract for their hedge fund platform and a $40 billion state pension selected the firm as their investment risk consultant for their $18 billion defined benefit plan. MAP’s advisory work includes total portfolio risk management for public and corporate pensions, and a foundation. As part of the firm’s hedge fund advisory services, MAP researches, selects and combines the best-in-class fixed income managers with a particular focus on emerging, minority and women-owned hedge funds. The firm was recently named one of the Top 100 Emerging Businesses in California for 2013 by DiversityBusiness.com.
Read more
Voice of Experience: Kerry Jordan, CFA, Director of Marketing and Chief Compliance Officer, Chicago Capital Management L.P.
Voices of ExperienceThis week we are profiling amazing women in investment management ahead of our annual career panel event on the 5th November for women in the industry who want to make it to the top.
When Kerry Jordan, CFA, Director of Marketing and Chief Compliance Officer, Chicago Capital Management L.P., was first starting out in her career, she wished that she knew how to remind herself that everything would be alright. She explained, “If you make a mistake, you have to acknowledge it, learn from it, and move on from it.”
It is also important to recognize early in your career just how vital it is to act with integrity, competence, and respect and to maintain a credible reputation. “Always make sure you are acting in the best interest of your clients and your firm,” added Jordan. “I cannot emphasize this enough.”
Kerry Jordan began her career with the NASDAQ Stock Market conducting insider trading investigations on the stocks that traded in that market. “After six years of doing this, it gave me a really good orientation in compliance,” said Jordan.
While she was employed at NASDAQ, Jordan was also hard at work earning her graduate degree in finance and her Charter Financial Analyst designation, which she said gave her a broad based foundation in financial analysis and management. “When I completed my graduate studies, I started working for Bank of America on its derivative structuring team in Chicago working with Fortune 500 companies designing and implementing strategies to mitigate risk,” said Jordan.
Career in Finance
After a seven year career at Bank of America, Jordan moved to the hedge fund industry where she currently works. “My derivatives background allowed me to transition into the hedge fund industry since my first position was with a hedge fund that had a very heavy derivatives portfolio,” Jordan explained. “They were having difficulty explaining derivatives to investors, and I was able to take a complex portfolio and break it down into language that investors could understand.” she added.
Currently, Jordan works as the Director of Marketing and Chief Compliance Officer at Chicago Capital Management where she has been able to combine her experience in derivatives, compliance, and asset management. In this role, she is particularly excited about the way distribution has changed in asset management. “There are many different platforms available that enable smaller managers to access institutional money,” said Jordan.
She added that the next few years should be a dynamic time in the industry as a battle for distribution starts to develop. “As there is more access to capital online through crowdfunding, electronic exchanges, and other sources, there will be a significant shift in how capital allocation to hedge funds works,” Jordan explained.
Jordan indicated that earning her Charter Financial Analyst designation stands out as one of the most challenging but rewarding accomplishments of her career so far. She also pointed out that working on a derivatives trading desk for seven years, with mostly male colleagues, was extremely rigorous, but helped to shape who she has become professionally.
In order to help strengthen investor confidence in the financial markets, Jordan dedicates much of her time volunteering with The CFA Institute on various initiatives. “Restoring ethics and integrity is one of the most important elements to the continued success of the capital markets,” Jordan said. “Global markets have experienced so much turmoil over the last five years which has resulted in distrust in the financial services industry,” she added.
Read more
Voice of Experience: Laurie Carroll, Managing Director and Index Specialist at Mellon Capital
Voices of ExperienceThis week we are profiling amazing women in investment management ahead of our annual career panel event on the 5th November for women in the industry who want to make it to the top.
In 1989, Laurie Carroll became a breast cancer survivor. “Being a breast cancer survivor in a male dominated atmosphere was hard, but it motivated me to work even harder and embrace every challenge,” said Carroll, “and I had a lot of supportive male colleagues around me who understood what I was going through.”
Laurie Carroll graduated from Seton Hill University with a degree in Business Management. At the time she attended, Seton Hill was a women’s college. “I wish I knew at the time that I wouldn’t necessarily be accepted in the business world,” said Carroll. “Within my family, and within the tight knit community at Seton Hill, you were never told that you couldn’t achieve something,” she added.
“That was really eye-opening for me. For example, when I started at BNY Mellon over 20 years ago, I wasn’t invited to the investment management meeting even though I was managing money,” Carroll said. “This has changed,” added Carroll. “Women are more involved and they are moving higher within the industry.”
Career Path
“When I graduated from college, Pittsburgh did not have the strongest job market, so I bought a one-way ticket to Houston where some of my family members lived,” said Carroll. Within three days Carroll found a position at an up and coming investment management firm called Aim Management. “I was hired to do basic office work,” recalled Carroll, “but that is how I got my start in the industry. I was about the 20th person to be hired at the company, which was later sold to Invesco.”
Carroll learned the business of investment management by being proactive and taking advantage of opportunities to advance her career whenever she could. She explained, “Whenever someone left the company or something changed, I asked to take on the new role or task. This is how I moved up in the business.”
After five or six years of working in the investment management industry in Houston, Carroll moved back to the Pittsburgh area when she accepted a position at one of the first investment management divisions at BNY Mellon. Since then, Carroll has worked in several investment management subsidiaries of BNY Mellon. “I am proud of the flexibility I have displayed throughout my career,” said Carroll, “and I am proud of the great teams I have had the opportunity to manage.”
Another career highlight Carroll noted as critical to her professional development was the international assignment she accepted a couple of years ago, to live and work in London. “I knew working abroad would be challenging on both a professional and a personal level. There is a different atmosphere and a different way of doing things, so I had to learn how to fit in to that culture,” said Carroll.
Read more
Women in Fund Management Continue to Define a New Path of Success in the Financial Services
FeaturedBy Michelle Hendelman and Nicki Gilmour
There is some good news to be had in the fund management sector as performance data from the Rothstein Kass authored report in 2012 would suggest that women are emerging as proven leaders.
The analysis showed that hedge funds managed by women had outperformed the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index through the 3rd Quarter of 2012. These funds posted a net return through September 2012 of 8.95 percent, equivalently compared to the net return of 2.96 percent posted by the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index.
However, putting this into context as Christin L. Munsch from the Clayman Institute for Gender Research points out this study usefully documents the performance and experience of 366 senior women in the alternative investment industry but was overall limited to a sample size of 67 women owned funds.
Carrie McCabe, CEO and Founder of Lasair Capital, an institutional alternative asset management firm based in New York City, interviewed by Munsch, estimates that women comprise less than 2 percent of alternative investors.
McCabe noted that the study compared the performance of a lot of men and only a few women. Instead of taking the report at face value, McCabe encouraged everyone in the industry to understand the resilience of the talented women who have thrived in a male dominated business of alternative investing.
She is right, as despite higher performance, female hedge fund managers with a proven track record have trouble attracting as much investor money as male fund managers.
Read more
Deutsche Bank’s 19th Annual Women on Wall Street Conference: A Night of Game Changers
Featured, News“Game Changers” was the theme of the night. The chicly decorated ballroom, which held approximately 2,000 women and a small handful of men, had a distinct theme of blue. This invitation-only is one of the largest and longest run women events on Wall Street. Deutsche Bank has held the Women on Wall Street (WOWS) conference since 1995. Over the years, the attendance has grown from 200 to more than 2,000 women of all ages representing all the major international Wall Street firms as well as female executives in asset management, accounting, investment banking, media, politics and academia.
While acknowledging the long history of challenging times for women on Wall Street and also preaching the continuous need to promote woman within the corporate world, Jacques Brand, CEO of Deutsche Bank North America, kicked off the evening.
A Conversation with former Senator, Olympia Snowe
Frank Kelly, Global Coordinator, Public Affairs and Head of Government Relations in the Americas as Deutsche Bank, led a one-on-one discussion between former Senator Olympia Snowe. He started by turning everyone’s attention to a newspaper article that referenced the chaos in Washington and its title read “Senate women lead an effort to find an accord.”
Snowe advised the audience about her “game changing” decision not to pursue re-election. She expressed her beliefs that she can make a more significant impact without actually being on the “inside.” It wasn’t an immediate decision she described; in fact it was one that evolved over time as she traveled around the country. She came to realize what the Senate was evolving into, which seemed dysfunctional on top of their willingness not to work together. “I would be best served to work on the outside, contribute my knowledge, my experience and to help people understand that it doesn’t have to be this way. It wasn’t that way in the past and it doesn’t have to be that way currently,” said Snowe. “I could give voice to that.”
Snowe’s message was more than just her desire to start a new journey; it was a powerful message about how she envisions change in our Government. Through her travels, she realized how unhappy and frustrated American people are with certain legislations that pass or don’t pass, but Snowe’s belief is that the American public needs to communicate their opinions, thoughts and questions to the Government. “Dysfunction is the number one concern among American people,” said Snowe. “There’s no doubt that people are frustrated and angry, the questions now is how do they weigh in; they have to communicate through emails, through social media, through phone calls,” said Snowe.
When asked whether it matters to have women in public office, Snowe replied, “Absolutely, there’s no doubt.” We worked night and day on the issues that were so important to women and we drove it. Set aside all of our other differences; didn’t speak as Republicans or Democrats, but as women, so it had a major impact.”
“I am a can-do person and this is a can-do country and I know this is a can-do audience and the fact of the matter is we can change it and that’s the message that I want to convey to all of you here tonight. It’s the message I am conveying all across this country, you can do something about it,” said Snowe.
Read more
Access to Flex is a Key Driver of Ambition for Women
Work-LifeRecent Catalyst research shows that access to flexible working arrangements is a critical driver of ambition for high potential women. The global study of high potential employees, released in early July, shows the availability of flexible working arrangements is widespread, with 81 percent of respondents (both men and women) reporting that their current firm offers some kind of flexible arrangement.
Women were somewhat more likely than men to use telecommuting (39 percent compared with 29 percent), but for the most part, women and men were likely to use other kinds of flexible working arrangements (FWAs) at roughly the same rates:
· 64 percent of both women and men said they have used flexible arrival and departure times frequently, very frequently, or always.
· 32 percent of women and 30 percent of men used flex time frequently, very frequently, or always.
· 7 percent of both women and men were likely to use a compressed work week frequently, very frequently, or always.
Even though FWA usage was mostly similar across genders, women tended to place more value on access to FWAs than men did. Two-thirds (67 percent) of women said that FWAs were very or extremely important to them, while almost half (46 percent) of men said the same.
Interestingly, FWA access was a predictor of women’s career ambition as well. Access to FWAs meant a high potential woman was more likely to aspire to a C-level job, and that difference was greater than it was for men.
Anna Beninger, an author of the report along with Nancy M. Carter, pointed out that this means access to FWAs is about more than day-to-day flexibility. It’s also about the perception of support. “Women working at a firm without flex access were more likely to downsize their career aspirations. This was what was most surprising to me about the findings. It’s not just about convenience. It’s about advancement and an organization’s ability to maximize its talent pool.”
It’s also about trust. Here’s why.
Read more