“I consider myself to be a southern girl with big dreams and a lot of faith that they would come true,” said Pamela Ravare Browne regarding the career journey she embarked on before joining ALPFA as the Chief Operating Officer in 2010. She continued, “I have been very blessed as an executive leader with over twenty years of professional experience to utilize my skills and talents as well as my passion for non-profit.”
Ravare Browne was born in California, but spent her childhood in Germany. “This was my first introduction to the international world and gained the perspective that the world is so much bigger and broader than what we see,” she recalled. After growing up overseas, Ravare Browne returned to the United States and completed her undergraduate degree in Marketing and graduate school education at Louisiana State University, earning an MBA with a concentration in Marketing and International Business.
An Unlikely Career Path
“I recognized my desire to pursue higher education and became very passionate about it after being one of the few members of my family to complete a MBA degree,” said Ravare Browne. She continued, “I worked in the corporate arena for a few years at General Motors, IBM, and Proctor and Gamble in the marketing division at each firm.” While Ravare Browne felt very privileged to be working at these Fortune 100 companies, she felt like she was not tapping into her true passion. She explained, “There was something from a contribution standpoint that wasn’t quite gratifying for me.”
After spending some time in China, Ravare Browne came back to the United States and accepted a visiting professor position at the University of Miami-Ohio and began to consider the option of returning to school herself to pursue a Ph.D. “I realized that I loved sharing knowledge and giving back to younger individuals who needed guidance and mentoring,” she said. Ravare Browne continued to pursue her teaching career, accepting positions at other universities across the country, including the University of Dallas. Here, she became the Director of the Pre-MBA program where she had the opportunity to interact with international students from over ninety countries.
Within years, Ravare Browne was promoted to become the Executive Director of International Relations at the University of Dallas. This appointment set the stage for Ravare Browne to spend a lot of time working abroad in different countries facilitating the process of getting international students to come to the United States for their graduate education. “I fell in love with working in a non-profit and academic arena,” said Ravare Browne.
Once again, she started thinking about the possibility of furthering her own education by earning a doctorate, but these plans were placed on the backburner when she was approached by The National Society of Hispanic MBAs, ALPFA’s sister organization, where she accepted a position in the office of the CEO.
Ravare Browne was eventually approached by ALPFA, and three years ago, she moved out to their headquarters in Los Angeles to serve as the Vice President of Strategic Initiatives and was quickly promoted to her current position as Chief Operating Officer. She said, “My journey has been a fabulous mix of corporate American, academia, and non-profit.” She attributes her success in all of these different fields to the cross-functional skills acquired in business school, but ultimately Ravare Browne knew she would be the most effective in the industry for which she is the most passionate. “I found my niche in the non-profit sector because I had the desire to give back,” she explained.
Carrying Out ALPFA’s Mission
“The mission of ALPFA to build Latino business leaders is very clear,” said Ravare Browne, “and I was very attracted to the work ALPFA was doing, especially in the graduate space.” With 22,000 professional and student members, 41 professional chapters, and 120 student chapters, ALPFA is not only the largest Latino business organization in the United States, but also the oldest. “We build leaders through the work that we do,” explained Ravare Browne, “and ALPFA is a safe space for our members to develop their leadership skills and take on professional roles that may not be available to them yet within their own companies.”
Ravare Browne is proud that ALPFA is able to develop leaders who can then go on to work for some of the biggest companies in the world. “We provide talent to major corporations and they view ALPFA as the premier organization for recruiting Latinos in accounting, business, and finance,” she said. “On the other hand, we also bring in the best of the best in executive leadership to our programming. Our members are exposed to top leaders from many different industries.”
Women of ALPFA is one of ALPFA’s core programs that was established about ten years ago and has been instrumental in developing Latina business leaders through networking, training, and development. “We are continuing to expand our programs to serve our female members,” said Ravare Browne. She noted that fifty percent of ALPFA’s national chapters have female presidents.
ALPFA began as a professional organization that evolved to include programs for students at the high school, community college, and university levels. ALPFA also has over 2,000 members who are in graduate school. “We have outreach programs that impact all levels of the pipeline,” said Ravare Browne.
Career Advancement Tools for Latino Business Leaders
According to Ravare Browne, any non-dominant group will face challenges in their professional careers. The mission of ALPFA is to equip Latino business leaders with the tools they need to advocate for themselves and move forward in their careers. “Communication and relationship building are two hurdles that our members encounter, especially our student members,” said Ravare Browne. “Learning how to network as a professional in a room can be intimidating for anyone. It is a common anxiety, but a very real one that can hold someone back in their career if they don’t master these skills.”
One of ALPFA’s goals is to have a positive impact on the percentage of Latino leaders at the highest corporate levels. This underrepresentation results in a somewhat limited network for emerging leaders in the Latino business community. Ravare Browne said, “ALPFA helps to tighten these networks and helps members facilitate valuable business relationships and connections.”
Ravare Browne places a lot of emphasis on the importance of sponsors to the career advancement of high potential talent, and this is a message she works hard to deliver to the members of ALPFA. “Many of our members don’t have that inside edge, so we provide mentoring and coaching in addition to connecting them with individuals who will be sponsors for them within their own companies,” explained Ravare Browne.
She continued, “Culturally, it is not common for Latinos to self-promote themselves. By creating this mentoring and sponsorship concept within the organization, it helps them to see the importance of having both in order to advance in their career.”
Going forward, Ravare Browne hopes that ALPFA will continue to grow and evolve as much as it has since it was established 41 years ago. By continuing to focus on building strong executive leadership programs, she is confident that ALPFA will be increasingly instrumental in ushering strong Latino business leaders through the leadership pipeline over the next 40 years and beyond.
The Glass Hammer is celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month by featuring profiles of Hispanic Women Business Leaders all week long!
By Michelle Hendelman, Editor-in-Chief
Thought Leader: Pamela Ravare Browne, National Chief Operating Officer, ALPFA National Office
Thought Leaders“I consider myself to be a southern girl with big dreams and a lot of faith that they would come true,” said Pamela Ravare Browne regarding the career journey she embarked on before joining ALPFA as the Chief Operating Officer in 2010. She continued, “I have been very blessed as an executive leader with over twenty years of professional experience to utilize my skills and talents as well as my passion for non-profit.”
Ravare Browne was born in California, but spent her childhood in Germany. “This was my first introduction to the international world and gained the perspective that the world is so much bigger and broader than what we see,” she recalled. After growing up overseas, Ravare Browne returned to the United States and completed her undergraduate degree in Marketing and graduate school education at Louisiana State University, earning an MBA with a concentration in Marketing and International Business.
An Unlikely Career Path
“I recognized my desire to pursue higher education and became very passionate about it after being one of the few members of my family to complete a MBA degree,” said Ravare Browne. She continued, “I worked in the corporate arena for a few years at General Motors, IBM, and Proctor and Gamble in the marketing division at each firm.” While Ravare Browne felt very privileged to be working at these Fortune 100 companies, she felt like she was not tapping into her true passion. She explained, “There was something from a contribution standpoint that wasn’t quite gratifying for me.”
After spending some time in China, Ravare Browne came back to the United States and accepted a visiting professor position at the University of Miami-Ohio and began to consider the option of returning to school herself to pursue a Ph.D. “I realized that I loved sharing knowledge and giving back to younger individuals who needed guidance and mentoring,” she said. Ravare Browne continued to pursue her teaching career, accepting positions at other universities across the country, including the University of Dallas. Here, she became the Director of the Pre-MBA program where she had the opportunity to interact with international students from over ninety countries.
Within years, Ravare Browne was promoted to become the Executive Director of International Relations at the University of Dallas. This appointment set the stage for Ravare Browne to spend a lot of time working abroad in different countries facilitating the process of getting international students to come to the United States for their graduate education. “I fell in love with working in a non-profit and academic arena,” said Ravare Browne.
Once again, she started thinking about the possibility of furthering her own education by earning a doctorate, but these plans were placed on the backburner when she was approached by The National Society of Hispanic MBAs, ALPFA’s sister organization, where she accepted a position in the office of the CEO.
Ravare Browne was eventually approached by ALPFA, and three years ago, she moved out to their headquarters in Los Angeles to serve as the Vice President of Strategic Initiatives and was quickly promoted to her current position as Chief Operating Officer. She said, “My journey has been a fabulous mix of corporate American, academia, and non-profit.” She attributes her success in all of these different fields to the cross-functional skills acquired in business school, but ultimately Ravare Browne knew she would be the most effective in the industry for which she is the most passionate. “I found my niche in the non-profit sector because I had the desire to give back,” she explained.
Carrying Out ALPFA’s Mission
“The mission of ALPFA to build Latino business leaders is very clear,” said Ravare Browne, “and I was very attracted to the work ALPFA was doing, especially in the graduate space.” With 22,000 professional and student members, 41 professional chapters, and 120 student chapters, ALPFA is not only the largest Latino business organization in the United States, but also the oldest. “We build leaders through the work that we do,” explained Ravare Browne, “and ALPFA is a safe space for our members to develop their leadership skills and take on professional roles that may not be available to them yet within their own companies.”
Ravare Browne is proud that ALPFA is able to develop leaders who can then go on to work for some of the biggest companies in the world. “We provide talent to major corporations and they view ALPFA as the premier organization for recruiting Latinos in accounting, business, and finance,” she said. “On the other hand, we also bring in the best of the best in executive leadership to our programming. Our members are exposed to top leaders from many different industries.”
Women of ALPFA is one of ALPFA’s core programs that was established about ten years ago and has been instrumental in developing Latina business leaders through networking, training, and development. “We are continuing to expand our programs to serve our female members,” said Ravare Browne. She noted that fifty percent of ALPFA’s national chapters have female presidents.
ALPFA began as a professional organization that evolved to include programs for students at the high school, community college, and university levels. ALPFA also has over 2,000 members who are in graduate school. “We have outreach programs that impact all levels of the pipeline,” said Ravare Browne.
Career Advancement Tools for Latino Business Leaders
According to Ravare Browne, any non-dominant group will face challenges in their professional careers. The mission of ALPFA is to equip Latino business leaders with the tools they need to advocate for themselves and move forward in their careers. “Communication and relationship building are two hurdles that our members encounter, especially our student members,” said Ravare Browne. “Learning how to network as a professional in a room can be intimidating for anyone. It is a common anxiety, but a very real one that can hold someone back in their career if they don’t master these skills.”
One of ALPFA’s goals is to have a positive impact on the percentage of Latino leaders at the highest corporate levels. This underrepresentation results in a somewhat limited network for emerging leaders in the Latino business community. Ravare Browne said, “ALPFA helps to tighten these networks and helps members facilitate valuable business relationships and connections.”
Ravare Browne places a lot of emphasis on the importance of sponsors to the career advancement of high potential talent, and this is a message she works hard to deliver to the members of ALPFA. “Many of our members don’t have that inside edge, so we provide mentoring and coaching in addition to connecting them with individuals who will be sponsors for them within their own companies,” explained Ravare Browne.
She continued, “Culturally, it is not common for Latinos to self-promote themselves. By creating this mentoring and sponsorship concept within the organization, it helps them to see the importance of having both in order to advance in their career.”
Going forward, Ravare Browne hopes that ALPFA will continue to grow and evolve as much as it has since it was established 41 years ago. By continuing to focus on building strong executive leadership programs, she is confident that ALPFA will be increasingly instrumental in ushering strong Latino business leaders through the leadership pipeline over the next 40 years and beyond.
The Glass Hammer is celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month by featuring profiles of Hispanic Women Business Leaders all week long!
By Michelle Hendelman, Editor-in-Chief
Voice of Experience: Kelly Brennan, Managing Director, Securities Division, Goldman Sachs
Voices of ExperienceKelly Brennan, Managing Director in the Securities Division at Goldman Sachs, graduated from UC Berkeley with a Liberal Arts degree and a minor in Biology. Her intention at the time was to follow the Pre-Law or Pre-Med track. Instead, Brennan decided to go to the financial industry right out of college when she accepted a position as a junior trader at Susquehanna Trading Group.
“I was one of three women in the incoming class of fifty-five people,” recalled Brennan. She continued, “As a junior trader, I was the only woman at the desk and I learned pretty quickly that instead of trying to fit in by thinking and acting like the men, I could have a true competitive advantage by approaching things in a slightly different way.” As a woman in this male-dominated culture, Brennan realized that she could bring a unique perspective to the table.
Brennan noted, “I learned very early how to lead with content and this has helped me at every level of my career, from being a junior trader to more senior roles.”
At Susquehanna International Group (SIG), Brennan moved her way up the ranks from assistant trader to trader, eventually becoming the only female specialist at SIG on the NYSE. In 2005, Brennan joined Goldman Sachs as an Associate in the Prime Brokerage area on the Securities Lending desk. She was promoted to a Vice President in 2006, and then to Managing Director in 2010.
Brennan pointed out that throughout her career there have been many small achievements as well as a few very poignant moments. “One of the proudest moments of my career happened earlier this year when I returned to work after my first maternity leave. I heard a lot of feedback about how my team had really stepped up while I was out. It was rewarding to hear that the team that I helped to recruit, train, and mentor had not just survived while I was out but managed to push the business forward and excel in my absence. It was validating to see that my role in that was valued and acknowledged.”
The evolution of technology and its application to the trading world is one thing that excites Brennan about the future of financial services. “It leaves a lot of room for innovation in trading and thinking about how we communicate information to our clients via a whole new mechanism of technology that we haven’t seen before in the industry,” said Brennan. She is enthusiastic about building new trading platforms based on new technologies.
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Hispanic and Latino Business Women and Men Emerging as Influential Leaders
Featured, Industry Leaders, LeadershipSince 2009, the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR) has published the Corporate Inclusion Index survey, which seeks to ensure the inclusion of Hispanics in four core areas: employment, procurement, philanthropy, and governance. In the 2012 study, HACR enjoyed the highest participation ever, with 55 companies submitting responses, including eight new participants, 26 returning companies that improved on their rating from the previous year, and all seven commercial banking companies in the Fortune 100.
To the HACR, this represents a significant shift in the way the business community views the Hispanic population, as being valuable in both the workforce and as a group of influential consumers and clients. There is something to be said about the fact that Hispanics now represent the largest non-white group in the United States. According to the 2012 Corporate Inclusion Index survey, corporate America will experience more Hispanic and Latino workers in the talent pipeline who will replace an aging, predominantly white workforce.
This week on The Glass Hammer, we are featuring profiles of Latinas in business, representing the established and emerging leaders who are making a difference in their companies. We will also highlight national organizations like ALPFA and Proud To Be Latina that devote resources to the professional development of Hispanic business women and men.
Kelly Brennan is a Managing Director in the Securities Division at Goldman Sachs and in her interview with us, she pointed out that there are cultural differences that must be acknowledged and understood in order for business leaders to effectively tap into their Hispanic and Latino workforce. Taking a look at the results of the 2012 Corporate Inclusion Index survey indicates that major companies are making the effort to engage their Hispanic and Latino workforce.
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Voice of Experience: Yvonne Garcia, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Client Solutions, Investment Manager Services, State Street Corporation
Featured, Voices of ExperienceThe Glass Hammer is celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month by featuring profiles of Hispanic Women Business Leaders all week long!
Yvonne Garcia, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Client Solutions for Investment Manager Services at State Street Corporation, wishes she understood the value of professional networking and the reward associated with giving back early in her career. Although the knowledge of these important factors came along with experience, Garcia is building a strong foundation for her career on these professional tenets.
She explained, “It is at this point that it truly sinks in that you need to have access to resources, connections to decision makers, and supporters, as they will be critical throughout your professional and personal journey.”
Garcia is a true example of a professional woman who is being proactive in making sure future generations have access to the resources she identified as being so valuable to career advancement at any level. In addition to her SVP role at State Street, Garcia also serves as the National President for ALPFA, the largest Latino Professional Business Organization in the United States.
Career Path
Prior to joining State Street, Garcia served as the Director in Marketing and Distribution Strategy for Liberty Mutual’s Agency Corporation. In this role, she had the opportunity to contribute to the growth and development of new products and channels. Additionally, she was responsible for organizing a global team to ensure that all team members were delivering a consistent message true to Liberty Mutual’s brand.
Previously, Garcia also served as Vice President for Bank of America’s China Construction Bank Strategic Assistance. In this role, Garcia, along with her team, successfully created and implemented over eighty wealth management centers all throughout China. As a fully certified Six Sigma Black Belt, Garcia develops and adheres to well-planned processes and strategies and prides herself on delivering value to her clients at State Street using new approaches that are not typical within the financial industry.
In her current role at State Street, Garcia is primarily responsible for developing new client relationships, deploying cutting-edge technology and operational processes, and delivering complex consulting engagements for existing and potential State Street clients. She formulates client-focused strategies that enhance ROI for the prestigious list of the global clients she serves and creates business value for State Street.
She is particularly excited about the internal and external opportunities associated with operating a global business. Garcia said, “One area I am interested in right now is how to foster corporate cultures that encourage intelligent risk-taking behavior and how best to lead that change and get others to realize the necessity of this given the global shift in demographics (i.e. age, culture and ethnicity).”
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CEOs Are More Technical, More Social, and More Aggressive: Are You Ready to Lead?
Next Level, Office PoliticsA recent infographic released by CEO.com revealed that the next generation of CEOs could be bringing an entirely different set of characteristics and leaderships traits with them to the C-Suite. These traits include a greater affinity for risk, more social interaction on social media platforms, an increased focus on leveraging technology, and more aggressive growth strategies.
If you are on the leadership track, you should continually be thinking about how to develop the skills and qualities now that will equip you to be an even more effective leader in the future. The traits of the next generation of CEOs listed above are critical components of leadership that you should try to understand and master to be a good leader at any stage of your career.
Leveraging Technology in the C-Suite
The age of high tech is upon us and younger CEOs are harnessing the power of digital and applying technology as a business solution. This means that in order to be an effective leader, you should know when to leverage technology to benefit the company as a whole. According to a recent article published in Financial Times, a lack of technological aptitude in the C-Suite can negatively impact a company’s growth and development.
The key to keeping your technical knowledge sharp is to find networking groups with a tech focus. This way you can stay current so that when the time comes for you to lead; you can do so with the most current technological knowledge and skills.
This includes having a handle on the value of social media. While social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook are great for spreading content and sharing company news, the real social media impact for companies is seen in LinkedIn. This legitimate platform for networking helps leaders establish a circle of virtual colleagues to use as a sounding board.
Digital engagement is an inevitable part of the future of business strategy. In fact, many of the executives we talk to have indicated that learning about all of the different ways technology can be implemented to improve business processes and strategies is something that makes their job incredibly exciting and rewarding.
Developing an understanding of social media, its applications, and results can help you be a better leader because you will have a pulse on how your clients and customers view your brand. According to one article, social media is one factor that will permanently reshape the business strategy landscape from this point forward.
Remember, however, it is not just important to know how to utilize social media as a business and leadership tool. You also should be able to measure and prove its value to your business in the short-term and the long-term.
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Collaboration Vs. Competition: Which is the Better Career Advancement Tool?
Office PoliticsIn a new working paper, “Are Women More Attracted to Cooperation than Men?,” authors Peter J. Kuhn and Marie-Claire Villeval explore the work environments in which women are most likely to thrive. According to the authors, women perform better than men in work situations that emphasize team based collaboration rather than individual competition.
They reference previous research that suggests some women typically avoid competitive work environments for two primary reasons: a simple dislike of competition and typically lower confidence in their abilities than men. Given these findings, Kuhn and Villeval take a look at how collaborative team environments affect women’s performance as well as their self-assessment of their own abilities.
The Experiment
Kuhn and Villeval build on research conducted by Niederle and Vesterlund in 2007 in which a worker could choose between receiving individual pay based on their own performance and a situation where their reward depends negatively on the performance of their team. What is interesting about Kuhn and Villeval’s study is that it is the first experiment of its kind to present subjects with two simple options. That is working in a situation where the subject’s reward is based solely on their own performance and a situation where the subject’s reward is based on the performance of their team.
The authors explain, “Our objective is to understand gender differences in selection into work environments where incentives for cooperation versus competition can be implicit features of the employment contract, or are deeply ingrained in corporate cultures.”
By shedding light on the reasons why women might be more attracted to collaboration, and as a result be productive and effective team members, the authors offer insight into how changes in corporate culture and HR policy can increase a female friendly corporate environment and culture.
Does fostering a collaborative environment really make the workplace more female-friendly? Furthermore, is it accurate to say that women display more confidence in their abilities when working as a team member?
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Janet Yellen and the Old Boys’ Club of Central Banking
Featured, News, Office PoliticsAll summer long there has been a debate, heated at times, about who is the best candidate to succeed Ben Bernanke as the Federal Reserve chairperson. These discussions have included talk about gender politics and glass ceilings in addition to the usual banter about monetary policy and inflation. Why? Because for the first time in the history of the Federal Reserve, a woman is among the leading candidates poised to take the reins.
If selected, Janet Yellen will be the first woman to head the world’s most powerful bank in its 100-year history. She will regulate thousands of banks around the country and control the supply of money in the US economy. Conversations around Yellen’s fiscal policies and gender increased in volume last week when her main opponent, Larry Summers, dropped out of the race, significantly increasing the likelihood that Yellen will become the next Fed chair.
Yellen must be used to sparking debates by now. When she joined the board of Federal Reserve governors in 1994, she broke the rules of hierarchy by eating in the cafeteria. Two years later, she dealt the Fed chairman, Alan Greenspan, his first and only defeat in a vote. Yellen talked Greenspan to a standstill, arguing that a little inflation was a good thing, when he was trying to drive annual inflation down to zero. She was also one of the first Fed officials to foresee problems in subprime mortgages.
A monetary economist with significant experience in the Fed, Yellen holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Yale and has taught at Berkeley, Harvard and London School of Economics. She enjoys support from liberal Democrats because of her focus on bringing down unemployment and could face opposition from Senate Republicans who are worried that her policies could accelerate inflation.
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Are You Thinking About Your Next Career Move?
Managing ChangeLast year the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the median employee tenure for wage and salary workers in the United States was 4.6 years, up slightly from the 4.4 year median tenure reported in 2010. Yet recent research shows indicates that “job hopping” is becoming more common among younger managers and high potential talent. Is this really an effective career advancement strategy?
It depends. On one hand, job hopping might not look so good on paper when potential employers are deciding whether or not to hire you. However, staying in a job that is not fulfilling your ambition and your talent will most likely not allow you to grow and advance in your career. So, how much time and effort should you put into thinking about your next career move?
Rating Your Career Happiness Level
According to a survey of 1,200 employees conducted by the Harvard Business Review, the young and the talented are also proving to be quite restless. Monika Hamori, Jie Cao, and Burak Koyuncu report that almost 95 percent of young employees (average age of 30 years old) actively maintained their resumes and stayed current on information regarding potential new employers. Furthermore, this same group of workers was likely to leave their companies after only 28 months, on average.
The HBR study found that one of the primary factors contributing to the early exit of young top talent is their dissatisfaction with the employee training and development programs available at their firm. More specifically, they asked young managers to rank the importance of mentoring, coaching, support from direct managers and support from senior management on a scale of 1 to 5. The managers surveyed gave each one of these categories a 4 out of 5 rating, but also expressed dissatisfaction in how much mentoring and coaching is provided by their employer.
If you have a similar dissatisfaction for the amount of career development options available to you, then perhaps it is time to start considering your next career move.
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New Recommendations for Strengthening the UK Pipeline for Executive Women
Featured, Managing ChangeA recent report [PDF] released in July by the UK’s Conservative Women’s Forum and sponsored by Microsoft provides a robust group of recommendations for strengthening the pipeline of female executives. According to the report, in recent years, the proportion of women in executive roles in the UK has decreased dramatically.
For example, only three percent of CEOs in the FTSE 100 are female – down from five percent in 2011. Similarly, only 5.8 percent of executive directors are female, down from 6.6 percent just last year. And perhaps most distressingly, the pipeline of women for top jobs like CEO and executive director – women on executive committees – has shown a marked decline over the past few years, sliding from 18.1 percent in 2009 to 15.3 percent today.
The authors of the report, Mary Macleod MP and Dr. Thérèse Coffey MP, believe that this decline can be turned around by implementing a number of targeted initiatives in the business sector, encouraging women to be more strategic about advancement, and instituting government programs designed to level the playing field for women in business.
They also suggest that the key goal set by the Lord Davies report – to increase the percentage of women board directors in the FTSE 100 to 25 percent by 2015 – should be extended to the public sector and professional services. They write:
Here are Macleod and Coffey’s suggestions for plugging the leaky pipeline of women to executive roles.
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Voice of Experience: Deborah Hammalian, Chief Compliance Officer, ING U.S. Investment Management
Voices of ExperienceAccording to Deborah Hammalian, Chief Compliance Officer of ING U.S. Investment Management, setting career goals can help propel you forward. “Select a few goals and map the path for each. Identifying the path is a very powerful advantage toward reaching a goal.”
But, not everyone starts their career with a clear goal in mind – Hammalian included. Even still, she says, don’t stand still. “Have a clear goal, but don’t stop if you don’t.”
Hammalian began her career as a product support specialist, and her desire to grow and learn brought her to the legal and compliance world. Then, within a few years of starting out, her industry was in turmoil and her company was facing a huge round of layoffs. Nevertheless, she stayed flexible, and found a niche that suited her well. “My ability to adapt to and manage change has been a key to my professional growth,” she said.
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