By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)
“Our goal is to bring greater visibility and access to those minority individuals who have demonstrated a potential for senior leadership,” said Nancy Sims, President of the Robert Toigo Foundation. The Toigo Foundation has worked to help diverse candidates enter the financial services industry for almost 22 years. According to Sims, Toigo’s mission and work is grounded in the belief that diverse teams deliver better results—at all levels of leadership. In 2000, the organization recognized the need to do more to prepare younger generations of leaders to enter the industry and introduced leadership development and career management services as part of its programming. Today, the Foundation’s focus is on this initiative, Leader 20/20, and ensuring diverse professionals have the skills and support to lead organizations and drive industry change.
One way the Foundation is reaching out to women and minority individuals is through its new All A Board initiative – preparing diverse high performing professionals to enter board service.
While at the core of the All A Board initiative is addressing the “supply side” by building a clearinghouse of qualified minority director candidates, Sims said, “All A Board provides thought leadership and networking with other organizations who share in our goal to promote diversity leadership , and later this year formalized training components to help candidates take their experience and leverage it for the next level.”
Toigo’s All A Board initiative is complimentary to CalPERS and CalSTRS’ diverse director initiative. The two pension funds recently announced their Diverse Director DataSource, or 3D, as a platform to launch diverse Fortune 500 board candidates into the limelight. 3D has been launched as an independent entity, owned and operated by The Corporate Library.
Anne Simpson, Senior Portfolio Manager, Investments, Global Equity at CalPERS, said, “The underlying issue is that we need the companies we invest in to grow, thrive, and survive over the long term. Boards are desperately in need of new talent and companies are coming to us asking if we can recommend candidates.”
US and China Announce Partnership to Develop Female Leaders
Managing ChangeIn early April, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, along with Chinese State Councilor Liu Yandong, announced the launch of the China-U.S. Women’s Leadership Exchange and Dialogue (Women-LEAD) with the hope of increasing dialogue between high-level Chinese and American women leaders and expanding exchanges on gender equality between organizations, think tanks, and universities.
Women-LEAD will be led by the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues and the All China Women’s Federation (ACWF). The initiative was launched just as the U.S. and China completed their second high-level Consultation on People-to-People Exchange (CPE). These exchanges have been taking place since the late 1950s, with the goal of enhancing international understanding through educational, cultural, and humanitarian activities involving the exchange of ideas and experiences among those of different countries and diverse cultures. During the most recent CPE, teams from the U.S. and China identified more than 40 joint outcomes in the fields of education, science and technology, culture, and women’s issues.
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Ending Bias Against Flex Workers: Measuring Quality Over Quantity
Expert AnswersMy teenage son set me a riddle recently: “A man and his son were injured in a car crash. They were taken to hospital as the little boy was wheeled into emergency surgery the operating surgeon said, “Oh no, that’s my son!” How could that be? Actually I had heard it before and so I knew the answer. The surgeon was his mother. It is funny to think that this old riddle is still doing the rounds. Is it still a surprise that the surgeon could be female? The point of my telling this is that in that moment of working out the answer, people still toy with the boy having two dads as the solution rather than the surgeon being female. This is a neat example of unconscious bias.
These days people know better than to openly discriminate on the basis of gender, race or disability. However, what is much harder to control are our unconscious biases. These biases make some of the headline statistics harder to change. In the UK, the University of Sheffield’s Institute of Work Psychology points out that the unemployment gap between ethnic minorities and the general population has been around 15% to 16% for the past three decades. Women are still a minority when it comes to senior positions. Women represent 13% of FTSE 100 directors and more widely, in Europe, just 10% of the highest level executives in the top 50 publicly quoted companies are female.
So what’s the answer? Offering flexible working to women during the phase of their career where they are seeking balance is critical. However, you need to be sure you are not unconsciously biasing your views of their performance as a result of them being part-time.
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Voice of Experience: Alison Rose, Head of Corporate Coverage and Client Management, EMEA, Global Banking & Markets, Royal Bank of Scotland
Voices of ExperienceAlison Rose’s advice for women in banking is to seek out and learn from the women who have gone before. She said, “Seek out role models and invest time your network. Role models are very helpful, particularly in an industry that is male dominated.”
Particularly sage advice, and after all, she should know. Having risen to the role of Head of Corporate Coverage and Client Management for the EMEA region in the Global Banking & Markets division of RBS, Rose is quite a role model herself. Now also leading the firm’s diversity initiative, she is a passionate supporter of attracting and retaining women in the industry.
“Helping women be successful is incredibly exciting and rewarding personally, but it’s also a critical business issue,” she said.
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Delivering Diverse Directors: The Pipeline and the Pool
Managing Change“Our goal is to bring greater visibility and access to those minority individuals who have demonstrated a potential for senior leadership,” said Nancy Sims, President of the Robert Toigo Foundation. The Toigo Foundation has worked to help diverse candidates enter the financial services industry for almost 22 years. According to Sims, Toigo’s mission and work is grounded in the belief that diverse teams deliver better results—at all levels of leadership. In 2000, the organization recognized the need to do more to prepare younger generations of leaders to enter the industry and introduced leadership development and career management services as part of its programming. Today, the Foundation’s focus is on this initiative, Leader 20/20, and ensuring diverse professionals have the skills and support to lead organizations and drive industry change.
One way the Foundation is reaching out to women and minority individuals is through its new All A Board initiative – preparing diverse high performing professionals to enter board service.
While at the core of the All A Board initiative is addressing the “supply side” by building a clearinghouse of qualified minority director candidates, Sims said, “All A Board provides thought leadership and networking with other organizations who share in our goal to promote diversity leadership , and later this year formalized training components to help candidates take their experience and leverage it for the next level.”
Toigo’s All A Board initiative is complimentary to CalPERS and CalSTRS’ diverse director initiative. The two pension funds recently announced their Diverse Director DataSource, or 3D, as a platform to launch diverse Fortune 500 board candidates into the limelight. 3D has been launched as an independent entity, owned and operated by The Corporate Library.
Anne Simpson, Senior Portfolio Manager, Investments, Global Equity at CalPERS, said, “The underlying issue is that we need the companies we invest in to grow, thrive, and survive over the long term. Boards are desperately in need of new talent and companies are coming to us asking if we can recommend candidates.”
Read more
Women on Top: The Newest Innovation in Technology Event
Industry Leaders, Leadership, Women in ITDr. Whitney was the keynote speaker at The Glass Hammer’s event Tuesday night entitled “Women on Top: The Newest Innovation in Technology.”
The event, sponsored by Barclays Capital and American Express, was held at the Barclays Capital headquarters in New York. Moderated by Avis Yates Rivers, President and CEO of Technology Concepts Group, the panel speakers included Sarah Sherber; Head of Securitized Products IT and Cross Product Operations Technology, Barclays Capital; Linda Albornoz, B2B Payment Solutions, American Express Technologies; Augusta Sanfilippo, Managing Director, Cash Securities Operations IT, Citi; and Mary Cecola, CIO Asset Management Business Solutions, Deutsche Bank.
When trying to plot out a career, the panel advised, simply do what you love. Albornoz said, “Follow your bliss. Find the thing you’re engaged by and enjoy doing. Because you’re going to spend a lot of time doing it!”
Sanfilippo agreed. She said, “Passion… is something you have to stay true to no matter what you do. Make sure you manage your career. Don’t make someone else manage your career for you.”
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Voice of Experience: Lis Brown, Application Management Outsourcing (AMO) Lead, Accenture
Voices of ExperienceLis Brown, Accenture‘s Application Management Outsourcing (AMO) Lead, based in Singapore, is perhaps the most enthusiastic evangelist we’ve interviewed yet on the importance of relationship-building in the tech industry. According to Brown, working in IT is all about networking and building deep relationships.
“Don’t underestimate the power of networking. You don’t have to come out with your guns blazing to network,” she joked. “But in all that you do, you will become known.”
She continued, “And for women working in the tech space, you’ll be known as ‘the woman who…’ This is something that will just happen, but make sure it happens because you know something as well as someone. I’m probably best known for my ability to build relationships with clients at all levels.”
After over two decades in IT, with a career that has spanned the globe, Brown should know. She has been a passionate supporter of women taking charge of their professional growth in the tech space, as she continues to grow her own career.
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How to Build a Winning Team
Industry Leaders, LeadershipA successful team begins with a great leader. To be a great leader, there are some basic, important qualities one must possess: sincerity, integrity, technical ability, a positive attitude, good communication, and trust. The most effective leaders take it a step further by surrounding themselves with individuals who complement each other’s strengths and offset one another’s weaknesses.
Creating effective teams is a challenge in any organization, but a great leader will reap the benefits of this rewarding experience by fostering a positive atmosphere of collaboration and teamwork. Making others feel important and appreciated is a sure way to win the trust and support of employees as you all work toward a common goal. To build a winning team, a leader must keep the following in mind.
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Voice of Experience: Joanne L. Alma, Managing Director, Head of IMD Technology for Europe & Asia, Goldman Sachs
People, Voices of ExperienceShe continued, “We tend to look up one or two levels and look for people like ourselves. If more women were in technology, more women could see themselves in the industry. It would be like a self-fulfilling prophesy.”
Alma is doing her part to serve as a role model, as well. Having recently initiated a program at Goldman called Girls in IT, in the past year, Alma and other senior women have made time to speak with teenager girls in UK schools on careers for women in technology. She said, “It’s fantastic to feel you can make a difference for these girls.”
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Voice of Experience: Sallie Graves, Senior Vice President, Head of Insurance and Distributor Services IT, ING
Voices of ExperienceSallie Graves, Senior Vice President and Head of Insurance and Distributor Services IT at ING, has built a career that demonstrates the importance of taking on new challenges, as well as making lateral moves. For the past 15 years, Graves has been motivated by her interest in IT – moving between industries (from manufacturing to consulting to financial services) and functions to get closer to technology.
But, she said, what’s impacted her career more than anything is her family. She explained, “The balance my children have created within me has made me more successful than I ever could have been without them.”
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Voice of Experience: Yolande Piazza, Managing Director, Global Consumer Technology, Citi
Voices of ExperienceYolande Piazza’s career at Citigroup began with a six-week assignment. Twenty-two years later, it has blossomed into a role where she’s driving the strategy behind Citi’s Global Consumer Technology organization’s transformation.
“Our goal is to integrate and transform technology teams from around the world into a single, world-class IT organization,” said Piazza, Citi’s Managing Director of Global Consumer Technology. “Strategically, we are trying to drive the standard of processes and tools across 15,000 people in the organization. We have an incredibly aggressive agenda. We’re talking months, not years.”
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