By Erin Abrams (New York City)
How often do you get to attend a conference related to your Wall Street job, and hear a story that involves high intrigue, risk taking, impersonation and leading a double life? Well, I guess this isn’t so uncommon these days if you, like me, work in the field of white collar criminal defense. However, I’m happy to report that Preethi Nair’s story at Tuesday night’s 15th Annual Women on Wall Street Conference (probably) didn’t involve any criminal activity and had a much happier ending than the tale of your average financial fraudster. Indeed, her exciting and frequently hilarious explanation of her journey from frustrated management consultant to internationally acclaimed author and creative project entrepreneur ended the presentation on a high note and inspired many of the women in attendance.
Ms. Nair, author of 100 Shades of White, The Colour of Love and Gypsy Masala and founder of Kiss the Frog, a project tasked with reintroducing creativity into the workplace, has experienced quite a reversal of fortune from just a few years ago. In those days, Ms. Nair explained that she would get up in the morning and get dressed in a suit to fool her British Indian parents into thinking that she was headed to the job as a management consultant that she had prematurely quit, and would sit in the public library in London dreaming up ways to become a successful, internationally recognized novelist.
Read more
The 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking™
Newsby Liz O’Donnell (Boston)
U.S. Banker magazine recently released its annual 25 most powerful women in banking edition. The list is actually several lists: The 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking; The 25 Women to Watch; the Top 25 Nonbank Women in Finance and the Top 3 Banking Teams. This year the magazine aptly titled its accompanying story “Taking Charge in Turbulent Times.” Amid the stress and turmoil of the industry overall, women both triumphed and tripped.
Bank of America hired former Citgroup exec Sallie Krawcheck to head the Global Wealth and Investment Management unit and promoted Cathy Bessant to head of Global Corporate Banking. Because Krawacheck was not in her current job for more than one year, she was not eligible for the list of most powerful women. Instead, she tops the list of women to watch. Also the year, the California Public Employees Retirement System appointed its first ever woman CEO, Anne Stausboll. And Heidi Miller, CEO of JPMorgan Treasury and Securities Services, was in the number one spot for the third year in a row.
Read more
Ask-A-Career Coach: How Final Round Job Interviews Are Different…Or Not
Ask A Career CoachA workshop participant recently asked me, “How do I prepare for my final interview at [major financial institution]?”
Kudos to this person for recognizing that final round job interviews are different from other interviews. At the finalist stage, the prospective employer knows much more about you and can tailor the interviews accordingly so dissect the rounds prior to this one and review what everyone who interviewed you asked and what you answered. You need to be consistent. You need to recall everyone by name (to show that you care). You need to be able to summarize what you discussed (to show that you were listening).
Read more
Best of the Best: Working Mother’s Top Companies for Women
NewsBy Liz O’Donnell (Boston)
Twenty-six financial services firms, seven major technology companies, and four law firms were named in the Working Mother 100 Best Companies 2009 list, giving us hope that despite all the challenges women face and we document on this site every day, there are many companies that understand the value women bring to the workplace. And the companies cited by Working Mother magazine, don’t stop at appreciating the contributions of women at work. They support, promote and retain women workers.
Take Goldman Sachs. One of the reasons Goldman made the list is the global financial services firm started a “Returnship” program for employees reentering the workforce. This program is similar to an internship. Goldman Sachs runs an eight week retraining program to help employees bring their skill sets up to current standards.
Read more
Top Women CFOs: How They Got There
Breaking the Glass CeilingBy Liz O’Donnell (Boston)
In an effort to support and promote women looking to become Chief Financial Officers, Deloitte Consulting LLP interviewed 15 of the top women CFOs in the United States and Europe. The firm asked a series of questions including:
Deloitte wanted to understand what career paths, key relationships, traits and decisions led to these women joining the top ranks of financial professionals. The results are published in the report entitled “The Journey to CFO: Perspectives from women leaders.”
Read more
Foundations and Funds: New Trends in Philanthropy
NewsBy Elizabeth Harrin (London)
You would have thought that with all the belt tightening going on in this economy, people would be cutting back on their charitable endeavours. Not so. In fact, philanthropists are still turning to fund managers for advice and money management – and in increasing numbers. They might not have so much to give away, but they are certainly keen to work with fund managers specialising in philanthropy to make sure their money goes to the right places.
“We are on the cusp of change with philanthropic habits evolving against the backdrop of the significant global downturn,” says Gina Miller, founder and chair of SCM Philanthropy. SCM Philanthropy is a division of Spencer-Churchill Miller Private, a new boutique wealth management practice based in the UK.
Read more
The 15th Annual Women on Wall Street Conference 2009 Coverage
NewsBy Nicki Gilmour (New York City)
“Overcoming Obstacles: Transforming Challenges into Opportunities” was the theme of Deutsche Bank’s 15th annual Women on Wall Street conference (WOWS) held this past Tuesday evening in New York City. And, after some seriously tough market conditions this year, the audience was eager to pick up some tips on how to go forward successfully.
In her keynote address, Joanne Barsh, a Director at McKinsey, challenged the women in the audience “to cross the line tonight, shift from a person to whom life happens to becoming a woman who makes life happen.” As previously reported, Ms. Barsh is the designer of a leadership framework called Centered Leadership, which promotes examination of the following areas of your life to become a more effective leader and have increased satisfaction in your personal life:
Read more
Preethi Nair at Deutsche Bank’s Women on Wall Street Conference
Featured, NewsBy Erin Abrams (New York City)
How often do you get to attend a conference related to your Wall Street job, and hear a story that involves high intrigue, risk taking, impersonation and leading a double life? Well, I guess this isn’t so uncommon these days if you, like me, work in the field of white collar criminal defense. However, I’m happy to report that Preethi Nair’s story at Tuesday night’s 15th Annual Women on Wall Street Conference (probably) didn’t involve any criminal activity and had a much happier ending than the tale of your average financial fraudster. Indeed, her exciting and frequently hilarious explanation of her journey from frustrated management consultant to internationally acclaimed author and creative project entrepreneur ended the presentation on a high note and inspired many of the women in attendance.
Ms. Nair, author of 100 Shades of White, The Colour of Love and Gypsy Masala and founder of Kiss the Frog, a project tasked with reintroducing creativity into the workplace, has experienced quite a reversal of fortune from just a few years ago. In those days, Ms. Nair explained that she would get up in the morning and get dressed in a suit to fool her British Indian parents into thinking that she was headed to the job as a management consultant that she had prematurely quit, and would sit in the public library in London dreaming up ways to become a successful, internationally recognized novelist.
Read more
Voice of Experience: Lucy Reed, Global Co-Head of International Arbitration Group, Freshfields
Voices of ExperienceBy Pamela Weinsaft (New York City)![Reed_Lucy[1]](https://theglasshammer.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Reed_Lucy1-240x240.jpg "Reed_Lucy[1]")
“It is not the amount of money that affects how hard I work. I worked as hard when I was a GS-7 law clerk as I do now as a highly paid law firm partner. The most important thing for me is that I have a varied practice and a varied career. I’m always looking for new challenges, which is why I like international arbitration— each case involves a different sector, different expert, different issues,” said Lucy Reed, the global co-head of the International Arbitration Group at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP.
Reed started her career clerking for a federal trial judge in D.C. who had a number of international cases, including a 9-month criminal trial of the first defendants accused of the assassination of former Ambassador Orlando Letelier ordered by Augusto Pinochet. She then went into a D.C. law firm that had arbitration cases before the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal set up in The Hague after the Iranian Revolution. Read more
Risk, Rhyme and Success: A Conversation with Sallie Krawcheck
Pipeline, What's OnBy Natalie Sabia (New York City)
As part of the 2009 Henry Kaufman Financial History & Practices Lecture/Symposia Series, the Museum of American Finance recently held “A Conversation with Sallie Krawcheck.” In front of an audience, Fortune senior editor-at-large, Carol Loomis, caught up with Ms. Krawcheck to discuss the current economy and her new position with Bank of America as Head of Global Wealth and Investment Management.
“We thought that Sallie would be an exciting addition to our Lecture Series,” said Jeanne Baker Driscoll, Director of Development at the Museum of American Finance. “She is a big part of our Women of Wall Street Exhibit, so this was a very timely discussion.”
Read more
Ask-A-Career Coach: Don’t Tell Me About Yourself
Ask A Career CoachWhat do recruiters expect you to cover when they ask you, “Tell me about yourself?”
When recruiters ask the popular question, “Tell me about yourself,” they don’t really want you to tell them about yourself. Recruiters don’t care to know where you’re born or why you selected that college or how you got your first and subsequent jobs. They may ask and nod appropriately but they don’t really want to know.
Instead, they only want to know about you in relation to them. If where you grew up means that you have an affinity to a geography that’s pertinent to an open position or their searches in general, then they care where you grew up. If your first job is a direct parallel to a role they may have for you, then they want to hear about that. The items of interest aren’t about you, but rather the link between you and the position. Therefore, your primary objective isn’t to talk about yourself but rather to make that link between you and the position.
Read more