By Tina Vasquez (Los Angeles)
Verizon’s Jeannie Diefenderfer, Senior Vice President-Global Engineering and Planning for wireline business, has only been in her current role for eight months, but she already has a strong opinion concerning her favorite—and least favorite—aspects of her job. “The best part of my job thus far is accomplishing seemingly impossible and tough challenges through a group of people across organizations,” said the mother of two. “My least favorite is going to meetings with no real objectives or deliverables.” Being productive is a major concern for the Tufts University graduate, as she’s come a long way both in the world and professionally.
Diefenderfer is originally from Seoul, South Korea. At thirteen, she immigrated to the U.S. with her father and siblings, with no idea of what the future, let alone her career, would hold. “I don’t ever recall actually thinking about what I wanted to be when I grew up,” Diefenderfer said. “I had to learn a whole new language and culture as a teenager, so I think I was mostly focused on mastering the language and excelling in school, despite my obvious language barriers.”
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Voice of Experience: Carolyn N. Dolan, Founding Principal, Samson Capital Advisors
Voices of Experience“I wish I could say that I woke up one morning and decided to leave my social work profession to work in the investment management business,” says Carolyn N. Dolan, founding principal at New York-based Samson Capital Advisors. “But, in reality, the change was gradual and the piece that did not fit into my background and my academic strengths was the social work experience.”
Carolyn graduated from college in 1968 with a political science major and a math minor. She says that women then only had a handful options – teacher, administrative assistant, Peace Corps volunteer, airline stewardess, to name a few. “In my search for employment, I took a civil service test and wound up working for the State of New Jersey as a caseworker watching over the lives of children under the age of 18.”
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In Case You Missed It: Business News Round-up
NewsBernie Madoff’s right-hand man pleads guilty. Publicis beats Microsoft out on a bid to acquire Razorfish. Guidelines on bankers’ pay issued by UK and German regulators. These are but a few highlights of important market events that we’ve gathered to help you start the week well informed .
Economic Backdrop
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Queen of the City: Finery and Frills Versus Feminism
Queen of the CityWhile no one can deny that equality for women (and girls) is a desirable and thoroughly deserved destiny for us of the so-called weaker sex, there are some strident voices decrying the pink, princessy world that Disney,Toys‘R’Us and fictional romances line up for young girls from as young as three.
I am majestically perplexed: what’s wrong with being a Princess?
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Voice of Experience: Jeannie Diefenderfer, Senior Vice President-Global Engineering and Planning, Verizon
Voices of ExperienceVerizon’s Jeannie Diefenderfer, Senior Vice President-Global Engineering and Planning for wireline business, has only been in her current role for eight months, but she already has a strong opinion concerning her favorite—and least favorite—aspects of her job. “The best part of my job thus far is accomplishing seemingly impossible and tough challenges through a group of people across organizations,” said the mother of two. “My least favorite is going to meetings with no real objectives or deliverables.” Being productive is a major concern for the Tufts University graduate, as she’s come a long way both in the world and professionally.
Diefenderfer is originally from Seoul, South Korea. At thirteen, she immigrated to the U.S. with her father and siblings, with no idea of what the future, let alone her career, would hold. “I don’t ever recall actually thinking about what I wanted to be when I grew up,” Diefenderfer said. “I had to learn a whole new language and culture as a teenager, so I think I was mostly focused on mastering the language and excelling in school, despite my obvious language barriers.”
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Life in a Boutique Firm: Pros and Cons for Women in Fund Management
Featured, Industry Leaders, Leadershipby Elizabeth Harrin (London)
There’s more to fund management than the big players like Santander and Jupiter. Fixed income boutique firms might be smaller, but they are more agile and offer different career opportunities.
“In a boutique firm, people may find themselves wearing many hats,” says Carolyn Dolan, founding principal at New York-based Samson Capital Advisors. Samson is a fast growing money management firm designed to meet the special needs of affluent families, foundations, corporations and endowments. The firm currently manages over $5 billion. “This can be good as well as bad. It is good in that a person is exposed to various parts of the business. The negative is that one may have to worry about things that are taken for granted at a larger firm. For example, during the past two weeks I have worked closely with an attorney on the lease for our new space,” she adds.
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Ask-A-Career-Coach: How Do You Explain A Gap In Your Résumé?
Ask A Career CoachWhat do prospective employers really think when they see a gap in your résumé?
It depends on the length of the gap, the industry and function you are targeting, and how the gap compares to everything else in your marketing campaign.
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The Future of Hedge Funds
Featured, Newsby Liz O’Donnell (Boston)
New data from Hedge Fund Research, Inc., (HFRI) shows assets invested in the industry increased by $100 billion in the second quarter of 2009, ending at $1.43 trillion. This is the first quarterly increase in assets since second quarter of 2008. HFRI attributes the growth to gains shown during the quarter. The HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index returned 9.13 percent. This is the best quarterly gain since the last quarter of 1999, although still below the highest peak, reached in 1997. And while investors are still redeeming capital, the pace of the redemptions has slowed from recent years.
But looking past the most current returns, what does the future hold for the hedge fund industry given the tremendous impact of the global financial crisis and amid discussions of government regulations? And what about the outlook for women? Will the recent inflow mean more opportunities or will women still be virtually missing from the industry this time next year?
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Voices of Experience: Ann Oka, Senior Vice President, Supply Management, Sodexo Inc.
Voices of ExperienceShortly after graduating from high school, Ann Oka stuffed her clothes in some garbage bags, packed her record albums in a box and loaded up her $200 Vega for a three-week road trip across country with a high school friend. Destination: sunny California, where she had lived before her parents had moved her to the East Coast. The plan was to work for a year, establish residency, and start down the path to becoming a doctor.
Oka, now the senior vice president of supply management at Sodexo Inc., explained, “I’ve always been stubborn, so while my parents were perfectly willing to pay for my college education, in my mind it was something I was going to do on my own.” Read more
In Case You Missed It: Business News Round-up
NewsIn case you were too busy to have kept up with all the news, contributor Martin Mitchell has gathered some important market events from last week to help you start this week well informed:
Economic Backdrop
Mergers and Acquisitions
Professional Women Choosing to Remain Childless
Newsby Marian Schembari (New York City)
In the past ten years, the number of women who choose to remain childless has practically doubled. According to an article published last month in the Telegraph, the tides are turning as it used to be poverty and low marriage rates that contributed to childlessness. Today, women with higher education, social class and professional qualifications are more likely to actively choose not to have children.
And the numbers are going up. Research done by the Office for National Statistics (UK) shows that healthy women who are sexually active, living with long-term partners are the ones to decide not to become mothers. Apparently, 25% of women who are university educated remain childless by age 40. They also found that women in more skilled professions were four times less likely to have kids than women in more unskilled jobs.
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