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.”
Read more
Ask-A-Career-Coach: How Long Do You Wait To Follow-up?
Ask A Career CoachI had an interview with a small financial services firm this week. I thought it went well and the interviewer (in this case, the owner) muttered that he would decide to hire me by the end of the day. 3 days have passed and I have not heard anything. He seemed like he would tell me either way. I really want the position and it seemed like we connected. How long do I wait before contacting him? What do you suggest I do or say?
While I normally advise waiting a business week before following up, if you know a decision is forthcoming much earlier or much later, then you follow up according to the timetable you know. In this case, since the owner (and clearly a key decision maker) said he was going to know by end of day, I would certainly call him after 3 days. I would have called him earlier in fact because he suggested he would have known earlier. Had he said that they were just starting the process and he was going to be on vacation next week, then you would need to wait till well after the vacation.
Read more
Women on Corporate Boards: The New Economic Stimulus
NewsSince Catalyst first published the report “The Bottom Line: Connecting Corporate Performance and Gender Diversity” in 2004 showing a positive connection between women in top management positions and an organization’s bottom line, a number of financial institutions, law firms and Fortune 500 companies have introduced some kind of gender diversity program. However, when you look at how few women there are in the top spots today, and then you contemplate the magnitude of the financial crisis we have witnessed, it begs the question: what if there was greater diversity on the boards and management teams of our financial institutions and major corporations?
“Would we have avoided this [economic crisis]? No. [But] I do believe it would have been different,” says Jacki Zehner, a founding partner of private wealth management firm Circle Financial Group and a former partner at Goldman Sachs. ”
While we can’t change the past, we can re-examine how businesses operate going forward. As Shyama Venkateswar, Ph.D., Director of Research & Programs for the National Council for Research on Women, says of Wall Street, “It is so full of opportunities.”
Read more
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.”
Read more
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
Read more
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?
Read more
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.”
Read more
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.
Read more
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.
Read more
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?
Read more
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