By Pamela Weinsaft (New York City)
Investor transparency, risk management, increased regulation, and “do more with less”: those were the buzz words on everyone’s lips when top executive women and men in financial technology gathered at the SIFMA Technology Management Conference and Exhibit held June 23rd – 25th at the Hilton in Midtown New York.
Over the three days, speakers and attendees alike examined the issues in depth, including:
- Balancing Conflicting Forces of Tighter IT Budgets and Ever-Increasing Demands for Greater Productivity. Noted industry powerhouses such as Anna Ewing, CIO of The NASDAWQ OMX Group, Robert W. Moffat, Jr., SVP and Group Executive of IBM Systems and Technology Group, and Michael Blum of World Wide Financial Services, TSG, all spoke to some degree on lessons learned from the current economic crisis and the effect on IT infrastructure. Don Hopkinds, VP and CIO of SunGard Availability Services gave specific examples of the many ways an IT departments can seek to reduce its costs through the streamlining of application portfolios and the managing the rate supply and demand for tech services, including managing the tiering of network capacity where applicable. The basic message was that companies need to take a long hard look at their IT expenditures and think creatively about their IT needs.
- Personalization and Consolidation as a Growth Area. Clare Hart, EVP of Dow Jones & Company spoke of what she sees as the future of financial technology, reminding the audience “not to forget the ‘I’s’ – information, innovation, and (self) interest. She spoke specifically of a still increasing trend of consolidation and personalization of the information presented in a visual way on a single screen. “What [people are] interested in is pulling more information from data [for example, for investment bankers a consolidation of client communication, financial markets, news, data prospecting, and other important information] and from mashup tech to create [one’s] own desktop.”
- Information Security Patrick F. Peck of Booz Allen Hamilton spoke of the new challenges in information security, which has been made much more difficult not only by the tightening budgets but also by an increasing threat from around the world. “Malicious attacks grow more serious and increase in volume and severity. In addition to this we have complex interconnected net that…increases vulnerabilities. This is too large and complex for any one authority [company, government, or society] to handle alone.” He added that we need tri-sector leadership to properly deal with the challenges. “Security framework is not just tech issue,” he added, “but is about the people and corporate culture, operations, policy and strategy, tech, management and budgeting… You are only as strong as your weakest link. You have to address cyber-security holistically.” But, he was quick to add that it is impossible to protect 100% so you must have a plan to contain and address the damage.
Perhaps the biggest story at SIFMA, though,was behind the scenes: the buzz about the significant reduction in the size of the event itself, which many saw as a sign of the hard economic times. Several SIFMA veterans took note of certain missing parties from small companies to some of the industry leaders. Said Joanne Kinsella, Managing Director of ITRS, “A lot of the big players aren’t here – Microsoft, Bloomberg, SunGard – and that is a big message. They seem to be having social events rather than having booths. Maybe it brings us back to the talking point– people want to do more with less – and if they can have a drinks party and still get a stack of business cards, that is as good a networking opportunity as any and of much lower cost than the booth. With the increase in social networking upon us, maybe we will see more of this and fewer face-to-face opportunities.” Others noticed that the number of attendees was down as well. One industry leader who has been coming to the event for over 10 years noted that it felt like the number of attendees was down by about a 1/3.
Despite the difference from years past, Annie Morris, Managing Director of Linedata’s North American region, sees the event as having staying power. “It really is all the key players in the financial technology space, so in a way it is like an annual reunion. Even though it is smaller this year, I think it will survive because it is the one event that brings together all the original financial technology players in one place, to talk about what’s going on and what’s new and trendy. The other shows that we go to are very niche. This is the only one that brings all of the different types of organizations together.”
Ask-A-Recruiter: How Do You Address Possible Red Flags On The Resume?
Ask A Career CoachContributed by Caroline Ceniza-Levine of SixFigureStart
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From Challenge to Opportunity: Leadership Advice for Current and Future Executive Women
Featured, Pipeline, What's OnAt the “Dialogue for Leadership – From Challenge to Opportunity: Leading to the Future” panel at the 2009 Forté MBA Women’s Conference held on the 26th and 27th of June at the New York University, two of Fortune 500’s 50 Most Powerful Women – Liz Smith, President of Avon Products Inc. and Cece Sutton, President of Retail Banking at Morgan Stanley – shared some words of wisdom on climbing the corporate ladder and living a meaningful life. Inspired by the questions posed by moderator Pattie Sellers, Editor-at-Large at FORTUNE, as well as audience members, Smith and Sutton told the stories of their careers, their struggles, and their successes, and shared the following advice on how to become powerful women in business:
“I didn’t chart my career out,” said Sutton, “but I always had a good view of what I loved doing and what the next career step might be.” Sutton started her career in finance as a clerk with Wachovia and worked her way up through the organization over 35 years, until she left to establish the banking business for Morgan Stanley. She added, “I’ve given advice to people I’ve mentored that if you are too focused on the next step, you are not going to do a very good job in the job you are in. And I’ve seen that over and over again. Get really, really, really good at the job you are in because if you are and you’ve mastered it, you will move from the next role to the next role to the next role, but if you look too far ahead, you probably won’t… People who seem to be really successful are great operators. They get in the business and understand the business.”
Said Smith, who, after 14 years of brand management and executive roles at Kraft Foods, was brought to Avon by Andrea Jung to help her transform the company: “We are all taught that great leaders set the strategy and then set everybody off marching. But, right now, nothing is more important than a general agile leader who is comfortable with ambiguity. Let’s face it – it is going to be a bumpy and fascinating ride. We need people who are nimble and agile in their thinking who are, to some degree, comfortable with figuring it out as they go along. We [at Avon] look for people who can handle change, who can handle the curve balls…understanding that you can’t possibly have it all figured out and being open to that. Also, people that can communicate and inspire. That’s always been important in leadership but now more than ever because you have to communicate and be really transparent and take people along on the journey, to say, ‘This is uncharted territory but this is where we are going.’” Sutton agreed, adding that even her job at Morgan Stanley, which was created for her, changed shortly after she joined the company. “What I was hired to do changed in 6 months and that shifted because the environment changed. [But it was OK because of] the belief I could make a difference.”
Moderator Pattie Sellers advised the audience of MBA women: “Don’t think of your career as a ladder, think of it as a jungle gym. If you think of it as a ladder, you won’t have the peripheral vision to enable you see the lateral opportunities and especially today when you don’t know what the hot job is going to be tomorrow. You’ve got to keep yourself open and you’ve got to swing to the opportunities that come along.” Smith agreed, “I believe the greatest plans are restrictive instead of instructive. Figure it out as you go along. The only guiding principle I’ve had is to insist that my life and work have passion and purpose. When I think about the pivotal jobs I took [like her move to Kraft’s Callard & Bowser-Suchard to handle the then-unknown Altoids brand for Kraft or the jump from being Group Vice President and President of the U.S. Beverages and Grocery Sectors in Kraft to Brand President for Avon], they really made no sense on paper.” She continued: “Just go into everything saying – I’m going to be inspired and I’m never going to settle and go where that takes you. ” And Sellers added, “I’m struck by women on the Fortune’s Most Powerful who’ve taken lateral moves or even taken downward moves because they wanted to expand their experiences. And that’s what pays off in the long term.”
“People see passion and purpose in other people,” said Sutton, “When I’m around others – you can see it. So much of it rides on you and how you show up and do your job every day.”
“Mentors play an important role in your career. Mentors introduce you to new ideas, new people and also provide you with great advice,” advised Sutton. Smith also attributes much of what she’s been able to accomplish to her mentors – male and female: “So when I think about the good fortune I’ve had to get to where I am, I’m very humble because I know it’s because I’ve had the mentors I’ve had – Andrea Jung, Irene Rosenfeld, Louis Camilleri, Jim Craigie. So it is no surprise I got to where I am,” added Smith.
Smith said that people often ask her how to find a mentor but she advises to try to find them not only in business settings. “A mentor doesn’t have to be a professional person in the area that you think you’ll want to be in at a certain age. Find the networking opportunities in areas that you do feel the passion and purpose. And it doesn’t have to be a business club. Get yourself involved and your authenticity will shine. Follow your heart and not just in a business sense and I promise you, you will make that connection.” She added that she herself found a new employee via her volunteer work with Big Brothers, Big Sisters because she could see his passion for the cause.
“There definitely have been challenges. There definitely have been times when I’ve looked around me and felt like I was being treated differently because I was a woman versus a man. But when that happened to me, I felt like I had to address it. And so I didn’t let that stand in the way,” said Sutton. Smith feels similarly: “I was launched in life by a very strong woman and a male figure who pounded into me: ‘Your destiny is in your hands. Never be a victim. If you don’t like something, change it. If you think something is wrong, quit complaining and get into a position where you can do something about it. If you don’t want to be pigeonholed, don’t pigeonhole yourself.’ I had this reinforced by a lot of terrific people growing up so I never felt like my success or failure was going to be limited or promoted by the fact that I was a woman. The fact that I never let it enter into the equation helped. Since I refused to, it was very hard for other people to make it an issue as well.”
“The first thing I decided early on was that I was going to live a 360 degree life, that I did not want work to define me and I am willing to make those tradeoffs,” said Smith. She continued, “Although I have the great privilege of having a really rewarding career that I love, my job is not the most important thing in my life – my [two kids and my husband] are. My partner and I been juggling [work and life] for 20 years. And some days it is like MacGyver back there with the duct tape and the paper clips to make it all appear seamless. But I became a much better business leader when I became a mother because it forced me to be more decisive and more level headed. I love my job but because my priority was outside the office, it made me a much more objective business leader and businessperson. And in periods of my life of great stress, it is a great comfort to me because I always said to myself, ‘What’s the worst thing that could happen?’ If my kids are healthy, the rest is gravy.”
Voice of Experience: Patricia Elizondo, Senior Vice President, Eastern Operations, Xerox Corporation
Voices of Experience“Luck is where hard work meets preparation and opportunity,” says Patricia Elizondo, Senior Vice President of Xerox Corporation. Her career certainly proves this axiom. One of six children, Patricia was raised by practical parents who believed in education and urged their children to enter a field of study where there were good opportunities for employment and develop solid business skills. “I have been able to type 60 words per minute since the 6th grade,” Elizondo says. “My father always wanted me to have something to fall back on.”
Elizondo studied Finance at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. She started her career in banking during a summer job at the Indiana University Credit Union, where she learned about the consumer side of banking, then moved on to retail banking at American Fletcher Bank after graduation. “That experience gave me a great sense of the value of servicing customers. If you treat customers with respect, meet their requirements and exceed their expectations—you can grow relationships that are extremely valuable to the company you work for,” says Elizondo. “Although times have changed and now we do most of our business over email or on the phone—I think there is absolutely no substitute for a face-to-face relationship.” In addition to customer service skills, her early days in banking taught her about operations excellence and transparency, along with control systems and audits. It was this collection of skills and experience that led to Xerox recruiting her out of banking.
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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:
Mergers and Acquisitions
Happy Summer! We’re Off to Watch Some Fireworks…
NewsBut, for those of you not in the States or who are wishing for more of the good reads on The Glass Hammer, we hope that you will take some time to dig into our archives and read some of our more popular articles like these articles on work/life balance, career, professional development, and networking advice, news on women in the Fortune 500 and professional services, the effect of the current economic crisis on women, companies that “get it“, or any of our profiles of top women that we’ve done for our Voices of Experience series.
Ask-A-Recruiter: Discussing Salary Requirements During Job Interviews
NewsI am a trained lawyer who has been laid off from a bank during the economic shake-up. I had been with the bank for 10 years and during this time I have amassed a salary of almost $200k and an additional 10 days of vacation. I would like some advice on how I should handle the salary questions that will be asked at interview, I don’t want to sell myself short but I also don’t want to price myself out of the market. I would also appreciate some guidance on how to negotiate my vacation package.
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Financial Technology Industry Leaders Gather in New York for SIFMA
Pipeline, What's OnBy Pamela Weinsaft (New York City)
Investor transparency, risk management, increased regulation, and “do more with less”: those were the buzz words on everyone’s lips when top executive women and men in financial technology gathered at the SIFMA Technology Management Conference and Exhibit held June 23rd – 25th at the Hilton in Midtown New York.
Over the three days, speakers and attendees alike examined the issues in depth, including:
Perhaps the biggest story at SIFMA, though,was behind the scenes: the buzz about the significant reduction in the size of the event itself, which many saw as a sign of the hard economic times. Several SIFMA veterans took note of certain missing parties from small companies to some of the industry leaders. Said Joanne Kinsella, Managing Director of ITRS, “A lot of the big players aren’t here – Microsoft, Bloomberg, SunGard – and that is a big message. They seem to be having social events rather than having booths. Maybe it brings us back to the talking point– people want to do more with less – and if they can have a drinks party and still get a stack of business cards, that is as good a networking opportunity as any and of much lower cost than the booth. With the increase in social networking upon us, maybe we will see more of this and fewer face-to-face opportunities.” Others noticed that the number of attendees was down as well. One industry leader who has been coming to the event for over 10 years noted that it felt like the number of attendees was down by about a 1/3.
Despite the difference from years past, Annie Morris, Managing Director of Linedata’s North American region, sees the event as having staying power. “It really is all the key players in the financial technology space, so in a way it is like an annual reunion. Even though it is smaller this year, I think it will survive because it is the one event that brings together all the original financial technology players in one place, to talk about what’s going on and what’s new and trendy. The other shows that we go to are very niche. This is the only one that brings all of the different types of organizations together.”
LGBT in the Workplace: One Executive Woman’s Story
Office PoliticsAs women in the workplace trying to break the glass ceiling in Corporate America and professional services, we certainly have our challenges. But, imagine if, on top of those, you felt like your brain was out of sync with your body and you had to hide that fact from co-workers and friends. Today, as our last piece covering LGBT issues in the workplace, we share with you the challenges faced by a now-female executive who transitioned from being a male executive while trying to maintain a high-powered IT career.
The decision to transition from male to female was not a simple one for Meghan, although, as a young boy living a very happy childhood in England, she had always felt trapped in the wrong body. “It was one of those things as a child – I didn’t quite know what it was but I felt there was something different about me. It wasn’t until about 10 or 11 when I saw a newspaper article about a tennis player called Renee Richards [who had transitioned from male to female] when the proverbial light bulb went off over my head.” Puberty was even more difficult for Meghan because she felt that her body was changing in ways her brain was telling her was wrong. “I was going to bed at night praying for three things – I would wake up a girl, that my parents would still love me and that my wardrobe would change. And then I would wake up in the morning in tears because nothing has changed.”
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Voice of Experience: Shannon Schuyler, Managing Director of Corporate Responsibility, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Voices of ExperienceWhile studying at the University of Michigan, Shannon Schuyler, Managing Director of Corporate Responsibility at PricewaterhouseCoopers, had hopes of one day becoming a sportscaster. She would never have predicted that she would end up spearheading the Corporate Responsibility (CR) effort for one of the world’s largest professional services firms. Then again, this is a woman who once taught English to inmates at a maximum security prison in Michigan for college credit in lieu of classes, and who has built a successful career around taking the uncharted path.
Upon graduation, Schuyler headed to southern France, where she intended to pursue a variety of interests, including teaching gymnastics and the further development of her already-formidable horseback riding skills.
Then, tragedy struck. Schuyler’s mother became seriously ill, and she immediately returned to the United States. After her mother passed away, Schuyler decided to stay closer to home and found a job in Chicago working as an executive recruiter placing senior level actuaries in insurance and professional services organizations, including PwC legacy firm Coopers and Lybrand. There she learned of a senior campus recruiting position with the firm. She got the job and is still with PwC, now 13 years later.
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In Case You Missed It: Business News Round-up
NewsContributed by Martin Mitchell of the Corporate Training Group
In 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:
Mergers and Acquisitions