As part of our on going Voices of Experience series, The Glass Hammer’s managing editor Pamela Weinsaft spoke with this powerful woman leader from KPMG on her climb to the top, barriers to and her passion for championing women in the industry.
As a computer science major at Michigan State, Kapila Anand took an accounting course because she needed something to help bring up her grades. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Ms. Anand, who is now the National Partner-in-Charge, Public Policy Business Initiatives at KPMG, said “I enjoyed accounting, kept taking classes and ultimately got an internship which was very lucrative—much more than a computer science internship would’ve been—and decided I liked it as a career.” She continued to work throughout college, going from internship to internship. Since all the internships were in accounting, she ended up earning both her undergraduate and master’s degrees in accounting in just 5 ½ years.
When she moved to Chicago, she was offered an opportunity to join KPMG. Within six months from her start in the audit practice she became a specialist in real estate and hospitality. She explained: “For my very first job at KPMG, I worked for a partner on a particular engagement. The next engagement did not have a senior associate assigned and, since he thought we were a good team, he asked if I had interest in real estate and hospitality. The more I thought about it the more I realized that the industry fit well with my personality as I am an entrepreneur at heart. I love working with people and clients in real estate and hospitality because they have great people skills. It seemed like a great match. After that, I moved very quickly up into the supervising senior ranks so I was managing people by the end of my first year. I had my opportunity and I grabbed it.”
She continued to rise up in the ranks in the audit practice over the next ten years, ultimately becoming the first woman in the country from the Real Estate and Hospitality sector to be named a partner. But she still had more she wanted to do. “In public accounting at the time, your primary goal was to make partner. But once I got to be partner, I asked myself, ‘ok now I made this, now what?’ My own goals were to work in areas in which I would continue to learn because it was almost like if I stopped learning—if I did the same thing over and over again—I just knew that it wouldn’t be exciting and that at some point in time I’d have to move on to something else.”
In addition to the audit work, she began to take on the “lead partner” role, acting as an account executive responsible for developing client relationships and client delivery teams. “That kept me going for a few years, until 2000, when I realized there was an opportunity to take a little bit of a risk and work in our advisory practice. And, so, within real estate/hospitality, I moved from the audit practice into the advisory side of our business.” The move raised a few eyebrows. “My husband said to me, ‘You have this great responsibility and you love it, why would you go into something else?’ And I said, ‘It just will keep me on my toes.”
She explained: “I’ve never wanted to just get comfortable with what I’m doing. I am always looking for the opportunity to help me grow. All my people laugh because I’m always telling them, ‘If you’re not growing, you get stale.’”
She credits KPMG for providing her with continuous opportunities to grow. “I was selected to be in a leadership development program. It was very pivotal for me: being selected for the leadership class and selected to network with some of the great people in leadership today in our firm…That particular leadership class was important for me in that it was the leadership forum that came up with the work-life work environment initiative, which also became the KPMG network of women.”
Anand champions the women’s network because she remembers the challenges she faced at the beginning of her career. “When I started in the profession, there were so few women. People would tease us if we were sitting next to each other. Now if someone says anything like that, all the women go sit next to each other just to make a point. A bit of the revolutionary side of me coming out,” she laughed, “But, at the time, each of us as women, would do our best to network only with men. We weren’t networking with each other. I focus on networking with men and women now.”
Despite past challenges, Anand, who has been sitting on KPMG’s Board of Directors since 2005, doesn’t believe there are permanent barriers to women in the profession, adding that it’s often the women that hold themselves back. “There are always going to be some barriers but they are not necessarily permanent. I think that my Board representation is an example of a position that I would have not have even thought to aspire to it until one of my mentors said that I’d be a great board member and that I should throw my hat in the ring, And I sort of looked at him like ‘who are you talking to?’
She continued, “I will tell you that if you had asked me years ago, I would have said that it is not something I’m qualified to do. So I think that the barriers may often be self created.”
Almost two years ago, Anand threw her hat in the ring again, this time to help build and lead the private equity practice. “And as my husband said, ‘You saw a cliff and jumped right off it.’ But luckily I had a parachute: the people around me, both in and outside of the firm [to whom I turned to get up to speed and get contacts.] My career successes all go back to networking and mentors.”
She does point to two factors—work-life balance and a lack of female role models—that are challenges for women, albeit surmountable ones. “When I look at the women I surround myself with, I still think work-life balance is a challenge in a client service business. But there are a number of support systems that are in the firm today that weren’t there five years ago, so it is becoming easier.” She continued, “I also think one challenge still exists: there aren’t as many female role models in leadership as one would want to see. So that’s why I belong to a women corporate directors group. Even there we talk about how to get out and make sure that other women see us in the roles. It is just so important for other women to be able to see us and say ‘if she can do it, I can do it.’”
As for where she sees herself in the future, she said that while she tries not to put up any barriers, she does have certain criteria that must be met. “There are some things a new job must offer,” said Anand, “It has to be challenging. I must be able to continue to grow. And I need to continue to be able to give back by developing and mentoring people. But I love what I do today and if I’m still doing it five years from now I’d be ok with that.”
VOE: Kapila Anand, National Partner-in-charge, Public Policy Business Initiatives KPMG LLP
Voices of ExperienceAs part of our on going Voices of Experience series, The Glass Hammer’s managing editor Pamela Weinsaft spoke with this powerful woman leader from KPMG on her climb to the top, barriers to and her passion for championing women in the industry.
Ms. Anand, who is now the National Partner-in-Charge, Public Policy Business Initiatives at KPMG, said “I enjoyed accounting, kept taking classes and ultimately got an internship which was very lucrative—much more than a computer science internship would’ve been—and decided I liked it as a career.” She continued to work throughout college, going from internship to internship. Since all the internships were in accounting, she ended up earning both her undergraduate and master’s degrees in accounting in just 5 ½ years.
When she moved to Chicago, she was offered an opportunity to join KPMG. Within six months from her start in the audit practice she became a specialist in real estate and hospitality. She explained: “For my very first job at KPMG, I worked for a partner on a particular engagement. The next engagement did not have a senior associate assigned and, since he thought we were a good team, he asked if I had interest in real estate and hospitality. The more I thought about it the more I realized that the industry fit well with my personality as I am an entrepreneur at heart. I love working with people and clients in real estate and hospitality because they have great people skills. It seemed like a great match. After that, I moved very quickly up into the supervising senior ranks so I was managing people by the end of my first year. I had my opportunity and I grabbed it.”
She continued to rise up in the ranks in the audit practice over the next ten years, ultimately becoming the first woman in the country from the Real Estate and Hospitality sector to be named a partner. But she still had more she wanted to do. “In public accounting at the time, your primary goal was to make partner. But once I got to be partner, I asked myself, ‘ok now I made this, now what?’ My own goals were to work in areas in which I would continue to learn because it was almost like if I stopped learning—if I did the same thing over and over again—I just knew that it wouldn’t be exciting and that at some point in time I’d have to move on to something else.”
In addition to the audit work, she began to take on the “lead partner” role, acting as an account executive responsible for developing client relationships and client delivery teams. “That kept me going for a few years, until 2000, when I realized there was an opportunity to take a little bit of a risk and work in our advisory practice. And, so, within real estate/hospitality, I moved from the audit practice into the advisory side of our business.” The move raised a few eyebrows. “My husband said to me, ‘You have this great responsibility and you love it, why would you go into something else?’ And I said, ‘It just will keep me on my toes.”
She explained: “I’ve never wanted to just get comfortable with what I’m doing. I am always looking for the opportunity to help me grow. All my people laugh because I’m always telling them, ‘If you’re not growing, you get stale.’”
She credits KPMG for providing her with continuous opportunities to grow. “I was selected to be in a leadership development program. It was very pivotal for me: being selected for the leadership class and selected to network with some of the great people in leadership today in our firm…That particular leadership class was important for me in that it was the leadership forum that came up with the work-life work environment initiative, which also became the KPMG network of women.”
Anand champions the women’s network because she remembers the challenges she faced at the beginning of her career. “When I started in the profession, there were so few women. People would tease us if we were sitting next to each other. Now if someone says anything like that, all the women go sit next to each other just to make a point. A bit of the revolutionary side of me coming out,” she laughed, “But, at the time, each of us as women, would do our best to network only with men. We weren’t networking with each other. I focus on networking with men and women now.”
Despite past challenges, Anand, who has been sitting on KPMG’s Board of Directors since 2005, doesn’t believe there are permanent barriers to women in the profession, adding that it’s often the women that hold themselves back. “There are always going to be some barriers but they are not necessarily permanent. I think that my Board representation is an example of a position that I would have not have even thought to aspire to it until one of my mentors said that I’d be a great board member and that I should throw my hat in the ring, And I sort of looked at him like ‘who are you talking to?’
She continued, “I will tell you that if you had asked me years ago, I would have said that it is not something I’m qualified to do. So I think that the barriers may often be self created.”
Almost two years ago, Anand threw her hat in the ring again, this time to help build and lead the private equity practice. “And as my husband said, ‘You saw a cliff and jumped right off it.’ But luckily I had a parachute: the people around me, both in and outside of the firm [to whom I turned to get up to speed and get contacts.] My career successes all go back to networking and mentors.”
She does point to two factors—work-life balance and a lack of female role models—that are challenges for women, albeit surmountable ones. “When I look at the women I surround myself with, I still think work-life balance is a challenge in a client service business. But there are a number of support systems that are in the firm today that weren’t there five years ago, so it is becoming easier.” She continued, “I also think one challenge still exists: there aren’t as many female role models in leadership as one would want to see. So that’s why I belong to a women corporate directors group. Even there we talk about how to get out and make sure that other women see us in the roles. It is just so important for other women to be able to see us and say ‘if she can do it, I can do it.’”
As for where she sees herself in the future, she said that while she tries not to put up any barriers, she does have certain criteria that must be met. “There are some things a new job must offer,” said Anand, “It has to be challenging. I must be able to continue to grow. And I need to continue to be able to give back by developing and mentoring people. But I love what I do today and if I’m still doing it five years from now I’d be ok with that.”
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
Queen of the City: It’s Time for Ethics to Become Business as Usual Again in London
Queen of the CityIntroducing our new series – London’s Queen of the City column – written by our eyes and ears across the Pond. In this installment, the Queen takes on the current economic crisis, talking about its effect on the Square Mile (a/k/a London) and the need for constant vigilance.
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Goldman Sachs Brings Together Multicultural Women on Wall Street
Featured, Pipeline, What's OnBy Pamela Weinsaft (New York City)
On June 30th, Goldman Sachs’ second annual “Brokering Change: A Wall Street Multicultural Women’s Exchange” brought together women of color from firms on the Street to discuss the current financial crisis, the future of financial services, and the role that multicultural women leaders can play in the recovery and beyond.
The conference began with an entertaining keynote address by Goldman Sachs’ Global Treasurer Liz Beshel, who shared the story of the impact of the financial crisis on Goldman and her role in Goldman’s response. She talked of the two crucial weekends last September, saying that Goldman convened a team on the first weekend of the 13th and 14th to deal with what was going on “in other people’s firms”, i.e., Merrill Lynch and Lehman. “I spent the weekend trying to figure out what was happening in our industry while writing my daughter’s applications for private school in NYC. The juggling of work and life in action,” she laughed.
The second weekend was different, however, because this time she had to deal with growing concerns about Goldman. “Going from five investment banks to two is a pretty major reduction in an industry. So we reconvened, this time to deal with the crisis for us. I viewed the concerns as unwarranted at the time because we had way more cash than we thought we needed for the risk on our books and we were actually making money.” Beshel continued, “But then our stock price started declining rapidly and you heard people on CNBC talking about our impeding demise, and some people started to believe it.”
The firm had three teams involved: strategy, equity and liquidity; Beshel was on all three teams. She joked, “I spent most of the weekend on the elevator going from one team meeting to another, which was great because part of the time I was hyperventilating in fear between meetings.”
As to lessons learned from the crisis and Goldman’s response, Beshel said, “You have to understand, focus on and preserve what is most important to you. For us our independence as a firm is very important… if you know what is really important you try to find a solution that preserves that.” She also stressed the value of diversity and teamwork. “We had people from all over the firm – every business, different experiences and backgrounds – and that is what I think is the critical and differentiating factor was for us: the power of the team.” She acknowledged the importance of creativity and communication as well.
Beshel concluded her remarks with some thoughts on work/life balance, saying: “Your career is a marathon not a sprint. You’ve got to love [your job] but you’ve got to find ways to escape it because you can’t keep that level of intensity all the time. You‘ve got to find something that is important to you outside of work. You cannot have it all. You’ve got to prioritize ruthlessly in both your personal and professional life.”
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Movers and Shakers: Teofla Rich, Senior Vice President/Manager of Private Banking at Torrey Pines Bank
Movers and ShakersAs part of its ongoing Movers and Shakers series, contributing writer Tina Vasquez spoke with Teofla Rich, an executive woman in private banking about her climb to the top of the banking and financial services industry.
Five Tips For Preparing for Your Mid-Year Review
Office PoliticsThis is the time of year when we dredge up those objectives documents we produced with our managers back in January and assess whether we’re on track. The half-year review process differs from company to company, but chances are your boss will be asking you if you’re going to hit your targets for 2009 – and if you haven’t made much progress so far then the next six months are going to be tough.
Here are five tips for preparing for your review:
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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