by Elizabeth Harrin (London)
“I’ve had a back to front life,” says Anne Fergusson, a Director in PricewaterhouseCoopers Advisory Business and Head of the PwC Panel Network. She hands me a cup of tea. “Life is full of surprises.”
Anne talks as if she is surprised at the way her career has turned out, but listening to her it is clear that she made good choices, and has actively managed her route to the top at PwC.
She started salaried work at the age of 40, when she separated from her first husband. “I made a decision to earn my own living,” she says. It was a decision taken by necessity: living in the west of Scotland, outside Glasgow, she had three children to support. She had qualified as a chartered accountant when she was younger and took a full-time lectureship at the University of Strathclyde teaching financial and management accounting and tax practice.
She met and married her second husband, who was studying at the time. He read her professional journals, which she admits to ignoring, and pointed out a job he thought she should go for. “I didn’t think I had anywhere else to go, and I enjoyed academia,” she says. However, she rang the Director of Education at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland and he invited her to an interview.
“I ended up teaching to demanding audiences and made some great friends,” Anne says. Her work with the Institute saw her working in London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Russia, Poland and Romania. “I was responsible for my own material, the hours were long and family life was very restricted.”
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100 Women in Hedge Funds: The Search for Uncorrelated Returns — Alternatives to Alternatives
NewsThe recent financial market turmoil has left many investors eager to diversify their investment portfolios away from traditional asset classes into potentially more rewarding and non-correlated alternative investments. Our speakers will introduce us to “alternative alternative” investments in entertainment / film finance, timberland and photography among others, and will share insights on the risks and opportunities associated with them, their risk-reward profile as a stand alone investment and how they could be implemented within a portfolio.
Sona Blessing, Moderator, Editor and Director Research, A SQUARE Opalesque
Simon Fawcett, Chief Executive, Aramid Capital Partners LLP
Friedrich Kiradi, Managing Director, ART Photography Fund & Managing Partner of the Merit Group
Dr. Christian Roeckemann, Managing Director, First Forest GmbH
F. Graham Thouret, President, Diversified Global Asset Management – DGAM
Click here to RSVP
Shattering the Glass Ceiling (Presented by CWC Calgary)
NewsCanadian Women in Communications presents a lively panel discussion on the corporate world’s proverbial glass ceiling.
Our panelists include Barb Higgins from CTV, Paddy Meade from Alberta Health Care Services and Eva Friesen from The Calgary Foundation, who will speak about their experiences with the so-called glass ceiling, giving examples from their careers and offering recommendations regarding gender equality in the workplace. The event will be moderated by business consultant, Kevin Blanchette.
Continental breakfast included. Event wraps up promptly at 11 a.m.
This event has been made possible by our generous sponsors CNW Group and the Calgary TELUS Convention Centre.
Click here to register
Ask-A-Recruiter: Focus on the Upside
Ask A RecruiterTwo strikeout leaders in baseball are Reggie Jackson and Babe Ruth. Neither player is remembered as a strikeout leader. Still, people hear stories of great success coming only after great struggle, and this is not enough to encourage them to go after their dreams. The potential downside of failure often greatly outweighs the potential upside from success. Here are some tips to focus on the upside, especially in an anxious market that may reinforce your habit of playing it safe:
Confront the downside. What are the specific consequences of failure to meet this goal? How much money will you lose? How much time will you have invested? How much notoriety will this bring? Really visualize for yourself the worst possible downside, and make specific plans on how to mitigate the consequences.
Confront the upside. What are the tangible effects of success at this goal? Express it in pictures that you hang on your wall. Write it down in a journal that you read regularly. Tell friends what it means to you. Keep your upside in your sight, your mind, and your words, and it will seem more reachable.
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Leading Women MASS: Financial Strategies for Women in Transition
NewsPresented by Kerri Aleksiewicz Melley, MBA of Strategic Financial Partners
Join Kerri as she presents an interactive, educational workshop ideal for professional women who have recently become unemployed or considering career changes. This workshop will answer your questions and share strategies that you can implement TODAY to address financial concerns. The following key points will be the focus of the workshop:
2 convenient dates and locations:
Worcester Workstop: Tuesday, March 24, 2009, 10am – 11am Register
Waltham Workshop: Thursday, April 2, 2009, 10am – 11am Register
Anatomy of a Deal
NewsLawyers and accountants are like neighbors that live in the same building called “The Deal” but have only a vague idea of what the other does or how the other contributes to community living. When does one come in and when does the other exit? How do they relate?
Come and learn about what exactly lawyers and accountants do on a given deal and how they relate to each other. Make all pieces of the puzzles come together and understand where you are best suited to add value.
The panel: Caren Austin, Senior Manager at Deloitte & Touche LLP; Barbara Collins, Partner at LangMichener LLP; Calle Johnson, Director at Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLP; Sandra Knowler,
Partner, Lang Michener LLP; Joanna Pearson, Audit Partner, Deloitte & Touche LLP.
RSVP to 604-662-4401 or fax this form to 604-681-4545 before noon on Thursday, March 19, 2009.
Fifth IP Counsel Forum
NewsAttend IP Law & Business’ official event, The 5th Annual IP Counsel Forum in San Jose where you will join distinguished Senior Counsel from Cisco, Dell, EBay, Sun Microsystems, Oracle, Yahoo!, AT&T, Boeing and more, to discuss the latest updates on case law, technology patents, and changes to the unpredictable IP landscape.
Register Here
Weathering the Economic Storm
NewsOur inaugural Savvy Geek Chix event “Weathering the Economic Storm” will address how you can effectively manage your career in a tough economic climate.
Join us on March 24 in Palo Alto, CA for an evening of Networking, Job Hunting Strategies, and our Resume Clinic.
Please help us spread the word about this event to those who will benefit. We’ve kept the cost low ($25) to make it affordable for everyone. Special thanks to SAP for hosting this event! You’ll find full details at https://savvygeekchix.com/.
Women in the City 2009 Launch
Pipeline, What's OnLast week, Gwen Rhys, founder of Women in the City, unveiled a new Lifetime Achievement Award at the launch event for the Annual Women in the City Lunch and Awards 2009.
The venue for the launch was the impressive London campus of The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, which was the first ever university to award a PhD in business to a woman, back in 1929. Tucked in amongst iconic city landmarks, the university is a hub of activity for graduate and executive education program.
As senior executive women from finance, law, consultancy, insurance and other fields stood in the welcoming lounge area, sipped bucks fizz and tucked into breakfast canapés, Gwen explained her ambitious plans for the Women in the City network over the next few years. Women in the City is a dynamic organization which aims to raise the profile of senior level professional business women working in London’s business hubs – the City, Canary Wharf and extending into the West End – and the impact they have in leading teams, developing talent, supporting the progress of women in the wider business world, and contributing to the economy. Originally launched in 2003 as a one-off lunch, Women in the City now offers a range of services and products to UK and international audiences and hosts an awards scheme which is endorsed by major UK professional bodies.
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Finance and Law Top California’s Best Places to Work
NewsFinance and legal firms came out on top of Employers Group’s spot light on California’s Best Places to Work for the second year with video game’s rounding out the bottom in technology.
“These companies send the message that, despite the doom and gloom currently pervading the business world, there are companies that champion their workforce and exhibit a creative, caring, and dynamic culture,” says Mark Wilbur, president and CEO of Employers Group, about the second year ranking California companiesin a March 10 news release. “The 15 winners of 2008’s program are leading the way to a brighter future for all of us.”
Nicholas-Applegate Capital Management, a diversified global investment firm leaped up the survey’s ranks to first place in 2008 from fourth place in 2007.“We are actually really delighted with it,” says Susan Hunter, head of public relations of Nicholas-Applegate Capital Management, founded in San Diego, California more than 20 years ago. The finance company now has offices in New York, London, Melbourne and Sydney.
“For one thing, working in this program gave us some good ideas,” continues Hunter about incorporated ideas from other companies that participated in the survey with the Nicholas-Applegate’s existing strong employee benefits and programs. “We found it a great platform to improve our benefits program and respond to employee requests. We took it as an opportunity to make it better. We are absolutely delighted and honored.”
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Voice of Experience: Anne Fergusson, Director, PricewaterhouseCoopers Advisory Business / Head of PwC Panel Network
Voices of Experienceby Elizabeth Harrin (London)
“I’ve had a back to front life,” says Anne Fergusson, a Director in PricewaterhouseCoopers Advisory Business and Head of the PwC Panel Network. She hands me a cup of tea. “Life is full of surprises.”
Anne talks as if she is surprised at the way her career has turned out, but listening to her it is clear that she made good choices, and has actively managed her route to the top at PwC.
She started salaried work at the age of 40, when she separated from her first husband. “I made a decision to earn my own living,” she says. It was a decision taken by necessity: living in the west of Scotland, outside Glasgow, she had three children to support. She had qualified as a chartered accountant when she was younger and took a full-time lectureship at the University of Strathclyde teaching financial and management accounting and tax practice.
She met and married her second husband, who was studying at the time. He read her professional journals, which she admits to ignoring, and pointed out a job he thought she should go for. “I didn’t think I had anywhere else to go, and I enjoyed academia,” she says. However, she rang the Director of Education at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland and he invited her to an interview.
“I ended up teaching to demanding audiences and made some great friends,” Anne says. Her work with the Institute saw her working in London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Russia, Poland and Romania. “I was responsible for my own material, the hours were long and family life was very restricted.”
Read more