Voice of Experience: Annie Morris, Managing Director, Linedata Services

Annie_Morris.jpgby Pamela Weinsaft (New York City)

Annie Morris, Managing Director of Linedata‘s business in North America, graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a joint degree in business and humanities, confident that her skills learned would translate into skills usable in the business world.

“By the time the recession [of the 90s] hit, the only people getting jobs out of school were accountants and engineers, but the skills that I picked up taking those humanities classes have paid off ten-fold. In the humanities program, all the exams were face-to-face with your professor, so even though we were pretty young, we had to be able to clearly express our thoughts and positions in order to get a better grade. Again, that skill is something that can be used and transferred into any role.” She added that the writing requirement of many humanities programs “is not to be underestimated. It is so important to be able to write succinctly to be able to make your point.”

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In Case You Missed It: Weekend Round-up

martin.jpgContributed by Martin Mitchell of the Corporate Training Group

In case you were too busy enjoying your weekend (or too stuffed from your Thanksgiving repast) to have kept up with the news, contributor Martin Mitchell has been kind enough to gather some important market events from this past weekend (and week) so that you can start this week well informed:

Saturday, November 29th
Mergers and Acquisitions

  • Commerzbank has accelerated the purchase of Dresdner Bank from Allianz. The revised deal reduces the equity stake that Allianz was due to receive and increases the amount of cash. It will enable the deal to be completed 6 months earlier than first planned.

Financial Institutions

  • Redemptions are adding to the pain of poor performance for hedge funds. Morgan Stanley analyst Huw van Steenis estimates that industry assets could shrink from $1,930bn in June 2008 to $900bn by the end of 2009.
  • Royal Bank of Scotland’s latest rights issue managed just 0.24% take up – leaving the UK government providing the vast majority of the funds.
  • The European Commission has blocked the French government’s plan to shore up the capital position of France’s six main retail banks – BNP Paribas, Société Générale, Crédit Agricole, Caisse d’Epargne, Banque Populaire and Crédit Mutuel – insisting that the banks must reduce their lending in return for state support.

Credit

  • The UK’s credit insurance industry suffered a blow as Amlin decided to withdraw from the market. Amlin cited the difficulties in getting reinsurance as part of the reason for the withdrawal.

Other

  • Capital raising for UK companies will become quicker, whilst preserving pre-emptive rights. The government is proposing to shorten the period for existing investors to subscribe for a rights issue from 21 to 14 days, and the Association of British Insurers is planning to change its guidelines to increase the proportion of shares that can be issued without calling a shareholders’ meeting.
  • British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) has applied to the Competition Appeal Tribunal to take their ruling to the Court of Appeal. Last month, the Tribunal ruled that BSkyB must sell its 17.9% stake in ITV. BSkyB paid £940m for the stake, and based on the current ITV share price it would be worth just £240m.
  • “Black Friday” sales disappointed U.S. retailers and indicated a poor Christmas retail season, as shoppers focused on discounted products and basic items rather than luxuries.
  • The OPEC oil cartel deferred a decision to further cut its output in order to boost prices, although it is expected that they will revisit the decision later in the month.

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Feeding the Homeless on Thanksgiving In NYC

soupkitchen_1.jpgby Nicki Gilmour (New York City)

As a Brit with 5 years under my belt as a New Yorker, I am still getting used to the Thanksgiving extravaganza here in US, which, for those of you who don’t know, is a bit like Christmas in the UK but a month early with no gifts, and less talk about “The Greatest Story Ever Told”.

So when my best gay boyfriend invited me to join him to volunteer on Thanksgiving to feed the homeless their turkey dinner rather than go to a fancy dinner party replete with the food coma that generally follows, I was happy to sign up.

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Top Ten Things for Which We Are Grateful

thanksgiving.jpgby Pamela Weinsaft (New York City)

The cubicles and corner offices in the U.S. are empty today, as people take the day to eat turkey and cranberry sauce (and pumpkin pie – yum!) with their families, while giving thanks for all the good things in their lives.

We know that 2008 has not been the best year for many of us. And, with the worsening financial crisis, diminishing 401Ks, and rising unemployment, there are some who may be wonder whether there really is anything for which to be thankful.

However, we at The Glass Hammer recognize that many good things have come to us and to all women this year and have gathered but a few of those great things on our list of:

The Top 10 Things for Which We Are Grateful This Thanksgiving Day:

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Women Who Make It Work: The Secrets of Success for Female Leaders

ALMbookpic.jpgContributed by Alison Maitland, journalist and co-author of “Why Women Mean Business“

Amid the mass job cuts and wall-to-wall gloom, it’s a welcome relief to hear some positive stories about successful women.

Typically, such stories take the form of interviews with CEOs or entrepreneurs whose careers may or may not resonate with other ambitious women. Bring together the success tips of nearly 600 women, and you have a feast of ideas on which everyone can feed.

That’s what Aspire, a UK coaching and leadership development company for senior women, has done in its latest survey, Women Who Make It Work: The secrets of success for female leaders.

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Ask-A-Recruiter: Keep Your Lunch Dates

istock_000005168521xsmall1.jpgContributed by Caroline Ceniza-Levine of SixFigureStart

Given the bad market, I feel like I should be taking shorter lunches and less personal time. Do employers even notice that type of sacrifice?

If employers notice, are these the ones you want?

Seriously though, I once made a lunch date with a colleague who like myself is a busy working mom. About five minutes before our appointed meeting time, she was hovering outside my office trying to get my attention. Extreme punctuality? Actually, she was canceling at the last-minute. She had an all-morning meeting and came back to a stack of emails, so surely she couldn’t lunch.

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Top 50 Women to Watch

by Ellen Armstrong (New York City)

These days, we look for the bright spots in finance and the economy anywhere we can find them. Fortunately, in the case of the Wall Street Journal’s 50 Women to Watch, there are plenty of bright stars on whom we can focus our attention.

First on the list is Sheila Bair, the Chairwoman of the FDIC, who has been in the headlines of late, between her cogent testimony on Capitol Hill on the roots of the financial crisis and her key role in negotiations of various federal bailout packages. She has been an outspoken advocate of protecting homeowners facing foreclosure, as well as protecting America’s bank accounts in the wake of one bank failure after another.

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Staying Power

workingwoman_1_.jpgBy Paige Churchman (New York City)

There are plenty of stories and statistics about the women who leave high-powered careers, but The Glass Hammer decided to look at the other side of the picture—who’s staying in the game, how do they do it and why? We talked to four women to find out what keeps them growing, motivated, happy and unstuck in their careers. All are mothers. One tried life as a stay-at-home mom but came back. All have high positions at major corporations. They’re located in New York, Chicago and Washington, DC.

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Voice of Experience: Laura Palomino de Forbes, Director and Head of Business Development, DIAM International

Laura_Palomino_de_Forbes.jpgBy Pirkko Juntunen (London)

It is difficult not to fall quickly into clichés such as ‘superwoman’ when describing Laura Palomino de Forbes. In her mid-thirties, married and a mother to a 15-month old daughter, Palomino de Forbes heads up DIAM International’s business development and client services efforts in the EMEA Region from her London office. She has, through hard work and dedication, put DIAM on the map in Europe and Middle East by acquiring new assets of over $3bn in the past four years. Read more

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In Case You Missed It: Weekend Round-up

martin.jpgContributed by Martin Mitchell of the Corporate Training Group

In case you were too busy enjoying your weekend to have kept up with the news, contributor Martin Mitchell has been kind enough to gather some important market events from this past weekend (and week) so that you can start this week well informed:

Saturday, November 22nd
Financial Institutions

  • The difficulties for Citigroup chief executive Vikram Pandit continued as shares in the universal bank fell to $3.77, meaning the shares have lost half their value in 3 days. Mr Pandit denied any plans to sell Smith Barney, its US wealth management business.
  • The two Scottish bankers campaigning to keep UK bank HBOS independent, rather than allowing it to be taken over by Lloyds TSB gave up their fight. The plan was dropped because the government had made it ‘crystal clear’ that it did not want HBOS to be independent, according to the two men.

Credit

  • UK retailer Woolworths is running out of time to save itself from administration. The group is in talks with lenders GMAC (the consumer lender part-owned by General Motors) and Burdale, and a potential purchaser of its retail stores, Hilco UK. The group hopes to be able to structure a deal that will see the 800 stores sold to Hilco UK for assuming £265m of debt plus a nominal £1. The deal would leave behind two profitable business divisions holding the balance of £120m of debt, EUK ,a wholesale distribution business, and a DVD joint venture with the BBC called 2entertain. To be successful, the deal needs to gain the support of the group’s lenders.

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