Tag Archive for: Cathie Ericson

Mover and Shaker: Lauren Koopman, Director, PwC US Sustainable Business Solutions Practice

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Lauren Koopman“The notion of ‘career’ has such a different meaning these days than it used to,” reflects PwC’s Lauren Koopman. “You ask yourself what you are going to be when you grow up, but when I think back, I couldn’t even have named it because it didn’t exist. To get the most out of your career, you have to be very fluid and realize how much change there will be over the course of your life. Don’t feel like you’re hemmed into something and just have to make the best of it.”

Koopman’s observations come from her own career trajectory, including the initial impression that she was going to be in derivatives the rest of her life, and it was just a matter of deciding for which company. But traveling the world allowed her to figure out the new, rewarding career path that she travels today.

Detour Through Wall Street on the Path to Sustainability

Koopman’s first professional position was as a management consultant and manager of e-business during the dot com craze, where her charge was to work with large banks to help them define their internet strategy — helping them switch from “brick to click” as it is commonly known.

That was her first realization that you can’t plan your career too meticulously based on the information you have. “When I was going to school, there was no internet, and then all of a sudden, I was the manager of e-business. The world is morphing so quickly, there’s really no way to look out five to 10 years to identify what you are going to do.”

She decided to return to school to earn her MBA in finance, and there she became intrigued by the complexity of derivatives, realizing that if she could master a technical skill like that it would serve her well. She was subsequently hired by Deutsche Bank and worked on the Wall Street trading floor, which was literally all men. “They used to call the woman’s bathroom ‘Lauren’s room,’” she laughs.

Koopman describes an intense environment that would begin at 7 a.m. when she would familiarize herself with overnight action in Asia and Europe, and then begin monitoring four computer screens and six phone lines.

For five years she worked on the floor, until her new husband, who had just sold his business, asked if she could make it work to travel with him. “I had always wanted to travel around the world so I took a year off and we created our “BC” (Before Child) trip, where we tackled all the harder places to travel, such as India, Beirut, Syria, China, East Asia, the Arctic Circle and Africa.

“It was the best decision I ever made; completely game changing for me,” Koopman recalls. “After seeing firsthand the real issues in the world that people were experiencing, I decided I needed to do something to make a difference.”

Combining her finance background with a second master’s degree, this time in environmental engineering, she began investigating potential options where she could make the biggest impact. She approached it with strategic analysis, creating a database of more than 100 people to speak with at foundations, banks, corporations and consulting firms.

At the time, PwC US was just starting its sustainability practice, and she jumped at the opportunity to build it out and wield true influence, a positon she has held for five years. In fact, she cites her professional role model as the person who hired her, who had the foresight to understand the business benefits of sustainability and the inspiration to build it out.

Though she describes her current position as a complete career shift, she is able to rely on her deep insight in the financial world by focusing on financial service clients. “They appreciate that I am able to speak their language,” she says, adding that even three years ago most of the companies hadn’t even thought about incorporating a sustainability mindset into their investment decisions. “I am proud of how much we’ve done and I am excited to expand our work into asset management and other asset classes.”

Koopman was also recently appointed to the World Economic Forum (WEF)’s Young Global Leaders (YGL) forum, a group selected from around the world to form a next generation leadership network to engage in global affairs. The honor recognizes outstanding and proven young leaders under the age of 40 across business, government, and arts and culture, for their accomplishments, commitment to society and potential to contribute to shaping a better future. Previous and current YGLs include Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google Co-founder Larry Page, and Statistician Nate Silver.

Lessons Learned Along the Way

As Koopman has navigated her career, she’s learned the importance of reading people. “I had always assumed people at the top knew everything and were always right, but over the years I’ve figured out that people are people. You have to learn to evaluate your audience and understand where they’re coming from and how to speak to what they need,” she says, adding that understanding people and how an organization works is as important as technical knowledge. “Think about who you’re talking to and their needs.”

She also has seen the value of taking on every opportunity that’s presented without immediately worrying about why it wouldn’t work. “We tend to worry about failure and stay in our comfort zone,” she says. “But there’s so much value in taking on those new opportunities. Even if it‘s something that you don’t think you want to do, inherently you are learning so much from new skill sets and new people. This creates a knowledge and network reservoir you will draw on throughout your career.”

She cites learning by simply paying attention and absorbing as critical, for example times when she has watched CEOs sell an idea to a huge group of people. Koopman also pays credit to the mentors and colleagues she has met through participating in Women in Wall Street.

A Traveling Family

Koopman is quick to point to her supportive, “amazing” husband as one of her inspirations. With a two-and-a-half-year old and a six-month-old, her home life is as busy as her office. And, even though their life-changing trip was designed to hold them over until their children were a little older, they already have robust passports: the little travelers have visited Holland, Canada, Colombia and the west coast of America, along with regular trips to her husband’s family in New Zealand.

PwC US? Or globally?

By Cathie Ericson

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Men Who Get It: John Cannon, Partner, Executive Compensation & Employee Benefits Group, Shearman & Sterling LLP

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John CannonThe message is an important one for women … and for men as well:

“Define what success means for you, and then go for it. When you first start your career, make a point of asking yourself every day where you are going and why, and look to peers and more senior colleagues to find careers and best practices to emulate.”

So says John Cannon, a partner in Shearman & Sterling’s Executive Compensation & Employee Benefits group in New York, who has long been a champion of helping women progress in their careers, both informally and as co-chair of the firm’s Diversity Committee. He volunteered to join the committee almost immediately after becoming a partner 20 years ago and was asked to chair the committee shortly after.

Early Influences Sparked Interest In Diversity

Being a diversity champion has been important to Cannon from an early age when, as a “history nut,” he was deeply affected by what he perceived were the many injustices committed in the country over the years against minorities, women and those who didn’t belong to the dominant groups of their times.

Cannon carried that ethos into his career, and when he began practicing at Shearman & Sterling in 1985, he decided to look for ways to help fellow lawyers who did not as obviously “fit in” as well as he did — a self-described private school and Ivy League- educated heterosexual white male.

“While I felt confident in my own ability,” he recalls, “I was certain that others of equal or greater innate talent but different backgrounds than mine would have a much more difficult path to professional success ahead of them, and I wanted to do something.”

He was also influenced by the fact that many of his closest friends, mentors and colleagues at the firm have been women and people of color, including his practice group, which for many years has been a majority female.

Championing Diversity throughout the Firm

In his various firm administrative and management capacities over the years, Cannon has focused on advocating for women at the firm and for the issues that have been important to them.

During his time as co-chair of the firm’s Diversity Committee, he helped establish a number of successful associate-led affinity groups, such as WISER (Women’s Initiative for Success, Excellence and Retention), which has galvanized women associates in the firm for networking, business development and leadership skill enhancement. He has also been a supporter of subsequent women-focused programs, such as a Women Partners Initiative, regular Lean In circles, a social media presence that includes @ShearmanWomen on Twitter and a Shearman Women showcase page on LinkedIn, as well as active participation in Ellevate, the professional women’s network founded by Sallie Krawcheck.

But more meaningful to him has been the mentorship, encouragement and assistance he has provided to female colleagues, from professional guidance and career sponsorship to a role as a sounding board and informal advisor.

Addressing Blind Spots

Cannon knows that it’s crucial to avoid subconscious bias or stereotyping by maintaining constant self-scrutiny — questioning one’s initial reactions to a person or work product, and then examining even more closely the subsequent judgments that might appear to be well-considered and open-minded.

“Although I have undoubtedly failed on many occasions to objectively assess each person with whom I have worked based on his or her own individual merits, I have not ceased cross-examining myself,” he says.

The firm’s Diversity Committee has dedicated time and effort to combating the effects of stereotyping and unintentional bias, principally by keeping itself informed of the performance reviews and career development of diverse associates and intervening where appropriate. “We have tried to impress upon our partners across the firm that despite our best intentions, we are prone to making assessments of other people based on mental shortcuts, including both conscious and unconscious assumptions about the backgrounds, talents and character traits of the members of various groups,” he says.

Leading by Example

“On diversity, as with other matters, the members of an organization take their cue and model their behavior on those who are admired and acknowledged as the most powerful and successful within the organization,” says Cannon, who has consistently advised firm leaders to confidently express their commitment to diversity while also taking concrete steps to help advance the careers and leadership opportunities available to women and other diverse individuals within the organization.

For example, he encourages leaders to actively seek out and personally encourage women and other individual members of non-dominant groups. He has seen that play out at Shearman & Sterling, which he believes has many leaders who have accepted this responsibility and are fully committed to increasing inclusiveness.

Although he notes significant progress in the profession since he joined it 30 years ago, he says that it still strikes him how relatively modest the gains have been in the representation of women and minorities among the most senior leadership ranks. He cites as an example his graduating class at NYU Law School and his summer associate class at Shearman & Sterling, which were roughly 50 percent female.

“Had you asked me then to predict what percentage of the partnerships at the elite law firms would be women by 2015, I would probably have answered 40 percent or so when in fact the actual number is about half that,” he says, adding that similar observations can be made about minorities.

“The bottom line is that much work still needs to be done to promote diversity in our profession,” he says, adding that as law becomes an increasingly competitive business in a challenging economic environment, the market may hold sway in law firm diversity efforts. “Clients regularly insist that diverse teams staff their matters, and I expect that they will continue to reward the law firms that perform best in this regard.”

By Cathie Ericson

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The “Other” Social Network – Events Build Business for Lawyers

networkingThe goal of women’s networks can run the gamut. One strategy that many financial institutions and law firms have followed is to use women’s networks and women’s initiatives as a way to build business. For the individual, a book of business and a high billing reputation can very much create a more equal playing field. This is one way to ensure that women in revenue functions get credit for their work and advance in the firm.

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Voice Of Experience: Paula Smith, Senior Vice President, Head of DC and College Savings Investments at Voya Investment Management

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Paula SmithPaula Smith learned early on that while your career may take twists and turns, as hers has, there are fundamentals that will serve you well throughout. And for her, a key one is to cultivate relationships for the long term. “We are in a people business, whether we sit in product, distribution, finance or portfolio management. Networking doesn’t mean we have to spend hours going to lunch or drinks, but rather realizing that your contacts provide as much enrichment as any training, reports, seminars or meetings will.”

Smith’s first position was in human resources after a three-summer internship at Bank Julius Baer. While it wasn’t her intended starting point, it was one that proved serendipitous. She says now that her involvement with employee benefits, specifically the 401(k) program, allowed her to see first-hand how these plans worked, and the struggles for plan sponsors in getting people to join in the plan and invest the right way. Smith developed an instant liking to the details of retirement plans, specifically the importance of the investment options, how they were marketed and what they could do if used the right way.

That experience offered her insight into the importance of focusing on building skills. “It’s not about the individual job or role as much as the skills you can take away that can help you in your broader career.”This later included an MBA at Fordham University to help round out her business skills.

Soon after her stint at Julius Baer, Smith decided to move into the business side within financial services, and found a role developing and managing defined contribution/401(k) investment products and services at Sanford C. Bernstein, where she discovered her background with employee benefits was the ideal stepping stone.

From there, Smith has spent the last 20 plus years largely within product management for retirement and college savings plans at firms like J. & W. Seligman and Columbia Management – building businesses, teams and strategies, and trying to meet challenges as the financial services industry morphs over time.

“Though I didn’t have a very specific idea of where I wanted to be, I was lucky to identify a particular aspect of my first job that I loved and create a career out of it,” she said. “I still enjoy the ins and outs of retirement plans – investing, the changing rules and landscape and how, at the end of the day, helping people plan and save provides peace of mind and a positive future. This keeps things fresh and new.”

She says that she has tended toward roles where there is a building aspect, and that has provided a common thread of achievement over the course of her career. “I’m very proud of the growth of the various product lines I’ve worked on over the years. We move so quickly in our day-to-day lives, that it’s often hard to see what we’re trying to accomplish.” She says that an interesting emerging area is work they are doing with plan sponsors to help shape how they approach their DC plans.“Retirement is probably the single most important financial goal on anyone’s mind, and the work being done in our industry to help people prepare for that is so exciting.”

Lessons Learned Early

Smith had always assumed that if she worked hard, building a career would be easy, similar to how delivering on assignments in school earns you a high grade.

“But the truth is, while hard work is a very large part of it, very often it’s making sure people higher up know that you want to take on additional responsibilities,” she said, adding that it’s crucial for young women starting out to make sure that people know what they’re doing within the organization.

Early in her career she found that too often people make the mistake of silently getting the work done but rarely talking about it. “It was an important lesson, and I am cognizant of it to this day.”

Even so, she believes there is no substitute for putting in the time and effort and rolling up your sleeves to get things done, making sure that you have considered priorities to avoid devoting time and effort to activities that simply don’t matter that much in the end. “Always focus on what will help move the business forward or meet key goals.”

And, speaking of sleeves, those can have an impact on your career too. Smith advocates dressing for the job you want and not the one you have.While a bit cliché, someone offered that advice early on and it stuck.“As the culture becomes more casual, dressing well puts you in the right frame of mind and demonstrates your professionalism to others.”

Taking Smart Risks

In many cases, Smith has found that women tend to believe they have to be experts or have all the answers before they’re ready to take on a new challenge. But being thrown right into something where she didn’t necessarily have the background or expertise helped her throughout her career.

For example, when given the opportunity to launch what was a brand new product in the industry at the time – a 529 college savings program — there was no blueprint. Therefore it came with challenges, such as state involvement and unique product and regulatory requirements, which created some trepidation at first. “Sometimes it’s frightening, but in some ways, not having all the answers provides that continued learning that so many of us desperately crave,” Smith said.

Smith has found that these larger roles that involved new skills, such as leading a sales team, or being responsible for a very big budget, have provided some of the best learning moments of her career, as she found out that she enjoyed it and was successful at it.

Now, she says she would never wait for the expertise or having a large knowledge base before delving into new projects. “If you are open to learning and ask the right questions, and bring people to the table with their own knowledge, then taking on new challenge should be exciting rather than a cause for anxiety.”

In addition, success comes from being deliberate about letting people who are expert at a particular part of a project be that expert and lead the way. “When managing large business initiatives, you have to let other people play their critical role.”

Sponsors and Role Models Can Guide the Way

Smith says she has been fortunate to have had great sponsors throughout her career, both men and women. Interestingly, sometimes that sponsorship came from people who were otherwise viewed as difficult within the organization but nonetheless were helpful in shaping her path.

While she doesn’t have one specific professional role model, she has identified several who have offered ongoing career lessons – those who have a career trajectory she’d like to emulate, those who present with effectiveness, those who have a positive way of effecting change, and others who have been a touchstone in balancing her personal and professional life.

She advocates looking around deliberately to decide who has the traits and skills you would most like to have rather than choosing one person as a role model.

Family Travel

Right now, Smith says her time is divided between career and family. With a husband who is a stay-at-home dad to their two daughters, ages six and three, Smith knows it’s important for her to spend her time at home really focusing on them to recharge.

The family enjoys traveling together. “Having various trips planned throughout the year, even if it’s just for a weekend, or even not too far away, gives me something to focus on and to have my children focus on as time we’ll spend together. This goes a long way for all of us.”

By Cathie Ericson

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Intrepid Woman: Star Jones, President, Professional Diversity Network

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Star JonesThough she’s widely known as a high-profile lawyer and former host of ABC’s The View, Star Jones doesn’t consider those her most important roles. Rather, she is proudest of the changes she is helping affect by serving as president of the Professional Diversity Network, Inc., which merged with the National Association of Professional Women in September 2014.

“As I have forged my career path, it was always with an eye toward a profound sense of service – knowing it would be about helping people,” says Jones.

As a young woman, Jones always wanted to be a big-city prosecutor and got what she considers her dream job straight out of law school. She rose to the level of senior prosecutor in the Kings County District Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn, New York, when she was invited to start her career in media at NBC News. At the age of 30, she became the youngest person to be named the network’s Legal Correspondent. “It was such a compliment from the then-president of NBC News, who said I had the ability to make the law user-friendly,” she recalls.

She became an admired legal talk show host and then national talk show host on ABC’s The View, where she relished her ability to give voice to women and speak about issues that matter to her gender and community at large. Joining PDN/NAPW was the perfect next step allowing her to advocate on behalf of women, minorities, veterans and the disabled to put them to work. “We are changing lives one job at a time.”

Jones says that though her career has taken multiple twists and unexpected turns, she has stayed on the path intended for her by making the most of each opportunity. “Luck doesn’t just happen,” she says. “It’s the result of preparation meeting opportunity, and I have been prepared each step of the way.”

“Doesn’t Get the Attention it Deserves”

Jones’ overall top mission is to bring attention to diversity, inclusion and gender inequality. “It doesn’t get the amount of attention it deserves,” she says, citing the statistic that, on average, a women working full-time earns .78 to the dollar compared to a man in an equivalent job. Wage disparities are even greater among Black and Hispanic women.

“This is the biggest challenge to women, and the No. 1 problem I’m trying to address is equal pay for equal work.”

The business case is there, of course – research shows that when women executives run a company, they lead the business to increased revenue, making it not just right thing to do, but the smart thing to do.

Rising Tides Lift All Boats

Her passion stems from her upbringing in the projects of Trenton, New Jersey. Her close-knit family always encouraged her to be anything that she wanted. However, they didn’t focus on the fact that she was the most beautiful or most talented, but rather that she had everything she needed to do what she wanted.

Applying for every grant and scholarship that was available, she started college. When she realized that the work/study program only paid $3.55 an hour, she applied at the Brookings Institute as a second-semester freshman. A 90 word-per-minute typist, she earned a data input position at $10 an hour, which she held throughout college.

“I had acquired a skill, and that’s one of my mantras to young people: I feel strongly that I want to empower young people to achieve their dreams, but they have to have the skills necessary to do so,” Jones says. “I always had a voice telling me I could succeed, and I want to give that voice to other women.”

PDN was founded on two premises: empowering people and networking, which Jones says are the foundation of her successful career. “Women do need to help other women. Rising tides lift all boats, and when women help each other professionally — especially women at the top — everyone benefits,” she says, advocating that women who can, should focus on recommending other women for positions and act as mentors.

When NAPW and PDN merged, Jones was tasked with nominating new board members. She proudly boasts that with four women on the nine-member board, it is now one of the most diverse among publicly traded companies in the United States, second only to Macy’s. “Achieving women leadership at the board level allows it to trickle down to all levels,” she says.

Success Doesn’t Come Easy

Jones is the first to admit that fulfilling your dreams is hard work; even once you earn your success, you have to work even harder to maintain it.

“I’ve heard ‘no,’ but I’ve been patient and persistent and never gave up,” she says. In fact, she is proud that the song played for her at the recent “Go Red for Women Red Dress Fashion Show” was I’m a Survivor by Destiny’s Child.

“I’ve heard ‘no,’ but I’ve been patient and persistent and never gave up,”

Says Jones, “You can’t step on people to get ahead but you can get around them if they’re in your way. Each time you hear a ‘no’ or encounter a stumbling block, you have to figure out what you need to do to be ready for the next opportunity.”

Role Modeling Begins at Home

Often called a role model herself, Jones recommends that people seek role models in their own communities, where they can be touched every day. Her grandma and her mom are her role models – her grandma who is 96 years old, still “dresses” every day. And she says her mom filled her with just the right amount of attitude to make sure that no one takes advantage of her.

Jones remembers a guidance counselor who advised her not to rock the boat. “My mom told me that if you’re in the boat, you better turn it over,” says Jones. “My grandma’s ladylike qualities and my mom’s ‘vinegar’ have made me who I am today.”

Jones also cites as role models Donna Brazile, Vice Chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, one of PDN’s board members and a friend since she was 17; and Barbara Jordan, American politician and a leader of the Civil Rights movement.

She adds that she has the deepest respect and admiration for Hillary Clinton, who she says has the uncanny ability to find common ground, a skill she tries to mirror on a daily basis.

Feeding Her Passion

As a community advocate, Jones says her passion and purpose is with the American Heart Association. “My pastor told me that you often don’t know your purpose until you’re walking in it, and now I am.”

Five years ago, Jones had open heart surgery and due to this second chance at life, she has a new mission to educate the world about this disease that is the No. 1 killer of African Americans and women, but is 80 percent preventable with simple lifestyle changes.

“As a survivor I have an obligation to raise awareness,” she says, which is what inspired her to start the NAPW Foundation, the charitable arm of NAPW which now has more than 200 chapters. She knows that women love to network over causes they believe in, so she selected four philanthropic organizations that touch all aspects of women’s lives: the American Heart Association, The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Girls Inc. and Dress For Success.

And what does she do for fun? “Everything I am doing is fun,” she says. “My version of ‘play’ is feeding my passion.”

By Cathie Ericson

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Voice of Experience: Teresa Weintraub, President and CEO, Fiduciary Trust International of the South

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Teresa Weintraub

By Cathie Ericson

“To whom much is given, much is expected.” Those are the words Teresa Weintraub lives by, especially when it comes to mentoring other young women, and she urges her peers to also lead by example.

Weintraub’s career has spanned the worlds of international tax, fundraising and now the wealth management world as the president and CEO of Fiduciary Trust International of the South in Florida, which she joined in 1998.

“Though my path seems circuitous, when you step back, you can see how it’s all connected,” she says. She left her career as a tax attorney when she realized it didn’t offer the flexibility she needed for her young family and her desire to spend as much time as possible with them in addition to activities such as president of the PTA and other roles. As a tax attorney, she gained the technical and analytical skills while her 11 years in fundraising at the University of Miami offered her the community knowledge and people skills necessary to succeed in her current role.

“Though my path seems circuitous, when you step back, you can see how it’s all connected,”

One of her key focuses right now is developing her firm’s Latin American strategy, which she has been working on for the past two and a half years in order to help families from that region, or who either have moved to the United States or have beneficiaries who are residents or citizens of the U.S. The fact is, there are many U.S. nationals who are living abroad who may not realize that there are certain reporting requirements. Her firm has identified a significant market to work with and the goal is to ensure those families will be able to successfully transfer their assets to future generations in the most tax advantageous manner possible.

She is extremely proud of having grown Fiduciary Trust International of the South to be the fifth largest trust company in Florida, with the help and support of her team and her colleagues at Franklin Templeton, the parent company of Fiduciary Trust.

Weintraub knows how vital it is to have a team that you believe in, because as she mentions, as you rise in management and the business grows, it becomes harder to work directly with clients. “You need people in place that you trust to do a great job. If you’ve done your hiring, training and mentoring well, you have those people,” she says, adding that one of her favorite aspects of her position is mentoring and working with young people in the firm and seeing them rise through the ranks.

Advice for Those Starting Out

Though her career path makes sense in retrospect, Weintraub is the first to admit that she never spent too much time assessing career goals or making long-term plans. “I have never felt regret over something I didn’t do because at that time, I didn’t realize it was something I should have been doing.”

She advises women who are starting their careers to speak up and make their voices and opinions heard. “Sometimes a woman who speaks up is considered aggressive, and a man who speaks up is considered smart. That’s an issue that’s still with us, but we are making strides and shouldn’t let that deter women.”

Weintraub says it’s important to work hard, with focus and integrity, and become that go-to person who can be relied on to get the job done. “People will recognize and be grateful for your support and hard work, and that’s when the promotions come.”

“People will recognize and be grateful for your support and hard work, and that’s when the promotions come.”

She hopes that women in leadership positions take the time to mentor, coach and develop other women. Of course, she says it’s important to mentor all young people, male and female, to really coach and pull people aside after meetings to spend time and give feedback – what did they do well? What could they do better?

“When I started, women tended to be harder on other women,” she recalls, appreciating how much that has changed. “We as women didn’t have role models helping us because they were just trying to survive. But since that’s no longer the situation, we need to be good role models — supportive and encouraging.”

Although the industry has matured – she recalls being told to wear dark suits when she first entered the workforce – there are still advances to be made. One area in particular relates to the issue of women and children. She says that although in this generation, you may see just as many men stepping down, only women deal with the prevailing mindset of ‘are they going to be coming back? “How can that be after so many years of women going back to work after having kids, especially when many men have equal childcare roles?” she asks rhetorically.

In past generations, men were expected to work full time, while women did the carpools, but that is no longer the case. Since this generation is more 50/50, with a lot more hands-on fathers than before, leaders have to be aware that men need similar flexibility options. “I believe strongly that we can’t forget the men in this generation.”

Sharing Success with other Women

Weintraub currently acts as global treasurer for the 60 chapters of International Women’s Forum, a global network of preeminent women, whose careers span fields from chefs to writers to educators. She’s also involved in C200, another invitation-only group of entrepreneurial women, and the Women’s Fund, along with other organizations dedicated to helping women and girls. Mostly notably she was on the founding board of the Miami Commonwealth Institute that mentors and trains women in middle management.

“I believe strongly in being a valued member of the community – that could be your work community, the broader community or your family community.”

Weintraub knows she’s been blessed with a large circle of friends and a close family which includes her husband and three kids, a son and two daughters. She and her husband are committed to traveling as much as they can, having enjoyed recent trips to Cairo and Istanbul. “I have met wonderful women from around the world, and it is great to see their countries and learn their cultures,” Weintraub said. “Women around the world have much in common and much to learn from each other. That’s why I believe that mentoring and helping bring up the future generation of leaders is very important.”

By Cathie Ericson

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Intrepid Woman: Kat Gordon, Founder, 3% Conference

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Kat Gordon“Diversity + creativity = profitability. There is no downside to increasing the number of women in creative director positions.”

That’s the philosophy of Kat Gordon, who began her copywriting career in the magazine world, working for titles such as USA Today, Cosmo and Sports Illustrated. She found the work fun and dynamic, and anticipated that she would eventually rise to the position of promotions director for a magazine. However, fate intervened, and when her husband was transferred to the west coast, she joined him in San Francisco. What followed was a major career re-invention, which she calls the best thing that ever happened to her.

After taking night classes in advertising copywriting, Gordon realized how much she loved working that part of her creative muscle, and joined the ad world, landing positions with several large agencies.

She left agency life when she had kids, and quickly discovered a niche as a freelance copywriter. At that time, everyone needed websites written so Gordon was able to work at home with the help of a nanny. In 2008, she started her own agency, Maternal Instinct. It was a reflection of the work I was getting from so many brands that hired me to write for them because so few creatives knew how to speak to one of their key audiences — moms.”

As time went on, Gordon began to increasingly wonder why the female influence was not being reflected in the ad world. “I was living in this entrepreneurial area with tons of startups, and yet this huge issue was not being addressed,” she said.

“I was living in this entrepreneurial area with tons of startups, and yet this huge issue was not being addressed,”

When Gordon realized that only 3% of creative directors were women, The 3% Conference began, a social movement that now consumes the majority of her professional time.

Where are the Women Creative Directors?

Since Gordon began her research five years ago, the group has held three conferences and nine traveling events, and she has become an in-demand speaker and thought leader. In August 2014 they recreated the study that had unearthed the 3% number and found that the number of female creative directors is now up to 11 percent – “out of the single digits at least,” she notes, wryly.

According to Gordon, the industry has a lot at stake: the vast majority of purchasers in every consumer category are women, and companies are losing sales by not reaching them. “It is a business imperative to change this because brands are leaving rich ground for creative exploration untapped,” she says.

Unlike STEM and other fields, adverting doesn’t have a recruitment problem at entry levels, but it does have a retention problem. “In some ways, our situation is worse,” Gordon says, because women have expressed a desire to train in the field and want to work in it, but then they lifestyle out when they would be the most productive. She calls it “death by 1,000 paper cuts” – all the little annoyances and issues eventually become so untenable that women give up.

So while the bad news is that there lots of small things impacting the industry, the good news is that they don’t have to reinvent the entire world. Rather, the industry needs to identify the pitfalls and side step them to keep women in.

The 3% Conference website identifies 50 small things that can make a difference – such as changing hiring practices and increasing maternity leaves — and just recently they ran a breakout session where they identified 50 more. Much of the retention problem relates to crazy and unpredictable hours and, as Gordon notes, making allowances that would create a workplace friendlier to women would do the same for men.

Lighting the Fire

Gordon’s interest in the topic was fueled by her disgust for how women were being marketed to — how despite the unbelievable power of the female consumer, they were being ignored and stereotyped.

“I started this as a passion project and didn’t realize how much the message would resonate and how many corners of the world would want to get involved,” Gordon says, adding that she feels an enormous sense of responsibility to the women in her industry.

“I started this as a passion project and didn’t realize how much the message would resonate and how many corners of the world would want to get involved,”

“Unlike with some missions, I don’t run into people who are naysayers, but rather it’s a battle that people want to talk about. I’m motivated and love it and I feel blessed to have this responsibility. I am eager to get more women involved to help carry it forward.”

One recent endeavor was holding a Tweetup on Super Bowl Sunday where ad women around the world were live tweeting their reaction to the ads, complete with the brand and ad agency Twitter handles. Using hashtags like “#3percentSB,” “#mediawelike” and “#notbuyingit,” the group garnered 59 million impressions. The consensus was that the loser by far was Carl’s Jr., while the NFL’s domestic violence and the #LikeAGirl campaign received high marks.

Personal Sales Skills Crucial

Gordon encourages women in the industry to remember that it’s key to be a persuasive sales presenter — most women spend time training on the creative aspects, without ample attention on how to sell the work. She urges women to take a class if they’re not confident speakers and seek out low-stakes opportunities to speak out so they will be ready when it does matter.

“I believe this is the best time ever to be a woman in advertising because agencies and brands are realizing the unbelievable value women have due to their insight into the female experience. It’s an asset,” she says. “The field is starving for that work, and the superstars will be the ones who are bold enough to tap into their whole life experience…”

And she says it’s the responsibility of all women – not just those in advertising — to speak up as part of the 3% commitment. Since all consumers are exposed to 3,000 ads daily, we want all women to be aware of the 3% movement and how we’re working hard to up the quality and effectiveness of those messages. “We need women to cheerlead for us and tell us what they like and don’t like.”

On the Court and In the Kitchen

Gordon loves spending time with her two sons, especially cooking and baking with her younger one. She also makes time to play tennis: “It’s so important to find something physical you do that brings you joy,” she says.
An active supporter of early childhood literacy, Gordon says, “It’s such an important gift to give to your child, to read to them from when they’re babies.” Nurturing the future class of creative directors should come early!

By Cathie Ericson

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Men Who Get It: Larry Ostendorf, Senior Director Business Development, Pacific Scientific Energetic Materials Company

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“We’re all in this together; it doesn’t matter what your gender, race or creed is.”Larry Ostendorf

That is the philosophy of Larry Ostendorf, who oversees business development for the aerospace and defense market for Pacific Scientific Energetic Materials Company. With only a few competitors, the sales environment is largely based on the relationships he builds with his customers, which include aerospace and defense companies, the U.S. government and foreign customers. “My role is to make sure we’re well thought of, to make sure that we have the opportunity to share our capabilities.”

Ostendorf graduated from West Point and spent five years on active duty in the US Army, then he earned his MBA. He’s spent over 15 years in the corporate world as a project manager and business development professional. He has augmented his leadership background with 15 years in the National Guard holding various command and staff positions along the way.

No Rank in Civilian Life

Ostendorf says the corporate world is different from the military because it is a level playing field. He acknowledges that championing diversity has a generational component, and has found that millennials have a different approach than he does, as does the generation ahead of him. “Part of it is how you were brought up, which you can’t help; but also your influences.”

At his current positon, Ostendorf makes sure that all his team has a voice. “They are all successful professionals so I view my role as someone who can be there to guide them rather than give them a lot of direction. To me a major factor of inclusion is that everyone has a say, and that’s how my department runs.”

Ostendorf acknowledges that it is a challenge to find women to join the team. The aerospace and defense industry lacks diversity overall with too many men that have a military background or who have spent their whole career in the aerospace and defense industry.

When looking for candidates, he encourages leaders to broaden their search, reaching out, for example, to the Women’s Society of Engineers or other alternative places to find diverse candidates.

Another example of tapping a non-traditional hiring network occurred when his company was looking to fill a finance position and sent out a request through his National Guard leadership. His company ended up hiring a female soldier from his command, whom he otherwise wouldn’t have thought about. She has blossomed at the firm, and as Ostendorf says, “It’s about opening the door, and then they make it what they want. Diversity is about opportunity. If they don’t run with it, then that’s on them, but if you don’t ever give them the chance, you could be missing out on someone special.”

Standing up for Diversity

Given that it’s a small industry with few women, Ostendorf says that actually provides a lot of opportunity for women to stand out and make a name for themselves. At the same time, he sees that there remains the potential for the “double standard,” where men can perceive strong women negatively.

“We have to make that go away, and to do that, you have to set a good example in the organization. We have to have the courage to stand up and say, ‘Hey! Time out!’ and police our own ranks rather than letting it go, even if it’s a bunch of guys in the room after the woman leaves.”

As a leader, Ostendorf knows that his example influences others, through informal coaching and acting as a resource to help others navigate the job.

Advice for Other Leaders

His main advice for other leaders is “not to play old tape.” In other words, he thinks there’s a blind spot where leaders might pigeonhole people and not see their growth, even after they have changed roles.

He challenges leaders to take a hard look at their interaction and make sure that they are not inadvertently sabotaging others. “Are you cutting off women? Not treating them the same? We have to really examine our behaviors and see where we can make a positive change.”

He says that time and again in his career, he knows that issues in leadership will permeate the organization and manifest themselves as problems at the lower level. “If there are things going wrong, you have to examine the leadership climate. Whether it’s a company or a military organization, you can peel the onion back and see that problems beget problems,” he says. “It all comes back to leadership – the people who are in charge set the tone.

“We all have differences, but we need to embrace those and be sure we’re leveraging the different strengths everyone offers, because at the end of the day, it comes down to whether accomplishing the mission.”

By Cathie Ericson

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Voice of Experience: Ronya Corey, Financial Advisor, Merrill Lynch

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Ronya CoreyAs a child of immigrant parents, growing up Ronya Corey was told she had to be a doctor or a lawyer. “As the oldest, obedient daughter, I actually believed those were my two options!” she says, incredulously.

She began her college years as a pre-med major, but after her first semester, she knew she wasn’t following her heart — and, to top it off, she hated the sight of blood. After changing her major to economics, she interned at several organizations over the course of her four years of college, but it was while she was interning at Merrill Lynch that she realized what she wanted to do for her career.

“Watching my father’s financial choices made me realize that I wanted to educate and help families not only live for today, but save for tomorrow. My dad was an amazingly loving father, but he was also far too generous and short sighted with his money,” Corey said. “If you needed $5 dollars and that was all he had in his pocket, he would give it to you. That mindset of only living for today made him literally have to work until the day he died.”

Guiding Clients to Find Their “Red Mercedes”

Corey says that her work is satisfying every day, as she guides clients to make smart decisions about their money. She says that among the types of retirees — those who spend too much in retirement on an annual basis and those who spend what they should — the most fun are those who don’t spend enough.

“I love working with them to help them define and envision new goals that on their own, they wouldn’t have conceived.”

She cites a client, Jane, who is in her 90s and still teaches online courses for senior citizens at a community college. Though she and her husband never made exorbitant amounts of money as educators, fortunately they were great savers. As Corey tells it, Jane is now widowed with more money than she needs for her life expectancy, and her son and his wife are spendthrifts so she has been pondering how to best utilize her money when she is gone.

After working with her estate attorney to create a trust for her son and establishing various charitable gifting options, Corey returned to a thread that had run through their past conversations – Jane had always wanted a red Mercedes.

“So every call thereafter, I asked her if she had bought her red Mercedes and encouraged her to do so. About a year later, she called to tell me she actually went out and purchased a red Mercedes. She couldn’t be happier — she mentions it on almost every call we have had since. So now, it’s a story I retell to allow people to envision to buy or do whatever their red Mercedes means to them.”

Of course, Corey also counsels clients through the more mundane challenges their retirement may provide, such as rising health care costs. And, prolonged life expectancy poses a number of financial hurdles for many clients – whether it’s saving enough to meet their retirement objectives or being cognizant not to spend too much in retirement.

A Role Model for Younger Women

As the highest-ranking woman in the DC office – both past and present – Corey wants to be a role model for the young women in her industry, where the message she had always received were that only men were considered “the large producers.”

“I want them to know that if the daughter of two immigrant parents who was born in West Virginia and went to a state school can do it, so can they if they put their mind to it,” Corey says.

She is currently building a team of women to service her clients. “It isn’t unusual to see an all-male advisor team, but it is unusual to see it the other way around.”

“It isn’t unusual to see an all-male advisor team, but it is unusual to see it the other way around.”

Since many men in the household still handle the investments for their families, she finds that working with a woman can bring some vulnerability and can be a culture shift. “As a young woman in the business, I strive to know to know more than my male counterparts in order to win new business.”

As part of her role model commitment, Corey also started the local chapter of Merrill Lynch’s Women’s Exchange in 2009 to reach women at all levels throughout Washington DC, Virginia and Maryland. Participation in the organization, which fosters mentorship and growth for women in the firm, has allowed her to meet and learn from the most successful women in the industry.

Her advice to young women? “Learn something new every day. Knowledge is power.”

On the Family Font

Corey and her husband, Devon, took advantage of their pre-children years to travel the world. “Now my hobby and love is my family – my husband and my two bundles of joy – Naill, age two, and Kaia, age one.”

By Cathie Ericson

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Men Who Get It: Mark Pestrella, Chief Deputy Director for Los Angeles County Department of Public Works

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Mark PestrellaMark Pestrella knows that everyone has a story, and that women in particular need to feel they can tell their story without looking like they’re weak. “Really listening to my employees’ stories can change the whole environment.”

As the Chief Deputy Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, Pestrella is essentially the COO of all types of infrastructure that protect residents from natural and manmade hazards in Los Angeles County. With a service area that covers 4,000 square miles and 88 cities including Los Angeles, the department is made up of special districts that provide emergency services, waste management, water resource management, development services, transportation services and public building construction.

With a background in engineering, Pestrella started with the department as a civil engineer assistant, designing and reviewing storm drains.

Now 28 years later, his role as overseer for the 4,000 employees at 78 facilities involves “managing people, not things,” he says. “We have a large and very diverse workforce, which allows us to operate at optimum capabilities.” Pestrella knows that having a diverse workforce enables them to serve a diverse community, but it’s more than that. “If you are trying to create solutions without a group that reflects diversity in education, gender and culture, you’ll get a siloed response.”

Raised With Diversity

From a business standpoint it’s clear to Pestrella that the diversity of his team has to reflect the community, but he emphasizes that it’s also a personal value for which he credits his family dynamic. As a Pacific Islander, his father came to the country as a minority, but says he was “put in the box of mainstream white males.” Growing up with four sisters, a strong mother and a dad who believed in tolerance helped form his thinking, augmented by his childhood in San Bernardino, Calif., an area ripe with diversity.

Addressing and Overcoming Blind Spots

While acknowledging that everyone has blind spots, Pestrella says that he works consistently to address his, even asking trusted colleagues to help him identify them.

Public Works is primarily an engineering organization and as such, has historically been predominantly a male-based agency, but under his guidance, gender recruitment has improved greatly. Even so, he knew he had to address intolerance.

“I could see it happening throughout the organization, where the women were feeling they had to be superheroes to think they deserved a promotion,” he says, adding that in extreme cases he’s had to fire people whose blind spots were interfering with their ability to treat people with equity.

“I could see it happening throughout the organization, where the women were feeling they had to be superheroes to think they deserved a promotion,”

One solution he sees is for men to acknowledge and value differences, rather than seeing them as problems. “We’re being taught you can’t act like anyone is different but that’s not true, and not the best way to deal with gender diversity. There are built-in biases that we have to understand, respect and deal with.”

For example, he says that the way men approach a woman boss often should be different because their styles are usually different. As an example, the first woman director of Public Works for L.A. County is Pestrella’s boss, and he knows that when he comes to her with an issue, she wants him to also offer two or three solutions and then allow time for her to process them. “You have to educate yourself that there are some differences in style.”

And blind spots aren’t just for men. He recounts a woman employee who was so frustrated with the department that she wanted to share her concerns publicly through a complaint. Pestrella says she was one of the department’s best engineers at the time and had potential to be a top leader. He knew that her blind spot was causing her to miss the bigger picture. “She was hearing what she wanted to hear,” he says. Ultimately he was able to broker an arrangement where he would meet with her monthly to discuss her concerns in lieu of her continuing with her complaint. “I wasn’t trying to change her mind, but I felt that she was making a mistake in waving the woman flag. I was able to address her issues, and she has progressed in her career path.”

“I wasn’t trying to change her mind, but I felt that she was making a mistake in waving the woman flag. I was able to address her issues, and she has progressed in her career path.”

A Successful Technique To Start New Employees on the Path to Success

Pestrella believes much of his managerial success comes from a successful technique he uses with new employees. He’ll schedule an introductory meeting, and to ensure that he is in the right mind set, he turns off his computer and devices for a few minutes before they come in. “I want to make sure I am meeting them with an open mind,” he says.

They then embark on a meeting where there’s no note taking, just an opportunity for the new employee to share his or her background. “Over the years, it’s been an unbelievable journey of getting to truly know the people who work with me, and a real asset to establish that trust right off the bat,” he says. “I learn things about people I would never have imagined and almost without fail, I know I would have put them in a different box when I compare what I would have thought about them had we not had the meeting and conversation.”

Though he identifies himself as a private person, he makes a point to coach his employees and says there are several women over the years with whom he has felt comfortable sharing his philosophy. “When I see people who have great potential and the drive to be a public servant, it’s natural to want to share with them what has been successful to me.”

By Cathie Ericson

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