Tag Archive for: Citi

Valeria Vitola: Managing Director, Anti-Money Laundering Region Head – Latin America (Except Mexico), Citibank

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Valeria Vitola“Any difference you think you may have is not a shortcoming. It’s always your springboard,” says Valeria Vitola. “You have to embrace that diverse part of you, because it’s only through diversity that we thrive.”

Born and based in Guatemala, Vitola speaks about why you have to dig even deeper to understand any problem, moving from shame to pride from the inside-out and the true value of bringing your difference to any situation.

Making a Societal Impact

Valeria comes from an Italian family who fell in love with the textiles of Guatemala and began a textile factory and textiles related industries in the country. Coming from a history of family-owned business, she never envisioned herself at a multinational company.

Now, twenty-two years have passed since accepting her initial offer and postponing her master’s degree indefinitely for the experiential MBA of Citi. Before working in anti-money laundering/financial crimes prevention, Valeria had witnessed the consequences of corruption in her country and found meaning in work that helps to narrow the inequalities that it helps to create.

“I am from a country where corruption impacts society – contributing to a gap between those who have lots and those who have not even a dollar a day to live, and denying access of vital services such as health, education and safety,” she says. “For me, to be in the frontline, making sure that the financial institution that I work for is not used by criminal organizations to launder money, or move proceeds, really feels like having an impact on society.”

Getting Way Underneath the Problem

Valeria brings unexpected diversity to the table – she’s a woman, she leads Latin America from Guatemala (even though Guatemala is not a major regional hub for Citibank), English is not her first language and she is part of the LGBTQ+ community.

“Being from a diverse environment allows me to see everybody’s perspective from a different angle, with empathy,” says Valeria. “I’m a good listener, so my leadership begins with listening. I’m really interested in understanding not only the job and the problem that people are bringing to the table, but also the whole situation they’re experiencing when they bring the problem.”

This proves especially valuable when conducting financial crimes risk assessment on client prospects and transactions. Her ability to get underneath a situation, and ask the critical questions, is one of the key skills that has supported both her career and her life.

“I like to take complex problems and divide them into simpler ones, and I like to do that very fast. Every single problem, no matter how big, can be dissected, once you understand the root cause,” Valeria says. “But when you think you know the cause, you have to dig deeper and deeper. Once you have the root cause, everything else gets easier. You can find the paths to resolve the problem.”

Speaking to a skill that applies in all areas of life, Valeria likens this analytical skill to what empathy asks of us – when it comes to understanding why a person is feeling or behaving a certain way, and not jumping to a conclusion.

“The brain works in a way that sometimes likes to trick you into into thinking that you already know what the problem is,” she says. “But once you go layer after layer after layer, you identify there’s always something deeper. You usually have to go at least three layers, to make sure you’re addressing the true causes of the problem.”

Valeria also possesses an instinct for accountability: “I’m that person that when I see the ball being thrown, will run, catch the ball and make sure that I don’t drop the ball until it gets delivered to where it needs to be.”

Being a Leader is For Others

Vitola confesses that as an economist, what drew her into her profession was the notion of working all by herself, at a desk, analyzing numbers, with nobody reporting to her.

She stared at Citi as a sole contributor and she says that during her tenure she sought positions where she did not have to manage others. Reluctant to be working with and be responsible for so many others, Vitola remembers what her female boss and mentor, told her: “You have to believe that you are enough and more, and that you need to inspire people – and not for your sake, but for the sake of the people that are below you.” And that is how Valeria now leads a group of around 400 financial crimes professionals in over 18 different countries.

Before she speaks in front of an audience or accepts a role with more exposure and responsibilities, Valeria remembers those words. While working with others can be energy-absorbing and disruptive to an introverted disposition, she has come to understand her mission is not about tasks, but inspiring people to achieve their own whole potential, which is part of why listening has become essential.

180 Degrees From Shame To Pride

Within her family and her work, Valeria never felt held back by being a woman. Being comfortable sharing about her family and personal life as a lesbian, however, has taken longer to relax into.

“Back in the 90’s, I don’t think I knew another lesbian, not only in the financial industry but the whole country, so I felt very insecure about letting people inside of my world,” she says. “Citi is an organization that really embraces and encourages diversity, and how diversity brings different views to the table, so it was never about Citi. It was complicated for me because of fears related to my traditional catholic upbringing, my family, my friends and society in Guatemala. Coming out of the closet has been the most terrifying decision I’ve taken in my career.”

Last year, a photo of her family, including her 17 year old daughter and her ex-wife, appeared on the cover of Citi’s annual diversity report. Vitola says that her daughter, Alessandra, has been her greatest teacher: “She’s shown me the path of openness. She’s never been ashamed of her diverse family and has always introduced me as her mother.”

Valeria now feels that pride is the opposite of shame, and the journey towards becoming who you are also includes leaving behind the isolation of shame, which she too long imposed on herself in the workplace. If she has one regret, it’s that she held back for so long, only to suffer stress and fears around her identity, when in the end, it didn’t matter to any of her colleagues, only to her. If she could go back, she’d bring her whole self from day one and hopes that being more visible now shines a light for others, especially those based in countries where it might be more difficult.

In all ways, she’s now come to see her differences as an asset, and encourages those she mentors to do so, too.

“If you have a room full of people thinking the same way, with the same upbringing and same everything, the solution that you’re going to attain is going to be very limited.” she says, “So, you have to embrace who you are. Bring your difference to the table because that is what really adds value to an organization, to a meeting, to a friendship, to anything. That diverse point of view is what makes everything grow.”

Leading and Doing with Heart

Valeria is inspired by how Jane Fraser, CEO of Citi, leads with empathy, giving everybody a seat on the table, and caring about all stakeholders.

“I love having a leader with heart, more than one that just executes,” says Vitola. “Instead of having a chain, like an army, it feels more like a room with friends and family, where everybody is heard and all opinions are taken into account. But someone is responsible, deciding when we’ve all been heard enough and saying let’s move together now, behind this higher vision.”

During the beginning of the 2020 lockdown, and grounded from the three weeks a month she used to spend traveling, Valeria initiated a spare time challenge with her 400 strong Citi team and family, inviting everyone to share their personal interests, as a way of staying connected. The effort was then replicated in other areas and regions of Citibank.

Akin to her fascination of going deep into the mechanics of a problem, one of her own passions is restoring old and defunct machines – from the original espresso machine to a 1960 Vespa (which she rides on the city streets of Antigua, Guatemala on her weekends) – including sourcing all the technical hard-to-find parts they need to work again. As a girl, she watched her father and grandfather repair machines for the textile factory, often with parts imported from Italy that took weeks just to arrive.

“I have a personal satisfaction in bringing something back to its old shine and glory – to see the inside of a machine and how it works, from the time before electronics,” she says. “It’s a tribute to the ingenuity of the people that designed the machine to bring it back to life.”

Valeria is a scuba divemaster and also loves gardening, because it offers many transferable lessons and helps her stay in the present moment, from planting a seed, to waiting for weeks (with trust) until it germinates, to giving it the space to grow, to cultivating the fruit and making marmalade to share with and gift to friends: “Going from the seed to the product, with love, is like sharing a part of me, of my time, of myself.”

By Aimee Hansen

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Erica Klinkowize: CBNA Treasurer, Citi

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Erica Klinkowize“It can be intimidating in finance when you’re fresh out of college, but I would encourage anyone to not discount their own opinions or gut instincts,” says Erica Klinkowize. “It’s important to differentiate early on between this is who I am and this is who my company is.”

Klinkowize speaks to developing gut instincts, the shorter- and longer-term journeys of networking, and intensive listening.

Hone Your Personal Gut Instinct

After working a short while at Prudential Securities, then at Goldman Sachs for over a decade, moving to Bank of America for seven years, and then to Citi last summer, Klinkowize observed that she, early in her career, internalized a gut instinct that was highly influenced by organizational viewpoints.

She found herself consistently asking what would the company do? While a valuable perspective, she realized it was important to differentiate her own gut instincts as she grew as a leader, so as to discern different perspectives, including what was her own intuition.

“Something would pop up, for example, in a meeting or conversation, and I’d have a negative feeling,” says Klinkowize. “I’d often quash it or question it until I came to a rationalized conclusion or the whole thing dissolved, which is not the same as listening to your gut instinct.”

She intentionally learned, with the help of executive coaching, to develop her gut instincts, recognizing that her emotional responses are often held in her upper stomach where her ribs meet, around her solar plexus: “You should know where your emotions strike you.”

Learning to discern, trust, and develop her gut instincts has been a core component of her leadership journey: “First, you need to be able to identify it: I’m having a feeling. Then you need to name the feeling and ask yourself: What is driving that feeling and is it worthy of speaking up for? Then you ultimately need the self-confidence to speak up, be potentially willing to engage in a disagreement, and simply not question it too much. The more you question it, the more likely you are to miss the appropriate moment to say something, or to lose the feeling entirely. As you move through life, your gut instinct is one thing that stays with you, no matter what you choose.”

Enrich Your Leadership With Exposure

Her background is largely in Treasury, but Klinkowize spent over two years partnering to head up a trading desk for Global Markets at Bank of America before joining Citi and returning to Treasury.

“It’s like riding a bike coming back to Treasury, in that things don’t change that quickly, but I found that I was different,” she observes. “Every experience changes you. Every risk you take, every career move you make, each one enhances your perspective on things, provides you with moments to improve your ability to hone your gut instincts, and increases your understanding of human beings. How you respond in situations changes, and you learn to do things better for everyone around you.”

Klinkowize attributes her recent move to Citi once again to instinct. She loved her team and trading desk journey at Bank of America and the rich connections she made. But when an unexpected opportunity came, along with an interview journey full of sparks and connections, she heeded the call on what was right for her development.

Along with diversifying experiences, she takes inspiration from other leaders and mentors to catalyze her growth.

“I spend time observing the people who I feel are ‘ahead of me’ in a way that I feel matters, and I ask myself what are they really good at – I watch people in meetings, noticing mannerisms, how they sit, how they dress, the speed and cadence of speech, the way they organize a deck or argument. I also note what characteristics I would not want to adopt,” she reflects. “That practice has helped me bring out a wider breadth of traits and abilities within myself.”

Klinkowize feels a big part of her own value as a mentor is her willingness to share openly all kinds of experiences including the most challenging moments of her career, such as going through pregnancy with an unsupportive manager at a previous employer. She sees mentorships as mutually beneficial and useful for reflecting on her own growth.

“Everyone looks at people who they consider successful and thinks it was a straight shot up,” she notes. “But it’s been a very up and down experience. I’ve constantly tried to remind myself that perception is reality and ask myself what am I doing (or accepting) that I need to change, which comes back to gut instinct.”

Network Early and Broadly

While at Columbia working on her MBA, Klinkowize was given the challenge to draw her network, which turned out to be very closed relative to her fellow professional classmates.

“It didn’t really register with me until I got to business school that I needed to network beyond my group and then beyond my organization,” she admits.

A latecomer to networking, initially more comfortable with keeping her head down and doing the work, Klinkowize is now its biggest advocate. She emphasizes the importance of networking early on and broadly – beyond formal programs, beyond your company, beyond your direct area of work.

“When I look back, I saw my (performance) equivalents at Goldman getting promoted faster than I was and only later did I realize that I had done a bad job at networking,” she realizes. “I had done a bad job at those things that felt hard and that I didn’t want to do.”

Klinkowize notes that while she was well-liked, she hadn’t cultivated the professional connections who would be pounding on the table for her at promotion time. Later, she gained that level of sponsorship and really felt the difference in support and validation of having someone put their name and reputation on the line for her.

Getting over her resistance to networking required having patience with the journey: “There’s a short-term experience and a longer-term experience to doing what is hard to do (for you),” notes Klinkowize.

“I’d walk away from a networking session exhausted and needing to recuperate, yet I would have learned new things and heard relatable experiences,” she reflects. “Then, it’s like a butterfly effect. You don’t exactly know how, but every interaction you have with someone makes you feel a certain way and changes your trajectory. It can be five minutes that simply reminds you of something that you forgot about yourself, and it’s revolutionary. Or it’s the fact that you’re now top of mind with that person when the next unexpected opportunity comes up.”

“On the other side of doing the hard thing (networking), you see both how your trajectory changes,” says Klinkowize, “and how it becomes more natural to you.”

Model Presence and Perspective

Klinkowize emphasizes the importance of intensive listening: “It’s about deep breathing, calming yourself, listening and not getting caught up in the chaos or the transactional nature of things but instead sitting back and observing the whole thing.”

She feels team members look to leaders for broadness and expansiveness, and embodying yourself in a meeting as a leader sets a tone for the team in terms of moderating stress.

Klinkowize feels intensive listening also helps her hear people on many levels beyond their words, and she tries to “hear with her gut” – for example, catching that moment when someone on the team suggests an idea and she knows intuitively, that’s it.

Despite days of back-to-back meetings, Klinkowize has stopped multitasking 75% of the time, noting that while her days may take a little longer, her stress levels have plummeted.

When with her daughter, her practice is to be fully present and immersed. She has come to appreciate, and actively chooses to spend, more time outdoors, along with their dog, Ash.

By Aimee Hansen

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Linda Descano, CFA®: Executive Vice President, Red Havas

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Linda Descano“‘We will be known forever by the tracks we leave,’” quotes Linda Descano, from the Native American proverb she lives by. “To me, that means we need to tread lightly because words and actions have profound consequences.”

“But it also means that through our tracks, we can leave a footprint behind to follow,” she remarks, “so other people not only avoid our pitfalls, but also accelerate because they build on our lessons and experiences.”

In this interview, Descano shares some footprints to follow. 

Allow Intrigue To Guide You

“My career path has been anything but linear,” says Linda Descano, based again in Philadelphia after thirty years away. Instead she has let intrigue and excitement guide her. 

“For me, it’s been about finding opportunities to learn…and finding interesting problems to solve with smart people who want to somehow improve the world or make a difference,” she reflects.

Following that spark of intrigue began in university, when she took a geology class to fulfill her science elective for her English Communications degree, then switched her major.

After pursuing graduate studies in earthquake prediction, she pivoted to work on ways to make K-12 STEM education more hands-on, and then joined a team that was developing a ‘brain’ to drive autonomous underwater vehicles.

Descano then joined an environmental consulting practice which led her to eventually become a member of the environmental affairs team at Citi predecessor Salomon Inc. in 1994. She leveraged her understanding of environmental and social issues to join a socially responsible investment program at Citi, which was one of the first—if not the first—on Wall Street.

Descano then leapt to help launch Women & Co. in 2003 within Citi, an award-winning online financial lifestyle resource for women, eventually serving as President and Chief Executive Officer.

In 2012, she became Managing Director and Global Head of Content and Social at Citi. In 2015, Descano pivoted yet again and went from the brand side to the agency side, joining Red Havas as Executive Vice President in 2015.

 “My entire career has been questioning, listening and hearing about challenges—friction in the system, opportunities to grow, trends reshaping customer preferences and needs—and being willing to raise my hand and get involved,” says Descano. “I’m always looking to find a way to learn and grow myself.”

Define Your Own Parameters

Early in her journey, Descano experienced professors and colleagues who judged her potential as less than she knew herself capable of—whether due to her Italian heritage, her Catholic upbringing, her weight, her gender, not having a finance degree or not having an MBA.

Time and again, she resisted having others box her in, cultivating inner resilience while growing in self-awareness and managing her own triggers and sensitivities. 

“It taught me that people will always see you with perceptions and judgments,” she notes. “And it’s up to each of us to decide—will we let others define the sandbox in which we operate, or will we blow it apart and carve our own path?”

She recalls saying to one such colleague, “I might not have an MBA from Harvard, but I do have an MBA from the ‘School of Hard Knocks.’ So between my brute experience and your Ivy League education, we should together be able to create a stellar program.”

“You have to decide who is going to own and set the parameters for your career and make your choices—don’t put them on autopilot,” she advises. “You have to be the navigator of your career. I set out to become a Managing Director, and that’s exactly what I did.”

Be Intrapreneurial In Your Leadership

“Execution is a passion of mine,” says Descano. “I’m always very focused on ‘I understand the strategy, but how do you execute flawlessly and what’s the right organizational structure?’”

No matter what organization she is a part of, Descano assumes the mindset of the “intrapreneurial executive.”

“When you think of an entrepreneur, you think of people with a lot of flexibility and they’re adaptive. They act as owners. They take initiative. They lean in,” says Descano. 

“So as I think of being an ‘intrapreneurial executive,’ I bring that same sense of acting like an owner to the organization I work for. I’m going to be constantly thinking about ways of improving the business,” says Descano. “I act like I own it, as if it’s my investment. It’s working with that same sense of responsibility and drive to make it grow.”

Descano has valued the leaders—both at Citi and Red Havas—that gave her the green lights to create and test and do things differently in order to bring more value to the consumer and community.  

“If you just put your head down, you will lift your head up one day and the world around you will have changed and you have not, so how could you be adding value?” says Descano. “It’s so important to deliver, but I believe you have to keep looking around, looking up, looking down, looking sideways— because the world is changing. You have to evolve and grow and adapt.”

Value the Value of Your Network

With incredible female role models in her family, Descano also internalized the importance of helping others and paying it forward.

Outside of her ‘day job,’ Linda has served on the board of numerous organizations dedicated to advancing women and girls, including Step Up, Girl Scouts of the U.S.A., and New York Women in Communications (NYWICI). A past president of NYWICI, she remains an active board member and currently serves as the Treasurer.

“I’ve made it a point throughout my career to spend part of my personal time and money investing in paying it forward with women and girls, mentoring both informally and formally.” says Descano. “Sharing your fortune and facilitating opportunities, that’s how you help people move forward.”

Descano considers running Women & Co.— a business focused on supporting women to be their personal best— for over a decade to be the highlight of her career. 

In today’s knowledge economy, Descano also advises that the network you build by supporting others is your greatest asset. 

“When I’m faced with a challenge and issue, I have a tremendous network of people I can call on to get the benefit of their experience, insights and knowledge,” says Descano. “Part of the power and value that I bring to an organization’s table is my network and relationships.” 

Whether it’s getting a 101 on a new industry for a new business opportunity, connecting a client to several women she trusts in a new field they are entering, or recruiting a speaker, her network has been absolutely invaluable to her.

When you are there for your network, you also create a net for yourself. 

“When you show kindness, when you’re willing to help others, even if just to listen to them,” notes Descano, “then the days you fall, the days you aren’t the best you could be, the days you get displaced by circumstance, you have all these people that are softening your fall and supporting you, almost like a spring back up.”

Remember We Are All Human

Much of Descano’s work today is designing transformational communications for organizations during times of change—which has never been more salient than now. 

One of the big focuses at Red Havas that animates her is person to person (P2P) communications, or bringing the humanity and empathy back to the forefront of communications.

Remembering that we are all human—no matter if you’re talking to employees, customers or a business—is one topic featured in the monthly podcast she has launched as part of a team, Red Sky Fuel for Thought, providing insight into the communications landscape.

When she’s not being an intrapreneur or supporting other women, Descano can be found reading, or listening to True Crime podcasts in her kitchen while making a couple dozen stromboli for her family.

By Aimee Hansen

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Voice of Experience: Elyse Lesley, U.S. Consumer Partnerships and Franchise Development, Citi

Elyse LesleyAdvocacy matters, says Citi’s Elyse Lesley.

“When I started, I placed more of a premium on what I did than the people I worked for, but I have realized throughout my career that ultimately advocacy is the magic that will get you to the places you want to be,” she says. “Your advocates may tell you things you don’t want to hear, but those moments will help you get out of your comfort zone and take the chances that allow you to learn and grow. Those are the people you need in closed door forums, pounding the table for you before others even know who you are.”

A Career Path Built On Diverse Experiences

After graduate school Lesley went into consulting, which she found to be an unmatched experience; as she notes, there aren’t many jobs where you get to experience such a diversified slate of issues and companies and actually sit at leadership tables. “When I worked as a consultant, it was almost as though I was earning a second graduate degree. I learned how to deconstruct problems and talk confidently with professionals who were a decade or two older than I was,” she says.

While she believes it’s a top way to broaden your skillsets, she eventually decided to leave consulting and focus on a career in financial services. Lesley was looking for an opportunity that would allow her to do interesting consumer-facing work while also providing a platform to build out a long-term career.

Over the years she has worn many different hats and taken on varying responsibilities charting overall strategy; helping develop a retail business; offering insight into segment value propositions; building and deploying new product solutions; amplifying the company’s voice in the marketplace; and improving the end-to-end client experience.

“I have led a diverse set of functions over time while remaining close to the consumer, which has been fascinating and rewarding,” Lesley says. She has been with Citi for eight years in various roles and in October took on a new role leading partnerships and franchise strategies at Citi’s US Consumer Bank.

“I really appreciate that the role I have allows me to think about growth and the continued transformation of our industry,” she says.

As clients become more comfortable with opening an account and servicing it online, Lesley is currently spearheading efforts on how to scale the franchise through digital channels. She is also exploring ways for Citi to continue to build deeper relationships with its clients by leveraging data to provide personalized services and offerings that clients are looking for.

“Banking is an exciting industry especially as physical and digital continue to converge and how banks evolve to make a difference in clients’ lives and reward their loyalty. We are helping to create new product and distribution solutions that allow Citi to scale and encourage our clients to have a lifelong relationship with Citi,” she says.

An Attitude of Mentoring

When considering all of her various contributions over the years, the work Lesley is most proud of is seeing the individuals whom she has mentored subsequently achieve their professional goals. “I take intense pride in the people I have worked with over my career who are now in impressive roles. It feels good to have been part of a chapter in their career that got them to that point,” she says. “I am deeply invested in helping the people I hire and working with them to achieve their aspirations.”

Lesley sees that one of the biggest challenges in the financial services industry as a whole continues to be representation. “We need to have more women at senior levels of organizations in every industry to ultimately build the gender balance we need,” she says. “While we are making progress in financial services broadly, it is slower than I would ideally like to see.”

Lesley is a proud member of Citi Women, a community of female employees at all levels working to help one another through skill-building and advice sharing. Besides encouraging internal networking, it also includes elements of training and leadership development that allows women to hone their self-advocacy skills. “I believe the knowledge we are imparting here will translate into positive outcomes for years to come,” she says.

Lesley offers several pieces of advice for women, most importantly to know what’s really important in a day, week, month or year and stack their time accordingly. “You get credit for transformative wins, but the little tasks can crowd that out. Know what matters and make that your focus.”

With three daughters and a son between the ages of 11 and three—Lesley says her current hobby is her family. “I choose to do two things well: to make a difference at Citi and achieve my career aspirations and to raise some really good human beings. For now with four young children, that’s my version of balance.”

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Voice of Experience: Mindy Mercaldo, Head of U.S. Branch Channel, Citi

Mindy Mercaldo“You can do anything,” Mindy Mercaldo reminds women.

“There are so many possibilities to seize opportunities, rather than waiting for them to come to you,” she says, encouraging women to be open about what they want to achieve and finding advocates to help with those aspirations.

“You have to put your voice in the room,” she adds. “Sometimes women hedge, but your opinions matter and people need to hear them.”

Climbing the Ranks as a Lifelong Banker

Mercaldo began her career in retail banking as a Customer Service Representative while in college. She loved helping people with their banking needs and after graduating she entered a branch banking management program and started her career with Meridian Bank in her native Philadelphia. Throughout her career, it’s been the mix of meaningful experiences with customers and her teams that has fueled her inspiration.

In her 30-year career, she’s been through three bank mergers and four acquisitions; been a small business banking leader, retail banking director and division manager. She also spent eight years in retail bank sales and strategy. Currently based in Chicago, Mercaldo was promoted this summer to oversee Citibank’s entire US branch network. It’s an honor to assist in the retail bank’s transformation and to lead such a dynamic team, she says.

Mercaldo finds that developing her team motivates and inspires her, and reminds her of those who invested in her along the way.

A breast cancer survivor, Mercaldo took time off when she was diagnosed and was gratified to have someone who could easily step into her shoes. “When you invest in people, it helps them as individuals and also elevates the entire team,” she says, citing one of the transformational lessons she learned from the book Boys in the Boat, the true story about nine-working class rowers from Depression-era Washington state who overcame steep odds to win gold at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.

“I really believe in the idea of surrounding yourself with great people,” she says, adding that it’s a rewarding experience on both a personal and professional level to be part of their development and success. “I am so proud when someone I’ve worked with reaches a major career goal or milestone; it makes me think about a small part I might have played in their advancement and those moments when I was able to be part of their journey.”

That has helped reinforce the importance of partnership and collaboration with others, and led her to realize that it’s not just working hard that gets you to the next job. “There are so many interdependencies in our work, because we all touch the customer in some way and have to work comprehensively,” Mercaldo says. “I learned along the way that bringing others into the conversation creates a better work environment and outcomes,” she says, noting that Citi’s culture encourages teamwork that enables economic growth and progress.

Currently she is excited about the work the bank is doing to help meet customer banking needs in the future and how the organization is responding by transforming to help make their lives better.

“Client needs are complex; despite the growth of digital capabilities, they still want trusted, personalized advice from their banker and often turn to a human to help them make critical decisions,” she says adding that the concept of marrying those two components is exciting. “The secret of change is to focus all your energy on building the new rather than fighting the old,” she says, quoting the author Dan Millman.

Mentoring as a Way Of Life

In addition to the work she does with her team, Mercaldo has been an active mentor in Citi’s Chicago Women’s Network. She also serves on the steering committee for the Asian Heritage Network, a group that helps promote a culture of diversity and inclusion within Citi. “As a leader, it’s important to be involved in these affinity networks and broaden our sense of inclusion,” she says. She has also found Citi’s Leadership Development programs to be a rewarding experience focused on creating environments for women to grow their leadership experiences. “Women mentor and care about the advancement of other women; we have a culture of supporting other women in their career goals and objectives,” she says.

When it comes to family, Mercaldo shares that her 14-year-old daughter is an expert at evaluating customer service after growing up listening to her stories. When she’s not at the ice rink with her husband cheering on their daughter, Mercaldo and her family also love to travel, cook and enjoy water sports.

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Voice of Experience: Kathy Jordan, Chief Compliance Officer, US Consumer Banking, Citi

Kathy Jordan headshot
“When I look back on my career, I didn’t follow a linear path in one field because I was always open to opportunity when it knocked,” says Citi’s Kathy Jordan.

“If you’re willing to take a risk and give it a go, great things can happen.” That advice has followed her along the winding path from her first job as a Citibank teller, which helped pay for college, to her most recent promotion overseeing compliance for all of Citi’s U.S. consumer banking businesses.

The key is to take on growth opportunities as they arise, even if it’s not precisely within your field, Jordan says. “Opportunities are there,” she says. “Just remember that even when it doesn’t feel like it will be an easy or familiar road, it can still be a path to opportunity. Just set your sights on the goal, and give it all you have, without worrying that it might not be attainable.”

“Don’t limit yourself to one field if the chance arises to do something else that might be just as fulfilling,” she says, noting that this is increasingly true as you move into more senior level positions.

Windows of Opportunity

Jordan went to college with initial plans of becoming a doctor, but she soon shifted her focus to finance and became a banker, before attending law school and eventually working her way back into financial services and becoming a compliance officer.

She left her law firm to join the in-house counsel team with a former client, a boutique bank, where she focused mainly on mortgage issues. This led to an offer to take an in-house legal position at Citibank that gave her a chance to work more broadly across the entire consumer banking business. It was at Citi, in the early 2000s, that she made her biggest jump as changing regulations led banks to create dedicated compliance teams, separating roles that had previously been overseen by the in-house legal teams. “I wasn’t sure just what I was getting myself into, it wasn’t a clear path, but I saw an opportunity to make my mark in something new so I went for it,” she said.

In general, she suggests that you keep an eye out for new opportunities as industries shift. “You have to determine what is in demand and think more broadly about your career,” she says. “There’s no perfect answer to what jobs you should take along the way. The job you take at one moment might not be your dream job, but it may help you get there.”

Finding Advocates To Grow Your Career

“There are always people out there who can help you when you’re struggling—whether it’s with a specific problem or a career change,” says Jordan. She realizes the importance of finding those champions, and says she rarely makes a move without consulting with people who have her best interests at heart while bringing different perspectives. “Even when you’re starting out, it’s critical to find a circle of advisors who have more experience, whom you can call upon for input.”

It’s also incumbent upon women to share their successes, she says, adding that women don’t always speak as freely about their accomplishments as men. “I have had to work on owning my success,” Jordan says. “Modesty is important, but candor is better.”

She shares that recommendation with other women both at Citi and outside of the bank.

The retail bank has a robust program designed to reach minorities and people of color to motivate them toward larger roles.

Jordan looks back on the role her family played in her career with appreciation, and says she currently spends a lot of time with her parents. “I want to make sure they’re happy, as they sacrificed a lot for me,” she says. “Although neither of my parents had the opportunity to go to college, it was extremely important to them that I had the chance – and they structured everything to make my higher education a priority.”

Musically inclined, Jordan loves the opera and plays the organ in her spare time. “For many years I played in church congregations,” she says. “It is very soothing and helps melt away the stress of the day.”

This summer, Jordan was also named a member of the Banking Law Committee of the New York City Bar Association. This affiliation gives her an opportunity to step back and refresh her legal contacts, while becoming involved in discussions with senior lawyers across New York about cutting edge issues in banking law.

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Voice of Experience: Managing Director, Citi US Retail Bank

Harp RanaWhen Harp Rana’s daughter was younger, and they watched Scooby Doo together, she would say, “Be a Velma, not a Daphne, but don’t let Fred take all the credit.”

When she later had a son, she changed the messages slightly and added “Don’t be a Fred.”

The message, she says, is that you have to be confident in your abilities but refrain from stepping back because it will make someone else more comfortable. “Yes, we are all team players, but make sure your voice is heard when you have a role in a given decision or success,” she says. “You’re better than you think you are most of the time, but sometimes you’re not as good as you think.” The secret is in knowing that it will all shake out if you focus on building your career.

Consumer Behavior Drives Her Passion For Retail Banking

The majority of Rana’s career has been at Citi; she entered as a corporate financial management associate in finance, then moved to the retail bank in 2003 and eventually switched to the business side in 2014 when the right manager and opportunity came along.

One of her proudest moments came a couple of years ago, when she was placed in her current role with an immediate task of turning around efforts to complete the replacement of underlying systems at the US Retail Bank – without disrupting clients or Citibank’s reputation. She succeeded, while at the same time injecting a sense of goodwill and humor to rebuild morale. “There is great power in pulling together a functioning and productive team that can have fun even in difficult moments.”

“I have moved some big rocks. But the work that always has my heart is the work that we are doing to enhance our customers’ experience, products, or financial lives. For example, I am really excited about the work we are doing on Digital Banking. It has exemplified the power of our integrated cross functional teams – working on delivering the best to our customers and meeting their expectations around how they want to bank.”

Always eager to embrace the next challenge, she currently finds this to be a particularly interesting time to be in banking, in terms of client expectations and the economic environment. “I love retail banking because every advancement you read about on the macro side ends up being pertinent to your daily life in terms of client behavior and experience and how that impacts your numbers,” Rana says.

She adds that she is always excited to know what’s next, whether it’s digitization or another disruptor in the marketplace, in an industry that is constantly evolving. “Trends I read about that are not even specific to my seat eventually end up filtering down in a meaningful way through customer behavior,” she says; for example, something as simple as how to pay a friend evolves into advances in mobile. “I read anything I can that has to do with customer behavior and banking and then overlay the changing expectations clients have today around any company they engage with.”

Evolving from the Viewpoint of Gender as a Challenge

Rana has been fortunate to have had a host of sponsors over the year— mostly men, which means she’s never seen her gender as an obstacle. She acknowledges that there are personal challenges that most grapple with, specifically motherhood, but these days she has seen that the concept of “motherhood” has morphed to “parenthood,” as she sees men on the team wrestle with similar challenges.

She also sees that women’s attitudes toward one another have evolved. While there used to be the notion that there was just one seat at the table that women were fighting for, she sees that as a byproduct of yesteryear. “You have to know how good you are, but then also be supportive of the other women. There is more than one seat at the table, and none of us want that seat because we’re a women, but because we’ve earned it.”

While Rana has participated in multiple professional development programs, one that has been noteworthy is the Citi Women’s Leadership program, which she found extremely beneficial not only for the panelists and learning opportunities, but for the camaraderie she developed with fellow members. “We had many similar concerns or issues we were navigating, and it was helpful to have a group to discuss them with,” Rana says.

With two children, ages 16 and 19, Rana spends the majority of her “free time” outside of work with them. In fact, recently when asked to name something she was proud of in a meeting, she immediately said “My kids,” and heard several women mention they wished they had thought of it, too. “We’re so ingrained not to talk about being a mom, but if we truly want to be authentic at work, we can acknowledge that it’s a huge part of our identity.”

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Voice of Experience: Bola Oyesanya, Managing Director at Citi Private Bank

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Bola Oyesanya

By Cathie Ericson

Don’t let your inner critic get the best of you, advises Citi’s Bola Oyesanya.

“Confidence is so important, so embrace who you are because it’s what makes you unique,” she says. She herself learned this firsthand, when earlier in her career she regarded her Nigerian accent as a potential issue, which even led her to talk herself out of some client-facing jobs. Her colleagues had assured her that her accent was an advantage as it made her memorable, but a defining moment came when a client mentioned that she liked her voice. “Don’t ever tell yourself that the things that make you different are a problem,” she says.

Finding Her Niche

Although she was trained as an attorney, Bola pivoted and began her career in Nigeria in banking, including doing a stint with the oil and gas industry group within a bank. She came to the United States in 1999 and started with Citi, where she has spent the past 20 years in a variety of roles from customer service representative to junior banker. She became a private banker in 2008 in Citi Private Bank’s Law Firm Group, where she remains today, working with law firms and individual attorneys, as well as institutions that work with the legal industry.

“Nothing gets me more excited than being my clients’ advocate; of course, it’s my job, but I love it,” she says. “As long as I have my clients’ best interest at heart, everything will fall into place,” she says, noting that you need to carry your team along to get the best for your clients. “There’s nothing better than when we are all aligned.”

Bola was promoted to managing director this year, a milestone achievement of which she’s very proud, noting that it was both exciting and humbling – exciting to see hard work recognized, but humbling because she knows that her recognition opens the door for others and serves as motivation for younger bankers.

Channeling Her Passion for Diversity into Action

In her other role, Bola is part of the Citi Private Bank diversity leadership team, whose mission is to recruit, train and retain employees, making Citi the employer of choice for new and seasoned talent. She finds the diversity philosophy at Citi organic, rather than top down, with a good mix of levels from managing directors to junior analysts who all have a voice.

She says the group prides itself on starting the year with a blank slate to come up with new goals and the paths to get there. The leadership then helps build teams around these ideas to start implementing them.

One recent initiative was Citi Coffee Chats, which allowed colleagues to get to know senior leaders beyond their work success and professional bio, with questions focused on a more personal angle, such as their family and philanthropy interests.

The group works on skills to help manage careers upwards, but also down and sideways, taking into account peers and direct reports.

Having always been personally passionate about diversity and inclusion, she finds it exciting that the topic is now a priority. “We used to have to convince people to consider diversity, and it’s refreshing that now even clients are asking what we’re doing on that front,” Bola says, adding that it’s no longer just a “nice to do.”

“It’s who we are, and it isn’t just about gender or culture, but also includes diversity of thought. The more diverse we are, the better we can meet our clients’ needs,” she says, adding that the firm’s many locations and cultures means they can leverage the power of their global reach.

Proud of Citi’s success in retaining women talent, she has realized that while it’s easy to assume that all firms are as committed, the numbers show that Citi is quite far ahead in the industry: Forty percent of the leadership of Citi Private Bank in North America are women, including the CEO, and the overall diversity numbers climb to 60% when you include LGBT, cultural and ethnic minorities.

Giving and Receiving Mentorship Has Contributed to Career Success

While diversity initiatives are important, Bola also believes in the power of combining them with mentoring programs, which will double the networking and connection potential. She advises other women to look for people who are genuinely interested in them and will offer candid feedback. “If they care about your career, they will offer advice on both sides of the coin,” she notes.

Bola herself felt particularly supported during a diversity leadership program in 2010, which was focused on developing midlevel diverse employees. “What was so powerful was that each participant was the agenda, with one-on-one coaching tailored to exactly what you needed to build a career,” she says. Among the most valuable aspects were sessions devoted to developing your brand and your executive presence — lifelong skills that helped the employee but also ultimately Citi as a whole.

Recently someone asked her what she would do if money was no barrier, and the answer came to her immediately. “I would be a motivational speaker,” she says. “I love to inspire others and do a lot of one-on-one mentoring. So many senior women and men have invested in me, and the best way to say thank you is to pay it forward.”

In fact, she frequently recommends that her peers remember what it feels like to be sidetracked and commit to helping and encouraging each other. For her part, she enjoys working with younger professionals and often reminds them to be patient and know they will eventually get to the destination. “There might be detours, but you have to see them as learning points. Then don’t waste your energy and emotion focusing there, but rather on how to get back on track.”

While her work and diversity efforts are important, there is one aspect of her life that takes precedence – her family. Bola says her most precious time is spent talking and spending time with her eight-year-old daughter and husband, particularly when they are traveling and meeting people and learning new cultures together.

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Mover and Shaker: Carey Ryan, Director, Citi

carey ryanBy Cathie Ericson

Hard work is a key component, but just one of many that will lead to success, finds Citi’s Carey Ryan.

She says she put her head down and produced for years, which worked well until she moved into more senior roles and had an instance that reframed her thinking: She had thought she had hit one project out of the park only to find out she had completely missed the mark.

“After I got over the shell shock, I analyzed what I’d missed, and part of it was that I hadn’t put the time and effort into thoroughly understanding my audience and their motivation and what was driving them,” she says, noting that when she looks at other similar moments when she didn’t do as well as she’d hoped it almost always leads back to a need to think more critically about the audience.

That has led to one of her favorite mottos that she picked up at a sales training years ago: “So what?” Ryan believes you have to ask that question every day from the perspective of your audience and the people you’re interacting with to successfully meet their needs.

She also believes a little luck is necessary, but it’s difficult to come by without the hard work. She echoes that success needs that hard work, but also includes understanding your audience; identifying where you can bring true value; and realizing that it’s ok to fear change but it’s important to always find the opportunity in any situation.

A Career Built on Adaptation

Learning to adapt has been the cornerstone of her path upward from the beginning, with her first job at a small software company in Portland, Ore., as a technical writer. She was hired after she sent a blind resume and letter; they mentioned the available writing job and she said “Sure, I can do that!”

As someone who sees life with a “glass-half-full perspective,” Ryan found that while she didn’t love the exact position, being part of the small software company gave her the opportunity to do a little bit of everything – such as going on client implementations and testing software — whatever was needed when and where it was needed.

“During this first phase of my career I learned to experience entrepreneurial thinking and the impact each individual has on revenue and expense — how everything is connected to drive success.”

The firm was acquired by a larger software company that spent a period of time trying to figure out the right place for the division, which meant she had to learn to adapt to various management styles and goals. She moved into product management and experienced working in a bigger environment where change was a constant.

Through one of the reorganizations, she and a few of her colleagues moved to the company’s headquarters in New Jersey. Two years later, she came with a sponsor to Citi, where she again learned to adapt to a larger environment — 350,000 people at the time.

She’s been at Citi 11 years now, and is currently part of the Chief Operating Office that serves the global Institutional Clients Group (ICG) Operations and Technology organization. One of her team’s responsibilities is to increase the focus on program management for the organization.

“It’s the kind of challenge that is exciting to me, to find ways to create an impact across the global organization,” she says.

“I am proud of the path I’ve taken and the collection of achievements that have allowed me to navigate the various changing roles I’ve held and the teams I’ve served.”

Those roles have reinforced that you don’t have to know “what you want to be when you grow up.”

“I always thought you had to know and since that wasn’t my bent, it caused me a lot of stress at first,” she says, adding that she considers herself an ambitious person so it took her a while to realize how those two qualities can blend. “My strength is in my utility, that I can play the role that is needed at the time,” she says, noting that the vision of a career as a jungle gym, not a ladder, is an apt description for hers.

In fact, she says that if you had asked her five years ago if this is what she would be doing, she would have said no. “But the organization had a need, and my team views it as an opportunity to set the path going forward to achieve our goals and drive value for the organization.”

The Power of Relationships in Success

Ryan notes that before she headed to Citi, her sponsor advocated for her for a position in a business about which she truly didn’t know much; yet he was certain she had the skill sets he needed. “He put me forward in a situation where I would not have been successful without that support,” she says.

Over the years she has been fortunate to have role models like him and others who she describes as fearless individuals who tackle challenges with poise; strategic thinkers who can see the path forward and connect the dots before others do; straight shooters who tell it like it is; and individuals who always put the good of the team and the organization first. “All of these strong leaders have demonstrated skills to emulate.”

Ryan became involved with Citi’s Women’s Leadership Council a few years ago when she was invited to a training on executive presence and personal brand. The people she met there spurred her to get more involved and she has since found the group has provided value through skill development, networking and peer coaching.

She is also actively involved in Citi’s diversity initiatives, focused on driving not only women but other diverse groups forward for the good of the business.

Ryan is now in her third year co-chairing the Emerging Talent Program, a group composed of Vice President and Senior Vice President-level women who have graduated from the Developing Talent Program and want to continue building their network and skills to move their careers forward.

Finally, the relationship that powers her the most is her “amazing family.” She says that her husband and parents are her partners in making her life work and keeping things moving – from the big things, to the more mundane, like making sure her four-year-old daughter has clean socks to wear.
She also counts her friends as a key support system. “It’s not just the family you’re given but the family you choose, and I am lucky that both of these families are incredible.”

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Voice of Experience: Carey Kolaja, Global Chief Product Officer, Citi FinTech

carey-kolajaBy Cathie Ericson

“Earlier in my career, I thought I always had to be right, but I learned that’s just not the case,” says Carey Kolaja of Citi FinTech. “Life is more enjoyable when you remove that pressure you’re putting on yourself and turn to others for input. The collective wisdom can yield a greater return,” she says.

Kolaja has had 21 years in financial services, but a series of diverse experiences – which has run the gamut from start-ups to big banks to consulting firms — has taught her to trust the input of others as she learned new strategies with different companies.

She worked in the information technology department of eBay and most recently came from PayPal, where she experienced incredible growth, seeing the company mature from 1,000 employees when she started to 14,000 when she left. It was an environment where every couple of years the company would reinvent itself, and she oversaw a host of different challenges over 13 years as she rose through the ranks to become Vice President of Global Consumer Products, helping establish the brand to hundreds of millions of customers globally.

Building Programs That Endure

“I am fortunate to have risen to a role that allows me to be at the epicenter of the collision between finance and technology, during a time of great growth and change,” she says. “I am proud of the global products I’ve placed in the market over the years and the impact they’ve had in transforming consumer buying behaviors,” Kolaja adds.

Not only has she made her mark on products, but programs as well. At eBay she was asked to establish a women in tech program that started with 50 and ended with 1,800 by the time she passed the baton. “It continues to live on, and it’s exciting when you can build things that endure. I have always defined successful leadership as making others better as a result of your presence, and making sure that impact lasts in your absence,” she says, noting that the programs that have been most meaningful are those that were organic, rather than mandated from the top down.

Managing Industry Disruption

The team Kolaja now works with, Citi FinTech, has been set up within the past 12 months — a unit charged with “designing and delivering the bank of tomorrow,” as the industry moves forward to stay relevant in this fast-moving space. “There’s been some disbelief that what we were trying to do would happen,” she says, given that there are such stringent policy restraints, and the huge leap involved in its aim to meet customers in their day-to-day lives and access their money whenever they need to in today’s digital and mobile world. “The odds are against us but if you look at what we’ve accomplished so far and what we have in the works for the months ahead, it shows that you can’t discount the banks,” she says.

The disruption has happened throughout the industry, as people’s identities have moved from the physical to the digital realm, and every company from established firms to startups are trying to figure out how to enable people to safely and confidently make financial transactions. As the physical bank’s role continues to change, the industry will continue to reimagine the personalities that financial instructions have, by learning from fintech and other industries.

“The expectations have changed and it’s all about enabling transactions for our customers when and where they want, and often while they’re doing something else,” she says.

“While a customer is eating dinner she remembers she needs to check her savings account for an upcoming family vacation. How do we help in that moment? We will continue to transcend traditional touchpoints as we engage customers on their terms and meet their goals and aspirations.”

Part of the change in the industry is being wrought by a general change in the trust dynamic in society at large, she believes. Whereas people used to trust institutions, now they trust brands. We used to trust hotels, and now we stay at people’s homes in the Air BnB society.

But embracing this transformation is part of who Kolaja is and how she has always led. “I have always coached my team by leading with the fact that you have to be able to imagine that the possibilities of change are endless, and that those who change the world are those who believe they can.”

She has learned the value of empowering others, and her global role has allowed her to see what she can learn in different cultures that was relevant across the board. That notion helped her to understand the value of diverse thoughts, experiences and points of view. “Most boundaries – whether they are cultural or organizational — are usually artificial, and exist in your own mind,” she says, noting that you can’t let others impose their boundaries on you.

Although she hasn’t felt subject to gender differences in the workplace, she understands that others look up to her for the strides she has made in fintech. When someone pointed out that she had found a way to break the glass ceiling and therefore had the responsibility to be a role model and speak out, she accepted that charge. Now, she is proud to say that 50 percent of leaders in Citi FinTech are women.

Speaking Out to Achieve Success

One piece of advice she offers women is to give themselves permission to speak, rather than always waiting for an invitation or a safe environment. It was during a week-long leadership program that her coach noted that people would listen when Kolaja spoke, despite her always waiting to be asked to speak. The coach advised her to make a habit of speaking up in the first three minutes of any interaction, which Kolaja says helped her believe that what she had to say added value. “That’s such an important coaching element for women in general,” she says. “I am the only one who can give myself permission to speak. That leadership program happened more than 10 years ago but I’m reminded of that lesson every day. If we limit ourselves, then ultimately we’re the ones who lose out.”

Kolaja says she tried and failed to separate her work and personal lives, so she incorporates them as much as she can. “Sometimes I need to be a mother in the middle of the afternoon and sometimes I need to be an employee at 10 p.m. Technology is helping me with both, and now the physical-digital balance is what I contend with.”

As a family of self-described “risk takers,” she and her husband and two boys, ages 14 and 10, love to travel as a family and golf and scuba dive. Recently they spent five days in Costa Rica with no devices. “Scuba diving allows us to spend time together, and it also allows us to be truly present. Now that we’re connected even while we’re in the air, the sea is the one remaining place we can have solitude.”

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