Tag Archive for: Citi

Voice of Experience: Anita Romero, General Counsel, Global Consumer, Citibank

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Anita RomeroBy Cathie Ericson

It is who you know. That’s what Anita Romero figured out over the course of her career, and wishes that she had known earlier. “When you’re first starting out, you’re so focused on doing excellent work that you don’t realize the many benefits of seeking advice from peers in your network,” she says. “People learn over time, but had I known that up front it would have really helped.”

From Government to Finance

Romero started her career at the New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC), which is the City of New York’s primary economic development vehicle. During her tenure with the EDC, her goal was to help keep business in the city, including the redevelopment of Disney’s New Amsterdam Theater and other magnets in Times Square.

After 12 years she went to work for the Traveler’s Group which merged with Citicorp, creating what is today known as Citi.

Since her career up to that point had been in government, she didn’t have direct product experience at a financial services firm, so she completed a rotation through different legal areas of this financial services company. She said that although the experience felt a bit like being a first-year associate again, it was valuable in helping her stretch outside of her comfort zone – advice she offers to other professionals.

“Many attorneys are very focused on a career path that only goes up, as opposed to horizontally, but sometimes doing something complementary can really help you develop, whether you are new to a job or are more seasoned in your career.”

After a year of rotation, she chose a permanent home in corporate law, principally doing securities work as well as mergers and acquisitions, an active area since the company was in a buying mode.

Subsequently, Romero worked as Deputy General Counsel of Citi’s international business segment, in which she had to face one of her first challenges, the 2002 Argentine crisis, which involved lots of “firefighting” as she says. She then returned to the corporate law department to oversee corporate legal functions that support the company as a whole, including human resources, employment law and M&A. Now, she serves as General Counsel for the global consumer business and Citibank NA, the largest subsidiary of Citigroup.

The team that she’s built at Citi is the professional achievement she’s most proud of. “We are committed to having a high-quality and diverse team,” she says. As the Legal Management Committee sponsor of the company’s Talent Development program, she actually spearheads that function for the legal department as a whole.

Technology As an Industry Game Changer

As technology evolves, so will the industry. “Startups are seeking to disrupt what we’ve been doing as banks in the digital experience, and while some do it well, they are operating under a different regulatory environment,” she says, noting that fintech entities aren’t required to be licensed the same way that banks are. “The world has changed for banks in terms of regulatory expectations, and so we are constantly analyzing and adapting to the new model.”

Romero says that Citi is whole heartedly focused on radical digitization, always seeking ways to reduce friction for customers and improve their banking experience.

Promoting Hispanic Culture through Mentoring Others

Citi supports a number of employee networks, including Citi Women, a corporate-wide diversity effort for attracting, developing, advancing and retaining female talent at all levels within Citi.

Since one of her passions is to give back to the community where she lives, Romero, who is of Puerto Rican and Cuban descent, is the sponsor of the Hispanic Heritage Network for the New York tristate area.

“It’s a terrific organization that is trying to connect network members to each other. Our members appreciate the opportunities for both networking and career development.”

They have sponsored initiatives, such as Café con Leche, where participants have the opportunity to talk with senior professionals within the organization. “They can use them as a sounding board on their career, in an intimate environment where it is comfortable to discuss their career path or other specific situations,” she points out.

“It’s all about developing and advancing our people and realizing that we can harness our different backgrounds and heritages to promote workplace success.”

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Voice of Experience: Tina Shell, Managing Director of Client Operations for Citi’s U.S. Retail Bank and Mortgage Businesses

tina shell“People are what draw me to opportunities. When you build relationships, you want to follow those whom you admire,” says Citi’s Tina Shell. Now that she is in a position to inspire others, she is focused on helping her own team develop. “Sometimes I take a chance on someone, when their talent or commitment might not be obvious, but I help them grow and identify what they’re good at it,” she says.

And sometimes Shell finds people need help identifying potential paths; for example, in operations, where there appears to be just one ladder, it might be difficult to see all the other opportunities that are out there. “I believe in strengths more than weaknesses so when you help people see theirs, they can move onto paths they hadn’t seen for themselves.”

That philosophy has helped guide her successful career through a constantly evolving industry – one that barely existed when she first started out. As Shell puts it, her journey “just happened along the way.”

Radical Changes within an Industry

Shell started her career in the industry working the phones in call center operations for SPS Payment Systems to earn money while attending college. “It’s a tough job and it stays with you,” she says. And she stayed with it. While she remarks that it’s a career path you might never think of, since many people don’t even what call center operations is, it has grown to be an entire industry, one in which you can even now earn a degree.

She had planned to become a professor, so she earned her master’s degree while working full time at the center. Her next step was earning her Ph.D., but she felt as though she needed a break before plunging back into school. Her managers had been discussing her potential for management opportunities so she decided to give it a try.

With the web and online services just a fledgling product, she was assigned to the division as a special project, working with others outside her area to get it up and running. From there she was recruited to manage two outsourced contact centers based outside of Chicago.

The new opportunities gave her a solid foundation, and when a former boss joined Citi, she eventually followed him and has been there 15 years. Today she wears numerous hats: she leads Client Operations for Citi’s Retail Bank and Mortgage Businesses; is Functional Program lead for the North America Contact Center Operations Digital Strategy for centers that service Retail Bank, Mortgage and Credit Card clients; and serves as the site president of the 3,000-employee Citi Service Center in Florence, Kentucky.

As she looks back on the twists and turns the industry has taken, she says that “contact center operations has been turned on its ear.” The old model was about customers calling in, and now we are moving to a model where most of the servicing and communications will take place via online mobile app. “What excites me is that we aren’t sure yet where the model will land,” she says, underscoring the importance of choice whether it’s online or on the phone. “Omnichannel servicing is important and with it comes a different employee of the future,” she says. “We have to build a pipeline of employees who see these jobs as valuable.”

To that end, Tina and her team are always looking toward the job of the future and how they prepare for it. With 4,000 employees, the majority of whom are interacting with customers, the model will change going forward, which will have repercussions for recruitment, hiring and training. “You want to make sure that the people who are in the job today can do it tomorrow.”

Building Women’s Stature in the Industry

She advises women entering the industry to realize they might have to be open to taking on assignments and roles where they are a little uncomfortable. “Those are the opportunities that get you recognized and where you learn the most,” she says. She adds that she wishes that earlier on in her own career she had relaxed and not stressed about the little things that always eventually work themselves out.

She is a big believer in cultivating relationships and networks. “I am so thankful for the people I‘ve worked with who have influenced me, but it doesn’t just happen. You have to focus on deepening and growing the relationships. One of the best pieces of advice she has been given is to talk to at least one person every day where you’re just checking in with them, not asking them for something.”

And that extends to her peer group, whom she encourages to support and advocate for each other and identify opportunities for one another.

Building those relationships requires getting out of your silos and working across departments. Over the years she has found it beneficial to participate in groups that allowed her to learn more about the business and its offerings from a global perspective. “You learn more about others’ frame of reference and that helps you think about things differently when you go back to your desk.”

Finding a Balance

Shell says it’s vital that workplaces encourage flexible work environments. “It used to be that if you left five minutes early, there would be a boss who would point it out, ‘I see you’re only working half a day today.’ We’re all becoming more accepting.”

Finding time for balance and recharging means that she will unplug, and rely on the confidence she has in the capable people managing the business in her absence. A favorite getaway for that unplugging time? Beach vacations, spent with family and friends.

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Men Who Get It: Antonio (Tony) Castañon, Citi Retail Services, Managing Director and Sears Portfolio General Manager

Men Who Get It- Antonio (Tony) Castañon (F)Leaders who want to promote diversity and inclusion need to start from a place of curiosity, says Citi’s Antonio (Tony) Castañon. “They have to be curious about those they work around and listen to their stories, then open themselves up to being accepting of others.”

By doing so, they can work on embracing diverse teams and identifying members that will help the company formulate the right outcomes. “You have to be intentional in creating teams with different genders, races and diversity of thought.”

Castañon started working with Citi while going to college in Las Vegas and has been with the company for 26 years, interspersed with brief stints at Aetna US Healthcare and Sprint. He has spent most of his career in operations for Citi and Citi Retail Services, one of North America’s largest and most experienced retail credit solutions providers. He moved to a partner management role in Citi Retail Services three years ago. In his current position, he is responsible for the overall management of the business’ multi-billion dollar credit card relationship with Sears and its affiliates, including K-Mart and Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores (SHO).

Why Diversity Matters to Him

Diversity is not only paramount but also personal to Castañon, who can relate to inclusion issues as a Latino and as a recently out gay man. “It’s important for me to be active because of so many influential people in my life who have created a safe environment to succeed. I want to replicate that environment for others.”

He is especially attuned to discrimination, and is quick to engage in non-confrontational conversations when needed. For example, prior to coming out, he had heard some disparaging remarks about LGBT people and realized he had to say something.

“You always have to challenge people and hold them accountable by asking ‘why’ questions, such as ‘Why is this conversation appropriate?’ or ‘Why does that remark make sense in the context of our conversation?’ That opens the door to discussing the issue and bringing to light a potentially offensive remark that they might not have meant.”

Castañon understands what it means to “play a role” because he began his career as a married man before realizing that he needed to be who he was. “I told myself there would be consequences, but they ended up being largely self-perceived,” he says.

He had felt that the barrier would be insurmountable, but through time and self-discovery he realized he had to be true to who he really was.

“My life completely changed,” he says. “I felt so welcome and at ease and was fortunate in the fact that not one relationship, either professional or personal, was broken after I faced who I am.”

Opening the Door to Inclusion

As a supporter of Citi employee networks, Castañon helped launch one for Hispanic employees, and he seizes opportunities, when they arise, to provide advice and counsel to colleagues and others.

A highlight for him was participating as a key contributor for “Ready Set Risk,” a book that addresses how women need to be greater risk takers in the workplace. He shared stories of how he supports pushing women to take risk and offered practical examples of women and men who have helped champion women’s causes.

Over the years, he has worked as a sponsor and mentor to diverse coworkers in a variety of capacities, from offering consultative advice to providing direct feedback on ways women can strengthen their brand. His goal is always to champion open, transparent relationships.

Being true to himself allows him to be a role model for others.

Castañon believes that a supportive corporate culture is important for LGBT individuals because it unleashes their potential. “Previously I wasn’t able to give 100 percent because there was a part of me I didn’t want to share,” he says. “Living the double life is exhausting and consuming – being one way externally and another inside. Now I am my authentic self.”

He is incredibly proud of Citi’s long-term record of as a champion of diversity and specifically of all it has accomplished over the past 10 years. The company is a top sponsor of the Human Rights Campaign and a sponsor of Out and Equal in the Workplace, which brings equality to the workplace globally. Citi also has been involved with Out Leadership, sponsoring its fourth annual “Out on the Street Summit” in the US, where Citi’s CEO delivered a keynote address. “I feel pretty proud about working for a company that values diversity and supports it tangibly,” he says. “Whether it’s women’s, LGBT or racial networks, the company has demonstrated the importance of an inclusive culture.”

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Voice of Experience: Molly McCombe, Managing Director and Chief Marketing Officer, Citi Retail Services

Molly McCombe “If you see an issue impacting the business, jump in, even if it’s a problem you haven’t solved before,” says Citi Retail Services’ Molly McCombe. “Often, women put a higher burden on themselves to have specific content knowledge about an issue and wait to be asked to solve a problem, whereas men just jump in,” she says, adding that her own tendency to stick to safe projects might have limited her at the beginning of her career. “But now I have more confidence and will raise my hand even if I’m not the expert. There’s plenty of truth to the adage, ‘Fake it till you make it.’”

From Strategy to Leadership

After completing her undergraduate degree in finance at the Questrom School of Business at Boston University, McCombe began her career in a commercial credit training program where she was placed in a lending position, climbing the ladder to become a vice president. She began to consider other possibilities in the business world and honed in on management consulting, attracted by its opportunities to solve a variety of challenging business problems. Setting her sights on that career path, she reverse engineered what it would take to get there and realized a top-tier business school was a must.

After earning her M.B.A. from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, she joined McKinsey & Company and became a consultant for financial services firms, a role she found both fascinating and challenging. Eventually she realized that she was ready to move to an operational role, where she could “practice what she was preaching,” and took a strategic role in the credit card group at HSBC, where she held a variety of positions, including leading business development, digital marketing and product development. She joined Citi in 2011 as part of Citi Retail Services, the division responsible for providing credit cards and related services to stores such as The Home Depot, Macy’s, Best Buy and many more. In her CMO role she is responsible for all aspects of joint credit marketing and analytics between Citi and the retailers, from campaign development and management through execution and assessment, as well as leading Citi’s digital marketing, loyalty, and research groups.

One of the achievements she’s most proud of is making the transition from a strategist and advisor to a manager and operator. “It’s been a 180-degree turn. I love both jobs because they’re different and yet they inform one another,” she says. She enjoys the strategic side — working on thorny problems and helping the client see them through — and also appreciates the day-to-day aspects of leading geographically dispersed teams and tackling tactical and operational issues. “I am a better leader and manager because I’ve done both,” McCombe says.

Managing the marketing of credit card programs with leading retailers puts her in a front row seat to what’s new in both the banking and retailing industries, and she is fascinated by the changing ways that people approach shopping.

“Consumers are in the driver’s seat in how they interact with retailers now, because they can leverage so much information to make informed purchases,” she says. No longer is it just about finding product and price information online, but also considering peer reviews about products and sharing experiences.

“At the same time, consumers are increasingly open to building deeper relationships with retailers,” McCombe explains. “Part of the value we bring to retailers is our experience in this area. We’re using our understanding of consumer preferences to drive more relevant offers to our retailer’s customers and enhance market share for our retail partners.”

The Advantage of Being a Women

McCombe says that women can be discouraged when they don’t see as many women farther up the ladder, which will continue to be a deterrent until the payments industry can promote and retain women at multiple levels. “It’s a challenge to say ‘I’m passionate about this industry, and I’m going to jump in,’ when there aren’t many women on the upper rungs,” she says, citing a niece who just graduated from Northwestern University who had remarked on the lack of women in senior roles. But she advocates that young women view it instead as an incredibly relevant place for women since they are the primary decision makers in households on budgeting and how money is spent. “A savvy organization is going to want that experience and input, whether they’re evaluating their product offerings or their payment options. Since I started, there is a much greater appreciation for a woman’s perspective in this business, and the opportunities are endless.”

And as women do rise to leadership positions, she says they should be sure that they are still focused on growing, learning and taking on cross-functional roles to avoid being pigeonholed.

Grow Your Network to Grow Your Career

Along the way McCombe has appreciated the opportunity to mentor and grow other professionals throughout the years, both on the consulting and corporate side. “I have been able to create a strong network around the globe that is both professionally and personally rewarding.”

She encourages women to participate in programs at their workplace for both educational and networking benefits. “These are terrific forums for junior women who want to get to know senior women; it’s a way to demystify and humanize these senior leaders. When you build personal relationships, you find out they’re just like anyone else, and I found that very empowering.”

She finds that these connections often lead to informal mentoring relationships, the type that are grounded in commonality. “It’s so helpful to have an off-the-record sounding board, where you can talk about challenges and get input on how to handle them. Mentorship and connectivity is incredibly powerful and will help retain women,” she says.

A Rewarding Personal Life

Married to a hospitality professional who owns three restaurants, McCombe appreciates that it has gotten her connected to the Chicago dining scene and its farm-to-table movement.

And McCombe remains connected to her undergraduate alma mater — serving on the Dean’s Advisory Board at the Questrom School of Management at Boston University — for a very important reason: She was able to attend Boston University thanks to an academic scholarship, and now is committed to paying it forward by sponsoring a scholarship for undergraduate women studying finance and analytics. “It’s very gratifying to be able to give back to an institution that gave me my start, and to support the next generation of women business leaders,” she says.

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Voice of Experience: Nikki Darden, Program Director for Global Rewards, Citi

Nikki Darden, CitiWhen Nikki Darden was first starting her career, she took care to conform to cultural norms. “I would look at those who were successful and think I had to dress like them or present myself the same way,” she says. “But I know now that the more comfortable you are with yourself, the more you drive value for your employer with the qualities that differentiate you.

“I’m a Southerner; I’m a woman; and I’m a minority. I used to water it down, but now I embrace those traits that make me who I am.”

Finding a Career Path That Resonated

Darden has spent her entire career in financial services, although not as a banker. She started with NationsBank in Charlotte (now Bank of America) as a marketing analyst and then moved into the team that was focused on what was then called “PC banking.” As the predecessor to internet banking, customers would receive floppy disks to do banking on their home computers, a very advanced service at the time.

While involved with planning and launching new products, she became frustrated with what seemed to be a lack of customer focus, mainly an understanding of the impact of initiatives on customers. She requested a move to a branch management leadership program where she rotated through four branches over a year to learn how to run a branch. It was a critical juncture in her career as it changed her trajectory. She realized that she didn’t want to be in sales, but rather that she was more interested in how customers consumed and interacted with products and services.

For the following few years, she worked for a strategic research firm in Washington, D.C., that was focused on financial services, followed by 12 years at American Express focused on loyalty and engagement.

For five years she has performed a similar function at Citi, expanding to include a strategic focus on rewards. “I enjoy my work that puts the customer first and creates solutions that enrich their lives, while growing revenue for the business,” she says.

Constant Challenges, Constant Learning

Each day is full of new challenges, none more so than what she’s currently working on, “this baby I’ve recently birthed and now am bringing up through toddlerhood,” she says.

And that is launching a consistent rewards program on a global scale. Initially they intended to roll out the same program everywhere, but soon found that it needed to be localized to deliver consistent value across markets. “My role is constantly challenging and I learn something new every single day. I’m confident that has never happened in my previous positions,” she says.

The loyalty industry is always growing, with the challenge of taking advantage of innovations without watering down the value proposition and making loyalty programs a commodity. “We want our customers to engage with Citi in a meaningful manner and feel emotionally connected to the brand and what it offers,” she says.

Embracing the Value You Bring

Darden finds it energizing to see the ways women are revolutionizing the loyalty industry. “There are some incredibly inspiring women who are bringing unique perspectives to the table,” she says, citing their value in creating the emotional connection that drives revenues.

She believes mentors can help drive career success; she herself has leveraged several mentors and created champions to help position herself throughout her career. At Citi she now finds herself as a mentor, both formally and informally, to several younger women across the organization. “It’s important to help them think strategically about their long-term careers as well as gaining valuable insight on day-to-day interactions – to have someone with more experience to bounce ideas off of,” she says.

And for both younger women and men, she urges them to be their authentic selves, but also to remember that their boss is not a millennial. The great energy and ways you challenge traditional thinking is absolutely needed, she tells them, while also reminding them to understand their audience. “Try to communicate in a way that brings them in instead of shutting them out. In a large company you are dealing with superiors who are not necessarily like you so you need to respect that.”

At the same time, she is enjoying learning from others around her about both the global arena and the digital experience, two areas of rapid growth that are relatively new to her. “Those of us who are more established need to push the boundaries and engage with whatever trend is next. That’s how we stay sharp and show value,” she says.

A Travel Bug

Darden recently developed a passion for travel, now taking the time to explore with colleagues when on a work trip. Through Citi’s Global Talent Development program, where employees spend six months abroad, she visited Brazil, which she says was her turning point to becoming someone who wanted to explore new cultures rather than just take a vacation. “I’m more interested in learning about cultures and consumers in a different place,” she says. “The best part is that it is also relevant to my job.”

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Voice Of Experience: Carol Johnson, Senior Vice President, Global Consumer Technology, Citi

Getting Comfortable With Discomfort
 
Carol Johnson, CitiWomen can have a tendency to stay in their comfort zone for too long, says Carol Johnson, Senior Vice President, Global Consumer Technology, at Citi. “Along the way I was fortunate to have people who encouraged me to explore new roles, which was pivotal to my success. It’s tempting to stay where you know your role well, but you can have more impact on a higher plain by leveraging what you know and bringing it to a new platform.” In fact, Johnson says that one of the keys to success is to take the next step in your career before you think you’re ready, which requires adapting to operating in an uncomfortable zone at any stage of your career.
 
And those moves outside her comfort zone are precisely what’s helped Johnson ascend the ladder.Her first position as a computer programmer piqued her interest in the field, spurring her to continue her academic pursuits at night in computer engineering. That led to an IT role at a regional bank, where she held various positions from developer to systems analyst, and eventually worked into a technical team manager role. When the bank was acquired and went through organizational changes, she chose to view it as an opportunity, rather than a setback. “That role had set me up for career success: I had learned new technology, increased my professional network and had advanced into a role as a manager,” she says.
 
Moving Up Through the Ranks
 
A management stint at another bank followed, and then she was contacted by an individual  from a leadership network she was part of, who had moved to Citi and offered her a new challenge there as a program manager to help replatform Citi’s credit processing on the consumer side. The challenge of reengineering the system rounded out many of Johnson’s skills, and led to another similar opportunity but on a much larger scale: replatforming the customer service desktop system for North America Cards.
 
This new role led to the professional achievement she is most proud of so far – playing a leadership role contributing to the system from code to deployment. “I am very proud that the system is still used all over the world and gave me the opportunity to shine in a stretch role.”
 
Her next move was back as an individual contributor as chief of staff, where she was able to expand her network with other leaders and into various other lines of business. This valuable experience led to another program management role, followed by a senior development leadership role. “Every day I’m challenged,” she says, working on transformative projects where no one has a concrete answer. “You partner with people inside and outside the organization to gain knowledge and best practices.”
 
At present, one area of particular interest for her is incorporating aspects of behavioral science into operating models, which before were rooted in process, software development and life cycles and now have evolved to include team dynamics as well as more robust information that helps to understand customers and their buying trends. “Today, product development is customer feedback-driven. You watch Twitter to see which features they like, and adapt to take that into account,” Johnson says. “It’s so different from the past, where we laid out defined requirements and drove development to get there.” She sees this model translate to team organization as well, where you can see the benefits of people working together rather than in siloes.
 
 
Network and Pivot to Move Up
 
Reflecting on her career, Johnson says she wishes she had worked earlier to expand her network to colleagues in more senior roles. “It wasn’t until late in my career that it was demystified – senior-level professionals seem to know everything, but when you get to know them, you recognize that they are puzzled by things as well. They just have developed techniques to help them with making decisions and involving subject matter experts where appropriate.”
 
She has seen that by extending your network outside your immediate management stream or area of expertise, you gain access to a wider range of people from whom you’ll receive mentoring and sponsorship, which helps you feel more at home when you take those risks.
 

One of these networking opportunities has come to Johnson through her membership in Citi’s Women’s Network. “This program has helped me expand my network of women leaders at all levels of the organization and learn that they too were challenged by what I’ve faced. Hearing their stories can be so helpful.”

 

In addition, she is active in the Women in Technology initiative that Citi launched in 2013 to encourage more girls in junior high and high schools to consider the many opportunities that exist in the tech field. “I have a passion for this as I wish there had been something similar when I was that age.”
 
Recharging Outside Work
 
Though Johnson says she didn’t consider herself an athlete in high school, she took up running five years ago and finished her first marathon three years ago. “It’s not only a wonderful release, but it has helped me see that although I’m not an expert, I can conquer it.”
 
With a diverse and rich friend and family network, she feels grounded and reinvigorated by spending time with them. “I encourage young women to not compartmentalize their lives but look at their family as partners in their career. They are invested in your success as well, and you can find a lot of support and insight you didn’t even know was there.”
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Voice of Experience: Leslie McNamara Managing Director, Partnership Management, Citi Retail Services

Leslie McNamara -Portrait image“Your career is a marathon not a sprint,” says Citi’s Leslie McNamara. “I spent my early years focusing on a vertical career path and how I could achieve the next level, but over the course of my career, I’ve learned it’s been the horizontal moves that expanded my horizons the most and helped me develop entirely new networks that have paid off.”

McNamara has been in her current role since 2011, providing strategic direction and oversight for Citi Retail Services’ private label and co-brand credit card programs. She has spent the past 30 years either in or serving financial institutions in consumer lending business lines.

Early on she heard the career advice to “follow the money,” and she took it to heart, aligning herself with revenue-producing P and L management roles, with work that has been rooted in relationship management. In her current role she works closely with Citi Retail Services’ “partners” — the retailers the business represents. This requires a clear understanding of what drives sales for retailers and how credit programs contribute to the bottom line.

Despite earning impressive career wins, McNamara always focuses on her future potential and what she will deliver to the business. “I prefer to look through the windshield rather than in the rear view mirror,” she says, adding that there are two times professionals should reflect on their past: when translating experiences to qualifications for new roles and when self-assessing at the end of the year. Even then, she feels that while annual reviews might incorporate a retrospective, the summary should focus on how you will apply what you’ve done to your next stage. “Your biggest career achievement should be what you are going to do next week or next month and not what you’ve done in the past,” she says.

Using Research to Benefit Retail Partners

Currently, McNamara is enjoying her involvement with a series of projects and initiatives supporting the engagement of millennials in the business. One particular project involves collaborating with the human resources group to define best practices around proactively hiring and creating an environment that nurtures millennials and shows them the fulfilling career paths available at Citi.

And, she is sponsoring a complementary project with students from the University of Arizona’s Terry J. Lundgren Center for Retailing that mines Citi data and solicits insights into how millennials are thinking about shopping and how they differ from previous generations. Among the findings have been that millennials might be a little delayed in their spend behaviors but ultimately look similar to previous generations.

“Citi Retail Services has a vast repository of information and ancillary data sources that allow us to be uniquely positioned to probe to find patterns. Our goal is to provide this value to our retailer partners. We want to help them supplement their own research and understand trends in the future of retail and how our business can capitalize on them.”

Other findings include that the economy has fundamentally changed since the Great Recession, including not only enormous shifts in the regulatory environment but also generational thinking about relationships with credit.

“There’s a new face to U.S. consumerism based on where we buy and how we pay,” she says, “and we have to understand spending trends and the future of retail, including issues the credit industry will face as we work to help our retailer partners be successful with strategies that address loyalty and media placement, for example.”

The Shift in Role Models

When McNamara began her career, there was a dearth of female role models. “I wasn’t able to see others who had successful career patterns, but I’ve seen a big shift in the past five to 10 years, both within Citi and throughout the industry.” Now she says she sees women who head up businesses and hold significant titles. “I can envision that success for myself, and I know that other generations can see it too. There has been a significant shift in the pipeline toward a more equitabledistribution of candidates.”

She suggests that young women starting their careers need to be more willing to take risks and display more confidence in their abilities. And she believes that women at her level need to continue to focus on advocacy and pulling others through.

One caveat she has for millennial women starting out is that they come from a different perspective where their surroundings have been more equitable and they haven’t been exposed to noticeable gender differences. However, as they join a multi-generational workplace, they might be surprised to find a different mindset and realize that it is still important to make connections with women’s networks or diversity networks. “Younger women need to understand how to navigate workplaces that might not reflect their previous experiences with gender parity.”

McNamara has been active in Citi’s programs for women at various points in her career with the company. Early on, she participated in the Women Leading Citi program when it was just forming and has seen firsthand its value in networking and opportunities among graduates. “The mentoring and advisory components have been very powerful to me, and I have also benefitted from seeing other women I’ve sponsored and mentored succeed.” Motivated by the company’s efforts, she recently became executive sponsor for the local Citi Women’s network at her site in Wilmington.

Diva Worthy

McNamara readily acknowledges her husband, whom she calls her “life partner,” chose to be a work at home dad to help support her travel schedule. “I simply couldn’t have had this career path without him,” she says. She has a 20-year-old son, an Eagle Scout who is currently a junior at High Point University. “He frequently reminds me that everything I encounter is a first-world problem,” she says with a laugh.

And, she just enjoyed one of the highlights of her year: the annual “Diva Weekend,” which includes a cadre of women who have worked together over the years. The multi-generational group is composed of different life stages, from a newlywed to a couple of grandmas. “This long weekend is the perfect combination of personal and professional advice, food and fun, and it is inspirational through and through.”

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Voice Of Experience: Lisa O’Donnell, Managing Director, Business Operational Risk and Control Management, Global Consumer Group, Citi

women in technology“Focus on achieving your passion, not a job title” to achieve career success and happiness according to Lisa O’Donnell, Managing Director at Citi. O’Donnell knows this trick from experience. If she had defined her career by a particular job title, she would most likely still be wearing dark suits and selling mainframe computers – albeit with a bigger title. Instead, she has leveraged her skills as a builder and someone who “connects the dots” and created a career where she works to engage Citi’s retail banking customers all while reducing risk.

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Voice of Experience, Christina Mohr, Managing Director at Citi

Christina Mohr describes herself as “solidly an M&A person,” a statement reflected by her 34-year career on the Street. One of the first analysts on Wall Street in 1978, she became the first female partner in Mergers and Acquisitions at Lazard Freres, prior to joining Salomon Brothers (which became part of Citi), where she has built her career ever since.

Though she has run different coverage groups – including retail, consumer and media – M&A is what she most enjoys and where she excels.

“The M&A business is focused squarely on our clients,” says Mohr. “I am proud of the fact that after 34 years, I still have clients who seek out my counsel. I consider it an honor and a privilege, and it’s what keeps the business interesting and fresh to me.”

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Voice of Experience: Maria Hackley, Managing Director, Global Financial Institution Group, Citi

The Glass Hammer is celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month by featuring profiles of Hispanic Women Business Leaders all week long!

Maria Hackley believes that women need to ensure they are as well prepared as their male counterparts to rise in the corporate world. Women and men are hired in almost equal amounts as undergraduates, but as they climb the ladder, the numbers change. “Be assertive in a respectful manner, but make sure your voice is heard,” she says.

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