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Voice of Experience: Julie Silverman, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs

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Julie SilvermanFor Goldman’s Julie Silverman, coming out to her colleagues was an important statement, particularly due to the small number of openly lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people working in the financial services industry at the time. She acknowledges that while support of LGBT people in the workplace has increased dramatically, the need to raise awareness is not over.

“When each person comes out, there’s a meaningful trickle-down effect to everyone around them,” she says. “I come out every day in regular conversation. I talk about my wife and have pictures of my kids all over my office. For me, my identity is very public, and it’s important to me to be able to bring my whole self to work. Being out has allowed me to focus my energy on doing the best job I can and I hope I serve as a role model for those who might consider coming out in the workplace.”

From Restaurants to Banking

Silverman’s path to the financial services industry could be called unconventional. After graduating from Brown University, she began work as a manager at Pastis, a restaurant in New York City’s Meatpacking District.

There, she honed skills that would prove to be highly relevant to her future banking career. “At 23, I was managing a large group of diverse people, an experience that put me on the front line solving problems, from employee dynamics to customer service,” she says. Noting that restaurant staff can be transient, she took an organizational perspective on how to reduce attrition and improve the continuity of service.

She also developed problem solving skills and the ability to stay calm under pressure while working in the fast-paced restaurant environment. “The hallmark of my management style was instituting a degree of fairness throughout the restaurant, and I continue to implement that in my role today,” she says. “Employees may disagree with you, but if they sense you’re fair, they are more likely to respect your decisions.”

After her time at Pastis, Silverman earned her MBA at Stanford with the hope of enhancing her understanding of business. She joined Goldman Sachs as a summer associate in the Investment Banking Division and returned as a full-time associate in 2006. She then served as the business unit manager for Equity Capital Markets and Leveraged Finance, and later became chief of staff for the Mergers & Acquisitions Group and the Financial Sponsors Group. Now a managing director, she is currently head of the division’s junior banker program.

“I’m proud of the work we’re doing to enhance the junior banker experience,” she said. “This population is critical to the success of our business, and we recognize that we need to make changes that will provide these employees with development opportunities and make them excited to come to and stay at the firm.” Changes Goldman Sachs announced late last year to the program include a faster promotion timeline, a rotational assignment to a new group and the help of new technology to improve execution efficiency.

Silverman wishes she realized earlier in her career that investment banking can be very entrepreneurial. She noted that she hesitated to pursue a career in financial services following the completion of her undergraduate degree because she didn’t realize so many options were available. “There are opportunities in banking to develop a variety of different skill sets. You’re building your own business on behalf of the firm, which allows you to be creative, thoughtful and chart your own course in many ways,” she says.

She urges analysts and associates to choose a role that’s intellectually stimulating, but that also allows them to achieve goals outside of work, whether spending time with family and friends or volunteering.

Growing Acceptance of LGBT Issues

In the 10 years Silverman has worked at Goldman Sachs, she says the firm’s continual evolution supporting LGBT issues has experienced a “large shift in a relatively short time.” She notes that while there were previously only two or three people who were out in the Investment Banking Division, these numbers have risen.

She is particularly pleased with the growth of the firm’s Ally program, where senior people across the organization publicly indicate their support for their LGBT colleagues by placing “Ally” signs on their doors, as a way to show employees that this is a place where they can be out and be comfortable.

Although Silverman came out many years ago, she notes that having children requires LGBT people to come out on a continual basis. “When you tell people that you have children, there is still an assumption that you are straight. If you correct that assumption, then the questions start about how you had your children,” she says. “It can put you in the awkward position of deciding how much detail is appropriate to share with a client or new colleague. These are issues we continue to face every day.” Still, she says, it’s important to be able to bring your whole self to work and find an organization like Goldman that is supportive of that.

Giving Back Within and Outside the Firm

Silverman believes that giving back is critically important, and she has been pleased that the firm has given her the ability to balance volunteer work and her career. Giving back helps to keep her grounded. “It offers a great perspective when you can leave your work and do something to help others,” she says.

Internally, she has served on Goldman’s LGBT steering committee and has organized Pride Month activities. She also works with junior women in informal mentoring relationships. “It’s important for senior women to realize that we’ve all benefited from mentorship and now it’s our turn to give it back to those who are coming up at the firm,” she says. “We have to help each other and avoid competition.”

Outside of work she is equally busy with philanthropic efforts, serving as a member of the Junior Advisory Board of the Innocence Project and as vice chairman of the board for the Hope Project, a non-profit work readiness organization in Brooklyn that trains people in poverty to help find sustainable employment. She admires the work of the Hope Project, as the organization not only provides skills training but also teaches mindfulness and the ability to cope with workplace challenges. “It’s intensive, but the results are some of the best in the country,” she says.

And of course, her main priority is being a present and primary parent to her two children, ages six and four, alongside her wife.

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Voice of Experience: Wendy Yun, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs

Wendy YunEvery experience offers learning opportunities and skills that can be applicable in the future, believes Goldman Sachs’ Wendy Yun. “Maximize every opportunity,” she says. “If you’re involved in meetings or invited to work on special projects, it’s always important to be prepared, think ahead about potential issues or action steps, have confidence to express your ideas or concerns and in general, find ways to add value.”

Building a Successful Career from Past Experiences

Yun began her career as a private practice attorney focusing on securitizations and structured products. She joined Goldman Sachs in 2006 and now oversees a team of lawyers and negotiators who cover derivatives and other products globally on behalf of the firm’s Investment Management Division.

While one of her proudest professional achievements is her promotion to managing director in 2012, she says she is equally proud of her role in helping members of her team develop their own voice and identity as professionals.

Reflecting on her career, Yun has realized the importance of being open to new challenges and of maximizing new opportunities. As a junior lawyer, she hoped to specialize in collateralized loan obligations and other securitized products, but was often assigned other types of deals and transactions as well. “Initially, I thought these projects were a distraction from my primary focus,” she says. “But over time I realized that having the opportunity to work on a variety of assignments helped me become a better lawyer by diversifying my skill set and expanding my outlook.”

And, she adds, learning opportunities that shape your perspective may come from jobs or experiences that might not be related to your current career path. “I tell junior lawyers that having a range of experiences, including waitressing in high school or working as a legal assistant before law school, helped me develop interpersonal and other skills that I rely on today in my current role,” Yun noted. “I learned early on that you must be adept at multi-tasking and prioritizing competing requests while simultaneously being sensitive to your clients’ specific needs and preferences and managing different personalities.”

That mindset will serve professionals well throughout their careers, which often take twists and turns they don’t envision, Yun says. In her current role, Yun spends an increasing amount of time analyzing and implementing new regulations that apply to derivatives and other products utilized by her businesses. While the work deviates from the transactions and trading agreements that her team negotiates, she finds it fascinating to observe the process of how new regulations are developed through her involvement with industry trade associations and meetings with regulators.

She also finds it important to maintain a global perspective on understanding how rules from multiple jurisdictions might differ. “As we support global businesses, we constantly have to be aware of how various regulations could affect our transactions with other multi-national organizations and our clients worldwide.”

Opportunities for Women

Yun has seen increased opportunities for women in the financial sector and is active in helping others build their skills. She believes that fostering women’s ambition can start at an early age and currently mentors a high school junior who is preparing for college through the Student Sponsor Partners program. She also serves on the Women’s Leadership Council of her alma mater Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., to help prepare female graduates to enter the workforce.

In addition, Yun mentors junior people at the firm and encourages them to develop their professional identity as thought leaders. “At Goldman Sachs we have a culture that encourages teamwork, but women also need to find their own voice and develop leadership skills.”

Yun finds that some women, even at senior levels, may be more risk adverse than male counterparts in taking positions, sharing views or asking questions. Over time and based on the responsibilities that Yun has been given in the course of her career, she has developed a greater willingness to express her perspectives among leaders in the business, with colleagues in her department and others in the industry. She also recognizes the importance that mentors have had in helping her to develop this greater confidence. “I would encourage women to seek advice and feedback from peers or mentors and not hesitate to ask questions and share thoughts,” she urges. “Take advantage of the support network you have through mentors, sponsors and colleagues.”

Use Travel to Develop a Global Understanding

An avid traveler, Yun encourages everyone to get out of their comfort zone and travel to develop a global perspective of the world. She cites her studies in Moscow as an experience that instilled in her a new outlook at a relatively young age. “Entering a culture where people did not have access to basic goods fundamentally changed my outlook and priorities,” she says. “Travel positively alters your view of not only global issues, but also your perspective of your own life.”

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Voice of Experience: Wendy Mahmouzian, America’s Head of Corporate Services and Real Estate and Global Head of Hospitality, Goldman Sachs

Wendy MahmouzianThe ability to recognize and support talent and lead diverse teams in a high-performance environment, along with a keen appreciation for people’s individual balance between work and personal lives, have significantly contributed to Wendy Mahmouzian’s career. She has not only found the right work/life balance for herself, but supports this pursuit among the teams she leads.

“You have to understand that we’re all somewhere different on the work/life spectrum, and there’s no one answer to the question on how to achieve balance. It’s up to you to determine what it takes to make you feel comfortable and allow you to bring your best self to work,” she says. “It might be your family, sports, culture or education that allows you to achieve that balance, enabling you to bring 100 percent of yourself to work and perform at your best.”

For Mahmouzian, performing at her best has meant constantly learning new skills and being willing to take on new challenges, all while continuously looking for ways to solve problems and create new opportunities for clients. During her 20-year career at Goldman Sachs, she has spent the latter half with the Corporate Services and Real Estate (CSRE) team, first as global chief of staff and now as head of the team for the Americas and global head of hospitality. She joined the firm in the Global Investment Research division and subsequently co-managed the Securities e-Commerce group. Common themes in all of her positions have been contributing to transformative change and enhancing engagement with clients.

A Diverse Set of Priorities That Range From Crisis Response to Sustainability

One of Mahmouzian’s most significant undertakings was leading the team in 2009 that opened the firm’s world headquarters at 200 West Street, overseeing the startup of operations and multi-month migration of employees to the new building. Ensuring that everyone in the new headquarters could be productive on day one was a significant undertaking.

She remains focused on improving the firm’s workplace strategy to respond to business needs and creating a high-performance environment that enables the flow of business, promotes client engagement, maximizes productivity and reflects the firm’s commitment to sustainability and inclusion. She is currently involved in a number of projects, including refurbishing existing buildings, developing new campuses and ensuring that the firm’s spaces meet the needs of employees, clients and guests.

Reviewing past milestones, Mahmouzian notes the vital role her team plays in supporting the firm during key events, including Superstorm Sandy. During the 2012 storm, she organized the team that managed the firm’s response. “We focused on protecting the firm’s assets, particularly its people, and making sure that the business remained up and running throughout the storm and its aftermath,” says Mahmouzian. “The intersection of planning, communication, managing risk and being nimble enabled the team to ensure the firm’s business continuity and was a hallmark of our response.”

Mahmouzian also helps manage the firm’s environmental and operational impacts through innovative strategies in energy efficiency, investments in green building and initiatives to ensure a sustainable and inclusive supply chain.

Advice Along the Career Ladder

For Mahmouzian, patience and listening were skills she developed over time, but she also notes the importance of individuals’ establishing their own voice and speaking up. “You have to learn how to balance soliciting the opinions of team members with articulating your own view as well,” she says.

She also advises women, especially those early in their careers, not to be deterred by a historically male-dominated field like real estate, but to seek as role models more experienced women who have succeeded professionally in the space. “Your capabilities will make you successful, so don’t be intimidated by a room full of people that look different from you.”

While Mahmouzian also supports hospitality, a typically female-dominated field, she says it’s important for both hospitality and real estate to cast a wide net and seek diverse talent that is accretive to the team and delivers for clients.

“Embrace the strengths of those around you and use them to your advantage – engage, encourage and enable,” she says, adding that as she has become more senior, a big part of her job is supporting high-potential talent and creating a platform for their success.

Helping Evolve Women’s Initiatives

One of the projects that Mahmouzian undertook in the CSRE division was to help formalize the division’s women’s network. A cornerstone of this effort was establishing a signature women’s conference that features speakers and a wide range of professional development initiatives to enhance participants’ skills. Over the years this conference has evolved into a global event via video conferencing. She is also proud that many male colleagues have increased their attendance and advocacy. “It’s gratifying that they are eager to support and sustain broader efforts to advance women in the firm,” she noted.

Work/Family Balance Comes From Being Present in the Moment

For Mahmouzian, balance depends on being present in the moment. “With today’s technology, demands are coming from all different angles, and we need to remember that five minutes of focused attention on a challenge or in a discussion will yield a better outcome than an hour of distracted work. Take the time to listen, interpret and have a clear mind,” she says.

She brings that ethic home to her husband and two daughters, whom she calls her “support network.” Being present in the moment is the best way to ensure we have quality time, she says, adding that they love to ski and value the time they spend together as a family.

Superstorm Sandy offered a situation that allowed her to test the merits of this approach. Her family understood that she needed to continue working throughout the weekend in response to the storm: “They knew that in this crisis, my focus was to protect the firm and our people, and they gave me the freedom to do what I needed to do.” As the crisis subsided, her work team returned the favor, ensuring she could hand over the reins to be with her family. “Being present is the cornerstone of success, whether it’s work or family.”

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Voice of Experience: Marie Louise Kirk, Partner, Goldman Sachs

Marie Louise Kirk, Goldman Sachs“If you’re surrounded by inspiring people, junior or senior, you’ll be able to work through complex problems,” says Marie Louise Kirk. “They become your source of energy and creativity.” She recommends that professionals develop friendships with the colleagues around them and notes that the relationships she has cultivated throughout her career at Goldman Sachs have helped her succeed. “We all have tough days once in a while, but you have to move on and not let those frustrations inhibit your success. My office friends always help me do that,” Kirk advises.

As Kirk puts it, she is “Goldman Sachs born and bred,” initially joining the firm as an intern. She is now head of FICC Client-facing Engineers for the Americas, responsible for client strategies and solutions. Kirk also serves on the Firmwide Technology Risk Committee and the Securities Division Client and Business Standards Committee.

Originally from Denmark, she was the first in her family to attend university abroad, after being accepted to Harvard. “I come from many generations of Vikings so it was a huge deal when I got a scholarship to attend Harvard from the Crown Prince of Denmark.” She also ended up meeting her now-husband as a classmate at Harvard University.

She describes her experience at Harvard as “eye opening and life changing,” and now serves as a trustee on the board of the Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark Fund for Harvard University.

Although many companies came on campus to recruit, Kirk says that she was won over at her first Goldman event hosted on campus, because of a connection she made with a senior female professional at the firm. “She was so relatable and passionate about her work,” Kirk said. After interviews in Boston and London, Kirk was offered an internship in London on the trading floor. She began working full time as an interest rate derivative trader following graduation. “Trading was at the heart of where things were happening,” she says, describing it as very dynamic, though with a steep learning curve, where she received lots of opportunities to learn.

Data Shows the Way

After several years on the trading desk, Kirk realized that she wanted to become a financial engineer because she enjoyed the quant work, but also wanted to work with clients. Reflecting on this role Kirk says, “This is what I’m passionate about.”

In 2006, Kirk transitioned to the engineering team, and in 2008 she was asked to move to New York to lend her expertise. She arrived in New York two weeks before Lehman Brothers went under and at the time there was a need for her derivative skill set: “Quant skills come in especially handy in tough times,” she says.

In her current job, she appreciates that the role allows her to find solutions for clients – she says she does her best to help clients make money and manage risk and their businesses better.

The advancements in data science and machine learning for how the firm services its clients better are exciting aspects of her work. “We are really figuring out how we can be more relevant to our clients at the right time with the right content.” Kirk notes that her team lets “data be a leading indicator to help guide us and give clients the best and most relevant service possible.”

Although the firm’s risk-management activities have always been driven by data, Goldman Sachs is now starting to apply data to a much larger extent in other areas. Data can create huge efficiency improvements, Kirk says, as well as smarter, more scientific decision-making in areas that were previously driven by more subjective analysis, anecdotes and gut-feeling.

“The change that has taken place in the last couple of years and what’s predicted for the near-term is mind blowing,” she says. “Through data and technology there will increasingly be ways that machines can perform the more manual functions that humans have had to do. It will allow all of us to focus more on the high-value activities in our business.”

Proudest Achievement is Facilitating Success for Next Generation

Kirk says she was proud to be named a managing director in 2009 and partner in 2012, but that she’s most proud of her role in building next generation. “Recruiting talented people, coaching them with the right mix of support and push and ultimately seeing them flourish is wonderful,” Kirk says. “Helping create the next generation of successful leaders is a true legacy. And now seeing them naturally turn around and start supporting and pulling up the generation behind them makes me even prouder and, frankly, quite emotional.”

As Kirk says, “It’s gratifying to know there is a virtuous cycle that will benefit generations that will last way past any one person’s time at Goldman Sachs.”

Savvy Advice on Perfectionism

When asked what advice she wishes she’d known earlier in her career, Kirk notes that no great advice can replace the personal growth that comes from a journey of ups and downs. “No life is perfect. No career is perfect. The sooner you find peace with that truth, the sooner you will find your path to success.” She cites Winston Churchill’s quote: “Success is not final; failure is not fatal; it’s the courage to continue that counts.”

She sees that many people in the workforce, especially those of us with Type A tendencies, become obsessed with perfection and the perception of perfection, but she advises peers and junior employees to be comfortable with not always trying to be perfect.

“To be really creative and innovative, you have to push boundaries and give it your all,” she says. “You have to keep the right balance between being on your toes, but not so obsessed with perfection or fear of failure that you become scared of your own shadow.” Managers are critical in providing the psychological safety to help overcome some of these issues and create an environment of authenticity and ability to be your own diverse self, she says.

Kirk warns that when you apply that same standard of perfectionism to marriage, kids and friends on top of work, you will break.

“If you aim for perfection, you may feel you have to choose between being the best at work and in your personal life and that you can’t do both. But if you change your attitude and approach, you may end up doing both better.”

Throughout her years at Goldman Sachs, Kirk has been involved in many of the firm’s internal programs, and she has found that one element they have all had in common is the social glue of community and connectivity, which have helped her remain excited to go to work every day.

A Full Life Outside of Work

Currently expecting her third daughter, Kirk says she has her hands full with two other girls, ages 10 and 5, and a husband with a thriving career of his own.

Yet she still finds time to nurture girls on the path to STEM careers. “It’s upsetting when I see them lean out, and often at such a young age, all because of stereotypes,” she says. “It’s fine to make a conscious choice at 16, but sometimes they start opting out at age 6 before they understand their true talent and interests.”

In her family, it’s easy to focus on women who are successful at math. “We good-naturedly ridicule dad, who’s not a math guy,” she laughs. “For now my daughters think math is a girl thing.”

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Margaret Anadu, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs

Margaret AnaduPatience. That’s a word that Margaret Anadu, managing director at Goldman Sachs, would recommend to others in the industry, especially her millennial cohorts.

“There is some truth to the millennial stereotype that we want everything in business right away,” she says. “But I’ve found that the hard work you put in during your early years will really bear fruit later on. Whether it was changing roles or working on a tough transaction, everything I went through along the way made something else in the future easier. Tenure is something that I encourage my generation to respect and place value on.”

Anadu joined Goldman Sachs’ analyst program directly after graduating from Harvard in 2003. She says that the program was the ideal entrée to both the firm and the industry as it allowed her to learn all facets of the business and form a close-knit group of colleagues whom she relies on to this day. She spent her analyst years in the firm’s Securities Division, delving into the markets and helping to serve the firm’s clients. Taking advantage of the firm’s opportunities for mobility, she spent her final year as an analyst in the Urban Investment Group, where she climbed the ladder to eventually become a managing director. “I loved it when I started, and I love it today,” she says.

Impactful Work

Goldman’s Urban Investment Group deploys the firm’s capital by making investments and loans that benefit urban communities, largely in underserved neighborhoods. When she first started, investments were in the $2 million range; in 2014, the group committed $300 million in its biggest commitment for a project to date – the Essex Crossing project on the Lower East side.

“That illustrates the growth of the firm’s appetite in terms of these transactions,” she says. The capital is being used to transform a moderate-income community on the Lower East side [C1] to create a new multifaceted neighborhood that includes affordable housing, market rate housing, a community center, a senior center, new retail and more.

Along with the increased transaction size, interest in the sector has grown from all sides – from other corporations, institutional funds and even business schools which now offer classes in impact investing. “The more types of entities that get involved, the better for our work,” she says, adding that it’s been extremely rewarding to watch the next generation of impact investors develop, including her team of 30 “incredibly smart, ambitious people,” as she describes them.

Putting Stock in Early Career Advice

Anadu says she wishes she’d recognized that all the advice she got early in her career would end up being so pertinent along the way. “People at our firm take a lot of time to sit down and mentor you, and I’ve realized that along the way, the advice I’ve used the most is what I heard back when I started. If I’d known how relevant it would all be, I would have captured it in a notebook,” a practice she uses these days, which she recommends as a way to reflect and invest time in thinking about your career intentionally.

She also advises women who are starting out to realize that their network and mentors should be comprised of people at all levels. “A mentor is traditionally thought of as someone senior who will lift you up, but peers and even those who are junior can be impactful,” she says, adding that those she began with at Goldman as analysts have been helpful all along the way, giving advice on projects or how to view a client issue differently.

She says that the industry is continuing to evolve with more senior women, and the ranks will continue to grow, offering more opportunity to mine their examples of success and how to balance work and family. “All the efforts we are making today will have impact on the senior level landscape 10 or 15 years from now.”

Anadu says she grew her own mentoring network through her involvement with Goldman’s Emerging Leaders Program, designed for high-performing vice presidents. In addition to gaining a senior sponsor, she was able to build a network across the firm through the panels and informal events, developing useful contacts and mentors who have helped as she advanced.

Hobbies Then and Now

As a new mom, Anadu notes that she now spends most of her free time with her six-month-old daughter but she still makes time for her favorite hobby, walking, which dovetails well with her work. “I love to walk the streets of New York and learn about new neighborhoods,” she says.

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Voice of Experience: Amanda Hindlian, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs

Amanda Hindlian“The best careers sit at the intersection of what you’re passionate about and what you’re naturally good at – fortunately, those two things tend to go hand in hand.” That’s advice that Goldman Sachs Managing Director Amanda Hindlian has for those thinking about where to start their careers.

“I also wish that at the outset of major career transitions I’d had the hindsight to enjoy the ride a little more – but then hindsight is always 20/20,” she says. “You might feel uncomfortable any time you make a significant change in your career, but try to enjoy that phase because it’s when you’re growing, where you’re adding to your skills and building new relationships.”

Hindlian began her career as a semiconductor equity analyst in the Global Investment Research (GIR) Division at Goldman Sachs where over the course of six years she assumed incremental coverage responsibility. She then accepted an opportunity to work as chief of staff for the global head of Research, and for several years she worked in different capacities with him and other senior divisional leaders, including as chief operating officer of GIR and senior director of the Global Markets Institute.

In mid-2015, Hindlian joined the Executive Office, working with the president and chief operating officer of the firm to develop and implement key strategic initiatives. Later in the year she assumed broader responsibilities in the Executive Office, working with the chairman and chief executive officer of the firm and overseeing the Client Strategy Group, as well as serving as secretary to the Management Committee.

Hindlian is proud of the relationships she’s developed over the years both inside and outside the firm. “The partnerships I’ve formed and mentoring I’ve received from colleagues has been crucial to my success. It’s difficult to describe the accumulation of knowledge that comes from interacting with and being surrounded by so many incredibly smart and talented people.”

Immersed in Content and People

One project Hindlian is working on now that she particularly enjoys is developing content for executives that facilitates their interactions with clients, regulators, the media or policy makers. “I love thinking about what is top of mind in the world and assessing how we can be helpful to our clients by providing them with our institutional insights on major issues.”

She interacts with different divisions within the firm to identify their specific goals and also meets with clients to understand what’s important to them. She then supplements her advice with research to strengthen that perspective.

Another project Hindlian recently undertook was organizing a dinner for more than 20 ministers of finance and central bankers to discuss what they could do to stimulate global economic growth. Hindlian participated in the two-and-a-half hour family style dinner, where participants discussed key issues from political and economic perspectives.

She is also immersed in people-related initiatives and strongly supports the firm’s efforts to hire, retain and promote the best and most diverse people. “I believe our people are our number one asset and we must remain focused on diversity so that our people reflect the world in which we and our clients live.” Hindlian has found value in being involved in the firm’s Women’s Network over the years and is an advocate for programs and initiatives that support an inclusive work environment.

Mastering the Balancing Act

While Hindlian acknowledges that everyone faces challenges balancing work and their personal life, she notes the unique challenges shared by most working moms – particularly surrounding the notion that there aren’t enough hours in the week. She cites a conversation she had with a group of accomplished women at a recent Next Generation Most Powerful Women event hosted by Fortune: “We each had our own journey, but the one commonality we had was that it’s really hard to balance it all on a daily basis. You have to hope that even if you can’t achieve balance every day that you can find it when you look back over a longer stretch of time, and if you don’t feel that way it’s time to reassess. Parenting and working can be challenging, but for me it’s been such an incredibly rewarding combination.”

A Different View of Mentoring and Networking

Hindlian finds that mentoring should happen organically and believes it’s easier to form a mentoring relationship once you have worked with someone on a project or shared a goal, vision or challenge. Otherwise, she says, the mentor doesn’t have any context to provide advice and advocacy. “You will naturally provide the foundation for mentoring relationships if you are a team player and do good work.”

A Yearning To Travel

Before she had a child, Hindlian says she would travel often, hopping on a plane with her husband for a short trip without hesitation. Now, with a 21-month-old she is enjoying her time with him closer to home, although she can’t wait until he’s old enough to join in their family adventures.

By Cathie Ericson

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Voice of Experience: Hilary Packer, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs

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Hilary PackerHilary Packer has found that many women believe they need a five- or 10-year career plan, but she is proof that there’s another way: her career has worked out well even though she didn’t plan each step along the way. “You have to know yourself and whether you want to stay with what you’re doing or try something new.”

After studying computer science at the University of Michigan, Packer earned her graduate degree and then began her career in financial services – celebrating 20 years in the field and 10 years at Goldman Sachs this August.

Though she spent her 10 years prior to Goldman Sachs at three different firms, it was primarily with the same team which moved firms as a unit. During those years she specialized in front office trading systems for equities and built excellent relationships with her two previous managers. “We are friends to this day, and they were great for my career, offering me amazing opportunities. But I realized they were championing me for less technical client-facing roles because I work well in that high-pressure, fast-paced environment, and at the time I wanted to alter my path and manage a development team.”

She decided to send her resume to Goldman Sachs for that type of job, and realized it was the perfect fit.

“I loved being on the trading floor in the thick of it,” she says of her first positions at Goldman Sachs, working with trading systems and equities technology. She spent the next seven years in different roles within equities technology, including swaps trading, electronic trading, client-facing work and order management.

Packer says she then put her hand up to try something different than equities technology and was told she would be great at asset management technology – she took the plunge and found the buy-side to be a fascinating change.

Forging A New Path through Technology

After learning that role, she was ready for something radically different, and that’s when she moved into her current role in social and collaboration technology, building platforms that are both traditional and innovative.

“It’s an exciting opportunity to be really connected with what’s going on in the world of social media and how we can apply it internally.”

For example, she has worked on an internal blogging platform that just celebrated its two-year anniversary, and she was proud to take a moment to see how many people had been connected through it and how many posts had been shared. “It really has elevated the power of the crowd within Goldman Sachs; we have so much knowledge to share that makes people more productive and efficient. This makes it easier to focus on the value add that Goldman offers, rather than spending time finding information.”

Packer says that at its roots, Goldman is a tech company so it’s exciting to see the rate of change going on and help people learn the best way to apply the innovations. Packer helps oversee hackathons, which Goldman Sachs holds both internally and on campuses as a recruitment tool. “It attracts people who love programming, and the exciting part is that you don’t know where the people who take part will come from — they might be English majors who built an app on their phone.”

In fact, she encourages those who might be interested in entering the field to just take the plunge. “Don’t be afraid, because technology is as much art as it is science. Some women get scared off by the concept of it, but it’s so rewarding. When people say, ‘That must be really hard,’ I look at what they’re doing, whether they’re a teacher or lawyer or something else and think, ‘Well, that’s also hard.’ It’s all about taking the time to learn, and then you can do anything.”

Women Supporting Women

Packer hasn’t felt she has experienced barriers because she’s a woman, but she would add that at certain points in her career she wished there were more women in the field.

During her masters of software engineering program at Carnegie Mellon, for example, she was the only woman among the 15 full-time participants. “Prior to joining Goldman, I had never had a woman manager.At Goldman, I’ve had a tremendous opportunity to work with smart, technical women at all levels.While the number of women in the field is getting better, there is work to be done.”

That’s why she works to help women connect by creating communities of women in technology across the company. She found that while she might be one of only a few women in her specific group, three rows away there may be more women in another team, so she has worked to help create those bigger communities.

And, it’s why one of the achievements she’s most proud of is her role as co-head of the Women in Tech network in the Americas. “I feel really grateful, and it is such an honor to be asked to lead it,” she says, adding that she’s always benefited from women who have acted as role models, mentors and sponsors.

“Along the way there have been a number of colleagues who really did amazing things for me, helping me and putting my name in the hat for opportunities. They did it because it was the right thing to do, and now I’m in the positon to do the same for other women.”

Giving Back Through Women in Technology

One aspect of the Women in Technology (WIT) network Packer enjoys the most is its partnerships with external organizations.Through the Anita Borg Institute, they are one of the sponsors of a conference called Grace Hopper Celebration for Women in Computing, expected to attract 12,000 attendees.

They also work with Girls Who Code: Goldman just completed its third year of sponsoring the Summer Immersion Program, where 40 high school girls were in the office for seven weeks learning to code. “We looked at their final projects at the graduation and talked to them about career paths. They are smart and energetic, and I have no doubt that I’ll be working for them really soon,” Packer says.

A third program she champions is called Geek Speak, where they focus on helping women present on technical topics in a credible, thoughtful way. “Public speaking is hard in the first place, but hitting the right level of technical detail adds another challenge,” she says. The group focuses on a select group of women, by offering them mentors and providing coaching. Members prepare a presentation to give before a friendly group of senior leaders who then give them real-time feedback.

She says of the women she’s met through her career that they have built an amazing support network. “When we spend time together, I always walk away feeling it was time well spent – that I gained a different perspective or solved a problem.”

The Travel Bug

Outside of work, Packer spends every spare moment she can traveling. “People are always asking where I’m going next,” she says. Traveling also allows her to mix in her other hobby, photography. Among the places she’s been on her trips that have spanned six continents are a cruise to Greece, three safaris, Botswana and the Great Wall of China. Her favorite places to visit? “Those with no cell service,” Packer says with a laugh.

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Voice of Experience: Sinead Strain, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs

Sinead StrainRecently Sinead Strain, who heads Goldman Sachs’ fixed income, currencies and commodities (FICC) technology, had the opportunity to share her career trajectory with young women who were visiting the firm as part of the Girls Who Code initiative.

“It’s vital that our industry shows girls the diversity of roles on offer, and lets them see how technology skills can open the door to virtually any industry,” says Strain. “There’s a wide spectrum of opportunities, and learning about tech gives girls the foundational skills they need to succeed wherever they decide to go. It’s a skill that’s transferable.”

For Strain, it’s important to make it clear to women entering the industry that their choice isn’t to stay in or opt out, but rather that they can always try something new.

And that’s what has kept Strain moving up the ladder in her career. After graduating from Dublin City University, she participated in a work placement with Microsoft in Dublin. The rewarding experience taught her a variety of lessons, but one would impact her career path: she realized that she wanted to pursue her tech career in a business-facing technology role.

Strain began pursuing roles in financial services and has spent 21 years in the industry with two firms. Her first stint was at JP Morgan, and for the past 10 years she has worked at Goldman Sachs.

A career defining moment came in 2008 when Strain was named global head of FX trading and sales technology. This appointment occurred only a few weeks before the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Strain describes the experience as “baptism by fire. I literally jumped into the deep end, and it was one of those pivotal times where you have to accelerate your learning and call on the skills that you have acquired over the years.”

In 2014 Strain was named head of FICC technology. Strain acknowledges that this role was an exciting move, as she now oversees technology for the entire FICC division. Reflecting on her career, Strain names this promotion as one of the achievements she’s most proud of, and highlights the opportunities this position affords: “I love the diversity of the role and the opportunity to partner and build relationships across the firm.”

No two days are the same, as Strain balances working with her teams to drive business growth, leveraging platform solutions to support internal and external clients, and managing a diverse technology stack while investing and developing technical talent.

Her Role in the Evolving World of Tech

Strain is acutely aware of the rapid changes in tech, the disruptive nature of technology in the world at large and how financial firms have evolved by keeping up with the latest trends. She notes that Goldman Sachs leadership often refers to the firm as a technology company because of its innovation in finding technological solutions to drive growth. She cites a new platform called Marquee which will offer external clients access to its in-house tools that analyze markets and manage risk.
Fostering adoption of strategic platforms to enable the FICC business is both rewarding and progressive, says Strain. “The rate of change from a technology perspective is unprecedented and presents an exciting time to embrace and leverage these changes to enable our business and our clients.”
Similarly, this can be seen more broadly across the financial industry. “The innovative culture of startups has led to the growing dominance of FinTech and has led to the creation of disruptive technology that has influenced Wall Street,” Strain says.

The Challenge To Retain Women

Having just returned from the 2015 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, through the Anita Borg Institute, Strain says that much of the discussion at the conference surrounded retaining and promoting women in the industry. Where the focus had been on building a talent pipeline, she says that now companies need to provide an equal platform to retain women and increase the percentage of senior female role models. “We need up-and-coming women to say, ‘I want to stay in,’ because they see more senior women who have conquered the challenges, whether around work-life balance or just feeling different in the industry, who can provide the encouragement they need not to opt out.”

Strain notes that being interviewed by two senior women at Goldman Sachs was a key differentiator for her. “I knew I was coming into the right culture and that’s what I want for others,” she says.

She stresses that the positive effect female mentors have had on her career inspires her to continue to support initiatives such as Girls Who Code, where she can share the story of her own career journey to high school girls interested in technology.

Strain has always been active in Goldman Sachs’ Women in Tech network and currently is a global sponsor for the program, stressing that this type of network allows women to bolster their skills. Strain champions programs such as Leadership Development and Geek Speak, which helps women find their voice to talk openly and confidently about their tech accomplishments and develop leadership skills.

Strain also has represented Goldman Sachs on the steering committee of ABI.NY, the New York chapter of the Anita Borg Institute, since its inception two years ago. The chapter is focused on building a community of female technologists in New York City.

An avid traveler, Strain developed a passion for wildlife early on, having grown up with a father who loved wildlife.She loves to travel to places like Africa, including a recent trip to Botswana – “the more remote, the better,” she says. “I love the chance to be disconnected from the world and immerse myself in an experience that’s so different from my day-to-day life

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Voice of Experience: Anilu Vazquez-Ubarri, Chief Diversity Officer and Global Co-Head of Talent Development, Goldman Sachs

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Anilu Vazquez-Ubarri“I wish I had known earlier in my career that the most rewarding experiences would come from the more unexpected opportunities.”

Reflecting on her career, Anilu Vazquez-Ubarri says that her path might seem to be carefully designed, but in reality what has led her to where she is today is her appetite to try new and different roles at critical points in her career, the wise counsel from mentors and her belief in facing challenges head on.

Analyzing Talent for Individual and Firm Benefit

Vazquez-Ubarri began her career as an executive compensation and employee benefits lawyer, advising clients on employment matters in the context of corporate transactions. Even at an early stage of her career, Vazquez-Ubarri enjoyed advising clients and understanding every aspect of their business to provide holistic solutions, particularly with respect to the people side of the transactions.

This led to her first job at Goldman Sachs in Employee Relations, where she provided advice to managers and employees on how to navigate their careers and manage conflict.She then became chief of staff for the Human Capital Management division and is now Chief Diversity Officer and global co-head of Talent Development.In her current role, she is responsible for evolving and integrating leadership and the talent and diversity priorities at Goldman Sachs.

“Had I known this type of work existed I would have gone into it earlier, since my current position is a perfect match for my interests and allows me to apply the knowledge I have collected throughout the years in the different roles I have held,” she says.

Building and leading this new group has also presented an entrepreneurial opportunity for Vazquez-Ubarri, which she considers to be one of the more rewarding aspects of her job. “I appreciate being allowed to lead and innovate in a space that is so important for the firm and also to have the opportunity to build new career paths for the people on the team. It is a privilege to be part of their professional development,” she says.

As part of this entrepreneurial mindset, she and her team are looking at the firm’s practices with a fresh approach.They have continued to build on the firm’s data-driven approach, using people analytics to identify priorities in their talent strategy.In addition, they use a person-by-person approach to design customized solutions for different talent pools. Realizing the crucial impact that managers have on someone’s career, the firm has also reinforced its emphasis on manager effectiveness as a driver of performance.

“Women Should Feel Inspired About Their Chances for Success”

Vazquez-Ubarri believes that what may have historically been perceived as challenges for women in particular are actually questions and challenges that men and women share. “At different points in our career, we all question our ability to manage our personal and professional responsibilities and interests,” she says.

Vazquez-Ubarri observes that it is critical in those moments for employees to have a support system at work that encourages them to discuss their situation and also take advantage of the resources available to them.“I had just returned from maternity leave a few days before being promoted to managing director at Goldman. It was of course a very important time personally and a significant milestone in my career, and the flexibility and support I received from the firm made all the difference.”

“Women should enter the industry in full power, with the expectation of success and confidence in their abilities. They should pursue opportunities that put them in the middle of the action, where problems need to be solved, where challenges exist and where they can contribute in a meaningful way,” she says.In addition, Vazquez-Ubarri believes that developing strong relationships with clients and mentors has been crucial to her career trajectory.She equally believes that Hispanics/Latinos should be proud of their heritage and seek work environments that embrace their difference as an asset.

“My cultural background and upbringing has had a major influence on how I approach situations of ambiguity, how I build relationships with people with different points of view and how I manage a team – all things that have been crucial in my career progression,” she says.

Offering Guidance to Others

Vazquez-Ubarri knows that managers and sponsors play a critical role in developing and retaining talented people, and she highlights how important it has been in her career to have managers and sponsors who believed in her and provided tough feedback along the way. “Their belief in me has driven me to want to deliver for them and to make them proud of their investment in my career.”
She recommends that those starting out do their research, be intellectually curious and challenge themselves to expand their horizons as they consider career paths.he suggests that they network to find out information about different sectors and industries, but also so they have different examples of how to achieve success as there is not just one path.

Regarding her responsibility to mentor and sponsor women and Hispanic/Latinos she says, “We have to reach out to the next generation and remember what it felt like to be new and unsure of your next step or how to complete a project for someone you really wanted to impress.” This is particularly important when it comes to women and Hispanics/Latinos, she noted. “We need to be visible and accessible to them in order to continue to build a diverse talent pipeline.”

She urges her peers to spend an extra 10 minutes with more junior colleagues after a meeting or in their office. “To you, it’s only 10 minutes, but to them it makes such a difference,” she says.

Outside of the office, Vazquez-Ubarri spends her time with friends and family, including her husband and two sons. A competitive swimmer growing up, she has passed on that passion to her two children, ages two and ten, during treks to the pool each weekend – time that she makes all about being with her loved ones.

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Voice of Experience: Stephanie Cohen, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs

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Stephanie Cohen“What makes the difference between people who are good, great and world class at their job are small things, and you only find those out if someone points them out to you,” says Stephanie Cohen.

“Even if you are just a little bit off at a certain point in your career, it’s that much harder to get back on track, so it’s vital that women actively ask for, and receive feedback.”

That advice has been crucial to Cohen’s success throughout her career.

As a “lifer” at Goldman Sachs, Cohen is quick to point out that even though the firm has been her only full-time employer, she hadn’t necessarily intended to stay this long when she joined. But the opportunities continued to come. Her first position was as an analyst in Mergers & Acquisitions in 1999, and she was then promoted to associate in the Industrials group, where she has spent the majority of her career. She did a stint in the San Francisco office as a vice president, where she worked in M&A with a broader array of clients, until she was asked to return to New York to oversee Conflicts and Business Selection in the Americas during the financial crisis. She then became sector captain for General Industrials in the Global Industrials Group and a member of the Merger Leadership Group in the Investment Banking Division. She was named managing director in 2008 and partner in 2014.

Building a Business

Just this spring Cohen was tapped for an exciting new assignment – creating and heading a new group, Global Financial Sponsor M&A. Cohen says she is proud that her team’s success in driving financial sponsor M&A for the Industrials Group was recognized such that she was given the opportunity to build this broader business across the company.
“It’s really exciting to be building a team, while being an active part of the current M&A deal environment, which is once again near its previous peak,” she says. “My group is able to assist clients in navigating this complex environment and achieve maximum value for their businesses.”

From a deal perspective, Cohen is proud of her work on the team that helped Chrysler negotiate with the United States government in paying off its debt in May 2011. By living and breathing the deal, she came away highly impressed with how much the employees cared about the company, and the resulting turnaround and pride in the positive strides they made in relation to the quality of their cars.

Seeking Diverse Qualities in Mentors

As she has ascended the ladder, Cohen says that an important lesson she learned is to understand the longevity of your career, and how the relationships you build will help you along the way. “At the junior level, you might be immersed in a project where you are working with someone constantly, and then the project ends and everyone moves on. While you might expect the relationship to go on, the reality is that it takes effort to maintain those relationships — but it’s worth it,” she says. Social networks like LinkedIn give the illusion that it’s easier to stay in touch, but that isn’t a substitute for actively managing your network in today’s transitory professional environment.

While she realizes that the financial services industry has fewer female role models, she has found it largely irrelevant in her career. “I would have really been stuck if I’d fixated on finding the ‘senior woman in M&A’ to emulate,” she says. “Your role model doesn’t have to be someone who is similar to you in every way. And furthermore, trying to figure out exactly what got someone to a particular seat isn’t extremely helpful either, since that exact seat likely won’t exist in its current form by the time you get there.”

Instead, she recommends creating a “personal board of directors,” and incorporating aspects of individual people that will help you in your career. “Thinking that a single mentor will help you to achieve success in all aspects of your career is not practical,” she says. Building a network of different people whom you can go to for advice and feedback means that when you make big career decisions, you have a lot of people whose input you value.

Climbing the Career Ladder

For women starting out, Cohen recommends building a base of expertise and advises younger people to avoid pigeon holing themselves. “At the end of the day, you have to have good judgment, and be able to adapt to different situations,” she says.

And again, she underscores the importance of actively seeking feedback. “If you’re not getting negative feedback, it’s not because you’re perfect. Women might get less feedback because they don’t ask for it, but it took me a while to fully appreciate that men tend to get more direct feedback on areas of improvement which allows them to know what to work on.”

Support of Women

Cohen believes that women should support other women. “There are not that many of us, and we can help each other in ways that are very impactful.”

She has seen that men in the workplace tend to be better at blending their personal and professional lives, and using that to create more client and networking opportunities. She believes that it doesn’t have to overwhelm your personal life, but it makes the networking easier and more fun when you can build and create personal connections at the same time.

To help build those bridges, Cohen created a women’s M&A event several years ago to bring together clients and other professionals who work in M&A, such as lawyers and accountants. The goal is to create relationships between those who are involved in the broad M&A infrastructure. And she reports, it has done exactly what she hoped it would.

In addition, Cohen acts as a mentor to junior women as they think about their careers, and she stays involved in recruiting and retaining a core group of female analysts. “Keeping top-quality women is vital,” she says.

Making a Difference Outside of Work

Outside of work, Cohen spends time with her husband and young son, who “helps me hone my negotiation skills,” she laughs.

She is also on the national board of the nonprofit group Reading Partners, which focuses on literacy in grammar schools, helping underprivileged kids who are behind in reading. She was first involved with the effort when she worked in San Francisco, and brought it with her when she came back to New York. She helped the organization to secure financing for a local chapter, and the group has since spread nationwide.

“The organization does great work very efficiently. The fact that we are working on literacy lends itself well to testing, so we are able to ensure the efforts are successful,” she says. The program is self-sustaining in that schools pay for it with money set aside for a literacy specialist.

“If you can’t read, you can’t succeed. Teaching a child to read will fundamentally change his or her trajectory in life.”

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