Tag Archive for: goldman sachs

Voice of Experience: Kim Posnett, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs

kim posnettWelcome to The Glass Hammer’s Celebration of Asian Heritage Month! All month long we will be profiling successful women here in the US who have Asian heritage as well as spotlighting some amazing women in Asia and discussing what it means to work there.

According to Kim Posnett, a Managing Director in the Technology, Media and Telecom (TMT) group in the Investment Banking Division at Goldman Sachs, diversity is something she became accustomed to early on in her life. “I was born in Nashville, Tennessee and raised in New York City. I grew up as an American kid in multi-ethnic family with a Vietnamese mother and Swiss father,” she explained.

“I was always comfortable being different. More importantly, I grew up with the instinct to bridge gaps and find commonalities among different people. That has carried over into my professional career and has been very helpful,” Posnett added.

Career in Investment Banking

“I had a non-linear career path,” said Posnett, who attended Yale University to study History and Theater. After graduating Yale, Posnett moved to California in her early twenties to work in the media and entertainment industry. Then, in her late twenties, Posnett decided to make a career shift, and attended The Wharton School of Business to study finance and earn her MBA. After graduating from business school, Posnett joined Goldman Sachs. Early in her career, Goldman Sachs asked her to cover internet and eCommerce companies, which she has been doing ever since. Posnett noted, “I am fortunate to work with the leading internet, eCommerce, software and technology companies that are disrupting their industries through innovation and technology.” She finds that working with visionary founders, CEOs and CFOs is the most rewarding aspect of her job, and is something she has remained passionate about throughout her decade of working as a banker in the industry.

“I feel most proud when I know I have earned the trust, respect and loyalty of my clients,” Posnett added. “I am also incredibly proud of our Goldman team’s commitment, integrity and singular focus on helping clients, and helping each other.”

The pace of innovation in internet and eCommerce is exciting for Posnett, who enjoys working in a dynamic sector that is undergoing fundamental shifts. “We are entering a post-PC era,” said Posnett, “where consumers can transact anytime and anywhere off their mobile devices. Companies are leveraging data and analytics to drive personalization and relevance for their customers. Powerful interest communities and vertical content companies are changing the way people browse, discover and shop online. There’s much more — it’s a very exciting time.”

According to Posnett, there can be misperceptions about what a career in investment banking actually means. “I don’t think young people grasp how interesting and dynamic investment banking can be,” she explained, “especially in technology banking, where our clients are entrepreneurs who are changing the world as we know it. The job can be incredibly entrepreneurial and creative.”

Women in Investment Banking

“I think it is really important for young women to figure out what they want in life. Everyone has a different definition of happiness and success,” said Posnett. She explained how lucky she was to have her parents as role models. “They both loved what they did for a living, and as a result, they always encouraged me to pursue what I loved most,” she added.

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Voice of Experience: Edith Cooper, Executive Vice President and Global Head of Human Capital Management, Goldman Sachs

edith-cooper-193x193For the last six years, Edith Cooper has been the Global Head of Human Capital Management at Goldman Sachs. In other words, she is responsible for the well-being, development and promotion of Goldman’s 32,000 employees worldwide. While this is no small task, Cooper loves the people-centric aspect of her role. “Our people are our number one asset,” said Cooper.

She continued, “This is a dynamic business and our priorities evolve alongside the markets. As a result, there is an increased focus on managing people, leading people, and leveraging the diverse set of experiences that our people bring to the table.”

The Dynamic Space of Human Capital Management

Cooper’s role at Goldman Sachs has also evolved over the last 17 years as she has transitioned from sales and trading into managing clients and people. According to Cooper, the last five years have been especially challenging, however, new opportunities to serve clients continue to emerge. She noted, “as markets and organizations continue to expand and globalize, we now more than ever must pay attention to and respond to global trends.”

“Clients need us to have 24/7 awareness of market drivers and opportunities in order to facilitate growth, and part of my role is to ensure that our people are well positioned to add that value to our clients,” Cooper added. She explained how important it is to attract people to the organization who are not only individually excellent, but also embrace the fact that delivering client satisfaction is very much a collaborative effort.

According to Cooper, technology is changing the human capital management space in a number of ways including by enhancing and expanding recruiting efforts. “The connectivity is constant,” noted Cooper, “and our reach is global due to online tools and advancing technologies.” This is elevated by the fact that the Millennials who are beginning to fill the halls at Goldman Sachs have been raised around technology, and incorporate it into everything that they do.

“The challenge used to be in gathering information, but now that so much more information is easily accessible, the opportunity to add value is by connecting information and leveraging it strategically,” said Cooper.

Expanding the Dialogue of Women’s Career Advancement

Cooper acknowledged that there has been significant progress for women in the workplace, but that there is more work to be done. “In order to be successful, an organization must ensure that there is diversity at every level,” she explained. According to Cooper, the ongoing conversations around professional women encourage people to broaden their perspective and expand the dialogue.

For Cooper, a great source of pride comes from the fact that she has had the opportunity to grow her career at Goldman Sachs while also maintaining a great home life. She attributes this to the fact that her support system –both at work and at home –has been strong and steady. While this has worked for her, she encourages women to determine their own degree of work-life balance by recognizing that there are multiple paths to take and choices to make throughout the length of your career.

“Women who believe that they can go out and be excellent at every single thing on a daily basis are likely setting themselves up to fail. You must pick your spots and create your own definition of success,” added Cooper.

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Voice of Experience: Lisa Opoku, Chief Operating Officer for the Securities Division in Asia Pacific, Goldman Sachs

Lisa portraitIn 2003, Lisa Opoku came to Goldman Sachs for what was supposed to be a three-month assignment, but her stint became a stay. In 2009, she became Chief Operating Officer for the Securities Division of Goldman Sachs Asia-Pacific and in 2012, she was promoted to partner. She came to the multinational investment banking firm from Richards, Kibbe & Orbe and says that her background as a lawyer gave her an advantage, even becoming partner at the firm while still on assignment at Goldman.

“When I started my career I was all about hard work. My parents are from Ghana and I have inherited an immigrant’s work ethic. My parents taught me that if I put my head down and work hard, the rewards will come,” Opoku said. “The corporate world is much more complex than that. You can do an excellent job and it can sometimes be invisible if you are not careful. You have to be vocal about what you contribute, network with your colleagues and clients, and make sure that you are an advocate for your career.”

Team Work

Currently, Opoku’s favorite project is the team she is building in Bangalore, focused on system enhancements and improvements to global processes.

“I am most proud of the team that I have developed in Asia Pacific; you are only as good as your team. I trust my team with many difficult strategic projects and they always deliver the highest quality product,” the COO said. “It is not easy to learn to delegate when we are all ‘Type –A’ people but, it is the only way to truly gain leverage and be more strategic about your work. Every day we can see the impact. The talent in Bangalore is so impressive and the team there is adding a ton of value to our Global Management and Strategy priorities.”

Right now, Opoku is very focused on changes in technology, with Goldman’s trading desks partnering with its technology professionals to enhance performance and efficiency.

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Voice of Experience: Christina Minnis, Managing Director in Healthcare M&A Investment Banking, Goldman Sachs

Christina MinnisChristina Minnis says that upon graduating from Yale in 1987, she had no real experience in the financial services industry and absolutely no Wall Street experience. “I was an intern at a bank and that was the extent of it,” Minnis said.

She obtained her Master of Management degree from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in 1991 before forging her career with Goldman Sachs beginning in 1998, where she began as a vice president in the Investment Banking Division (IBD), focusing on leveraged finance deals primarily for the financial sponsors group. In 2001, Minnis joined the Fixed Income Division as part of Capital Markets and focused on industrials followed by healthcare. She was named managing director in 2004 and partner in 2008.

Today, Minnis is co-head of Goldman Sachs’ Healthcare Group in the Americas and head of the Healthcare Leveraged Finance Group and the Pension Strategies Group. She serves as a member of the IBD Operating Committee, and the Global Recruiting Council, while also co-heading global recruiting for IBD and serving as the chair of diversity for IBD.

Healthcare: A Thriving Industry

Of her many achievements, it is her work in the Healthcare Group that Minnis is most proud of.

“I’m incredibly proud of what we have built in our Leveraged Finance healthcare franchise. When we started, the healthcare leveraged finance revenue was less than $10 million and the team consisted of myself and an analyst,” Minnis said. “Now we’ve built our team up to seven people, and we’re fully integrated into banking. It’s been an amazing collaboration and a terrific accomplishment.”

It’s an interesting and exciting time to be working in healthcare from the perspective of the investment banking industry. The Affordable Care Act has created a great deal of change, and though Minnis says there are many challenges, there are also “great opportunities.”

“So many people choose the healthcare field because they want to add good to the world by developing useful technology and helping the quality of care. This is a dynamic time in history for this industry and though the role I play in investment banking is very different, it’s exciting to be a part of it,” Minnis said.

The People Part

Minnis says that many coming into the investment banking industry are unaware how crucial good client skills are.

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Voice of Experience: Kate El-Hillow, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs Asset Management

Kate hilow“Take risks,” advised Kate El-Hillow, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, “because that is one of the best ways to build up your skill set.” This is one piece of advice that El-Hillow would give to her younger self starting out in her career. “Women tend to underestimate their skill set,” added El-Hillow. She encouraged women to be confident. She also emphasized just how important dedication and hard work are to career advancement, and finally she added, “Don’t over plan.”

Career Path

El-Hillow began her career at JP Morgan in the Audit division after graduating from Boston College with a degree in Accounting. However, while at JP Morgan El-Hillow found herself drawn to finance because she enjoyed the relationship aspect of the industry and finding solutions to meet the client’s financial needs. After realizing the highs and lows of the dotcom era with a private equity group that met its demise around the same time as many internet start-ups, El-Hillow found the right fit in finance at JP Morgan Asset Management concentrating on multi-asset class portfolio solutions.

While the client side of the business is what initially intrigued El-Hillow, she has since moved away from the client side at Goldman Sachs, where she now works, and focuses on managing multi asset class portfolios. “After giving birth to my first child, I really didn’t want to be on the road as much, and I very much enjoy helping clients from a portfolio management seat. It has been a very exciting area to work in.”

Since joining the industry in 1996, El-Hillow has witnessed a lot of volatility in the investment industry. “It’s a very dynamic environment which is part of the draw for me,” noted El-Hillow, “and many of the current challenges right now are around dealing with the lower yield and lower growth environment and regulatory issues.” She added, “It is important to try to recognize the opportunities to move into new investments while staying focused on not taking unintended risks. During the good times, some people can forget how painful the hard times are, but it is important to remember.”

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Voice of Experience: Kelly Brennan, Managing Director, Securities Division, Goldman Sachs

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

Kelly Brennan, Managing Director in the Securities Division at Goldman Sachs, graduated from UC Berkeley with a Liberal Arts degree and a minor in Biology. Her intention at the time was to follow the Pre-Law or Pre-Med track. Instead, Brennan decided to go to the financial industry right out of college when she accepted a position as a junior trader at Susquehanna Trading Group.

“I was one of three women in the incoming class of fifty-five people,” recalled Brennan. She continued, “As a junior trader, I was the only woman at the desk and I learned pretty quickly that instead of trying to fit in by thinking and acting like the men, I could have a true competitive advantage by approaching things in a slightly different way.” As a woman in this male-dominated culture, Brennan realized that she could bring a unique perspective to the table.

Brennan noted, “I learned very early how to lead with content and this has helped me at every level of my career, from being a junior trader to more senior roles.”

At Susquehanna International Group (SIG), Brennan moved her way up the ranks from assistant trader to trader, eventually becoming the only female specialist at SIG on the NYSE. In 2005, Brennan joined Goldman Sachs as an Associate in the Prime Brokerage area on the Securities Lending desk. She was promoted to a Vice President in 2006, and then to Managing Director in 2010.

Brennan pointed out that throughout her career there have been many small achievements as well as a few very poignant moments. “One of the proudest moments of my career happened earlier this year when I returned to work after my first maternity leave. I heard a lot of feedback about how my team had really stepped up while I was out. It was rewarding to hear that the team that I helped to recruit, train, and mentor had not just survived while I was out but managed to push the business forward and excel in my absence. It was validating to see that my role in that was valued and acknowledged.”

The evolution of technology and its application to the trading world is one thing that excites Brennan about the future of financial services. “It leaves a lot of room for innovation in trading and thinking about how we communicate information to our clients via a whole new mechanism of technology that we haven’t seen before in the industry,” said Brennan. She is enthusiastic about building new trading platforms based on new technologies.

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Voice of Experience: Mary Byron, Global Head of Technology for the Federation, Goldman Sachs

Mary ByronRegarding her career path in technology, Mary Byron notes that it was more of a serendipitous accident as opposed to a calculated plan.

“I didn’t study technology in school, but I was very lucky to have a job in college doing general office work,” said Byron. “One of the tasks was backing up the Word Processing system. They needed someone who could manage pretty basic technology functions and I was fortunate enough to be exposed to this kind of work right around the time personal computing and networking was starting to be widely developed.”

She continued, “As it turns out, I loved technology and I was skilled at it. So I never looked back after starting down that path.”

Career Path in Technology

Throughout her career with Goldman Sachs, Byron has had the opportunity to lead the implementation of many new technologies for the company, including building out the IP network for the firm in the nineties. “I was fortunate that as the Internet really took off, so did all the technologies that supported it and the need for companies to adopt those technologies,” explained Byron.

Byron recalled, “We didn’t even have email when I started at the firm, and every division ran its own technology. In 1994, the company decided to streamline all of the individual IT departments into one centralized division. For seven years we worked on converging eleven different email systems into one uniform system.”

In the early 2000s Byron became the Co-head of Goldman’s technology infrastructure, which included all data centers, networks, computing platforms, operating systems, databases, and help desks.

In 2005, Byron was chosen to be the CIO for Goldman’s Asia business, where she spent six years. “It was exciting to be part of this growth market,” said Byron, “as we were establishing our business in China and India, which are both countries with very different levels of technical prowess and technology adoption.”

During this time, Byron worked on establishing good governance and best practices for the technology division. Organizing this aspect of the business and showing people how to think about technological investments in commercial terms is something that Byron is extremely proud of. She said, “Moving these ideas forward so that they became institutionally recognized as the way we address technology has been very rewarding.”

Byron stated, “I think of all technology as an evolution. In the past, one of the projects I worked on was our first implementation of grid computing, which was the precursor to the cloud. Now, we are working a lot on dynamic computing and the automation of infrastructure, which are things that we identified a need for ten years ago and now have the technology to implement.”

The grid computing project, which Byron referred to as the compute farm, is one project that stands out to her as being one of her most exciting professional achievements. She explained, “When we first started, we anticipated one or two thousand computing engines running on the grid. Now we have tens of thousands computers running on it.”

This dynamic nature of technology and applying technology to solve problems are two things that make Byron excited about the work she currently does in her role as Global Head of Technology for the Federation. “We are spending a lot of time right now working on big data and data governance,” said Byron.

She continued, “Sometimes our best technological ideas are not really about the technology at all, but how we can leverage the technology to make our business bigger and better.”

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

Julie HarrisWelcome to Pride Week on The Glass Hammer — we’ll be profiling successful LGBT business women all week long!

Julie Harris, Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, had a master plan when she entered college – or so she thought. “I come from a blue collar family,” said Harris, “and while my parents have always been incredibly supportive, they did not have a lot of advice on career choices, so I picked a major that seemed challenging and figured I would get a good job. That was my mental model.”

Harris decided that she was going to major in Computer Science and get a job programming. This trajectory probably would have served Harris very well had she not determined in her senior year of college that while she was very interested in applying technology to business problems, she did not love programming.

It was at this juncture that Harris first tapped into a bit of profound professional wisdom. Harris said, “It was the first time I made the distinction between knowing what you can do and are good at, versus knowing what you love doing.” She adds, “This is something I have thought a lot about throughout my career when making choices. When you follow passions instead of just capabilities, it can be the difference between good and great.”

Although Harris had just spent four years preparing to graduate with a Computer Science major and enter the workforce as a top notch programmer, she was unwilling to settle. So, instead of heading to a traditional programming job, Harris decided to apply her technology background in a burgeoning industry at the time known as consulting.

“All the big accounting firms started building consulting arms because clients wanted total solutions.” Harris continued, “I started working at what was then known as Arthur Andersen, which became Andersen Consulting, and is now Accenture, in the Management Information Consulting division.” Out of the nine years Harris spent there, she only focused on programming for two of those years, ultimately moving to business analysis roles which focused more on application of technology to business problems .

Even though this experience formed the foundation for Harris’ professional career, she gleaned much more from her time as a consultant. Harris explained, “The great thing about a firm like that is that it taught someone who didn’t have professional experience how to be structured and disciplined, essentially how to be a professional.”

If Harris was going to continue to be a key player in the corporate arena she knew she had to familiarize herself with the business landscape in order to successfully navigate it. Although her knowledge of business, particularly in the financial services sector, was limited, Harris was not deterred. Instead, this motivated her to enroll in the MBA program at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern.

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Voice of Experience: Neeti Bhalla, Managing Director and Head of Tactical Asset Allocation, Private Wealth, Goldman Sachs

Bhalla NeetiWomen should aim to maintain a sense of authenticity while rising through the ranks of the investment industry, says Neeti Bhalla, Managing Director and Head of Tactical Asset Allocation in Goldman Sachs‘ Private Wealth business. “Have a sense of what your true north is, a sense of who you are and what you are trying to accomplish,” she explained. “As a young woman coming into the business, you see more successful men than successful women. There is a natural tendency to emulate the men, a tendency to embrace male attributes. But this is unsustainable for women. You have to think, ‘What can I take from the role models I see around me and apply to my situation?’”

Bhalla, who earned a master’s degree in Social Anthropology alongside her MBA at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, suggests that embracing one’s individuality can be a competitive advantage. “You have to develop what is unique and differentiating about you. You have to become “a go-to person” for something in your career.”

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Voice of Experience: Kathy Elsesser, Managing Director and Head of Global Consumer Retail Group, Investment Banking, Goldman Sachs

Kathy elsesserKathy Elsesser, Managing Director and Head of the Global Consumer Retail Group in Investment Banking at Goldman Sachs, speaks enthusiastically about the opportunities for women in the financial services. She believes that women can achieve their full potential by being authentic and thinking carefully about what they want in life.

“Know what you want and ask for it. I have noticed a tendency on the part of the women I mentor to take what they’re given and do well with it. But the question I try to ask them is ‘what do you really want?’” She continued, “Ask for the things that will help you get that – versus accepting the things that are presented to you.”

And that mindset can benefit women throughout their career – from the entry level all the way to the top. She encouraged women to think carefully about how their skills and talents could be best leveraged at work. “Especially for women who decide to have a family, I would encourage them to think every day about how they are spending their time. As you get older, you begin to realize that time is a limited resource.”

She continued, “When you have a new project, think about whether this is important, or whether, if you personally do it, it is going to have an outsized return relative to someone else taking it on.”

“I really see women take on what they are given rather than asking whether it’s the best use for their time. If someone else can do it, give it to them and find a higher and better use for your time.”

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