Tag Archive for: The voice of experience

Marcia Diaz: Managing Director, PGIM Real Estate

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Marcia Diaz “Wherever you are, get the best experience, keep developing your skills, and keep networking. Whenever you’re asked to do something, make sure you do it well,” says Marcia Diaz. “You’re creating your brand. Whatever happens next, make sure someone will want to pick you to be on their team.”

Diaz speaks to unexpected opportunities in the right moment, making both your work and your ambitions known, leveraging your position and the value in sometimes asking forgiveness rather than permission.

When One Door Closes, Another Opens (Again!)

What at first appears as a stable and steady thirty-year stint of experience in commercial real estate financial services with PGIM Real Estate was actually a little touch-and-go in moments of Diaz’s journey.

Beginning in retail and then obtaining her MBA at UC Berkeley, Diaz joined the Prudential Realty Group, following the track of getting initial experience at a big institution–to “see as many deals as possible, learn the fundamentals, and get some good grounding”–before planning to go onto work at a real estate developer.

Less than a year after starting as a junior loan officer, the market turned and she found herself working on foreclosures: “Pretty quickly, I was put in a totally different position than I thought I was going to be in, and it was so much more adversarial than the sales side. But I tell people it was like medicine. At the time, I didn’t like it, but it was the best learning experience for a new person in real estate–you learn all the things that can go wrong and you really come to understand the loan documents.”

A few years later, Diaz got into the heart of real estate, moving over to an asset management role and working on mega deals in LA and San Francisco. But as Prudential prepared to go public, the strategy included selling off the major assets she’d been working on.

Just as she had chosen a severance option, she received an invitation to join real estate investment banking in Prudential Securities. For three years, she gained experience in capital markets and M&A, though it felt too far removed from real estate to her. That’s when the head office decided to close down the investment banking group, and she received her second severance package.

As she pondered what was next, she received a second unexpected call, again from within the greater company. This time the offer was to head up the re-opening of the LA real estate office. She would be building and hiring her team and working with multifamily agency products. Since accepting, Diaz has remained on the debt side in originations in the LA office.

“It’s a been a very dynamic company with lots of changes and new opportunities – loan originations, dispositions, asset management, investment banking,” summarizes Diaz. “Every time I got comfortable in one of my roles, some new opportunity and challenge came up where I moved to a different role, and that’s kept me here.”

Real Estate Holds a Story


Diaz enjoys how approachable and tangible real estate is when it comes to the often abstract world of finance. She loves the story that is behind each asset: “Every property is so different and every one has a story. Even after thirty years, my favorite thing is still to go to a new market and hear the story from the developer and the owner and why they’re excited about it.”

“These people are such experts. They tell you why this specific corner is better than that corner and why they’ve laid out the development the way they have.”

Beyond the West Coast, she’s been able to explore London, Mexico and other new markets to feed her passion.

Do Your Best Work, But Also Make it Known

“My parents instilled in me that the only thing you can control is yourself and what you do, so make sure whatever you’re doing, you excel in it,” says Diaz, which she remembers applying even to the most meticulous of tasks in her retail days. “Focus on your performance and whatever you are doing, do your very best work and a lot falls into place.”

Diaz accredits her insistence on showing up with her best effort as to why her name was twice spoken for new opportunities in different parts of the organization. At the same time, Diaz learned that doing your best work is only half the equation. What came less naturally for her was self-promotion, as well as being direct and assertive about what she wanted and where she wanted to go. 

“During my career, there have been some people who I felt maybe weren’t as qualified as I was, but made it known what they wanted to do–whether a new responsibility or promotion–and I watched it happen for them,” she notes. “I learned you can’t just wait for things to happen. You’ve got to make them happen. Talk to your boss, raise your hand for opportunities, make sure people know what you’re interested in. Don’t let them just assume you’re happy to stay where you are.”

Diaz feels as though her networking was often by default. While that contributed to her opportunity offers, she could have benefited from doing even more: “Start your networking early on, and be proactive, strategic and disciplined about it. This business is so much about contacts and relationships and how you help each other out and refer business.”

Leverage Being Memorable in the Room

Having been in the organization for three decades, from the days when the boys club was shockingly overt at moments, through a time of greater social maturing, Diaz has often been the only woman at the working social event, meeting table or competitive pitch.

But generally recalling the notion of being around the table with twelve men, all dressed similarly and with similar names, it never escaped Diaz that while she was trying to remember “who was who” amongst them, she herself stood out.

So while it can be very intimidating, and Diaz jokes it would help if she was a golfer, she also has chosen to make standing out as a woman work for her, as opposed to seeing it as inhibiting her.

“When I was marketing to borrowers and brokers, I could be competing with five other guys (lenders) who had been in their office that day, but they’re going to remember Marcia. So I tell junior female team members to take advantage of that, but to remember you also must be clear and compelling in your pitch.”

Speak Truthfully and Directly

Diaz feels she has gained respect and trust as someone who will tell the truth, even when it’s difficult or controversial.

“To be a good leader, you need to be able to cheer your team on with all the good stuff. But to make changes and keep progressing, you also need to be willing to address the challenges and difficult matters,” notes Diaz. “I think people appreciate direct and honest feedback and ‘knowing where they stand.’”

Diaz observes that it’s far kinder to be truthful and direct even in critical feedback and to give someone the opportunity to receive and address it, rather than to avoid that conversation until it’s too late.

Grooming and developing talent has become a bigger aspect of her daily life the more senior she has become and is now the most important part of her position. From watching new hires rise to senior positions over decades with her, to understanding the dreams of university student mentees, it’s what she finds most gratifying in the work.

Ask Forgiveness, Not Permission (Sometimes)

As someone who identifies as a “rule follower,” Diaz has had a few successful, dynamic movers and shakers in her journey that passed on an important message: sometimes you just gotta ask for forgiveness, not permission. While taken to the extreme, it may become reckless, she sees the value in being willing to take some informed risk.

“The notion is that when you know things are right, you gotta go with it, especially in the world of transactions,” says Diaz. “That sticks with me, because I think that sometimes you need to have the confidence to recognize you have enough world experience and just go with it.”

As one of her retail bosses early on taught her, ultimately no one else is as close to your business or can tell you what’s best for it.

With so many unexpected twists and turns in her own journey, Diaz also emphasizes to her mentees that there are many things out of your control, so put your energy into doing your best where you are now.

So much of her professional fulfillment comes from in-person social interaction that Diaz awaits the day she can return to the field and hear more real estate stories directly.

She has already combined her love of tennis and travel by attending both Wimbledon and the US Open and would love to travel to France or Australia next to do the same. She grew up on the West Coast as a Pac-12 girl and loves college football season.

By: Aimee Hansen

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Voice of Experience: Barbara Reinhard, Head of Asset Allocation and Senior Portfolio Manager for Voya Investment Multi Asset Strategy and Solutions

Experience- Barbara Reinhard, Head of Asset Allocation and Senior Portfolio Manager for Voya Investment Multi Asset Strategy and Solutions“Self-learning is a key path to growth,” says Voya’s Barbara Reinhard, “whether you’re learning something big that will change your career or something small that will make your day-to-day life easier.”

For example, Reinhard taught herself time-saving Excel tricks such as using shortcuts to manage big data sets. “You can participate in an Excel class, but until you’re playing around with it yourself, you won’t know what you need to. It’s the difference between reading about a vacation and actually taking one,” she says. “If you can teach yourself, you can learn anything.”

That skill came in handy when she first started out as a fixed income analyst. When Reinhard saw challenging bond markets on the horizon, she looked beyond fixed income and learned what she could about equities to expand her skill set and opportunities. “It’s easy to become very specialized, but your intellectual curiosity trumps all.”

A Career In Asset Allocation

During her 20 years at Morgan Stanley, Reinhard worked in the Fixed Income, Institutional Investment Management areas and eventually became deputy Chief Investment Strategist. Advancing from an analyst to a managing director was an unusual path, she acknowledges, but one that beckoned because of the ongoing opportunities she sought.

In 2011 she joined Credit Suisse as Chief Investment Officer for private banking in the Americas, running discretionary asset allocation portfolios. Five years later, in April 2016, Reinhard joined Voya.

Of her professional achievements, she’s most proud of becoming a managing director, earning her Chartered Financial Analyst® designation and being hired by Voya: she set her sights on the position as soon as she met the Multi- Asset team.

Not only does Reinhard appreciate the challenging work at Voya, she finds it particularly rewarding because of the firm’s mission to be “America’s Retirement Company.”

“Every individual in America at all wealth levels — from a Rockefeller to a Reinhard — will face retirement,” she says. “At Voya, we can touch every American’s life, and it’s a powerful investment mission when you realize that the decisions we make will help someone realize their lifelong goals.”

To help make smart decisions, Voya completes an annual exercise in October where they develop 10-year asset class forecasts and anticipate the peaks and troughs that markets might see over the next decade. This becomes the foundation for their future asset class strategic investment recommendations.

Reinhard worries that the finance and analytical elements of a career similar to hers might be off-putting to women, especially those who specialized in liberal arts and think that they need to be more mathematically and quantitatively inclined. But the truth, Reinhard says, is that statistics and quantitative theories are actually relatively easy to learn, as they are very finite. “Once you’ve done it once, you can do it 100 times. Don’t be put off by the quantitative aspects of the industry,” she says.

Urging a Savings Mentality From a Young Age

Reinhard sees one of the industry’s biggest struggles as trying to help Americans think about retirement. “It’s difficult when you’re 25 to save for that long-term goal; you can’t even intellectuality conceptualize it,” she notes. But she has seen the importance of starting early. The youngest of five children and raised by parents who were products of the Great Depression, she started saving for retirement with her first paycheck.

“The most important contributor to my retirement account hasn’t been an investment decision I made, but rather letting my asset base compound year in and year out. Compounding interest is one of the best mathematical advantages you can give yourself,” she says, stressing that the one thing young adults should do is put money toward their retirement as early as possible.

The Career-Changing Influence of Mentors and Sponsors

Reinhard credits some of her success with two sponsors who paved the road for her based on her goals, helping her acquire the skills she needed to earn subsequent promotions.

She advises that whether your mentors and sponsors are formal or informal, neither of these people should be your boss. A sponsor is typically far more senior in the organization, someone who sees your value add and will champion you. By cultivating these relationships, and making sure that the leadership team in the organization knows you, opportunities and connections will happen that can change your career path.

The best way to gain that visibility is to be ready for unexpected opportunities that might present themselves, the quintessential “elevator experience.” Reinhard is always ready with a two-minute anecdote in her back pocket about a recent significant business win or something material to the investment strategy she is working on. For example, when the S&P finally broke new highs, she ran into Voya’s CEO and was able to give him a quick analysis and recommend he use the information when he met with important shareholders over the next couple weeks as a proof point for why active management still works.

The key, she says, is to adapt your ideas over the years as your career expands so you always have something ready for your two-minute speech.

And for women who are more senior, she urges them to sponsor a younger professional. For her part, she’s always found someone to watch out for, maybe someone who volunteered to help with an unpopular or time-consuming project, which she says is a smart strategy to gain a champion. “I’ve gotten the most bang for my buck by fixing things that were broken when others said it couldn’t be done.”

Family, Running and Volunteer Work Balance Her Work Life

A former marathon runner, Reinhard says that physical fitness tops her priority list as a calming influence that can help control how she reacts to markets. While she devotes most of her non-work hours to her husband and young son — “they are the most important people in my life” — she makes time for non-profit work as well, serving on the finance committee for the Jerome Green Foundation, a group involved in activities related to education advancement, social justice, arts, health and human services.

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Voice of Experience: Xing Zhou, Diversity & Inclusion Leader, PwC China

You can fulfill your dreams in your work life and also enjoy your family life.

Voice of Experience- Xing Zhou, Diversity & Inclusion Leader, PwCThat’s the message that PwC China’s Xing Zhou works hard to impart to her female staff members. “I view it as an achievement that as the mom of two children, I am able to find the balance and can serve as a role model for others in my firm and industry,” she says.

Zhou began her career with the Central Bank of China where she spent three years before deciding on a career change that took her to PwC in Shanghai. She soon was offered the opportunity to work in the New York office where she was promoted to manager before returning to her hometown of Beijing.

For the past 14 years she has worked with PwC in Beijing. Zhou is currently the insurance industry leader for PwC China where she oversees all the services they provide to the insurance industry, including audit, consulting and tax.

Since insurance is a relatively new industry in China, Zhou says it has been gratifying to watch the discipline mature over the past 14 years and see the contributions that PwC’s team has made to its growth, as they work with regulators and key market players to introduce best practices from the firm’s expertise overseas.

Going for the Gold

Recently, Zhou participated in one of her most exciting professional obligations to date: She was chosen to be part of the eight-person delegation that represented Beijing’s winning bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics. She participated as the financial expert on the committee, collaborating with many top dignitaries, including the Vice Prime Minister of China and Mayor of Beijing.

“To have all these accomplished people respect my professional expertise in finance provided an incredible amount of satisfaction, to have my many years of hard work acknowledged,” she says.

Participating in the committee was also rewarding because it reinforced that she was able to take on any challenge, even something outside of her comfort zone. “Each success like this builds your confidence,” she notes.

Promoting Diversity from Different Angles

Zhou says that the concept of diversity is newer in China and Hong Kong than in the western world, and was largely introduced by global companies such as PwC. While gender diversity is important to ensure that female employees have equal opportunities for promotions and upward mobility, she says that China’s culture, which encourages women to work outside the home, makes it easier to balance men’s and women’s roles.

However, there are two new areas where they are shining the diversity spotlight. The first is on cultural diversity, where teams of people from mainland China, Hong Kong and expatriates are learning to work together and value the viewpoints and contributions of disparate groups.

In addition, they are increasingly encountering generational diversity from younger colleagues, as well as younger clients due to the many new start-up firms that seek their services.

As Diversity Leader for PwC China/HK, Zhou’s core focus is to create an inclusive working environment. She acknowledges that’s easier to talk about than to create, so she says that it’s important to make sure that diversity is part of the strategy of the firm.

One way they encourage diversity is through recruiting, by intentionally making sure that they seek a diverse pool of candidates, which includes bringing folks together from mainland China and Hong Kong as well as expatriates. As a consequence, the advisory team stands to benefit from a plurality of talent.

Then they have a three-pronged strategy to ensure the concept infiltrates throughout the firm.

First, PwC makes sure everyone understands the issue by providing mandatory training to leaders on unconscious bias; then they share those lessons with the rest of the workforce; and finally they intentionally monitor it via KPIs.

Work/Life Balance Challenges

The biggest challenge that Zhou finds Chinese women face is pressure from their families – from husbands through in-laws – to work less. She feels part of that stems from the traditional one-child policy, which put the sole family focus on caring for one baby.

She hears from her employees that sometimes their families assume their focus will shift from their work to their child when they become mothers.

“When my staff members come to me and say that they feel pressured, I ask them, ‘What do you want?’ I remind them that being a mother brings life changes, but that they remain the same person they always have been,” she says, adding that everyone has their own specific goals; some may choose to dedicate most of their time at home, while others may elect to continue working.

“Each person has to look inside themselves and make their own choice without feeling pressure from family members, and then ask them to support that choice,” she asserts.

She also finds that global mobility for women is a growing area of focus. While PwC has a mature global mobility strategy, it’s become a hot topic for many Chinese companies that have started to globalize their businesses, but don’t yet have policies in place. PwC has been instrumental in sharing best practices, having recently published a thought leadership paper on moving women with purpose.

Part of the reason that women don’t go overseas from China as frequently is that few companies have formal policies in place, and often there is no mechanism to survey them to assess their interest. Interestingly, she says that when PwC surveys its employees, 70 percent of them express interest in an overseas assignment. From there, the key concern is the career path after they return.

Maintaining Work/Life Balance in Her Own Life

Zhou values her work/life balance and appreciates the support she receives from her parents and in-laws, but most of all her husband. As a doctor, he understands the professional challenges she faces and the two of them are able to support one another’s struggles and schedules.

Weekends are family time – even when there is work to be done. Her children love to join her at the office, where they can draw on the whiteboards and find other ways to amuse themselves. She encourage her staff to bring their children in as needed, also.

Finally, her family plans plenty of outside activities from skiing to weekly art lessons they take together. And, she adds, she loves to cook, a hobby that her family can enjoy also.

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Voice of Experience: Jacqueline Arthur, Chief of Staff to the Co-heads of the Investment Management Division (IMD), Goldman Sachs

Jacqueline Arthur“Change doesn’t always happen when you expect, but it has altered my career and outlook for the better. Even when I have had second thoughts about past decisions, those have been my best learning moments. Taking risks throughout my career has made me more confident and resilient,” says Goldman Sachs’ Jacqueline Arthur.

From Law to Investment Management

Arthur attended law school at George Washington University after earning her undergraduate degree at Duke University. She began her career as a corporate attorney advising private equity (PE) clients, and five years later joined Goldman Sachs in the Investment Management Division (IMD), parlaying her PE experience into her new position.

Arthur noted that even though she was in a similar industry, she was looking at it through a different vantage point and in some ways felt like she was starting from the beginning. “When I started my career as a corporate attorney, I never would have envisioned this trajectory,” said Arthur. “I’m proud of risks I’ve taken to step out of my comfort zone. I’ve become open to trusting my instincts and leveraging my network and mentors, which has allowed me to be more confident in taking on new opportunities.”

One particularly exciting challenge was when she joined the Global Portfolio Solutions team in 2008, focusing on multi-asset class solutions for clients. “Our clients were relying on us to ensure their portfolios were in safe hands during a volatile time,” Arthur says. As part of the move, she was given the opportunity to broaden her responsibilities as the group focused on expanding its capabilities. “This was a terrific growth opportunity and gave me a chance to stretch beyond a pure client role to focus on management and strategy. While I had always enjoyed advising clients, I found that I also really loved thinking about how to grow our business and to ensure we are best positioned to serve our clients.”

When a position opened in 2011 to work with the chief operating officer of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, she says she leapt at the opportunity. Her role has grown significantly in the last several years, and she currently serves as chief of staff to the heads of IMD, where she focuses on a broad spectrum of initiatives across IMD’s businesses.

“Our clients come to us for comprehensive solutions, and one aspect of my role that I have found particularly rewarding is focusing on our efforts to tap into not only the intellectual capital of the people in IMD, but also the expertise of the rest of the firm. This is a powerful tool for clients, and one that differentiates us,” she says.

“I love the diversity of my work and the people I get to interact with across the firm. Every day I am reminded that I work with such a talented group of people.” Arthur says a priority for her is to identify junior talent who have the potential to excel at leadership roles within the firm.

Viewing Your Career With a Long-Term Perspective

Approach your career as a marathon not a sprint, Arthur advises, wisdom she received from a managing director when she first began working at Goldman Sachs.

“This mindset ensures you avoid burnout and retain resilience for speedbumps you might experience during your career,” she notes. “Staying the course and having a long-term perspective has served me well in the ups and downs of work-life balance.” Arthur, who is the mother of two young children, notes that while she was initially anxious to be out of the office for maternity leave, the culture at the firm is collaborative and team-focused, and she was able to resume her role seamlessly following her return to the office.

She appreciates that Goldman Sachs has a “mentorship culture.” Arthur serves as an advisor to the IMD Women’s Network on its community engagement efforts and has found the network to be a very impactful resource. She says she has also received terrific support from mentors and sponsors at key moments. “The relationships I’ve created at the firm and in the industry enable me to tap into resources that make me better at my job and have made my career more meaningful,” Arthur says.

“The Best Part of My Day”

Arthur looks forward every day to the moment when she returns home from work and her kids run to the door to greet her. “It can be hard to maintain a work-life balance, and before having children I couldn’t envision how I would be the mother I wanted to be.” But, she says that being a mom has made her more focused at work, and she believes working has also made her a better mom. “When I am with my children, I focus on being very present and engaged. They also love coming to work with me and asking me questions about my job.”

Her family loves traveling and Arthur thrives on seeing the world through her kids’ eyes and learning about different cultures with them. Closer to home, they appreciate the access they have to restaurants and the arts in New York City. “Having grown up in a small town, the experiences we can have locally constantly amaze me, and we really try to make the most of it as a family.”

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Susie Scher, Managing Director and Head of Investment Grade Capital Markets/Syndicate and Liability Management, Goldman Sachs

Susie Scher “For the first fourteen years of my career, I was not out at work. I think this was a self-imposed barrier that was holding me back,” said Susie Scher, Managing Director and Head of Investment Grade Capital Markets/Syndicate and Liability Management, Goldman Sachs.

“It was a turning point in my career when I decided that I just couldn’t hide anymore. I was able to be myself at work all the time,” she added, “and everyone at Goldman Sachs was so incredibly supportive and accepting.”

Her Beginnings in Banking

Although Scher has had a long and fulfilling career in banking, she attributes her start in the industry to serendipity. When Scher entered her final year at Middlebury College as a Political Science major with a minor in English, she was certain that she would either become a lawyer or a writer upon graduation.

Scher did not pursue either of these paths, and instead decided to enter the workforce. “I applied for a bunch of different jobs in banking, consulting, advertising, and marketing, among others,” recalled Scher, “and ended up with thirteen interviews at different companies, including a handful of investment banks.”

Even though Scher had developed a bit of an aversion to math growing up, she did not let this deter her from pursuing a car

eer in banking. She explained, “I loved the energy of the people who interviewed me for the investment banking jobs. They were smart, type A, young individuals, and I thought it would be a lot of fun to work for and alongside those people.”

After the interview process, Scher accepted a job with Salomon Brothers, and the feeling she had about the energy of the business was spot on. Moreover, Scher began to realize that she had an affinity for understanding corporate finance and how companies operated from a strategic perspective.

“I decided to go to business school at Columbia after three years at Solomon Brothers to obtain a broader view of corporate America. Here, it clicked for me that corporate finance was a story being told with numbers,” Scher said. “This is when I realized that banking was for me.”

In business school, Scher also became very interested by how external factors impact the markets, and thus impact businesses. “I paired my interests in corporate finance and the markets and landed in a capital markets function which marries advising companies and executing transactions,” she said.

Her Work at Goldman Sachs

Currently, as head of Investment Grade Capital Markets/Syndicate and Liability Management, Scher takes a lot of pride in the growth of this business considering just ten years ago, the firm was not as strong in the investment grade bond business as it is today. Now, Scher and her team handle many high profile deals and attract even more business when the markets are tumultuous.

“I advise big cap companies on financing, risk management and capital structure,” said Scher, “and right now I am focusing a lot on capital structure optimization and helping companies with the complexities of M&A transactions in a global market.”

She added, “Our clients rely on us for our judgment on complex deals or during tough markets, and I am proud to have been a part of the rebuilding and restructuring of the investment grade debt finance business over the last decade.”

According to Scher, one of the most rewarding aspects of her job is having the opportunity to work with some of the most interesting and exciting clients in the world. “I am also really interested in how technology will continue to transform our industry and how we do business in the future,” explained Scher.

Her Experience as a LGBT Woman in Banking

“As a gay woman in banking, I do not feel like I have encountered insurmountable hurdles,” Scher remarked. “The path to success requires all of us –men, women, gay people and straight people –to think about how to be strategic about our careers,” she added.

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Voice of Experience: Wanda Hill Managing Director, BK University, BNY Mellon

Wanda hillWanda Hill, managing director of BNY Mellon’s BK University, entered the financial services industry by way of the marketing and communications world. It was a somewhat unusual entry point, but one that has served her well over the course of her career. Hill was recognized as a Woman of Distinction by the Girl Scout Council of Greater New York and in 2006, named one of the 25 most influential women in business by The Network Journal. At BNY Mellon, she oversees learning and development for the company’s Investment Services businesses, which generate approximately $10 billion annually. Previously, as part of the Investment Management business, she was responsible for maximizing cash-related revenue from the company’s institutional businesses, which included product development for BNY Mellon’s global cash investment platform.

When Hill stepped into her new role in October of 2013, her first goal was developing a three-year strategic roadmap.

“When you step into a new role at a mature company there’s always the challenge of putting your institutional knowledge to work, while at the same time being open to very different approaches and the nuances of each strategic business,” Hill said. “It’s a challenge, but I enjoy it.”

Currently, much of Hill’s focus is on the overall learning and developing strategies tied to what the company refers to as the “investment life cycle” where expertise, innovation, and intellectual capital is necessary to support and sustain BKU as a world-class learning organization. BNY Mellon’s employees are located in 35 countries and 100 markets, with the Investment Services business alone comprised of eight major businesses. Hill regularly meets with those businesses to identify how the company’s virtual university will support their business models today and into the future. “I love to build these strategies and relationships,” Hill said.

BNY Mellon’s Impact

BNY Mellon continues to intensify its focus on diversity and inclusion. In an effort to attract and retain diverse talent and create an inclusive workplace, a number of employee-powered resource groups were launched, including IMPACT in 2008, which is geared toward the company’s multicultural employees. Hill serves as Global Chair for IMPACT and is conscious of the group’s approach outside the US.

“We’re a global company and IMPACT has chapters around the world. Outside of the US, our focus is diverse employees because ‘people of color’ doesn’t really translate in other parts of the world. Creating inclusive workplaces is such a part of the fabric of BNY Mellon and being a part of this work means a lot to me,” Hill said.

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Voice of Experience: Maria Castañón Moats, Chief Diversity Officer, PwC

Maria MoatsAccording to Maria Castañón Moats, Chief Diversity Officer at PwC, simply acknowledging diversity isn’t enough to unlock its benefits – companies must engage with diversity to really experience its value. “I’m getting out there and talking to different people in practice about why it’s important for us to engage with each other when it comes to diversity,” she said.

“Think about behaviors – like inclusion. We need to understand not only how we are similar, but we need to understand how we are different.”

“Taking an interest in that difference and leveraging that makes us better as a team,” she explained. “If we could all behave as advocates for one another, think of how powerful that would be.”

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