Tag Archive for: Thought Leaders

Thought Leaders: Lisa Agona, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, LexisNexis Risk Solutions

thought-leadershipLisa Agona describes herself as very thoughtful and very driven. After studying economics in college, she pursued a career in marketing for financial services and professional services companies. After climbing the ranks at Accenture to become the global marketing director for capital markets, she got a call from LexisNexis. “I actually wasn’t going to come – I loved New York City and I was satisfied at Accenture.” The role would mean moving away from the excitement of the Big Apple, and she also had the impression that the company might be a bit conservative for her tastes.

“But when I came and interviewed at LexisNexis Risk Solutions, I found it was anything but uninteresting,” she said. “The people were innovative – even ingenious. From a marketing standpoint, it was a place I could get my arms around and build transformation and new ideas into the business.” So she took the opportunity and made the move to Atlanta, unsure of what the outcome would be. That’s her first piece of advice on getting to the C-Suite – take risks.

“I was right. It was a risk that paid off. When I wake up in the morning, I can’t wait to get to work.”

Agona, now Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at LexisNexis Risk Solutions, shared her advice for women on breaking into the C-Suite.

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Thought Leaders: Moira Elms, Global Head of Brand and Communications, PwC

thought-leadershipA strong interest in gender diversity has not always been an inherent piece of my make-up. But throughout my career trajectory this interest evolved. I got to a stage in my career where there were not many working women around me. Lots of talented women were falling by the wayside. That was when I became passionate about gender diversity.

I felt I had to do something about it.

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Thought Leaders: Reshma Saujani, Founder of Girls Who Code

thought-leadershipTo Reshma Saujani, Founder of Girls Who Code, success means taking risks and pursuing your passions – even with the understanding that you might fail. In fact, in her new book, Women Who Don’t Wait in Line, she explores the importance of failure and its connection to risk, and what it means for today’s women.

“It’s about understanding what your destiny is and striving for it,” she explained. “When I ran for Congress, people said ‘it’s not your turn yet.’” Saujani’s run was ultimately unsuccessful. Yet, she explained, she learned a valuable lesson. “It’s embracing failure,” she said. “Often, we feel like we have to do the job to get the job.” By shedding fears around failure and taking big risks, more women could achieve their dreams.

She also learned about the value of sisterhood during her campaign, another theme of her book. “Women have the power to help other women. We have to create a culture where we help each other. I can’t tell you how many women leaders, when I was researching for my book, said they seek to hire women. I want to encourage women to do the same.”

“It’s in our own hands to crash through the glass ceiling,” she added.

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Thought Leaders: Davia Temin, CEO, Temin & Co.

thought-leadershipToday, with our myriad platforms on which to publish, promote, “like,” and share, maintaining a reputation is both easier and more difficult. The Internet as a tool can make our thoughts and feelings public instantly – so you had better be sure what you do share is authentically you, and carefully considered. That goes doubly for leaders – because especially when they self-publish over social media, leaders are the subject of other people’s scrutiny and discussion. And that’s the essence of reputation – you can craft it with your own behavior, but it is spread by other people.

Davia Temin, Founder and CEO of the global reputation management firm Temin & Co., sincerely believes that your reputation is your biggest asset – and it’s also a big responsibility. She explained, “The first quote on our website is by Warren Buffett and I think it’s the best and most true way leaders think about reputation. He says, ‘It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.’”

Your reputation encompasses how you conduct yourself, what you say and do, what you say about yourself, and what other people say about you. It’s built on a lifetime of actions and interactions, Temin says. Leaders need to be sure they’re living up to the reputation they want to have. “Seek to create an authentic and consistent reputation that encapsulates and captures your best self. And then live up to it.”

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Thought Leaders: Natalia Oberti Noguera, Founder & CEO, Pipeline Fellowship

thought-leadershipAccording to the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire, only 12 percent of angel investors last year were women. Only three percent are people of color.

But a new program has set out to change that – as well as increase funding to women-led for-profit social ventures. Natalia Oberti Noguera, founder of the Pipeline Fellowship, explained that many women are interested in angel investing – but haven’t had a lot of exposure to it. At the same time, women-led startups often lack access to networks of early-stage funders. And many investors have trouble seeing the business sense in for-profit social ventures.

The Pipeline Fellowship works to boost all of these groups, bringing funds to these types of startups (women-led for-profit social ventures), while encouraging women to confidently enter the angel investing space. Oberti Noguera remarked, “Hybrid ventures need more hybrid investors who understand and value the triple bottom line.”

Plus, she said, the result is more diversity in the startup space – on the entrepreneurial side and on the investor side. “There’s a huge lack of diversity in the angel community,” she explained, and investors tend to fund companies run by people who look like themselves. “What I’m interested in doing is turning on its head that pattern recognition and that familiarity. By getting more women and people of color into the community, we can fund more ventures led by women and people of color.”

Now entering its second year, the Fellowship has introduced a diverse range of women to angel investing – from senior leaders in the Fortune 500 to entrepreneurs and other professionals. “Many people – even ones who work in the financial services – have said they have no idea how to conceptualize investing in an early stage company, but that interest is there,” she explained. “Also, learning to invest in a startup gave one Pipeline Fellowship graduate the confidence to engage more with her financial adviser.”

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Thought Leaders: Cynthia Steer, Head of Manager Research & Investment Solutions, BNY Mellon

thought-leadershipAccording to Cynthia Steer, Head of Manager Research & Investment Solutions at BNY Mellon, the benefit of a mentoring relationship comes down to learning. “You always learn something from sitting down with someone else,” she explained. “Women are always managing something else – whether it’s your job, your marriage, your family – and there’s always something one can learn about. It’s very simple.”

“I’ve always been a mentor and I’ve always learned more than I gave,” she continued. Steer explained that she quickly figured out the value of cross-generational relationships when she began her career on a team managing foreign exchange rates. “The team was made up of new kids on the block like me and seasoned individuals – and I saw that every perspective was valuable, but the combination was more valuable than the discrete parts.”

“Portfolio management is like fashion in that it always needs to be remade at the edges, with new thinking or new foci, and having multiple generations’ perspectives furthers that.”

She added, “Also, I think it’s vitally important for women like me at this point in my career to stand up in front of the room and be counted. I’m always humbled by the opportunity to do it.”

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Thought Leaders: Ana Duarte McCarthy, Managing Director and Chief Diversity Officer, Citi

thought-leadership“It’s important to remember that everyone can be inspired by your message,” said Ana Duarte McCarthy, Managing Director and Chief Diversity Officer at Citi. Senior women, she added, can help effect change within their organization by seeing themselves as role models – for younger women and for younger men.

“As a female leader, it’s not just the women you influence. It’s also the men whose vision of leadership – that women are effective leaders – changes.”Beginning the Diversity Journey

Duarte McCarthy has been with Citi since 1995, and one of her proudest achievements, she said, was being part of the work to bring employee resource networks to the company.

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Thought Leaders: Prioritizing Risk Management

thought-leadershipFor those financial institutions which have yet to grasp the importance of identifying, measuring, managing, and monitoring risks on a comprehensive basis, time may not be on their side. Regulators and litigators alike are forcing change.

There are countless individuals who want better information from their service providers about risk and are prepared to vote with their feet if they don’t get good answers. After all, these institutional investors themselves are confronted with a bevy of new mandates that require transparency. The good news is that change opens the door to business opportunities. Enlightened organizations that have good processes in place and have nothing to hide can differentiate themselves from competitors. Providing clients with education and data tools offers yet another way for asset managers, consultants, banks, and advisors to forge stronger relationships with their pension, endowment, foundation and family office clients. On the flip side, those who are reluctant to explain how they manage their financial, operational and legal risks may lose clients or worse yet, could end up as defendants in a lawsuit.

Pay to play conflicts, questions about hidden fees, state and federal legislation and new accounting rules are a few of the forces at work to ensure that trillions of institutional dollars are in good hands. Effective investment stewardship is no longer a luxury. Recent surveys confirm that buy side decision-makers continue to emphasize governance and risk management for their organizations as well as providers of products and services. Institutional investors can ill afford to lose money after a tumultuous few years. Investment committee members who give short shrift to fiduciary duties could end up being investigated by regulators or sued. According to federal court data, the number of ERISA lawsuits is going up. Factor in investment arbitrations, enforcement actions and “piggyback” securities litigation allegations and it is clear that unhappy investors are not going to accept the status quo.

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Why We Need More Gay Role Models in Financial Services

women smilingI learned a shocking statistic recently. According to a poll by the HRC [PDF], up to 51% of LGBT professionals on Wall Street are still in the closet. That means over half – half – of LGBT professionals are uncomfortable being themselves in their workplace.

We must ask why so many professionals are still afraid, in 2011, to be open about who they are and who they share their lives with. If anything, this statistic reveals some very shocking truths about the nature of inclusiveness in our top firms and companies. It’s time for those cultures to change.

This week and next, to celebrate PRIDE on Theglasshammer.com, we are featuring profiles of several amazing women who live their lives as openly gay/lesbian professionals – despite the challenges (perceived and real) that exist for LGBT individuals in the workplace. It is our hope that by shining a spotlight on these successful women, more LGBT professionals will feel inspired and empowered to bring their whole selves to work.

Theglasshammer.com was founded on the principle of creating professional networks where you can relate to people who are in the same situation as you – for example, being the only women on your team can be tough. Yet, many of us have other identities, such being a different color or nationality or being mothers. These are very visible differences, and are protected from discrimination by law. On the other hand, gay and lesbian professionals are often the invisible minority in the room, and in many respects LGBT is the last taboo in the workplace. Legal protections are still not up to par in the U.S. (In 29 states you are not protected from getting fired on the spot for being gay or “accused” of being gay.)

There are some very simple reasons why companies should work harder to create an inclusive culture for their LGBT employees.

1) You have gay clients – the business case.
2) You have gay employees – the retention case.
3) Generation Y (and many others) won’t want to work for you if you are doing nothing or doing evil around gay issues – the recruitment case.

Theglasshammer.com creates networking groups of women in financial and professional women, but perhaps one of our greatest challenges is to find senior lesbian business leaders who are “out” and visible in their firms. Why is it so hard to find a critical mass of role models to inspire other women who may be struggling to be themselves at work?

The cost or perceived cost of being “out” seems to be still very high for gay people, and the fear of negative consequences from employers or co-workers can be clearly seen in the HRC study “Degrees of Equality” detailing why gay employees don’t come out.

  • “Thirty-nine percent believe they will lose connections.
  • Twenty-eight percent believe they will lose promotion opportunities.
  • Seventeen percent believe they will be fired; this number increases to 42 percent for transgender workers.”

Everyone reading theglasshammer.com can do something to contribute to creating a better culture in your firm. Here’s are three ways to reach out.

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Thought Leaders: Accenture’s Katherine LaVelle on M&A Culture Transition

thought-leadership

Marked by an infectious enthusiasm, Katherine LaVelle, is a managing director at Accenture Management Consulting who leads that practice for the firms’ North America capital markets clients. She is an expert in leading corporate workforces through mergers and acquisitions, particularly in the financial services arena. “I’m passionate about anything and everything that makes people more effective in their jobs,” she said.

Eighteen years ago, after obtaining her B.S. from Arizona State University and then an MBA from Georgetown, LaVelle learned about Accenture’s nascent change management practice – and knew she wanted to work there.

It’s been the right fit, said LaVelle, referring to both Accenture and particularly to her work in the financial services industry. She explained, “It’s an industry structured around two things: people and technology. To build the most effective workforces, companies have to invest in those two things – and that really appealed to me.”

Last year’s unprecedented surge of M&A activity is not expected to slow down, she said. And according to LaVelle, who has worked on some of the world’s largest (and longest) global mergers, M&A is as much a people-issue as it is a financial one. She explained, “Companies that have not produced a clear picture of what their culture will look like rarely meet their financial targets in the first year after a merger.”

She continued, “A deliberate and defined plan for how you will build effectiveness into your new team is really important, and cannot be bypassed.”

LaVelle shared her wisdom and tactics on maximizing effectiveness while blending cultures – for senior leaders, managers, and employees going through an M&A transition. Here’s her advice.

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