Tag Archive for: voice of experience

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: Celine Herweijer, Partner, Sustainability, PwC UK

rceline_herwejer_pwcBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“In terms of being a leader – I didn’t think about it too much early on,” began Dr Celine Herweijer, Partner in PwC’s Sustainability practice. “I’ve always known that I wanted to spend my life working on issues I feel passionate about, and that I enjoyed being around people and building consensus for change. I guess I’ve really grown organically from that. I’ve met role models along the way who inspired me to keep reaching for the stars.”

In 2012, Herweijer became one of PwC’s youngest partners. Her career had taken her from academia, to the UN, the NGO space and then to the private sector leading a consulting practice before she joined PwC. Despite her diverse work experience, she has been driven by a singular passion – to change the way people, companies, and governments approach sustainability.

She explained, “For my generation, this is an issue we grew up with. We were one of the first to hear regularly in our classrooms and on the news about the stresses we were putting on our planet. I had clarity early on that I wanted to take personal responsibility to influence change.”

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Voice of Experience: Philippa Nesbit, Chief Risk Officer, Citi Private Bank and Citi Holdings

Philippa NesbitBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Reflecting on her early career, Philippa Nesbit, Chief Risk Officer at Citi Private Bank and Citi Holdings, encouraged junior women to seek out broad opportunities to learn. “Really, the important thing is getting a diversity of your knowledge base. It’s easier to learn more and get a breadth of knowledge when you are junior. When you are a managing director, it’s hard to get those different experiences. I hadn’t appreciated the importance of that 20 years ago.”

She continued, “Tied to that, make sure you grasp every opportunity. Be really flexible and adapt the ways that you work. Our junior colleagues are from a generation with lots of tools and options to manage their careers – from day one, develop and build your network every day.”

“I attribute a lot of my success to being able to call many people – to get both business perspectives and career perspectives. I will always advise people to ‘push yourself’. Put yourself out of your comfort zone and into decision making roles,” she added.

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Voice of Experience: Laila Worrell, New York Metro Office Managing Director, Accenture

Laila Worrell, AccentureBy Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Laila Worrell, Managing Director of Accenture’s New York Metro Office, says some of the most important advice she’s received is, “when given a choice, choose on the side of generosity.”

She explained, “We all have demands on our time and resources that we must prioritize.  The advice I share often is to remember to err on the side of generosity.  If given the opportunity to support or mentor someone, view it as a privilege.”

Worrell also emphasizes the importance of building strong networks internally and externally. She noted, “Many of us feel too busy with other responsibilities, but it’s important to prioritize building and maintaining your network.  It can be an incredible resource to you throughout your life and career.”

Career Path

Currently Worrell is the leader of the company’s New York Metro Office, where she is responsible for 4,000 people in New York and New Jersey. She serves on the company’s North America leadership team and CEO Advisory Council, and she also leads the company’s work in the private equity sector.  Initially, though, Worrell didn’t anticipate a career in business.  She recalled, “I joined Accenture immediately after completing my undergraduate degree.  I had majored in liberal arts and was passionate about the academic world. I thought I would eventually return to academics.”

“However, I had an incredible experience with Accenture, and I found I was very passionate about business and helping clients solve some of their most complex business problems,” she continued.  She enrolled in Harvard Business School, graduating with her MBA in 1998.  After several years leading strategy and corporate development for a major media company, she had the opportunity to rejoin Accenture, shaping the company’s growth initiatives in the North American market.

Today Worrell works with clients in the financial services industry and is also involved in the company’s initiative around skills and competitiveness. “Accenture is undertaking work to support an initiative to increase the competitiveness of the United States in the global economy, including by leveraging skills as a driver of economic growth.”

This ties into Accenture’s Skills to Succeed global corporate citizenship initiative, she continued. “One of our economy’s key growth levers is our base of skilled resources.  Accenture is committed to helping even more individuals in our communities gain the skills they need to get a job or start a business.”

The topic of competitiveness is relevant to her work with financial services clients as well. “I spend a lot of time with our clients in the financial services sector. We’re going through an unprecedented period of change in financial services. There is an enormous amount of competitive pressure. The question is how can institutions continue to innovate, transform, and compete in a rapidly evolving environment. It’s fascinating working with our clients on these issues.”

Worrell says the part of her career that has been the most rewarding is helping others advance in their own careers. “When I’ve helped people build confidence to fulfill their potential, to see what’s possible, these are the types of achievements I’ve found rewarding, absolutely.”

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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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Voice of Experience: Carol Sawdye, Chief Financial Officer, PwC

carol sawdyeAccording to Carol Sawdye, Chief Financial Officer at PwC, it’s important to maintain a “sense of urgency” about your career. It took Sawdye 17 years to figure this out, she said with a laugh.

After climbing through the ranks to partnership at PwC, she set out for a new chapter as CFO and COO at the M&A firm Skadden Arps, which led her to a more recent, challenging role as CFO at the NBA. Now, she is back at PwC, working as part of the US Leadership Team to transform the nature of how the firm does business in a rapidly changing, 24/7, global marketplace.

Sawdye explained, “You don’t necessarily need to move to new employers. There are typically a lot of opportunities in the place where you are currently employed to get new experiences and advance your skills. The way to get from point A to point B is not necessarily a straight line.”

“After moving up the ranks at PwC for 17 years, I made the move to Skadden – it was a big leap. But I had the desire to become part of a management team so I just decided to do it. You really need to be willing to see opportunities and take calculated risks.”

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