20 minute read
Book Review
THREE ESSENTIALS FOR WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH
MMarch is Women’s History Month, during which we celebrate women of character, courage and commitment. Below, leading women in the STEM field have shared their favorite books that have helped them in their journey to success. Women of Color magazine present these books in hopes that you may find them helpful also.
LEAD” BY SHERYL SANDBERG
ISBN-13: 9780385349949 Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group Publication date: 3/11/2013 Pages: 240
“Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead” is written by Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook. In the book Sandberg talks about the lack of women in leadership roles and offers simple solutions that can help women achieve their full potential.
“…[V]ery inspiring. Two of my favorite chapters are ‘Sit at the Table’ and ‘It’s a Jungle Gym, Not a Ladder.’ I encourage everyone to read it. No, I’m telling everyone to ‘Lean In!’” —Courtney Coulter, computer engineer, Intelligence and Information Warfare Directorate (or I2WD) US Army Communications-Electronics RD&E Center
“THE FIRST 90 DAYS “ BY MICHAEL WATKINS
ISBN-13: 9781591391104 Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press Publication date: 11/1/2003 Pages: 208
When entering a new leadership position, the first 90 days are the most critical. In this book Michael Watkins, a noted expert on leadership transition, talks about how critical the first few months are when you enter a new positions of leadership. He addresses common risks and challenges you are likely to encounter, and proven techniques to make the transition into your new position successful.
“This book helped me understand that what created my past successes as an individual performer or team member aren’t the same things that would make me successful as a leader.” —Robyn DeWees, director, Mission Assurance Northrop Grumman
OF LEADERSHIP FOR BLACK WOMEN” BY ELAINE MERYL BROWN, RHONDA JOY MCLEAN, MARSHA HAYGOOD
Hardcover: 176 pages Publisher: One World/Ballantine; 1 edition (March 2, 2010) ISBN-10: 0345518489 ISBN-13: 978-0345518484
This book is a great book written by three Black executives who have climbed the ladder of success and wish to reach back and help as many women professionals as they can. They share their ideas and experiences.
“[The Little Black Book of Success] is a great book that shares strategies to help all black women, at any level of their careers. It focuses on the building blocks of true leadership—self-confidence, effective communication, collaboration, and courage—while dealing specifically with stereotypes.” —Paige Lewter, electronics engineer, Naval Air Systems Command
Compiled by Ray Kennedy, rkennedy@ccgmag.com
HOW IT IS CHANGING THE FACE OF FINANCE
By Frank McCoy
Women of Color magazine is sure that STEM leaders and rising stars like you understand how Information Technology has transformed the capture, processing, analysis and communication of data both up and down organizational hierarchies and horizontally across related sectors.
Let’s drill down and review information technology’s impact on finance, Wall Street, and consumer retail, and spotlight trends that should inspire STEM students in 2014 and beyond to enter those sectors.
FINANCE
Whether as an individual accountant or at a hedge fund, the hyper-speed of automatic transactions via shared service centers and outsourcing makes business both more efficient and precarious. Of course, while increased speed and data accumulation doesn’t alter finance’s basic tools, techniques, or functions, it does require that organizations hire information technology specialists for other purposes. These include technologies to control employee use of personal and company digital devices, strengthen cyber security, and create and monitor cloud-based platforms.
The importance of IT’s relationship to finance is evident. In her 2000 paper, “Catalytic Impact of Information Technology on the New International Financial Architecture,” University of Washington School of Law Professor Jane K. Winn called finan-
Her analysis is borne out in sources including a Demand Media report on the importance of information technology in finance that spotlighted information technology’s historical impact on that vital sector.
1960s: the New York Stock Exchange cut trading days as trade volume exceeded the ability to process it manually.
1970s: electronic checking and credit card processing spread nationwide as computer technology, local networks, and electronic data processing firms shared information.
1990s: Banks harden cyber security technology, begin using web-based commercial transactions, and by 1998 “more than $50 billion worth of transactions” are done online.
2007: Murithi Mutiga, an editor at the Nation Media Group in Kenya, reports that in that year his country launched the world’s first mobile banking system. In 2012, 18 million Kenyan web banking subscribers processed transactions equal to $11.5 billion of the country’s $37 billion GDP.
2013: Gartner, an IT research and advisory firm, wrote that global mobile payment transaction values would be $235.4 billion. A year earlier, payments equaled $163.1 billion. The number of global mobile payment users was projected to be 245.2 million in 2013, up 45 million from the previous year. How will Google, Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, Tesla, and other digitally-innovative companies transform consumer retail? Here’s the lowdown.
Last year, J.P Gowinder, a Forrester Research vice president and principal analyst wrote a commentary for Forbes. It was titled Google is Poised to Revolutionize Consumer Retail and Gowinder said that “consumer retail stores act as de facto extensions of the information technology department in today’s BYO (Bring Your Own Office) world.”
What does that mean and how will it impact your job opportunities? At Google, which is engaged in a steel cage battle with Apple for customers and prestige, CEO Larry Page is considering opening physical stores to advertise and sell its products: Android-based Nexus smartphones, Google Glass, Chromecast, Chromebooks, and maybe even self-driving cars someday.
If so, Google, which opened a Chrome Zone retail store in London in 2011, will join Apple, Microsoft, and Samsung, which has created space in other stores for its products, and will offer customers access to their product and services. Today’s STEM students will be the ones to support tomorrow’s ecosystems for those companies.
WHERE ARE THE IT FINANCE/WALL STREET JOBS?
At the least, to operate, maintain and upgrade an information system for a financial firm requires hardware and software, technology vendors, employee training, technicians, cyber security experts and systems engineers. Plus, those STEM graduates with M.B.A. degrees will rise higher as they can speak money as well as talk tech. Beyond traditional public, private and non-profit financerelated brick-and-mortar organizations, would-be finance and information technology professionals should consider reviewing and contacting the World’s Best Internet Banks (http://www.gfmag.com/tools/best-banks/12787-worldsbest-internet-banks-2013.html#axzz2q0nJHDGI). In 2013, Citi won multiple honors in the Best Corporate/Institutional Banks category, including the Best Overall Internet Bank award. Wells Fargo was also recognized.
Google’s competitors will also need people STEM majors to collect, analyze, use, store and protect the digital consumer data they gather via social networking and from point of sales. CONSUMER IT AND ENGINEERING JOBS
How might Google’s potential venture affect STEM students? A Morgan Stanley retail study reported that, “Various Google job postings seek engineers to ‘develop, test, and deploy retail Point of Sale systems’ (POS), requiring skills such as ‘experience spanning any of the top tier platforms including: IBM, NCR, Retalix,’ various retail POS systems.” Google’s competitors will also need people STEM majors to collect, analyze, use, store and protect the digital consumer data they gather via social networking and from point of sales. The Mountain View company will lead the pack in how it uses everything it learns from the billions of daily searches users conduct for something to do, watch, or listen, and uncover new and personal ways to contact and/or influence customers before, during and after they visit a Google store. Cross-collaboration with Android-reliant companies is also likely, and every step of the process will demand information technology expertise. Comments by Arvind Desikan, head of consumer marketing
at Google UK, are the flashing “go” sign. In 2011, Desikan said of the Google Chrome Zone store, “ It is our first foray into physical retail. This is a new channel for us and it’s still very, very early days. It’s something Google is going to play with and see where it leads. We found anecdotally that when people tried the device and played with it, that made a huge difference to their understanding of what the Chromebook is all about. We want to see whether people understand what this device is all about and monitor their reaction when they try it out.”
IT, THE INTERNET OF EVERYTHING, AND YOUR EMPLOYMENT
Older people may find the Internet of Everything (IOE) to be potentially intrusive. Younger ones will only consider it, and the billions of sensors and devices in it, as the seamless support system of their daily life.
At networking giant Cisco Systems, it “defines the Internet of Everything as the networked connection of people, process, data, and things.” By 2023, the company predicts that net profit of that sector may be equal $14.4 trillion.
The IoE, says Cisco, will be driven by “connecting the unconnected”—people-to-people, machine-to-people, and machineto-machine—via the Internet of Everything , and $3.7 trillion in net profit will derive from customer experience, much of which will be connect to retail.
STEM professionals will be necessary to support, expand and protect the Internet of Everything, as
The Economist Intelligence Unit, and Information Week magazine predict that information technology’s impact on the IoE and consumer retail will: • Create ever-larger waves of consumer-generated data • Produce a torrent of consumer-directed products and services • Force companies to interconnect networks of products, support and services • Increase demand for technology infrastructure to store and protect data • Raise the bar for corporate skill development • Lead to accepted interconnectivity and data-sharing standards • Spike demand for employees with multi-disciplinary experience in sensors, networking and analytics • Unlock new revenue streams from old products • Inspire innovative working practices or processes • Transform existing business models and strategies • Increase the need for technology infrastructure, energy, supply chain, logistics, data, and asset managers • Make graduates with internship experience in the above areas more attractive. • Boost visibility of prospective hires with STEM and business backgrounds • Increase hiring of business intelligence designers who can
“turn all of that information into stuff the executive suite,
marketing, and other non-technical business units can actually understand and use” • Spike demand for DevOps Experts who can build and maintain cloud infrastructure and mobile apps
RADIO FREQUENCY INDENTIFICATION (RFID)
Key components for effective use of the Internet of Everything are sensors such as Radio Frequency Identification Devices. The following are January 2014 Careerbuilder.com RFID-related jobs found on Careerbuilder.com (search word: RFID). They all require experience, and that is what internships are for, but recommended STEM degrees for entry are noted below. • Real-time system location architects: B.S. degree in computer science • Wireless engineer: B.S. degree in business or information technology • Application Engineer Project Manager: B.S. degree in electrical engineering/computer science • Electrical Design Engineerg: B.S. degree in electrical or electronic engineering • Senior Software Engineer – Cryptography: B.S. degree in electrical engineering/computer science
Last year, Consumer Goods Technology (CGT) published two articles that point where information technology and consumer retail may be going. CGT distilled trends within a McKinsey & Company study and reported that consumers will someday have “the world’s largest store in every pocket.”
• During the past 10 years, CGT said that e-commerce grew 18 percent annually and in 2013 was equal to 8 percent of total retail sales. If as predicted, U.S. mobile smart phone penetration rises from today’s 40 percent to 60 percent, digital business will skyrocket and that will increase demand for STEM graduates in the sector.
• Based upon McKinsey’s study, CGT noted that marketers now spend more than 50 percent of their ad budget on digital advertisements.
• Based upon the pattern set by Amazon, someday consumers may expect every retailer to ship items as quickly as it does. McKinsey projects that the top 150 metropolitan statistical areas, home to almost 75 percent of Americans, will soon have same-day delivery.
• The McKinsey report also stated that increasing numbers of Americans are conducting consumer retail business with alternative companies such as craigslist, eBay and Etsy, which has almost one million small businesses. And each of those entities needs professionals to keep business churning profitably.
All of which should bolster the confidence of STEM students at they know these and other organizations need your expertise, and someday you will become their leaders.
TOP WOMEN IN FINANCE
THEY SET RULES, RATE PERFORMANCE, LEAD TEAMS, AND INVEST MONEY: 24 WOMEN LEADERS IN BANKING AND FINANCE YOU NEED TO KNOW
By Frank McCoy
In March, Women’s History Month, Women of Color celebrates banking and finance leaders and rising stars. They excel at the Federal Reserve, commercial banks, credit rating agencies, in the federal government, investment banks, mutual funds, and those who invest money for high net worth individuals. Janet Yellen
Chair Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Bank
On February 1, 2014, Janet Yellen made history herself, becoming the Fed’s first woman leader. She had been vice chair of the Fed Board, and previously president and CEO of the 12th District Federal Reserve Bank in San Francisco. The holder of a Ph.D. in economics from Yale University and a Brown University undergraduate degree, she served as a professor emeritus at the University of California at Berkeley and has a timely specialization: the causes, mechanisms, and implications of unemployment.
Wendy N. Ross
Marketing Director American Express-Enterprise Growth
American Express is where Wendy Ross wants to be. Prior to joining the card colossus, the Morgan State University graduate, with an M.B.A. degree from The University of Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business, was a leader at BearingPoint, Procter & Gamble Co., and Kraft Foods. Prior to her current post at American Express, the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. sister was leader of the American Express Prepaid Card business unit.
Wanji J. Walcott
SVP, Managing Counsel American Express
At American Express, the paralegals and lawyers representing its worldwide technology organization and shared services unit, and clients with Internet law issues, are led by Wanji Walcot, who received her B.A. and J.D. Degrees from Howard
University. Prior to Amex, she worked at global law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, a telecom software provider, and Lockheed Martin. The recipient of American Express Technologies’ highest recognition for performance, the Top Owners Award, Walcott founded the American Express pro bono program.
Rhupal J. Bhansali
Senior Vice President Chief Investment Officer International Equities Ariel Investments
At $8.4 billion Ariel Investments, Rhupal Bhansali manages the mutual fund’s global portfolio and its financial and retail sectors. Before Ariel, the veteran analyst oversaw institutional and retail portfolios at MacKay Shields, and was portfolio manager and co-head of Oppenheimer Capital ‘s international equities. Bhansali received a Bachelor of Commerce and a Master of Commerce in international finance and banking from the University of Mumbai, and an M.B.A. in finance from the University of Rochester.
Lucy Cruz
Vice President Credit Risk Specialist Bank of America
For more than 20 years, Lucy Cruz has gained experience and stature at leading financial institutions including RBS Global Banking, Omnium LLC, and Morgan Stanley. As an expert risk analyst, she helps manage credit relationships and facilitate the internal credit process. Her responsibilities include identifying how central bank rules impact traded financial products and margin loans portfolio. Cruz has a B.A. degree in business administration from City University of New York-Baruch College, and an M.B.A. from Hofstra University.
Colleen Taylor
Executive Vice President Capital One Financial
Last year, American Banker newspaper reported that Colleen Taylor, as the leader of Treasury Management, transformed its support and service processes. The publication also named Taylor as a woman to watch as she had overhauled new hire training, improved technology, unified the client services staff, and created a liaison team to handle bank internal client service requests. Before the former Wachovia Bank Senior Vice President joined Capital One in 2009, she worked at JPMorgan Chase, and The Chase Manhattan Bank.
Elizabeth C. López
Director Global Subsidiaries Treasury, Corporate & Investment Banking BBVA Compass
Prior to joining BBVA, a bank holding company, López spent seven years at Citi rising to the position of treasury consultant. While working at BBVA and she is also studying at Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business to earn a Master of Business Administration with a specialty in finance and marketing. López has two undergraduate degrees. One in economics, and Latin American studies from the University of Texas at Austin, and another in business economics from the Pontifica Universidad Catolica de Chile.
Mayerlin Fattibene
Vice President BNY Mellon
Mayerlin Fattibene joined BNY Mellon’s Global Corporate Development-Mergers & Acquistions in May 2013. Previously she had worked for financial service companies including CIT, AIG, and JPMorgan Chase. Fattibene received her B.A. degree in international business and finance from New York University and her M.B.A. from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Since 2009, she has been a vice president of strategic partnerships of the Association of Latino Professionals in Finance & Accounting.
Deborah C. Wright
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Carver Bancorp
Carver Federal Savings Bank, which is part of Carver Bancorp Inc., has 10 branches spread across Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. In 1999, Deborah C. Wright, who had been president and chief executive officer of the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corporation, became CEO of Carver. Wright earned her bachelor’s degree, M.B.A degree, and law degrees at Harvard University. Last December, Wright told American Banker that Carver would “target” New York City’s under-banked citizens.
Jacqueline Beato
Vice President of Finance Caesars Entertainment Corporation
Jacqueline Beato leads an eight-person team at Caesars Entertainment Corp., a global gaming, hotel and resort company. She joined Caesars after working as a president’s associ-
ate at Harrah’s Casino in Joliet, Ill., and at a member of the equity derivatives trading unit Deutsche Bank. She earned a Bachelor of Science in industrial engineering degree from the University of Miami and an M.B.A. degree from Harvard Business School.
Gillian Yu
Credit Suisse Securities
In 2013, Gillian Yu, in Credit Suisse’s San Francisco office, was recognized by Barrons as number two on its list of Top Women Financial Advisors. She had been listed as 20th on the previous year’s list. Her ranking in Barron’s reports reflected “the volume of assets” she or her team oversaw, revenues generated, “and the quality of the advisors’ practices.” Yu’s typical account containing $20 million, and a typical net worth of her investors was $50 million.
Wanda Felton
First Vice President and Vice Chair Export-Import Bank of the United States
Coming full circle, Wanda Felton began her investment career as an ExIm Bank loan officer.
During 15 years prior to joining the nation’s official export credit agency in 2011, she was a private equity specialist and rainmaker of investment capital. Clients including investors in sub-Saharan Africa, part of her current portfolio. She also ran her own financial advisory firm, MAP Capital Advisors. Felton holds a B.A. Degree from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. from Harvard.
Lucy Baldwin
Managing director Goldman Sachs
It takes special talent to become a managing director at any firm. For Lucy Baldwin to do so at 28 and to head the London-based European retail and consumer equity research team and as Forbes magazine reports to become co-chief of the equity research consumer business unit in Europe is epic (my word not Forbes). Baldwin studied economics at Birmingham University.
Stephanie Smith
Managing Director Global Head Credit Operations Goldman Sachs
Stephanie Smith is a graduate of the Zicklin School of Business at City University of New York – Baruch College. She had previously worked at United Healthcare. Managing Director Global Head of Fixed Income Research Corporate and Investment Bank J.P. Morgan
Joyce Chang’s portfolio for J.P. Morgan’s corporate and investment bank operations includes using political and economic intelligence to provide forecasts on world fixed income markets. Chang, American Banker reports, also “oversees research on currencies, public finance and securitized products.” Institutional Investor rewarded her emerging markets research team with No. 1 ranking three times. She has a B.A. degree from Columbia and an M.P.A. degree from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University.
Valerie Garcia Houts
Merrill Lynch Wealth Management Merrill Lynch Bank of America
In 1999, Valerie Garcia Houts received her M.B.A. degree from the University of California at Berkeley. Last year, Barrons ranked her sixth on its 2013 Top Women Financial Advisors list. Her typical account was worth $50 million and the typical net worth of her clients was $500 million. In 2010, On Wall Street listed Houts on its “Top 40 Advisors Under 40” list.
Melissa Corrado-Harrison
Private Wealth Advisor Merrill Lynch Bank of America
In 2013, Barrons ranked Melissa Corrado-Harrison, a managing director in wealth management, as 13th on its Top Women Financial Advisors list. Based in Denver, her typical account was worth $25 million and the typical net worth of her clients was $50 million. Corrado-Harrison received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Colorado System.
Kimberly Lyons
Assistant Vice President/Analyst Moody’s Investor Service
At Moody’s Investors Service, which provides credit ratings, research, tools and analysis of financial markets, Kimberly Lyons is a U.S. states ratings analyst. Her portfolio includes Georgia, Idaho, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Wisconsin. She had worked at Financial Guaranty Insurance Company as a surveillance associate. She received both her B.A. degree in sociology and a Master of Public Administration from the University at Albany-SUNY.
Vice Chairman and Managing Director Senior Client Advisor Morgan Stanley
In the wealth management division, Carla Harris’ goal is to create increased revenue through client penetration. In 2013, President Barack Obama appointed the Magna Cum Laude graduate of Harvard University and holder of an M.B.A. degree from Harvard Business School as chair of the National Women’s Business Council. Harris, who joined Morgan Stanley’s mergers and acquisitions team in 1987, is also the chair of the Morgan Stanley Foundation.
Sandra Harris
Executive Director Morgan Stanley
Prior to Morgan Stanley, Sandra Harris worked for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Invesco, and Naiman Point Advisors. The Certified Financial Analyst is a graduate of Mills College and has Finance Degree from the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business.
Ranjana B. Clark
Senior Executive Vice President Union Bank
As Head of Global Transaction Banking, Ranjana Clark oversees Union’s treasury management and global trust and custody businesses and company-wide digital capabilities for parent Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Americas Holdings. Previously, Clark was PayPal’s chief customer and marketing officer, president of global business payments, Western Union’s head of global strategy, and chief marketing officer at Wachovia. She received her M.S. degree in marketing from the Indian Institute Of Management and an M.S. degree in finance from Duke University. Executive Vice President Union Bank
Since joining Union Bank in 1986, Bita Ardalan has risen steadily. In July 2013, she was tapped to lead commercial banking in the western region from southern California through Washington state. Ardalan had been heading the bank’s national specialized lending group’s sales, marketing and credit management of units including commercial finance, environmental industries and fund finance. The graduate of Williams College earned a Bachelor of Science degree in economics and finance.
Avid Modjtabai
Senior Executive Vice President Consumer Lending Wells Fargo
Avid Modjtabai has been on a promotion escalator since Women of Color profiled her in 2011. She is the leader of Wells Fargo’s consumer lending operation, and from that post the bank’s former chief information officer of technology and operations oversees business units including auto finance and student loans and consumer credit cards. For Modjtabai, a Stanford University industrial engineering graduate with a Columbia University Master’s in Business Administration degree, the crown jewel of her portfolio is Wells Fargo’s mortgage originator and service division: the nation’s largest.
Michelle Thornhill
Senior Vice President Strategy and Integration Manager - Diversity and Inclusion Wells Fargo
The combination of a Harvard Master of Public Administration degree and a Virginia Tech B.S. in financial management is powerful. Thornhill has used that academic foundation as she developed and managed Wells Fargo’s enterprise marketing and engagement strategy for Black consumers and communities. So it was a tribute to her success in May 2013 when she was promoted to bank-wide strategy and integration manager and a direct report to the financial giant’s enterprise diversity and inclusion manager.
