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<h5>Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is a key part of who we are at Citi and how we thrive. Supporting DEI in the industries in which we operate is an important part of this commitment.</h5>
<h5>To promote a more inclusive asset management industry we spoke with a group of female leaders who have reached the highest levels in asset management. In interviews with our female leaders in Securities Services, the participants share their experiences, discuss how the industry has changed, and offer advice to those beginning their careers.&nbsp;</h5>
<h5> We hope these insightful conversations will help everyone understand the value of DEI and inspire the next generation of female leaders to join the asset management industry.</h5>

The Chief Operating Officer at BetaShares on the value of hiring diverse teams and how identifying your strengths can help combat imposter syndrome. 

Women in Asset Management: Debbie Bennett

Female leaders in asset management share their experiences, discuss how the industry has changed, and offer advice to those beginning their careers.

Profiles in Leadership - Women in Asset Management

Birgitte Bryne, Chief Operating Officer at Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), thinks that in order to make real strides on diversity in the asset management industry, firms need to do a better job promoting the positive impact it has on the world. &ldquo;Finance really is an exciting industry. We get to help change the world and can make a huge impact on things like sustainability,&rdquo; Bryne says. &ldquo;I think that is an appealing message to women.&rdquo;
Bryne joined NBIM in 2015 as the Global Head of Investment Administration and was appointed to the leader group as Chief Operating Officer in October 2020.&nbsp; In her role, she&rsquo;s responsible for a global team that looks after operations for the world&rsquo;s largest sovereign wealth fund, which owns almost 1.5% of all shares in the world&rsquo;s listed companies. Unlike most of the industry, NBIM has reduced its reliance on outsourcing and brought its front-office processes and technology infrastructure back in-house. This has completely changed the nature of her team over the past 5 years. &ldquo;We went from overseeing vendors to becoming the experts ourselves,&rdquo; Bryne explains.&nbsp; This shift has not been without its challenges and Brigitte is quick to stress the importance of having the right team in place. &ldquo;It is important to look for the right talent and hire people who are better than you,&rdquo; Bryne says. &ldquo;They will help the organization excel and also help you in your own development.&rdquo;
Before joining NBIM, Bryne had a successful career in investment banking, which included roles as Chief Financial Officer at Nordea Bank Norge ASA and Chief of Staff and COO for Equities at SEB Enskilda Securities ASA. &nbsp;Bryne attributes her success to her willingness to take risks. Early in her career, the local CEO created a Chief of Staff role that Bryne was interested in but was apprehensive to apply for. She wasn&rsquo;t sure she was qualified but after much debate, Brigitte decided to go to his office and express her interest in the role. &ldquo;I was scared to death and can still remember walking those stairs to his office,&rdquo; Birgitte recalls. &ldquo;How should a 28 year-old, junior employee approach one of the senior leaders of the firm?&rdquo; As a result of the meeting, she was invited to present her vision to the leadership team. To her surprise, she got the role and spent the next 17 years at the company in various management positions.
Bryne often tells this story when coaching trainees at NBIM to stress the importance of taking risks. &ldquo;Try to do one little thing every week that really scares you,&rdquo; she advises. &ldquo;If you do this, you&rsquo;ll find that you&rsquo;ll push the limit over and over and the things that scared you in the past won&rsquo;t really scare you anymore.&rdquo;

The Chief Operating Officer at Norges Bank Investment Management on the importance of taking risks in your career and why finance is an exciting industry that should be attractive for women. 

Women in Asset Management: Birgitte Bryne

When Brenda Sklar, Global Chief Operating Officer at Legal and General Investment Management (LGIM), reflects on her impressive career one thing that sticks out is having a role model early on. &ldquo;Very early in my career, I worked with a female portfolio manager, which back then was really rare. She was an exceptionally strong woman and that has always stuck with me,&rdquo; Sklar says. This is why Sklar believes it&rsquo;s so important that companies deliver on their diversity promises. &ldquo;Firms need to walk the walk when it comes to diversity,&rdquo; Sklar says. &ldquo;This includes calling out areas where diversity is lacking, as well as championing those that do a great job.&rdquo;
As someone whose track record in delivering operational excellence has made her sought after in the industry, Sklar is doing her part to be a role model for young women. Never one to shy away from a challenge, Sklar joined LGIM, the UK&rsquo;s largest asset manager, last year in the midst of the global pandemic after 24 years at BlackRock. She held a number of global roles at BlackRock across client and business functions, rising to the Global Head of Client Services after being Global COO for Operations and Technology. In her current role, she oversees LGIM&rsquo;s technology, operations, data, change, and client service functions across Asia, Europe, and America.
While Sklar has spent her whole career in asset management, she didn&rsquo;t start out in operations. She interned at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers during her junior year of college and upon graduating from the University of Delaware was offered a full-time role as a research associate in the emerging markets portfolio management team. &ldquo;Back then, being a research associate meant you did a little bit of everything,&rdquo; Sklar explains. &ldquo;Of course I helped research companies but a big part of the job was working with our traders to make sure trades got settled, which gave me strong foundation for understanding operations.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Sklar attributes her success to the broad set of roles she&rsquo;s had in her career. &ldquo;Not all the moves I made were for a bigger job or a promotion,&rdquo; Sklar notes. &ldquo;Some of those moves were quite lateral but they gave me the opportunity to learn and build out my skillset, which I believe has made me much more valuable to organizations.&rdquo;
Like many, Sklar feels that technology and digitization have transformed the industry and is allowing it to innovate at a lightning speed. &ldquo;I've always said that, compared to other parts of financial services, the buy-side has felt kind of sleepy on things like self-service and digitization,&rdquo; Sklar says. &ldquo;But I think we&rsquo;re waking up now and it's causing this boom in FinTechs across a number of areas.&rdquo; She expects this trend to continue, with the most successful asset managers becoming truly data-led organizations.
A key piece of advice Sklar gives to women entering the industry is to surround themselves with the right professional and personal network. Having this network can help woman feel more comfortable to take more risks and embrace failure. &ldquo;I have learned most in my career when I failed,&rdquo; Sklar says. &ldquo;However, being able to rely on a circle of people who I trusted when I was struggling was critical to my success and career growth.&rdquo;

The Global Chief Operating Officer of LGIM discusses the benefits of lateral career moves and the importance of having a trusted professional and personal network.

Women in Asset Management: Brenda Sklar

When Debbie Bennett joined BetaShares as the Chief Operating Officer in 2015, it was a boutique Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) firm with just 18 employees and almost AU$2 billion in assets under management. The firm has now grown to over 70 employees with AU$21 billion in assets under management, making it one of the largest Australian ETF issuers. Bennett attributes the firm&rsquo;s focus on diversity as a key factor to its success. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s important to hire diverse teams to help us know where our customers are focused and what&rsquo;s important to them.&rdquo;
Bennett is a relative newcomer to the asset management industry, having spent most of her career on the sell-side. First working in finance and accounting roles at investment banks and then moving to investor services at a number of global banks, holding senior roles across client solutions, operations, and fund administration. In those roles, she had the opportunity to work with a number of asset managers, including BetaShares, who she worked with to create the operating model to support their ETFs. They were so impressed with her work that a few years later they offered her the Chief Operating Officer position and she hasn&rsquo;t looked back. She now oversees operations, infrastructure, systems, and processes for the firm&rsquo;s suite of over 60 products, the broadest range of ETFs offered in the Australian market.
Bennett credits her success to her ability to identify her strengths. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s really important to back yourself and play up to your strengths. For me personally, my strengths are my technical capability, attention to detail, caring about the output and overall risk management,&rdquo; says Bennett. &ldquo;So I found myself looking for opportunities in roles that played to those strengths.&rdquo; That said, like many people she readily admits that there were times she didn&rsquo;t feel that she earned the right to be in a role. &ldquo;I think everyone feels this way at some point in their career, but you need to remind yourself that you&rsquo;re there for a reason,&rdquo; Bennett says.
Over the course of her career, she has seen the investor services ecosystem evolve through the functionalization of operational processes and become more efficient through the creation of centers of excellence around the globe. &ldquo;From a customer perspective, we see that as being all very positive,&rdquo; Bennett notes. &ldquo;We have a lot more scalable solutions and it does allow more technology to be used more effectively.&rdquo; For asset management, she expects technology to continue to be a key focus but she believes it must be used intelligently. &ldquo;It can&rsquo;t just be technology for technology's sake. It needs to be used with the right risk focus and in a way that it makes the best solution for customers.&rdquo;
Bennett stresses the importance of feedback in young women&rsquo;s career development. &ldquo;Find opportunities to get constructive feedback, not only from internal stakeholders but also from your clients.&rdquo; She feels that these types of conversations with her clients often helped lead her to her next opportunity. However, she also reminds young women to celebrate their achievements. &ldquo;Take feedback on board but try not to take things personally. You must continue to reflect on the things that you've done really well.&rdquo; &nbsp;

When Laura Weatherup, Co-Head of Global Operations and Investor Services at Columbia Threadneedle Investments, looks back at the COVID experience, she thinks the one positive outcome may be that it will help improve diversity in the asset management industry. &ldquo;The pandemic forced us to introduce an unprecedented level of flexibility for our teams and we remained amazingly productive,&rdquo; says Weatherup. &ldquo;If we can retain that flexibility, we&rsquo;ll be able to build a more inclusive workplace that should help develop a more diverse workforce.&rdquo;
Weatherup has spent the majority of her career at Columbia Threadneedle, an institutional asset manager with 17 offices around the globe, where she&rsquo;s held a number of senior operations roles. During her tenure, she&rsquo;s been at the center of a number of transformational projects for the firm, including helping to lead the merger of the European investment operations of Columbia and Threadneedle when the two firms merged in 2015. In her current role, Weatherup leads a team of 600 employees across three continents and is responsible for the strategy and execution of global operations.
Like many people, Weatherup&rsquo;s career didn&rsquo;t begin in asset management. After graduating from Oxford with a degree in geography, she took a job at PwC. &ldquo;When I was starting out, I didn&rsquo;t really know what I wanted to do,&rdquo; Weatherup says. &ldquo;I joined PwC as an auditor and used that time to really understand more about the financial services industry.&rdquo; During her time as an auditor, Weatherup qualified as a Charted Accountant and discovered that she enjoyed asset management. Once she realized this, Weatherup moved across to the advisory practice and worked with clients on remediation and outsourcing projects. While working with Threadneedle on their first generation outsourcing project, she wrote a paper on how to oversee the arrangement and the Chief Operating Officer at the time was so impressed that he asked her to join the firm to implement the plan. &nbsp;
Weatherup was attracted to the more practical nature of asset management, but moving from the theoretical nature of consulting came with its challenges. &ldquo;The biggest challenge for me was the speed with which things moved,&rdquo; notes Weatherup. &ldquo;I was used to working on projects and projects only, whereas people who work at asset management firms tend to work on projects in addition to their day jobs.&rdquo; Despite the challenges Weatherup acclimated herself well to the industry and what she thought would be a three-year stint has turned into a career.
As she rose through the ranks, Weatherup has seen the operations world change dramatically. &ldquo;Thankfully, with the rise of automation, there&rsquo;s a lot less paper than was 15 years ago,&rdquo; Weatherup says. As a result, the profile of the operations function has completely transformed as well. &ldquo;When I started, operations was generally considered just a back office support function,&rdquo; Weatherup notes. &ldquo;Now it feels as if operations is central to the business, alongside the front office and distribution. We are key partners in helping formulate and execute the firm&rsquo;s strategies.&rdquo;
Weatherup advises young women entering the industry to be bold in their ambition and to take chances to put themselves forward. She also believes that confidence is critical. &ldquo;When I think about where I was in my career in my mid-twenties,&rdquo; Weatherup reflects, &ldquo;one piece of advice I would give myself is that, when you don&rsquo;t really feel confident about the step you've just taken, know that other people feel exactly the same. Do not allow those feelings to limit what you believe you can do.&rdquo;

The Co-Head of Global Operations and Investor Services at Columbia Threadneedle Investments advises young women to be bold and explains how the operations function has transformed over the past decade.

Women in Asset Management: Laura Weatherup

Austin is having a moment right now and Lisa Dallmer is part of the wave of new arrivals to the Texas state capital. She recently relocated from New York City to take the role of Global Chief Operating Officer at Dimensional Fund Advisors, where she runs finance, operations, and technology for the $637 billion asset manager. &ldquo;My favorite part of the move has been exploring the food, culture, and neighbourhoods of Austin,&rdquo; Dallmer says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve also discovered that I really enjoy mountain biking, which my kids got me in to when we moved here.&rdquo; The Lone Star State is just the latest stop in an impressive career that has taken her around the globe.
Before entering asset management, Dallmer spent 14 years working in capital markets technology at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), where she worked her way up to be the Chief Operating Officer at NYSE Euronext. &ldquo;While working at the NYSE I got to participate in the early development stage of the ETF industry,&rdquo; Dallmer says. &ldquo;It helped me gain an understanding of how asset management operations connects to the investment process.&rdquo; This experience certainly came in handy when Dimensional entered the ETF market in late 2020. In June, her team supported the firm&rsquo;s historic conversion of four of its US tax-managed mutual funds into transparent ETFs, turning Dimensional into one of the largest active ETF issuers in the US practically overnight. While it wasn&rsquo;t the first conversion of a mutual fund to an ETF, it was the most complex and largest by far, totalling $29 billion in assets. Dallmer and her team have blazed an operational trail for other managers to follow that could lead to up to $1 trillion in mutual fund assets converting to ETFs over the next decade, according to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-16/a-1-trillion-mutual-fund-to-etf-bonanza-may-be-getting-started" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bloomberg Intelligence</a>.
Dallmer views her career as a diversified portfolio and has always looked to expand her skillset with each role she has taken. &ldquo;I've been really pleased that I&rsquo;ve been able to string together my career and keep adding to my portfolio, which keeps me learning.&rdquo; Her impressive portfolio also includes stints at a FinTech startup and Chief Operating Officer of global technology at BlackRock.
One of the biggest changes Dallmer has seen during her career is the alignment of technology and operations, as evidenced by the fact that she oversees both at Dimensional. &ldquo;Technology is a powerful tool to increase efficiency but if the operating process isn't well-designed then we're just automating something bad,&rdquo; Dallmer notes. &ldquo;We always have to think about the process and the technology side-by-side.&rdquo; When building her team, she looks for a broad set of skills with diverse backgrounds and stresses the importance of having the diversity of thought. &ldquo;We used to try to hire for problem solving, now we need to hire for problem anticipation. To do that we need people with accounting and finance backgrounds, computer engineers, and people who have worked in the front office,&rdquo; Dallmer says. &ldquo;Having all of those perspectives around the table gives you the diversity of thought that you need to successfully design a new process or implement a new technology.&rdquo;
When mentoring young women, Dallmer always advises to be proactive and willing to learn. &ldquo;Take a class, do research, network with experts. Once you've done that, put that knowledge into play by taking a risk and raising your hand for something different,&rdquo; Dallmer recommends. &ldquo;It's uncomfortable but you will grow and, in the end, you'll broaden your lens and make yourself more valuable.&rdquo;

The Chief Operating Officer at Dimensional Fund Advisors on her career portfolio and the importance proactively looking to expand your skill set. 

Women in Asset Management: Lisa Dallmer

Melanie Seymour, Head of Global Client Service at BlackRock, never intended to have a career in financial services. &ldquo;When I graduated from college I moved to Canada to show jump and thought that was going to be my career,&rdquo; Seymour says. However, after a year she returned home to the UK and decided to try a job valuing bonds at a bond house. &ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t a career choice by any means, I had promised my father that I would try working for a year and it was supposed to be temporary,&rdquo; Seymour recalls. &ldquo;However, once I started earning money and enjoying life in London, I decided I wouldn&rsquo;t go back to show jumping.&rdquo;&nbsp;
That was just the beginning of an unconventional career journey for Seymour. She&rsquo;s held a number of senior roles in technology, operations, and change management at major financial institutions. Seymour also spent nearly a decade as an entrepreneur, running a successful startup that she grew to a team of over 200 with over &pound;20 million in annual revenue.
Seymour&rsquo;s entrepreneurial spirit has paid dividends in her time at the world&rsquo;s largest asset manager. Prior to taking her current role, she was charged with building the firm&rsquo;s innovation hub in Budapest. When she arrived in Hungary it was just her and a laptop, but when she left it was an office of almost 800 people and an integral part of BlackRock&rsquo;s global operating model. Seymour credits her time as the founder of a startup to her success at BlackRock. &ldquo;When you own your own business, you can't just think about what you&rsquo;re doing today. You have to anticipate the impact of everything around you and what's coming up,&rdquo; says Seymour. &ldquo;I think that's definitely helped me as I've moved into different roles, having that peripheral vision of a whole business.&rdquo;
Now Seymour is focused on transforming the firm&rsquo;s digital client experience across the globe. She&rsquo;s seen first-hand not only how the pace of technology has increased, but how much clients are asking for it. &ldquo;Clients used to look for products and now they are looking for partners to help them deliver solutions. The companies that have been really successful have all truly embraced technology and their offerings today, compared to even 10 years ago, are unrecognizable.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Seymour predicts her eclectic experience will also become the norm in the industry. &ldquo;When I started in financial services, there was a belief that you needed to be a deep subject matter expert to succeed,&rdquo; Seymour says. &ldquo;However, I think more and more breadth is just as important as depth. Having lots of different experiences is key to unlocking opportunities.&rdquo; Looking at her own career, she thinks that some of the sideways moves and things that weren't stops on a traditional career path have helped to shape her the most.
For the past nine years, Seymour has sat on the Advisory Board of Women in Banking and Finance where she has mentored women of all levels in the industry. Drawing on her own experience, the key piece of advice she gives to young women is to build a breadth of experience. &ldquo;I talk about having a metaphorical backpack and over the first 10 years of your career, fill that backpack with skills, experiences, and people because as you move through your career, you're going to need a number of tools to be successful. I think this is true now more than ever because with the pace of technology today, everything is evolving so quickly.&rdquo;

BlackRock’s Head of Global Client Services on her non-traditional career path and why building a breadth of experience is important than subject matter expertise. 

Women in Asset Management: Melanie Seymour

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 Citi's Institutional Clients Group (ICG) offers investment and corporate banking services and products for companies, governments, institutions, and ultra high-net-worth investors.

Profiles in Leadership - Women in Asset Management

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is a key part of who we are at Citi and how we thrive. Supporting DEI in the industries in which we operate is an important part of this commitment.

We hope these insightful conversations will help everyone understand the value of DEI and inspire the next generation of female leaders to join the asset management industry.

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