Tag Archives: Changing Perceptions

Event Recap (part 1): A completely imagined conversation between two CFA charterholders (CC1 and CC2) in Minnesota

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By: Hilary Wiek, CFA, CAIA, Society Volunteer

CC1:  When’s the next CFA event coming up?

CC2:  June 5, 7:30 to noon at the Women’s Club of Minneapolis.

CC1:  Wow!  That’s long!  What’s the topic?

CC2:  Diversity and Inclusion.  Looks like there will be a variety of speakers, including a Keynote from someone at Blackrock.

CC1:  That sounds like a seriously long sales pitch.  Plus our team is humming along and this is no time to mess with the process by inserting someone who isn’t a good fit into the investment team.  I don’t see the relevance.

CC2:  Yeah, I think I’ll skip.  Sounds like it’s just for the ladies, and there are so few of them in the CFA Society that it probably won’t even be a good networking opportunity.

What actually happened:

Eleven tables of roughly eight places each were filled with women and men (the vast majority were women; I had no idea the CFA Society of Minnesota reached so many!) in all stages of investment career progression.  There were representatives from banks, asset managers (local to global), consultants, and allocators such as pensions and non profits.  The keynote speaker was a man – of mixed African American and Syrian ancestry who had been raised in a white family with two white sisters and one Korean/African American brother.  And he’d worked to purposefully staff President Obama’s administration during both administrations.

There were no sales pitches – these were discussions about human capital and how they interact, a topic of never-ending need for improvement at all organizations.  Best practices in this area will lead to competitive advantage (evidence was provided – see successor blog posts on this), but everyone who spoke admitted to still being on a journey to improve in the area of diversity and inclusion and no one felt they had reached the finish line – and likely never would.  This is a topic area that requires intentionality and high-level leadership support for a dent to be made, and even with those elements, it will still take many years to arrive at an ideal vision.

The event mixed up the formats – interactive presentations, table discussions, and panels.  The assemblage was instructed at the beginning to go beyond discussion of the problems; this has been done for decades ad nauseum.  We were charged with having an important and uncomfortable conversation with the purpose of arriving at concrete things we could do to improve the diversity and inclusion of our industry currently dominated by white males. 

As for whether this event was appropriate for everyone – data was provided from one study that showed that diverse investment teams performed spectacularly better than homogenous teams.  The varying perspectives, and added conflict they bring, provided better researched investment ideas because the teams pushed back harder against colleagues who were given no benefit of the doubt because of any sort of shared tribal affiliations. 

In succeeding blog posts about this event, I’ll dive into further details from CFA Institute research on the subject of Diversity and Inclusion as well as outline aspects of the hottest topic areas in the space.  Finally, I’ll share some concrete steps that firms can consider to better improve the hiring and retention of diverse candidate and staffing pools.

WIIF Women in Investment & Finance: a swing and a miss – a series exploring why companies aiming for diversity are striking out

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A Student Perspective

My name is Bridget Murphy and I am a senior studying accounting and finance at Bethel University in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

I had the privilege to compete in the 2019 Midwest Regional CFA Research Challenge, where my team and I presented our hold recommendation on a biotechnology company that we had researched over a period of five months. During this time, we examined the company’s financials, management team, and business strategy as well as the competitiveness and risks of the industry as a whole. The opportunity to compete in this challenge was immensely beneficial to me. Compiling a research report on a complex company allowed me to apply my knowledge from almost all of my business classes into one project. Even though this was an investment report, I was able to use my accounting background to provide a new way of looking at things. My favorite part about competing was being able to work alongside my team and bring all of our different ideas together into one comprehensive report.

I decided to participate in this competition to step outside of my comfort zone. Though one of my majors is finance, I am going into the public accounting field, and after graduation (spring 2019) I will be working at an accounting firm as an auditor. Even so, I recognized that getting more experience in finance would be beneficial to my learning and push me to explore all my options. Working on this project allowed me to understand what finance has to offer. It gave me hands-on experience of the technical knowledge I have gained in my courses at Bethel.

My team was comprised of five individuals, and I was the only female. I was also the only female competing in the regional finals. Though I have gotten used to being the only, or one of a few, females in my business courses, I was very surprised that I was the only one among all five teams presenting at the CFA Research Challenge. Before this experience, I was aware that finance was a male-dominated field, but had not personally experienced it. Being the only female was a bit discouraging. At the beginning of my college career I will admit that, at times, I felt intimidated to be surrounded by males in my finance courses. However, as I gained knowledge and started to understand what I was learning, I was no longer intimidated. I am also very lucky to have supportive professors who instilled in us that we have a voice and we are equal. Through school and internship experiences, I have met many women who I consider to be role models, and they encourage me to work my hardest and push through trials. I would encourage women who are thinking about majoring in finance to not be intimidated, and to step outside their comfort zones. I believe that women will continue to pursue finance as more women already in the field continue to share their experiences and strengths with others.

#changingperceptions

Are you interested in contributing a blog to this important series? E-mail Diane at support@cfamn.org to volunteer.

WIIF Women in Investment & Finance: a swing and a miss – a series exploring why companies aiming for diversity are striking out

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Spring Training

Spring is nearly here. In spite of the seemingly never-ending snow and cold, the days are getting longer, and the sun just a bit brighter. With a new season just around the corner, optimism is in the air. There is always so much hope in the beginning – so many promises, so much potential, young rising stars, and real progress seems just around the corner. And then – WIIF! We are hit smack in the face with reality.

I am speaking, of course, about another International Women’s Day. Another year where we proclaim the importance of expanding diversity in the investment business, diversity in executive ranks. We women all march off to our conferences where we learn about the many ways in which we are inhibiting our own careers. We listen to inspirational stories from incredible women who have succeeded against the odds. We learn yet again how important diversity is to organizations, as they affirm their commitment to our careers.

And yet the numbers are not budging. According to research by the New York Times women represent just 10% of portfolio managers. CFA Society Minnesota’s own numbers show the number of women who hold a CFA remains stuck in the teens. We have adopted this notion that we just need to introduce women to the business sooner, we need to make them aware earlier. If we could just let them know when they are Sophomores in college, First years, high school students, toddlers. None of that explains, though, why boys somehow figure out there are good career options, and girls don’t.

Maybe girls are not stupid. They are, perhaps, responding appropriately to the very limited set of career options they see as available to them. The are rejecting a culture that appears to them to herald The Wolf of Wall Street, a frat-ish atmosphere that seems anything but welcome. They are reminded of the sense of powerlessness that haunts so many of them in so many ways as they realize what the world has in store for them.

If we expect girls to embrace opportunities in the investment business, they need to see that there is a future for them. They need to see powerful, smart intelligent women succeed in the business – not because they need role models, but because they need to believe that success is possible. It’s hard to see that success is possible when for women, it has been so rare.

Here’s my suggestion for demonstrating that success is possible: Hire and promote talented senior women. We are all weary of hearing that “the women just aren’t there.” Go out and find them.  The last time your organization had a senior opening, what did you do to identify a diverse candidate? Was any compensation or bonus tied to success in finding diversity? Did anyone work on a strategy for identifying diverse talent? Did you do anything different from your normal process? If nothing different is attempted, it’s hard to imagine different results.

This is a country that has put a man on the moon. We carry computer/television/phone/gps tracking devices in our pockets. We have developed a pillcam to take pictures of the small intestine, antibacterial nanoparticles, autonomous vehicles. But somehow, we are unable to figure out how to hire diverse candidates to manage our portfolios? This is not even plausible, and lays bare the insincerity of the effort.

It’s time to stop pretending that you want diversity, while doing nothing about it. If you say you want to succeed in this game, then take a swing. Every strike will bring you closer to the next home run.

#changingperceptions

Are you interested in contributing a blog to this important series? E-mail Diane at support@cfamn.org to volunteer.

Changing Perceptions Interview with Joan Kampmeyer, CFA – Private Investor

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Tell me a little about yourself 

I have a Bachelor’s degree in French from the University of Minnesota.  I went on to get my MBA from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota and earned my CFA Charter in 1986.

What sparked your interest in the investment industry and CFA Program?

I have always had an interest in business since graduate school. I started out in corporate treasury at a company called Jostens, which was a public company at that time. During my five years with the company, I became Assistant Treasurer with responsibilities that included oversight of external managers running the company’s pension fund. So, through that exposure, I met managers who had the CFA designation, and it intrigued me, though I didn’t really need it in my work at that time.  I thought the CFA was worth investigating, one thing led to another and three years later got my CFA Charter.  At that time, I worked for an investment banking unit that was part of what is now Wells Fargo. It really paid off when I moved to Ameriprise as a fixed income analyst where professionals were strongly encouraged to obtain a CFA.

Did you have a mentor who was instrumental in your career?

I never really had a mentor.  At that time there weren’t a lot of women in asset management; in fact, I can think of only one who was a senior portfolio manager. I think the critical element is not just having a mentor but also making sure you cultivate your network on a regular basis.  That way, when you are looking to make a change, you can tap your network.

The CFA Charter also helped me find a position in asset management.  I went to a CFA Society Minnesota monthly luncheon and sat next to a woman who worked at Ameriprise.  It was she who told me about a fixed income analyst opening.

What professional challenges have you experienced?

My challenge was how to stay in finance yet move my career in new directions. I went from working for a consumer-based company, Jostens, to working for a large banking institution, to working for an asset management firm, and finally a family office. Therefore, the challenge is how to navigate all the different choices out there without thinking of it as too much of a stretch.

What is the biggest risk you’ve taken in your career?

The biggest risk was to leave the corporate world and leap into investment banking.  The nature of work was completely different from what I had been doing at Jostens. In addition, it was a newly formed group with no track record and I was the only female professional.  Lastly, I took a small cut in salary but added bonus potential.

Do you have any advice for young professionals interested in a career similar to yours?

Follow your instincts and don’t be afraid to try new positions and industries. Every job is different, and there are a lot of opportunities in the world of finance and investments. You may have to take more of a zigzag path, but that can actually make it a lot more fun.

 

Student Interviewer

Francine Umumarungu is from Kigali, Rwanda, and a senior at Gustavus Adolphus College majoring in Financial Economics. Her plans after graduation are to take the CFA Level One Exam in December and apply for a job in the finance or investment field to gain work experience before embarking on the rest of the CFA Program.

Event Recap: “Inclusion in Investment Management: Beyond Checking the Diversity Box”

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By Amanda Carter, CFA and Charles Hannema

The CFA Society of Minnesota hosted a panel discussion on the topic, Inclusion in Investment Management: Beyond Checking the Diversity Box on October 4, 2017. The panel was facilitated by Kim Brustuen, CFA, SVP and National Sales Manager – Corporate Treasury, US Bank with Colin Lundgren, CFA, Global Head of Fixed Income at Columbia Threadneedle, and Paul Smith, CFA, President and CEO of the CFA Institute, as panelists.

In response to questions prompted by Bruestuen and the audience, Lundgren and Smith articulated how Columbia Threadneedle and the CFA Society defined diversity within their respective organizations, how definitions vary across different global constituents, and how having a diverse talent pool has benefited the investment management community.

Kim Brustuen referenced a McKinsey & Company white paper, Diversity Matters , in her comments and questions. The McKinsey paper cited analysis showing a statistically significant relationship between a more diverse leadership team and better financial performance. Much of the discussion centered on gender diversity and why, although strides have been made at entry level for women, there are still significant concerns about gender diversity in senior management. Paul Smith noted that female candidates outside the United States comprise a much larger percentage of candidates in the CFA Program.

The discussion, in our opinion, prompted more questions than it answered, particularly with respect to diversity that is not gender related. The evening reinforced the value of deliberate inclusion of diverse thought and background while prompting the need to expand the discussion.

    

Additional event photos are located on our society Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/cfaminnesota/