At one point in her career, DeAnne Steele wouldn’t mention her young son when she was at work.
“I didn’t want people to think work wasn’t first,” recalled Steele, who is now a managing director at U.S. Trust, a unit of Bank of America Wealth Management. She said employees shouldn’t be disdained if they say they have to take care of their children.
Steele was the keynote speaker at a CFA Society Orange County event to discuss the role of women in money management. The two-hour event, which attracted almost 200, was held Aug. 24 at the auditorium of Newport Beach-based Pacific Investment Management Co., one of the world’s largest money managers with $1.6 trillion in assets under management.
It included a wide-ranging market discussion given by three female PIMCO executives: Tiffany Wilding, a senior vice president and U.S. economist; Sonali Pier, an executive vice president and bond portfolio manager; and Alison Schiraldi, a senior vice president and account manager.
They also gave tips on how women can advance their skills and positions, such as always seeking feedback, volunteering for new projects, and keeping an eye on the next possible role. They related the importance of finding the right mentors.
“How do you prove to them that you are worth it for them to go behind closed doors and pound the desk on your behalf?” Wilding said.
About 18% of chartered financial analysts are women, a statistic that has remained constant in the past two decades, said Leah Bennett, chief operating officer at Westwood Trust and a director at the CFA Society.
Wall Street’s image of corruption may discourage female college students from entering the industry, thus limiting the ability to hire talented women, she said.
On the other hand, women in their late 40s and early 50s are also leaving the profession, Steele said. The industry should work on retaining them and also on not excluding white men from the diversity discussion.
“We’ve got to include everyone,” Steele said.
Manny Roman, who became chief executive at PIMCO last year, told the audience that when he began his career 30 years ago, there were few women in the industry. Roman, who said he has two daughters, told the audience that he hopes the seminar will help them in their careers.
“This is an opportunity to share stories, both good and bad.”
