Top Women in WealthTech 2020: Kit Lee of BNY Mellon's Pershing

Q&A January 22, 2020 at 03:14 PM
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Kit Lee, Director of Technology Solutions & Head of Integration, BNY Mellon's Pershing

Accomplishment(s): I took on the Head of Integration role at Pershing last year to shape the Integration Strategy for Pershing. Integration has become a critical part of the financial services space with the emergence of innovative fintech firms. We're currently focused on developing new products that will help make integration faster, easier, and offer more choices for our clients.

I also work closely with Pershing's strategic clients on their technology strategy and collaborate with them on delivering the best experience to users. I have also had the pleasure of running Pershing's Integration Advisory Council of fintech partners. I'm thrilled to have a front row seat in helping shape integration and technology strategy for Pershing and our clients, as well as the industry.

How to get more women into WealthTech: There's a lot of advice out there, but the one I take to heart most is that women need to be role models and help motivate and lift others into leadership positions.

I've been fortunate working at BNY Mellon as there's a strong Diversity & Inclusion culture. I also had the privilege to serve a two-year term as the Global Co-chair for Women in Technology (WIT) at BNY Mellon.

During my time leading WIT, my team and I put together education programs, advocacy programs, and networking programs to help women in technology learn, grow, and thrive.

Most importantly, we were able to build a community that supports motivating and lifting others. We also ran formalized sponsorship programs that would help women get the visibility they needed to advance.

Bottom line is that companies need to see diversity as an important part of their growth strategy and continue to invest in it; leaders need to take a personal interest in being a role model while motivating and lifting women.

Advice for those starting out: I would tell myself to be a better communicator.

Over the years, I've found that people are willing to tell you just about anything if you genuinely listen, ask the right questions, and really be thoughtful about how to use that information. Being a better communicator would've saved me a lot of time.

Sources of insights and inspiration: "Harvard Business Review." I love their truly insightful articles, often backed with real research. I'm always trying to learn about how the world works around me and HBR articles provide me a breadth of insight both in and out of the financial services industry.

CNN. I go there when I need the Cliff's Notes for the latest news around the world. I don't follow politics or sports too closely, so CNN is a good resource to keep up with those topics.

Flipboard. We live in a world of too much content, so I try to consolidate using Flipboard. Some of the tags I follow include Future Technology, Business, BBC, NYT, Travel, U.S. National Parks, Forbes, Fintech, AI, Blockchain and Fintech.

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