Page 34 - Investment Advisor - Jan/Feb 2021

Cover Story

trust. He said to me at the time, 12 years ago, that I “was too old you, as they look for people who are hardworking and who
to be an entrepreneur; banks would never hire outside firms; they believe should take on a stretch role, right?,
high-net-worth individuals would never be on the internet; This means finding someone who’s going to look out for
and social media is a fad.” you and who’ll speak about you in the room when you’re not
Instead of being discouraged by all this, I was encouraged. there. If you look around, it’s disappointing when women
I thought, if this guy thinks that everybody would say those leave our industry.
things, then that to me looks like an opportunity. With the pandemic, there’s so much that women have to
So, I went from one industry working at Kelly Services, do — with remote schooling for children, taking care of parents
where I had great mentors and sponsors and worked for and all the things generally put on women.
some great women, largely women, and made the switch Within our business, we’ve made sure that we’re very flex-
to financial services, which is largely male. That was really ible right now. If you have young kids at home, take care of
different for me. those kids when you have to and be flexible in your [work]
hours, if you’re in a role in which you can.
What’s your overall We say this all the time.
view of the presence It’s one of the biggest things
and status of women There’s a big emphasis right to do today. If you want
in financial services, women in your organiza-
including technology? now on keeping women in the tion, and even men today,
RUDIN: Some large firms you need to be flexible.
have numbers that don’t industry, keeping women in There’s a big empha-
look so out of whack with sis right now on keeping
the overall diversity and your firm and helping them women in the industry,
inclusion [goals and the find a path so they don’t keeping women in your
general population]. That’s firm and helping them find
because marketing is leave. After the five-year a path so they don’t leave.
filled with women, human After the five-year mark,
resources is filled with mark, what a knowledge base what a knowledge base
women, etc. walks out the door when
There could be a large walks out the door when that that happens. It’s really
number of women at a firm, hard to bring that back in.
but what areas of the busi- happens. It’s really hard to
ness are they involved in? bring that back in. How do you see this
Generally speaking, it’s not industry encouraging
operations, product [devel- —Cheryl Nash women and men to
opment] or this type of become as tech savvy
focus, and they tend to be as possible, so their
more concentrated in sup- careers can grow?
porting roles. RUDIN: Cheryl and I don’t look like the tech “geeks” or some-
That’s made Cheryl, for example, a really great role model. thing like that [stereotype]. We don’t look like what you might
She’s been hiring women across her organization rather than think of [related to] technology so many years ago. You know,
just deep in parts of her organization — in product and opera- there’s the management information systems or information
tions, not just human resources and marketing. technology department, and that’s for the guys with the pocket
protectors. I’m too cool. That’s not where I belong. I belong in
NASH: Another issue I’ve focused on is women in our industry the front office, with the clients.
from one to five years after they’ve joined it. After five years, in But what we’ve seen over the past years has been that tech-
terms of their career path, they’re either stuck — and likely will nology’s become pervasive. You can’t not be in technology. I
stay where they are and they’ll be happy with that — or they’re don’t know why people are sometimes surprised about fintech.
going to get out of our industry. That [term or concept] is a passing fancy — because what isn’t
We’re trying to keep women in our industry. There’s a big- are today’s technology companies. I operate a small firm; we’re
ger sense of urgency right now — with the push for diversity a technology company.
and inclusion — in helping women rise. You can’t not operate without technology today. There’s
It’s about who you know in your industry or your business the notion that we have the “digital natives,” brought up with
and finding the right sponsor. Or the sponsor is going to find lots of technology, and the “digital immigrants,” who grew up

32 INVESTMENT ADVISOR JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021 | ThinkAdvisor.com