So Much in Store For Our Stakeholders |
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We are pleased to introduce the Partners Program, a forum for WIP members to develop supportive and long-term relationships with another member on equal footing. Partners engage in conversations and exchange ideas and experiences on topics important to both parties, which can be part of the criteria when partners are assigned. The inaugural cohort of the Partners Program will launch in mid-2023.
In addition, please stay tuned for our whole new digital, online look and experience, coming Q2 2023!
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What's Important Now (WIN): Educational Series
We will interview CIOs of leading organizations in a series of virtual fireside chats. You will gain insights into the current environment, including the investment opportunities and challenges. Additionally, you can expect to learn about the various career paths that these remarkable women followed to earn the CIO title.
April 13 @ 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Viewpoints: the Environment, the Role, the Opportunity @ Zoom
Join our Fireside Chat with Aiofinn Deviit, CIO of the Moneta Group, and moderated by Ashwini Apte, Institutional Defined Contribution Lead, BlackRock as they discuss CIO viewpoints.
Professional Development Series: Career Freedom - Let's Get REAL
Our careers are not just boxes checked and endless emails; they are real life, dynamic experiences with challenges, twists and turns, unexpected circumstances, and joyful successes. This year, the Professional Development Committee is focused on reinventing the traditional perception of networking, maximizing career opportunities to rejuvenate and recharge our careers. Across all of these topics, we will get real and share our actual stories, drawing inspiration from our collective experiences.
April 20 @ 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Networking Reinvented @ Central Standard Building, 231 S. LaSalle
Networking is vital and can have a major impact on all of us, in and out of the workplace, but sometimes can be viewed as a challenge rather than an opportunity. Let’s dive into the many different ways to network and its benefits. We will explore internal and external networking, relationship building, and other impactful interactions.
SAVE THE DATE: June 22 @ 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM
Career Opportunities @ Location: TBD
Spring Networking Event
Join us in welcoming spring at an in-person evening of food, drinks, and networking with old and new friends. Guests welcome! WIP membership not required to attend.
May 17 @ 5:00 PM – 7:30 PM @ Atrium, The Exchange, 224 S Michigan Ave
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WIP COFFEE ROULETTE is Back! |
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Coffee Roulette provides 20 minutes of randomized, casual, one-on-one networking with WIP members and guests. WIPs’ Café @ Zoom is open at 10:00 AM CT the first Friday of each month through December 2023.
Sign up is easy! Register once here. After registering, a webpage will appear with a link to add the complete event series to your Outlook/Google/iCal calendar.
Stop by WIPs’ Café @ Zoom as often as you like. We look forward to seeing your favorite brew and you!
Click here to read a Coffee Roulette success story.
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Nicole Zaleski
Managing Director,
Alter Domus
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My WIP journey began in 2015 after being invited by a friend to an event on the economic outlook; I was immediately hooked! I’ve had the pleasure of being involved in the Membership Committee over the past several years and have continued to make incredible connections and personal friends. Highlights have been exposure to first-class content from industry leaders and trailblazing women among the various interactive events. Involvement in WIP has expanded my professional network within the investment management community and has inspired me to drive community and female advancement within my current role at Alter Domus.
I co-launched the Alter Domus North American Women’s Business Resource Group ("BRG"), as a key Diversity, Equity & Inclusion initiative with Alter Domus North America Regional Executive, Jessica Mead, and Head of Human Resources North America, Denise LaForte in Q4 2022. The main goals behind the formation of this networking group were to help foster closer working relationships, develop career opportunities, drive business results, and ultimately create a shared sense of community and common experience. More broadly, we believed it was essential to have a space in which we could communicate and address issues that affect women at Alter Domus. It’s of vital importance to our business that we can be part of an environment that attracts, retains, and promotes more women.
The BRG goals resulted in us developing a wide variety of events. One of our first was a co-ed fireside chat on Harmony in Work and Life and Women in Leadership panel showcasing Alter Domus global female executives. We then organized several committees with chairwomen to deliver programming on the themes of how to overcome obstacles that working parents face, navigating career change and advancement, community outreach, and launching a mentorship program for emerging female leaders. Following these, we partnered with Human Resources to deliver enhanced parental leave policies based on the feedback from these sessions.
Looking forward to spring 2023, the Alter Domus Women’s BRG will be co-presenting an in-person event in New York City on “Refreshing Your Personal Brand” featuring key female clients. We feel we have made remarkable progress – progress that demonstrates how we will work collectively to further our individual and shared goals. I, and the other BRG leads, are very optimistic about what is to come!
Please reach out to Nicole if you'd like to learn more.
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Welcome, Q1 New and Renewing Members! |
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- Julia Arrez LGIM America
- Clay Attebery eVestment
- Radhika Badiani Mercer
- Krista Barry eVestment
- Rhonda Berg Mercer
- Margaret Berry Bloomberg Financial Markets
- Michela Boarnet Harbor Capital Advisors
- Noelle Bond Charles Schwab & Co.
- Holland Brems Calamos Investments
- Amanda Buckstaff Voya Investment Management
- Emma Cameron LGIM America
- Alexis Cann Segall Bryant & Hamill Danielle Cassidy LGIM America
- Shari Cruz eVestment
- Jill DeBerardinis Vanguard
- Ellen DeNicola America Century Investments
- Elizabeth Despain Harbor Capital Advisors
- Rain Diamond Harbor Capital Advisors
- Selene Diaz N/A
- Sylvia Diez Mercer
- Amanda Dunne AllianceBernstein
- Shweta Dwivedi BMO Financial Group
- Alyssa Dziedzic LGIM America
- Rebecca Emery Bloomberg LP
- Lauren Fitzgerald Putnam
- Jennifer Flodin Mercer
- Olivia Garatziotis Allstate
- Ellery Garland Capital Group
- Peggy Gartin AAA
- Adela Ghinet Harbor Capital Advisors
- Tara Giuliano Nuveen
- Nancy Gonzales LGIM America
- Nichole Graveen Morningstar Investment Management LLC
- Harisha Haigh Northwestern University
- Tara Harkins Harbor Capital Advisors
- Katherine Hennessy AssetGrade, LLC
- Shauna Hewitt LGIM America
- Melanie Horvath eVestment
- Courtney Hugger Wellington Management Company
- Leila Iroume LGIM America
- Beth Johnson Mercer
- Allison Johnston Capital Group
- Shar Kassam Nasdaq
- Erika Kennedy Polen Capital
- Denise Kenny Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago
- Becky Kim Harbor Capital Advisors
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- Leslie Kondziela LSV Asset Management
- Samantha Krawitz Antares Capital
- Kathryn Launspach LGIM America
- Caroline Loughman PPM America, Inc.
- Alicia Maddux Nasdaq
- Kathryn Maiorano N/A
- Kitty Martin Nuveen
- Susie Mathews PPM America
- Janet McWilliams Driehaus Capital Management LLC
- Jessica Merz LSV Asset Management
- Annika Mueller Pensions & Investments
- Tracey Nykiel Wellington Management
- Mya O'Brien Aon
- Katrina O'Leary Lyrical Asset Management Eliska Otillio Boeing
- Emily Pedersen Putnam
- Susy Pestana eVestment
- Nikki Pirrello Pensions & Investments
- Cynthia Quinn Legal and General America
- Jaclyn Rachanski Marquette Associates
- Tameca Reed 1834, a division of Old National
- Jaime Rehm LGIM America
- Krista Rivers Fort Washington Investment Advisors
- Paula Romanchuk Brookfield Asset Management
- Marisa Rosenblatt LSV Asset Management
- Maddie Santoro PGIM Fixed Income
- Caroline Sarles Martin Investment Management, LLC
- Cathy Saunders Putnam
- Chris Schilling eVestment
- Kelli Schrade Morgan Stanley
- Michele Shauf eVestment
- Christine Smith N/A
- Michelle Stephens LGIM America
- Nicole Stoller Northern Trust
- Miriam Tai Putnam
- Lisa Terwilliger eVestment
- Chuck Turgeon T. Rowe Price
- Elena Unger Nuveen
- Ioana Vartolomei Merrill Lynch
- Holly Verdeyen Mercer
- Linda Watts Beutel Goodman
- Meg Whelan Putnam
- Sara Wilson FTSE Russell
- Lara Wright Bon Secours Mercy Health
- Rachael Yates LGIM America
- Jency Zhen PGM Global
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Take advantage of the full range of benefits available:
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WIP Jobs Board
Did you know that the WIP jobs board constantly offers new jobs posted from various investment organizations? Our LinkedIn series will continue to highlight positions on a weekly basis.
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Interview with a Gold Sponsor: Harbor Capital Advisors |
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Rebecca Muse-Orlinoff, CFA
SVP, Head of Marketing
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Tell us about your career evolution; why did you choose to work at Harbor?
Unlike most asset management firms, our products are subadvised so Harbor can truly go anywhere to build our lineup – we scour the globe for talent to bring institutional-caliber, boutique investment managers to the wealth management and retirement communities in cost-aware wrappers – mutual funds, CITs and ETFs. Over my tenure, I’ve had the privilege of representing a product lineup that I truly believe in and feel passionate about, while helping to build distribution capabilities under the leadership of two visionaries in the industry – first Hugh Kelly, and now John Halaby. While there are countless reasons I or anyone else chose to join the organization, culture has been my primary reason to stay. Collaboration, nurturing talent, and client centricity are in the firm’s DNA, and so even as the firm has evolved, those have been at the heart of the decision to spend these last 17 years here.
There aren’t many CMOs with the CFA designation; how does your investment background inform your role today?
Over the years, I’ve been fortunate to have four distinct careers within the same firm. The longest among those – a decade or so – was as a client-facing portfolio specialist, representing our fund lineup to fund research analysts across US intermediary channels – IBDs, wirehouses, investment consultants, 401(k) platforms and large RIAs. At the beginning of that professional chapter, I pursued the CFA charter to better equip myself to work with this buyer type. Today, we are broadening out our distribution focus to reach the advisor community directly, and so there are many other types of conversations Harbor needs to be able to have effectively: practice management advice, trends in the advisory market that we can see from our vantage point as an asset manager, and portfolio construction guidance, among others. At the end of the day, we still need to position our lineup to any potential buyer with fluency, integrity, and intellectual curiosity and I am lucky to be able to draw from my experience, and partner closely with our talented marketers and investment teams, to continue doing that in a new market.
Why is Harbor broadening its distribution focus to the advisor space and how has your team evolved as a result?
Our core philosophy remains exactly the same as it has always been - we believe deeply in the power of specialized, active investment management – but we also know that there are thousands of advisors, some who already use our products in client portfolios(!) yet may not know who we are, or realize there is more in our lineup that is worth a look. Our brand awareness is lower than our historical AUM numbers might imply because while our products have been used by advisors for decades, until 2020 we had limited – if any – direct engagement with advisors themselves; our inclusion in client portfolios was largely a result of model portfolio allocations or recommended list placements at the home office level. We are on a mission to inspire people to invest better, and there’s a whole world of finance professionals and end investors for whom we believe we can do just that in a more direct manner.
There are many examples of how Harbor has evolved to engage the advisor community – launching an active, fully transparent ETF lineup is at the top of that list! – but closest to home for me is the development of a robust marketing capability, for which I stepped into the leadership role at the end of 2021. I now work with a team of exceptionally talented marketers that are willing to challenge each other and me to get better, smarter and more effective. My leadership team is all female and it’s a privilege to work with and learn from these smart, savvy women every day.
What advice would you give your younger self?
I would tell my younger self that there is no shame in not knowing everything, and I would recommend using the word “yet” in self-talk liberally. I’d even say it’s a superpower to not know – because you can, and should, ask a million questions when you’re young and/or inexperienced in your field. Be a sponge, but never beat yourself up for not knowing – yet. If you put in the honest, hard work to learn, you’ll get there.
What are you presently reading?
In the fiction realm, I recently finished an incredibly powerful and poignant novel called A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara – one of those stories that sticks with you long after closing the book. For nonfiction I’m reading The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson; I love his ability to take complex topics and break them down into something a layperson can understand and enjoy. In the business realm, Seth Godin’s This is Marketing is not a new book but has offered me the construct and language to internalize the importance of a minimum viable audience, the notion that strong marketing is here to serve that audience, and the confidence that through dedicated service we will earn their trust and ultimately the right to win their business.
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Thank You to Our Sponsors! |
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WIP Sponsors - Save the Date!
All sponsors are invited to our exclusive sponsor event.
Click here for a list of all WIP sponsors.
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We are beyond grateful for our valued sponsors who support diversity initiatives promoting the advancement, recruitment, and retention of women in the investment industry and related fields.
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Women Investment Professionals
847.254.9136
info@wipchicago.org
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