For London based Kelly Widelski, an Associate Director at Ernst & Young, knowledge really is power and has led to global opportunities. Following her Masters in Information Management from the University of Sheffield, Widelski joined the accounting giant’s EMEIA management consulting division for two years, prior to moving to Cap Gemini following the sell-off of E&Y’s consulting practice. A year later, she returned to the Ernst & Young fold and headed to China and Hong Kong, where she helped to set up and develop the Centre for Business Knowledge, an internal function for knowledge management, providing programmes, techniques and technologies to help E&Y staff share what they know.

After three years in China, her role expanded into the Far East, after which she returned to the UK in 2005 to a transaction advisory role in a country knowledge management capacity. Her next move saw a shift to a broader cross-firm position, supporting Global functional teams in areas such as Tax, Climate Change and Sustainability and People teams with their knowledge sharing needs. Widelski has been in her current role as Global TAS Knowledge Leader since 2009 and now leads a team of ten as part of a highly matrixed knowledge organisation.

Pride

When asked about her career and professional achievements, Widelski commented that she is: “Proud of my knowledge of and my understanding of the [Ernst and Young] global network and my ability to make it easier for people to navigate the firm and its resources.”

Ernst & Young was ranked in third place in 2011’s Stonewall Workplace Equality Index and Widelski, a current co-chair of her firm’s LGBT network, EYGLES, was a key contributor to the metrics and application process which led to this accolade. She also authored a piece of thought leadership on the power of an LGBT network, as a way of providing the firm’s partners with: “ Something tangible that they could read, take out and share with clients.”

Additionally, Widelski is part of Ernst & Young’s role model programme, “21 Women of the 21st Century” – an annual showcase of 21 women at all levels who serve as role models to others. As one of the Class of 2011, she was selected through a stringent peer and leadership process and is proud to act as a visible role model.

Sponsorship

“I wish I’d understood the power of internal and external networks earlier in my career”, she continued.

“I only worked this out five years in and it would have been invaluable to have known a bit earlier. I also recommend developing sponsoring relationships in every role that you do and having the confidence to do so. It’s given me insightful feedback and a different view as to my performance and how I’m valued by the business – over and above a more formal framework. I now have access to senior leadership; I meet my sponsor on a weekly basis, a very senior man who’s generous with his time.”

Barriers, challenges and advice

Widelski paused to consider a question on challenges faced within her industry and suggested that “barriers often seem to be self belief and self confidence, especially if you’re operating in an environment which is very male normed. But, now that we’re inter-generational, we’re benefiting from the workplace pioneers and also seeing the Gen Y expectations of change, so that norms are being kicked away on a daily basis. I think progression in the future will be more rapid and these barriers will fall.”

Emphasising the career benefits from her own overseas experiences, Widelski urged younger women to “Take travel opportunities and learn about different cultures in an increasingly global world. See your career as a series of many different careers from which you will learn. Again, seek out sponsorship. Have male and female mentors who model the behaviours that you admire. Seek them out. Find balance in your life – it’s key. Take roles which excite you – you spend so long at work, you have to love what you do.”

Role models

Returning to the reference to workplace pioneers of an earlier generation, Widelski suggested that senior women in business should not shy away from being role models “Be fair and equal – challenge assumptions and accept that they may be different for younger women; be true to yourself but accept that you’re a role model and that you can have an impact. Younger women may not want to be you, but the fact that you’re there means a lot and is empowering to others.”

Authenticity

In addition to her role as a co-chair of the Ernst & Young LGBT network, Widelski is also on the committee of London based, pan-business group the Gay Women’s Network.

“I’ve always been out at work, including when I lived abroad. I’ve never hidden my life outside of work – it brings confidence and for me it’s crucial to bring your whole self to the office. Being out is a very personal decision and very confidence driven; I’ve seen many improvements in my eleven years in the professional services environment. Senior sponsorship and understanding has improved; for the employee networks, it’s no longer just about a group of people who get together just because they’re gay but is now about, liaising with clients, sharing our experiences, having a dialogue, and showcasing our cultural values and norms with the clients.

“In the future, I’m looking forward to engaging with our organisation around our focus on “inclusive leadership” and how the LGBT community specifically can support and drive the change necessary to be a part of an increasingly truly global business community.”

by Pamela Weinsaft (New York City)

Nitu Gupta, Vice President of Product Development at integrated food and facilities management giant Sodexo, knows something about the power of leveling the playing field by doing the right thing. Born and raised in New Delhi, India, she had wanted to pursue a degree in economics and math and have her own career. However, her parents’ notion of the right path for a girl was to go into a home economics program and be married soon after graduating from a university.

After studying to be a teacher, she gained entry into a competitive graduate program in food and nutrition, which was the closest thing her university had to a career oriented program. Unfortunately, she had to leave the program when she met her soul mate and moved to the United States. Of the move, she said: “It was quite a challenge. I was learning how to be married and getting used to a new culture.”

She added, “I am very open minded and willing to adapt. I believe if you go into a situation willing to learn, it makes it much easier. Of course, there are going to be conflicts and confusion. But, as long as you stay positive things work out in the end.”

Purusing Her Heart’s Desire

Once settled into her new place, she began to study again, this time at the University of Maryland. She decided to pursue her heart’s desire—management—combined with her life’s work to that point: nutrition. While studying, she volunteered at a nearby hospital’s food service department where she initiated her learning of American food traditions and working culture.

At her first job, she worked 15-hour days, six days a week working side-by-side with all the employees from the kitchen to the dish room. “I used my honeymoon period very effectively, asking many questions and making mistakes. I was in the mode where I wanted to learn and take in everything. All that learning has paid off because much of it still comes in handy,” said Gupta.

After working for only a couple of years, Gupta was recommended to be a general manger of a food service department in a 450-bed hospital, which was, in her words, “absolutely unheard of for someone with only couple of years of experience.”  But it was not all smooth sailing. She explained, “I was accepted by this client on a temporary basis. And my peers were told that I was in the position for six months only until a more permanent person would come.” She was so successful in the role that she stayed there ten years. “When I was unable to convince [my boss] that I could do the job, it made me think differently and be more strategic. Instead of just accepting the situation, I worked on creating wins for the team, my client and the organization. In the ten years I was there, the department delivered increased productivity, reduced cost and enhanced customer service.”

Continuing to Grow

In 2000, Gupta accepted a job in Sodexo’s corporate IS&T department supporting one thousand health care client sites. In addition to learning the technical jargon, influencing others became incredibly important in this national support role. Using field experience and leveraging team’s expertise, she worked on an enterprise level project to standardize the point of sale (POS) for the entire company; those standards are still in use today.

Two-and-a-half years later, she moved into her current role—another national support role—this time working in the health care market segment. In this role she focuses on developing products and programs that improve the efficiency and effectiveness of Soedexo’s food service operations. She hopes to continue to grow in this role, and says that her only goal for the next few years is to continue to be challenged by new opportunities. “Many people I know have a certain position marked in their own mind. I don’t, instead I’d like to continue to grow in the organization and expand responsibility. I get energized by challenges.”

Her advice to other women seeking to advance in Corporate America is to “first excel in your current job. Know what you want. Be willing to take risks and be persistent.” She explained, “If I look at my career, I’ve always accepted jobs that have been very different from the one before. It is the yearning to contribute and excel that drives me.”

She added that, “We all face barriers in life, some break through them and others let these barriers define them. Ultimately, it comes down to whether we feel we can do something about them. I have found that hard work, passion and drive can break through all barriers.”

by Pamela Weinsaft (New York City)

There aren’t many professional women who can claim that they decided to pursue a career in accounting while they were inside an Italian mountain.  Yet that’s exactly where Heather Paquette, Partner in the Midwest Information Technology Advisory (ITA) Practice in the Chicago office of KPMG LLP, came to her decision.  “As I was working the night shifts [as a U.S. Air Force computer operator for NATO] when I was stationed in Italy…I started thinking about saving for the future, which made me think accounting was where I wanted to be.” 

Following her time in the Air Force, she earned an accounting degree from Southern Illinois University at Carbandale and joined KPMG’s auditing group.  She was soon called back to her tech roots, transferring into the IT group within a year of joining the firm.   She explained: “At the time there was a big push [in the firm] to see if there were people interested in going to the technology team. It was one of those teams that was very entrepreneurial and, if you were a self-starter, it was where you wanted to be. I ended up transferring onto the technology team because I have a CPA background as well as the tech background, which enables me to look at risks and controls related to the use of IT.”

Paquette, who has been based in Chicago since 1996, was made a partner in 2004.  In addition to delivering services to audit clients, she has recently returned from maternity leave to lead not one, but two, initiatives within the firm’s Midwest practice to organize business in the marketplace within the firm’s Midwest practice:  the Midwest IT effort related to the international financial reporting standards and, in her words, “a team that focuses on how to increase efficiency in business related to that service point, supporting the financial statement audit team.” 

Being busy is part of her plan.  “One of the things that happened [when I went on maternity leave] was that I took my largest client and transitioned somebody else into that role…It was a little bit scary in that [before maternity leave] I had a defined, secure revenue stream and, when I came back off of leave, I suddenly didn’t have that any more.  I had a lot of excess capacity and I had to figure out what to do with that…So I reached out to a lot of different people to get their thoughts on what I should be doing.  The outcome was taking over these two initiatives and leading the team forward.  In the end, I think it was really beneficial that I wasn’t able go back into my secure space and I had to be a little bit innovative.”

Paquette now has three children under four years old.  “I’m good at multitasking,” she laughed.  She continued, “There are certain parameters that I’ve set around my work. One of them is that I try to be home at 6 PM if I’m not traveling. 6:00 PM – 8:30 PM is really my time with my kids.  Also, my limit for being away from them is no more than two nights in one week (as a general rule).  We have a lot of flexibility at KPMG in that we each have autonomy to manage the client demands and our personal obligations.  I really take that to heart.  In order for me to get through everything I need to do so I can be home during the week, I need to spend some additional time reading email on the weekend.  [My husband and I] work together to figure it out.”

“There is not enough time in the day for everything you want to do, but the goal in what you are doing at work or with your family is to be fully engaged while you are there.  To me that means if I have a conference call and I’m on my way home and it doesn’t wrap up by the time I get home, then I sit in the car until it is done, because once I walk in the door, I am “Mom.”  If I only get a couple of hours a day with my kids, I am sitting on the floor playing with them or reading to them, not on my Treo.” 

Paquette sees only one barrier to success for women in consulting:  their mistaken assumption that women they can’t have both work and family.  “We have clients who have high demands but we can manage those demands with communication.  As long as you are comfortable enough and confident enough…we have a very flexible work environment that allows us to meet the client demands…it is not [necessarily] about doing the work from 9-to-5, it is about getting the work done. But there is flexibility in when it is done and how we do it.”   She added, “To the extent I’m leading engagement teams, I make sure I communicate that message.”

Although it was almost 19 years ago, Paquette’s military service still serves to influence her leadership and work styles. “I think the greatest thing that I did take out of the military is that attention to detail.  You learn how to pay attention to the little things that matter.  You don’t know what the greater impact of them will be; you are just paying attention to them.”  She added, “In the military, you switch jobs every two years.  One of the biggest aspects that I think has been valuable for me in my career is the ability to change when needed, the ability to go into something new and not have all the answers but have the patience and confidence that you’ll find out how it is going to go.”

She continued, “What you learn is this approach to deal with something new: ‘OK, here’s something new that I’m challenged with.  How do I deal with that?’  To me, being in the military has allowed me to use the ability to change and take on new roles and responsibilities and not be frightened—well, not for very long—because I know I can figure it out. And I just need to get my arms around what I am trying to learn.”

She recently participated in a leadership program for early career partners offered by KPMG, which helped her understand what steps she needs to take to achieve clarity.   “For me, it is clear in my mind that there are a few things I’m working on professionally but, in order for me to accomplish what I see as my next step, I have to see and define it to other people because they can’t help me if I’m not clear.”   Paquette hopes to continue to expand her leadership roles at the firm in the coming years, looking to take on a broader role, although she is not really sure yet what that will be. “I’m still noodling on what it is I want to be when I grow up,” she joked.  “I’m still kind of working it out but [I do see myself] ultimately in a national leadership role or leading the office as the face of KPMG.”

“It’s important to have a woman mentor,” said Katherine Bradford, who was recently promoted to Global Head of Marketing at the trading technology firm, Patsystems. “Not only can you ask her about business and your career, you can also ask if it’s appropriate to wear dangly earrings in a business meeting.”

Joking aside, at the age of 26, Katherine Bradford has stepped into an important role at one of the leading technology providers in the futures industry. When I saw Katherine last, she had just returned from London, spending six weeks at the company’s headquarters. She was working with her new manager, colleagues, and clients to become better acquainted with Patsystems’ operations in Europe.

Katherine and I had met for lunch to catch up and discuss her new role. One of her new responsibilities is to understand market conditions and industry trends as those factors impact the firm’s marketing strategy. She mentioned the rogue trading scandal that rocked the European markets earlier this year and how Patsystems ran a marketing campaign centered on their risk management solution.

The current market conditions are also helping Katherine position Patsystems, as a provider of futures trading technology, in a positive light. With a struggling economy, there is an increase in leading volatility which ultimately drives the futures trading activity up.

Katherine had only spent 8 months as the Marketing and PR Executive for North America, when the opportunity for global responsibilities presented itself. She said that Patsystems’ Chief Executive Officer took a chance on her.

Her manager prior to Patsystems also took a chance on the young Bradford. After graduating from Marquette University in 2004, with a degree in Marketing and Advertising, a woman named Whitney Bright, hired her as a sales and relationship manager within U.S. Bank’s Workplace and Campus Banking division. Bradford spent 3 years at U.S. Bank and found a mentor in Ms. Bright.

Besides being able to have a candid conversation with Ms. Bright about workplace fashion, Katherine also received advice on how to navigate a male dominated industry.

“Because I am a woman and very young, I feel like I have a hurdle to overcome because some men will automatically assume I’m not as knowledgeable as them or they won’t take me seriously,” said Bradford. “There is no doubt that the business world has changed dramatically for women but I think it’s important that we continue to level the playing field by relying on our mind and not on our looks.”

One of the things Katherine has learned in her new position is that she needs a balance between her professional and personal life.

“I’ve learned that it’s okay to be extremely passionate about your work and invested in what you do, but you need to be able to separate yourself from work and not take things too personally. This is something I constantly have to work at. ” she explained.

Nearing the end of lunch, I asked Katherine if she could recommend any business books. She said that while she read Futures and Options for Dummies at the beginning of her career at Patsystems, she believes most of her knowledge about the industry comes from the people she has worked with; her colleagues, traders and people in the media.

“Most recently, I read Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink which is a must read for someone in marketing,” she said. “This book is all about the power of perception and snap judgments. It examines how people make decisions and how we can manipulate first impressions. It was fascinating.”

Even though she says it’s luck, it is no surprise that Katherine’s career has catapulted since our introduction in October. When Katherine engages in conversation, she proves she is much more than a pretty face. She exudes talent, knowledge and ambition. Knowing there is much to come from this young woman, I asked for some words of wisdom.

“If I had to say anything I’d say be confident in yourself, use common sense and take everything in stride. You’re going to make mistakes along the way so just learn from them and move on. Rinse and repeat.”

What a fascinating and dramatic world we live in, at least from Ani M. Vartanian’s perspective. With the credit crunch, Bear Stearns crumbling, foreclosure crisis, historical election year, political scandals, and the year hasn’t even hit the halfway mark yet.

“It’s better than reality TV,” said Vartanian, 32, vice president of the acquisition and asset management team of Rockwood Capital, a $6.2 billion private real estate investment company.

Vartanian likes to keep her finger on the pulse of the intersections between politics, business, and public policy, which has helped her rapidly climb the investment real estate ladder.

The San Francisco Bay Area native had her eyes set on a career in media and entertainment after graduating from Stanford University with a B.A. in public policy and political science and an MBA from Harvard Business School, but in a strategic move she found herself in finance. That was more than 10 years ago and she hasn’t looked back.

She now manages a $400 million portfolio of commercial properties and some apartment complexes throughout the United States, but she said she manages primarily an institutional fund, a mutual fund that targets high net worth entities and individuals, out of the firm’s San Francisco office.

The real estate investment firm also has offices in Los Angeles, and White Plains, New York.

Vartanian started her career at Goldman Sachs where she worked in the company’s municipal finance and fixed income sales and trading groups. Within a year and a half, Vartanian increased the financial firm’s market capitalization by $2 billion. At Goldman Sachs, she was introduced to real estate and fell in love.

Vartanian is attracted to real estate investment because the qualities in that industry that build on the foundation of her interests in public policy and business. She is drawn to real estate because it include a “creative component” and a “physical nature” of the hard asset that impacts people’s lives. These qualities keep her in the industry even through the rough patches.

You don’t run into very many women in the real estate investment arm of the financial industry, according to Vartanian, who believes that the requirements of the job can be “quite rigorous,” and can involve frequent travel.

“I would love to see more women in the industry,” said Vartanian, who said there are fewer women in acquisitions, funds, and portfolio management. She believes that more women entering real estate investing as a career option would “benefit the industry.”

Vartanian believes the key to her success is that she enjoys her career.

“You’ve got to enjoy what you do,” said Vartanian. “If you enjoy what you do you will naturally succeed. People will see that and they will naturally follow you.”

But it’s more than enjoying what she does that makes her successful in a field where there are few women. Vartanian is smart and strategic. She moved on from Goldman Sachs in New York to Transwestern Investment Company, a private equity real estate firm in Chicago, before returning to the San Francisco Bay Area, where she grew up, at Rockwood Capital.

No matter how much pleasure she takes in her work, she finds time to play. Vartanian said her greatest escapes from work are getting outdoors to ski in the winter and surf in the summer as well as hang out with her friends. Currently, she is taking kiteboarding lessons.

“I’m pretty happy,” said Vartanian about where she is at this point in her career and life.