Twelve of the nation’s largest law firms are centrally located in the city of Los Angeles and according to numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are 556,790 lawyers in California – not including those who are self-employed. As a lawyer, making a name for yourself in this city may not be the easiest of tasks, but if you’re incredibly dedicated to your work, your clients, and your profession – such as the women heralded by the Los Angeles Times as the city’s Women Leaders in the Law – chances are, you’ll make a name for yourself.

The supplement to the Times featured a number of Los Angeles’ top female lawyers, including a revered firm’s first female attorney and a lawyer who was behind a landmark civil rights case. Let’s get to know Amy Fisch Solomon and Deborah Chang, two lawyers who took a different path to making history.

Amy Fisch Solomon, Girardi Keese

If it weren’t for a severe injury, Amy Solomon’s life might have turned out much differently. In third grade she made a deal with her mother: her mom would continue to pay for ballet lessons if Solomon promised to work hard in school and always have something to fall back on. The deal continued well after high school when Solomon began dancing professionally, but after sustaining an injury, she was forced to reevaluate her life. “I enrolled in college and was Pre-Med my first year. I decided that it was too much science and not enough ‘people stuff,’ so I focused on preparing to go to law school,” Solomon said.

Only a former dancer, still in love with the art, could equate her performances on the stage with her performance in front of a jury. “From the beginning I always knew I wanted to be a trial lawyer because of the similarity of performing as a dancer,” Solomon said. “It was the same idea: connecting with an audience to tell them a story that will move them. When I discovered that I could tell stories for people who had no voice – ‘the little guy’ – I was immediately drawn to that area.”

At fifty-years-old, Solomon has spent nearly half of her life at Girardi Keese. While attending Loyola Law School and looking for summer law clerk positions, she stumbled upon an ad for the firm in the career placement office and the rest, as they say, is history – or perhaps in this case, history making.

Solomon was named the firm’s first female attorney back in 1989, leading the way for the five young female attorneys that now call Girardi Keese their home. Since then, Solomon has become President of the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles and a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates and recently, she received two major awards illustrating her great devotion to the legal community. Her alma mater presented her with the Distinguished Alumna Award and she was the recipient of the Ted Horn Memorial Award, which the Consumer Attorney’s Association of Los Angeles gives to “an individual who offers the selfless gift of one’s talents to their community of fellow trial lawyers.”

As an advocate for the little guy, Solomon is all about fighting for the rights of people who have difficulty fighting for themselves. Specializing in areas of professional liability, toxic torts, products liability, and insurance bad faith, she’s had many opportunities to do so with great success.

As much as she loves her work; however, it doesn’t compare to her passion for mentoring. She began her life as a ballet dancer and ended up as a successful trial lawyer, the moral of the story being you never know where life will take you- an essential lesson she tries to pass on to those she mentors.

“I take mentoring very seriously and believe it is an invaluable opportunity for me to be able to give back to others. I mentor young lawyers, law students, high school students, inner-city youths, and anyone else who will listen,” Solomon said. “It is incredibly rewarding for me to show young people a path they may not have found themselves and to give them the support and encouragement to travel down that path and see where it takes them.”

Deborah Chang, Panish, Shea & Boyle

It should come as no surprise that Panish, Shea & Boyle is routinely named one of Southern California’s best law firms. After all, it has some of the best and the brightest working for them. Case in point: Deborah Chang, a trail attorney who has been at the forefront of the products liability arena for more than twenty years – a notoriously male-dominated area of law.

“When I first began practicing law, there were far less women – especially in products liability cases. I often found myself to be the only woman in a room at a deposition, meeting, hearing, or inspection,” Chang said. “I distinctly remember being asked by groups of male attorneys to go to the local strip clubs after depositions; I was asked to go hunting with the guys on more than one occasion; and often, I was mistaken as a court reporter or secretary. I used being a woman to my advantage. Many times my male counterparts thought I would have no understanding of the science or engineering involved in the product and would be genuinely surprised when it turned out that I knew as much, if not more, than them.”

Much of Chang’s success in the products liability arena comes from her relentless pursuit of the facts and her insistence on leaving no stone unturned. But these kinds of cases can begin to take a toll.

“Our cases are often very emotional and involve unimaginable personal tragedies,” Chang said. “In order to stay grounded, we have to force ourselves to remember that we cannot do our job by getting too emotionally invested or involved that we end up missing the perspective our clients desperately need. Having a sense of humor is essential and being able to see the bright side in every situation helps.”

Oftentimes the “bright side” emerges at the end of a case when Chang has accomplished the seemingly impossible, like when she brought the first civil rights class action on behalf of prisoners with AIDS in a maximum security prison. The landmark settlement resulted in the formulation of model policies and procedures relating to the housing, programming, and medical treatment of prisoners with AIDS currently used in prisons throughout the country. In 1996, Chang also brought the first lawsuit in the country based on the newly enacted Violence Against Women Act of 1994. As part of the lawsuit, she successfully argued for the upholding of the constitutionality of the statute and after reaching a settlement in the case, she lectured extensively on gender-motivated violence. The United States Supreme Court eventually ruled that the civil remedy portion of the statute was unconstitutional.

It’s easy to love what you do when you’re good at it and have experienced a great deal of success as a result, but it seems likely that Chang, a fearless attorney, would continue the fight for other’s rights because of her belief in the profession and all that it’s capable of.

“I love my job because it gives me the ability to help our clients and to make pivotal changes in their lives at a point when they need help the most,” Chang said. “Often, our clients come to us after the worst tragedy of their lives; their lives have been shattered and they feel overwhelmed. To make a difference in their lives is a privilege.”

Contributed by Kathleen Burns Kingsbury

The financial services industry has been on a rollercoaster ride since last fall when markets tumbled and the world was reminded that what goes up must come down. Many advisors have lost jobs, changed careers or in some unfortunate cases taken their lives over the turbulent market place. But there are many advisors who have risen to the challenge in this time of crisis, held their clients’ hands and helped them navigate the emotional ups and downs of the global economy. It is not surprising that many of these successful advisors are women and that a historically male dominated industry is now getting in touch with its feminine side.

The Female Advantage

According to G. Scott Budge, Ph.D, the author of the book The New Financial Advisor: Strategies for Successful Family Wealth Management, the new competitive frontier for financial advisors is centered on building and managing client relationships. Active listening, building trust and understanding what a client needs both emotionally as well as financially are paramount in this new world. And who better to do this than female advisors. By nature, women are relationship oriented and excel at helping others. Never before has the softer side of finance been more important and, according to some female advisors, a real advantage to growing a successful practice.

“I love to hear people’s stories,” says Eileen Burkhart, CFP, Principal of Eileen Burkhart & Company. She uses these stories to learn more about her clients, their values and what makes them tick. Kim Zwick, a CPA turned Personal Financial Specialist and owner of Full Circle Financial believes women are good at gathering information and multitasking. In an industry with so many bits and pieces this goes a long way toward being an effective financial advisor. Kim believes that in this field you need to sweat the small stuff.

Media Mania

One of the biggest frustrations for lady advisors these days is the media hype surrounding Wall Street and the turbulent economy. One advisor went as far as to call it “financial pornography.” The recommendation for clients is to turn off the television and stop applying this general information to your specific situation.

Debra Brede, President of D.K. Brede Investment Management Company believes “people are hungry for knowledge.” The problem is that most media outlets provide only part of the story. The average American gets scared when they hear sound bites meant to provoke an emotional response in the viewer and take this as sound financial advice. A little information can be dangerous and with stories on corrupt financial advisors such as Bernie Madoff splashed all over the news, people are bound to be anxious. Debra’s business strategy is to “do the right thing by people” and provide them with education and information so they can make good financial decisions based on their individual life circumstance.

Keys to Success

Being female is no guarantee when it comes to being competitive in the industry. It takes intellectual curiosity, a desire to learn and grow and a little bit of gusto to be able to speak up and offer an opinion. “It is not about predicting the future it is about being able to articulate what is going on (in the world),” according to Carrie Coghill-Kuntz, CFP with D.B. Root & Company. In the current environment, women need to speak up at meetings and risk holding a position on a particular issue. While this may be challenging for new female advisors, those who are seasoned realize that having a thick skin and learning to take calculated risks is what got them to where they are in the field.

Flexibility and a desire for work life balance inspire many women to go into this profession and to stay when the times get tough. While money may be a motivator for some financial service professionals, many female advisors really desire a career that empowers them to choose their work hours, their ideal clients and define success in a more holistic way. “You don’t have to do this job like a guy,” states Bridget DeMartino, CFP and Principal of Andrews DeMartino Wealth Strategies Firm, LLC. She is a third generation advisor who took over the company recently and made a conscious decision to run the practice differently than her father who she watched work long hours and miss out on many family activities. Bridget, pregnant with her first child, is determined to continue to be successful and make time for being a mom.

What advice do experienced advisors have for their female counterparts? First and foremost, start with the end in mind. Hire a coach or talk to a mentor about what is important to you both personally and professionally. Once you develop a long term vision, write down short term goals for getting there on a quarterly, monthly and daily basis. Second, be a curious student of the market and of human behavior because the job involves both. Take advantage of the training your company and outside sources provide. Lastly and most importantly, listen to your clients. Listen to what they are saying and what they are not saying. Their stories will tell you a lot about how to help them reach their financial goals and how to make a client for life.

Kathleen Burns Kingsbury is a Money and Emotions Expert, Speaker and Coach. She empowers financial advisors and their clients to be more emotionally intelligent when it comes to managing and making money. Her website is www.kbkconnections.com.

Kathleen would like to offer a special thanks to Kol Birke and all the women advisors she interviewed at Commonwealth Financial Network.

It may be hard for some to believe, but an organization that now has a global network of 525 high-powered members who serve on 675 boards began rather humbly with a home-cooked meal around a small dinner table in a New York City apartment. Susan Stautberg, President of PartnerCom Corporation, first began her organization Women Corporate Directors (WCD) in 1999. The premise: to bring together like-minded women who serve as directors of corporations for a communal meal and some shared advice.

Janet Clarke, President of Clarke Littlefield, has been with the organization since its inception and can attest to the fact that times have definitely changed. “We used to sit around this tiny table in Susan’s apartment, talk business, and eat the dinner she’d prepared. At the time, there was always a dog around that we could feed our scraps to,” Clarke said. Major changes in leadership, locale and structure have since taken place, but one thing is for certain: Stautberg has created a truly unique community for executive women.

WCD co-founder Alison Winter, founding President and CEO of President of Personal Financial Services in the Northeast for multi-bank holding company Northern Trust Corp, became fast friends with Stautberg after a chance meeting at a Committee of 200 conference in Washington D.C. After a little convincing, Winter decided to join Stautberg in creating what, at the time, was treated as nothing more than a dinner series. “Susan was doing the dinners in New York and, after enough heckling, I decided to start a chapter in Chicago. It quickly became clear that Susan was the entrepreneur with the creative ideas and I was the corporate executive. I wanted the organization to have formal structure and cohesion, so I began working on a logo with my company’s graphics department,” said Winter.

Around 2004, formal requirements for membership were put in place. Members are usually very senior, influential executives (Chairmen, CEO’s, COO’s and other C-level executives) and on average, serve on 3-4 major corporate and/or non-profit boards. 85 percent of the women in WCD are directors of public or large private company boards, while the other 15 percent have or will soon serve on public boards and currently serve on private, mutual funds or major non-profit boards. All members of the organization are either hand-picked or recommended and they represent a dizzying array of industries; some serve as directors of both the New York and NASDAQ Stock Exchanges, while others hold top positions at recognizable American companies such as Black and Decker and Hormel Foods.

Maryann Bruce, who is the President of Aquilla Distributors and acts as WCD’s Charlotte, NC co-chapter chair, is a prime example of how the organization brings women together. “I am also a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors and I must say, it’s very male-dominated and I often feel like I can’t relate to my peers there. With WCD, I can relate to many of the women concerning a whole host of things that are relevant not just to women, but to professional women with high-powered jobs.” WCD became an official organization in 2002, but even in its earliest stages, it was clear that the fledgling dinner series would be for women exclusively. “The dialogue is different when it’s just women; women are able to get into deep conversations when they feel the environment is safe and supportive, rather than competitive,” Winter said.

In addition to its new chapters in Atlanta, Boston, and San Francisco, WCD is going global with new chapters set to open in Beijing, Hong Kong, Lima, and London. Says Clarke, “There’s no other organization out there just for women that’s networking on a global level. Despite the size of the network, our meetings are small, private, intimate affairs that have a very nurturing environment.”

The chapter dinners, which are held three to four times a year, give the member women a chance to network, share ideas, and get to know other women with similar positions in varying industries. “I really like that the meetings are private and ‘off-the-record’,” Clarke said. “We often discuss classified information pertaining to our individual boards; it’s nice to share, receive advice, and just let your hair down and speak freely.”

Even though each dinner begins with a cocktail hour, potential members shouldn’t expect a casual dinner filled with socializing. As a matter of fact, after cocktails, it’s strictly business. “We purposely host each dinner around one large table so that it’s reminiscent of a business meeting. Of course, it’s nice to see each other, but once dinner begins, all chit-chat ends,” Winter said.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about WCD is not that they are all women in high-ranking corporate positions but, rather, despite their great success, they are still hungry to learn how to be better board directors. And while the dinners are primarily about sharing new ideas and attaining knowledge, for many members, the organization has become more than that – it has become a safe place where ideas can be exchanged without fear of judgment, a place that inspires, and, perhaps most importantly, a place where lifelong friendships are made.

“WCD has provided inspiration and encouragement like I’ve never encountered before. Sure, women are underrepresented as corporate directors, but getting to know all of these highly successful, high-powered women has shown me that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. This organization helps advance women and for me, it’s not just a business association; it’s become a personal association. I have made good friends with women in similar professions that literally live in my neighborhood and not only wouldn’t I have known that they existed, but I could have never become friends with them any other way,” Bruce said.

by Paige Churchman (New York City)

We all talk about the glass ceiling, but do you know when the term began? Or whom we have to thank for it? Take a guess:

A) In 1971, Gloria Steinem coined the term in the premiere issue of Ms. Magazine.

B) Carol Hymowitz and Timothy Schellhardt used it in a 1986 Wall Street Journal.

C) Family Circle editor Gay Bryant first said it in a 1984 Adweek interview

D) No one knows. Perhaps an unknown woman stuck in middle management in Boston or Toronto or New York said it to a colleague in 1978, and then it spread by word of mouth.

E) None of the above

B is a popular answer on the Web. Even a Forbes story says the term originated in the Wall Street Journal. But keep clicking on those Google results and you’ll find your way to sources that say “glass ceiling” appeared in print two years prior when Gay Bryant said it in the Adweek interview. So answer C is close. But so are answers D and maybe E. Gay Bryant is probably the first to use “the glass ceiling” in print, and she did throw it out there in her Adweek interview. However, the very first time she put those words on paper were on page 19 of her book, The Working Woman Report. In chapter 1, Where We Are, Bryant writes:

Throughout the corporate world—faster in some industries, slower in others—the door to real power for women has opened. But it is just ajar. Women may already be in middle management, but the steps from there up to the senior hierarchy are likely to be slow and painstakingly small. Partly because corporations are structured as pyramids, with many middle managers trying to move up into the few available spots, and partly because of continuing, though more subtle, discrimination, a lot of women are hitting a “glass ceiling” and finding they can rise no further.

But here’s the catch―Bryant doesn’t remember if she made up the term or found it in the piles of the research she did on the book or heard it in from one of the thousands of working women she was tuned into. She wasn’t trying to come up with a catch phrase that would stick for decades. She was trying to pull everything she could about working women into a book. A word Bryant used several times in our meeting at a noisy West Village café was “articulate” as in “a force that needed to be articulated.” She’s not a copywriter or a poet. She is a smart observer who’s really good at picking up on what’s going on, giving it form, and getting it into a medium that people gobble up and talk about.

Some Context

When Gay Bryant (second from the left in the cover photo pictured) wrote that book, women had flooded America’s workforce and were learning to play a whole new game. It was “the single most outstanding social phenomenon of this century,” said the chairman of the President’s Commission for Manpower. Bryant looked back on that time last week over coffee. “It was a wonderful time. There was a need that wasn’t being filled and a community that could be served and articulated by a magazine. It grew into a real force and a voice.”

The magazine was Working Woman. From 1980 to 1983, the years that Bryant served as editor, circulation rose from 176,000 to 605,000. In 1984, Bryant and three other Working Woman staffers published the book that gave us words for what we were banging our hopeful heads against. Then Bryant broke the ceiling she had just christened―she became editor of Family Circle, owned by the New York Times. This was huge. Never before had a woman run one of the “seven sisters,” as the major women’s magazines were called in the industry. All were headed by men…until Bryant, barely in her thirties and with no college degree, broke the barrier. Over the next 25 years, she edited a slew of magazines, most notably Mirabella (“a success d’esteem but a financial disaster”) and Success. Now she’s freelancing and thinking about writing another book “to see what we’ve learned out of all this.”

Inside Gay Bryant

So what kind of person comes up with a catch-phrase that’s so right it sticks for decades and inspires all sorts of other new terms? Some fun facts about the woman who pointed out the glass ceiling:

• She’s British. Bryant grew up in the remote countryside of northern England. She came to the US in her twenties with a list of friends of friends and a 30-day $99 Greyhound pass in her backpack. She ended up in New York City where “I stayed till there was nothing but ketchup and crackers, and I had to get a job.” She found one at a start-up magazine that took off.
• Horses Instead of College. Her parents didn’t believe girls needed an education. Her brother went away to school; Gay got riding lessons. “Years later when I went to Australia, the fact that I still have a very ‘good seat’ did wonders for my career as a top media exec in the Murdoch corporation.”
• Outsider Sensibility. “I have always functioned as an outsider, which is great for a communicator,” she says. She was a Brit in the US, a woman in a man’s world, plus she married an African-American man (the first black journalist hired by Life magazine) and they adopted two African-American children. “I learned from him about being yourself to good effect in a corporate situation and how being an outsider is an asset when you are a manager.”
• Hey, Kids, Let’s Put on a Show. “I had no concept of career,’ emailed Bryant after our meeting. “I just fell into magazines as something to do that was glam and appealing, then found it utterly absorbing.” She also had a knack (and the moxie) for start-ups. “It was a start-up that took off” she said of several of the madly successful magazines she helped launched. Of course, there were also some that didn’t take off. That’s the nature of start-ups.
• Strong Mother. Bryant has realized recently that her belief in herself stems from her mother. “She had a glamorous life and her own business, gave that up to volunteer for a rescue mission to Finland and Russia at the beginning of WWII, stood up to authority, risked court martial and then put her stuff aside and pretty much on her own raised four children to be achievers.”
• Other Firsts. First magazine to employ Gay Bryant―the hip British fashion publication Queen. First magazine Bryant appeared in―Horse & Hound (as a little girl winning a prize). First editor to show Hillary Clinton in pants on the cover of a fashion magazine―Gay Bryant.

What’s It Like?

Gay Bryant doesn’t walk around saying, “I’m the one who made up the term glass ceiling,” because after all she’s not sure that she is and there are so many other distinctions in her career. But sometimes the mother-of-the-glass-ceiling mantle finds her. How does it that feel? “Oh, the best,” she said. Her teenage son’s friends never paid her much attention, but one day one of them came running in, looking at her with unabashed awe. His sociology assignment: Find out where the term “glass ceiling” came from. What name did he uncover? “His friend’s mom from the house where they hang out and play rap music,” said Bryant. “I got a lot of cred for that. Totally cool.”

By Liz O’Donnell (Boston)

“The need for the network is real,” says Alison Paul, head of the Network for Executive Women (NEW), in her President’s Message posted on the organization’s website. NEW is the largest diversity group in the retail and consumer packaged good (CPG) industries. The group has approximately 2,000 members representing more than 400 companies, 15 regional groups, and 53 corporate sponsors. Their mission is clear: to attract, retain and advance women in the retail and consumer products industry through education, leadership and business development.

Paul, who is also a principal at Deloitte & Touche, LLC, where she manages strategic relationships with retailers and consumer goods companies, has been involved with NEW almost since the beginning. The organization started in a living room and was officially formed in 2001. “Women were leaving the industry for more female-friendly companies or they were starting their own businesses,” says Paul.

To combat the exodus of women, a small group got together and approached the power structure –the men at the top—for support and financing. They received seed money from Coca Cola and Proctor and Gamble and NEW began.

According to Paul, the need to retain women was more than a diversity issue. “It is a talent issue,” she says. It is expensive for companies to recruit and train women only to have them leave when they should be at peak performance.”

There is another business issue at play as well. As we have reported, women represent approximately 85 percent of the consumer buying power in the U.S. However, less than 20 percent of industry executives were women at the time NEW started.

What is needed says Paul, are the things that are inherently learned from mentors and informal networks. “Women need to learn the unwritten rules of success,” she says. “It’s a long process. We’re fighting a lot of history.”

According to Paul, women tend to think if they work hard and keep their heads down, they will be rewarded. “They need to learn how to toot their own horns and in which circles they should do that,” she says. “Pop Warner and Little League allows for a lot more of that.”

The other thing needed to change the industry for women, and for men too, is flexibility. “The working environment of today is based on a 1950’s model. One person goes to work and one stays home to keep things running smoothly,” says Paul.

When NEW was formed Paul says they weren’t just losing women to not wanting to work all together. They were losing women who thought, “I don’t want to leave the work force, but I can’t manage this model.”

“Sometimes you need to be able to dial-down and not be dinged for it,” says Paul.

In recent years, NEW has expanded beyond just women to a broader diversity focus. As Paul states on NEW’s website, “People of color, especially women, are similarly underrepresented in the ranks of decision-makers. Meanwhile, the industry is confronted by a shrinking pool of skilled talent, a changing workforce, global competition, and increasingly diverse markets.”

In November the organization released a report entitled “Multicultural Workforces: Managing and Maximizing America’s Rich Mosaic” based on feedback from conference it held on the same topic. It offers best practices for recruiting, retaining and managing a diverse workforce.

Paul says that since NEW was founded they have seen some progress in the industry, although they primarily track their data anecdotally.

One of the best compliments Paul has received is from colleagues who tell her they hope her daughter turns out like her — successful in business.

“The tragedy is you can still list the female CEOs on one hand,” she says.

Based on new data from Catalyst, progress is slow but may be tracking slightly ahead of the average. A report published this month on Women in the U.S. Retail Trade shows that women account for 3.1 percent of CEOs, 19.1 percent of board directors, 18.5 percent of corporate officers, and 49.1 percent of the industry labor force. In the Fortune 500, just 15.2 percent of board seats, and 15.7 percent of corporate officers positions are held by women.

Ilise’s situation is unique, but hardly unusual among professional woman these days. In fact, stay at home husbands have been a hot topic in the blogosphere.

While it was a decision that Ilise fully embraced at the time, and she still feels lucky when she hears about other working moms having nanny nightmares, or having to race to pick their kids up from daycare and drop them off at a babysitter’s, only to return to the office for some late night work. While one of her co-workers wistfully praises Ilise’s “no cost, no hassle” day care arrangement, Ilise herself isn’t so sure, about the no-cost or the no-hassle part.

One such organization, Chicago Financial Women (CFW), was established to support Midwest women in the fields of finance and financial services through professional development, education, and networking. Originally a chapter of the Financial Women’s Association headquartered in New York, Chicago Financial Women became an independent organization about three years ago. I sat down with Deborah Canale, the president of the organization, to discuss the activities of the group, as well as the current state of women in finance in Chicago.

CFW, with its 53 members, as well as a 10-member Executive Board, regularly works with large companies in Chicago such as Ariel Capital Management, the CME Group, Merrill Lynch and PriceWaterhouseCooper to sponsor networking events. Ms. Canale explained that the Chicago financial world is small enough to allow for significant personal interactions at these networking events and that she is aware of at least 20 women who connected with job opportunities through such CFW events.

In addition to networking opportunities, CFW members develop their professional and personal skills at workshops and speaker events sponsored by the group. Topics have been as varied as the real estate landscape amidst the subprime mortgage crisis, the importance of a work/life balance, and a primer on alternative investments.

This year, CFW also partnered with 100 Women in Hedge Funds to organize a roundtable to enable women to discuss the challenges facing female professionals in business and finance today. Participants included women at all corporate levels from banking, hedge funds, technology, finance, and consulting. This diversity of roundtable contributors, with their vast range of knowledge and experience, informed and enriched the discussion. “I am always so amazed and excited by the women that attend these events, by the things they have done and the people they have met,” said Ms. Canale.

But CFW’s activities are not limited to networking and the professional development of its members. The organization also gives back to the larger community through philanthropic activities. Earlier this year, CFW donated enough money to the non-profit organization Junior Achievement to enable approximately 25 middle school children to attend classes to obtain a practical foundation in financial matters such as budgets, investment, money and taxes. CFW is also considering contributing to a scholarship that will facilitate the entrance of young women into financial careers.

While women in finance have come quite far over the past 20 years, Ms. Canale believes there is still have some more work to do to break through the glass ceiling. But she and the others at Chicago Financial Women remain positive that it can be done and that organizations like CFW are laying the groundwork. “I want to fast forward and see where women are in the next 20 years,” she said, “I wish I had a remote for that.” The road ahead may not be perfectly smooth but the group’s mantra will serve as great motivator, “While one woman can be a powerful force, an organization of women is even more powerful.”

Note: All CFW events are open to the public; non-members, whether men or women, can attend for a small fee. To register for the events, please visit the Chicago Financial Women’s website.

Just as military promotions are offered as a reward for dangerous missions, the key to success in the corporate world may lie in the willingness to take on the challenge of turning around struggling companies or divisions of companies. When women succeed in meeting these challenges, they blaze a trail, advance to senior ranks, and may even shatter that fabled glass ceiling.

Barbara Desoer, bumped from her position of 47 on the Forbes 50 Most Powerful Women in Business in 2006 has been catapulted back into the spotlight this week with her promotion to the rank of President of the new Bank of America mortgage, home equity, and insurance services business. The Wall Street Journal reports that with the acquisition of Countrywide on July 1, 2008, Bank of America became the largest mortgage originator and servicer in the U.S. Ms. Desoer has been given the challenge of pulling Bank of America’s new problem child—Countrywide Mortgage—back into the family fold.

According to the Bank of America website, Desoer joined the bank in 1977. She held leadership roles in Commercial Lending, Credit Administration and Retail Banking before being named group executive vice president with responsibilities for the California Retail Banking Group in 1996. In 1998 she was promoted to president of Northern California banking. Desoer was Marketing executive from 1999 to 2001, when she was named Consumer Products Executive. She was named Chief Technology & Operations Officer in 2005.

In 2007, Desoer was recognized by US Banker, ranking third in their annual ranking of the “25 Most Powerful Women in Banking,” and as the “2007 Business Leader of the Year” by the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley. She was also cited as the top-earning CIO in the Fortune 1000 for 2007.

Even with her credentials, Desoer is only the second woman on the eight-member executive team at Bank of America. (Amy Woods Brinkley is the other female member of the team.) Why are women in these positions so rare?

As referrenced on Fierce Finance online, a 2007 poll by Financial News showed that the private equity industry may be the toughest place for a woman to succeed. Regrettably, the legendary and meteoric rise—and fall—of Zoe Cruz (“missile”) at Morgan Stanley and Sally Krawcheck at Citigroup bear out these findings. The recent outster of Erin Callan as the CFO of Lehman Brothers again points out the inequities on the street. Given the climate, Desoer may feel a bit like she has a target on her back; however, if she succeeds at her new assignment, she will be on track for the CEO position currently held by Kenneth D. Lewis.

Interviewed by CalBusiness, the business journal out of the Hass School of Business at U.C.L.A Berkley in 2007, Ms. Desoer remarked, “The only time being a woman has been a problem is when I let it be. Many times I’m the only woman at a conference table, but the challenges are the social aspects of being the only woman in the room and the awareness of that. The only problem is thinking about it too much.”