Previous Event

Breaking Through to the C-Suite
New York Marriott Marquis
October 19, 2011

On Wednesday, October 19, over 2,000 professionals from the financial and broader business community gathered at the Marriott Marquis in New York City to hear from a highly accomplished set of women panelists.."

Jeff Mayer, Head of the Corporate & Investment Bank in North America delivered the opening remarks. He kicked off the event by noting its importance and relevance. "This Conference really demonstrates our industry's need for forums like this one and every year we hope to showcase the extraordinary strides women have made."

Mayer went on to discuss some of the challenges our industry currently faces: "The percentage of senior women in front office investment banking roles falls short of where it should be. We're on a slight upward trend, but the fact remains that there is still a lot of work to be done. We need to figure out how to harvest talent and push women through to the top-to the C-Suite."

Next he introduced Sharon Allen who served as Deloitte LLP's Chairman of the Board for eight years. She began her keynote by describing the importance of self promotion.  Recalling an earlier moment in her career when she had been passed over for a promotion, she summed it up to her manager not being fully aware of the scope of her achievements.  Allen learned "you have to be sure that everyone knows about all the good things you are doing in an organization."

The evening's agenda was handed over to Carolyn Buck-Luce, Principal and Global Life Sciences Leader at Ernst & Young, who moderated a panel of four senior women: Ilene H. Lang, CEO, Catalyst; Donna Milrod, Head of Regional Oversight and Strategy Deutsche Bank Americas; Anne Marie Petach, CFO, BlackRock; and Katherine Garrett-Cox, CEO, Alliance Trust and Deutsche Bank Supervisory Board member.

The panel engaged in a thoughtful and provocative discussion covering tops such as: leadership, motivation, vision as well as personal accountability to ourselves and each other.  The panellists also offered advice and practical strategies on how to advance your career in different circumstances using sponsorship, self advocating, seeking honest feedback and reframing the business case.

Closing the panel discussion was Roelfien Kuijpers, Global Head of DB Advisors, who regrouped the evening's comments and later announced the charitable recipient of a monetary donation in lieu of attendee gift bags. Girls, Inc was the selected charity, as voted upon by conference attendees, and will receive USD 10,000 from WOWS with a 100% matching gift from the Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation totaling USD 20,000. 

In closing she quoted Mao Tse-Tung saying "Women hold up half the sky." Kuijpers added "I hope that women do not only hold up half the sky, I hope in the very near future, that women will hold up half the C-suites on Wall Street."

Sharon L. Allen served as Chairman of the Board of Deloitte LLP from 2003-2011. In this capacity she led the board in providing oversight and guidance to the management of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries.

Ms. Buck Luce is the Ernst & Young Global Life Sciences Sector Co-Leader responsible for serving global life sciences companies with assurance, advisory, tax and transaction solutions.

Ilene H. Lang is the President & Chief Executive Officer of Catalyst, the leading research and advisory organization working to change workplaces and improve lives through advancing women into business leadership.

Jeffrey Mayer is a Managing Director and Head of the Corporate and Investment Bank in North America.  He is responsible for the Corporate Finance, Markets and Transaction Banking divisions in the US and Canada, and chairs the CIB Americas Executive Committee.