Marianne Brown, President and Chief Executive Officer of Omgeo, took part in a panel discussion at TheGlassHammer's "Women on the Buy Side" networking event last month where women in investment management gathered to listen. Marianne's remarks on operational risk were important, and I asked her to expand on a few points. Here is what Marianne had to say in response to my questions:
1. What aspects of risk management are particularly important today?
"One of the positive impacts of the crisis we’ve seen is greater collaboration amongst counterparties: There is marked behavior shift toward greater cooperation to identify and mitigate real and perceived risks early on in the trade lifecycle."
2. How do you think the markets have changed over the past year?
"Today there is absolutely more due diligence being conducted in terms of operations. Over the past couple of years, the world of operations has certainly come to a point where its relevance and the role of ops professionals is more enhanced. The ability of the operations function to both see and mitigate risk early on has dramatically increased. The industry is responding by increasing the investment in risk management capabilities."
3. What opportunities/challenges do these changes present for women?
"Opportunities and challenges do exist in the marketplace. Operations has traditionally not represented the demographics of society, but today there is an opportunity for diversity, coupled with an urgent business need. For women considering this void that can be filled, opportunities abound."
4. What kind of career opportunities do you see in your industry for women?
"The field of operations is screaming with opportunity for women, both at the entry level and for women who are reengaging after being out of the work force for any given time."
5. Any advice to women starting out?
"It’s all about objective results. Women need to make sure to define and deliver against their unique value proposition and to express and measure their value in objective business terms."
"It is also absolutely critical to ask questions. I can remember a time early in my career when I was tasked with writing up minutes for a meeting. The discussion went from A to B to C to E. I was petrified to speak up to get clarification on the missing part D, but realized I couldn’t complete my job without doing so. It turns out, no one else understood either, so my asking clarified things for everyone."
Read more about the "Women on the Buy Side" networking seminar on theglasshammer.com.
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