An Industry Yields Returns for Hutchison Alumnae

But this story isn’t about women being left behind in management. This is a story of Hutchison alumnae who have succeeded in leadership positions in financial services and who are laying the foundation for the next generation of analysts, stockbrokers, investment bankers, credit officers, board members, and more. It’s an indication that the tide is turning.

Additionally, research is starting to bear out the benefits of companies diversifying their board rooms and executive positions. A quick Google search on this topic yields a wealth of articles and studies. In February 2016, The New York Times touted, “Women in Company Leadership Tied to Stronger Profits, Study Says.” The robust study, conducted by the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a nonprofit Washington group, looked at 22,000 publicly traded companies in 91 countries. While the statistics showed that just over 50 percent of the firms had no female executives and that of the remaining companies, 57 percent had only one female executive, the study did discover that more women in top management positions correlated with a rise in profitability.

Marcus Noland, Peterson Institute’s director of studies, suggested that a management pipeline of women needed to be cultivated as early as childhood. “The larger the pool, the more you’re going to see make it to that very top level,” he said.

We talked to five Hutchison graduates to find out their experiences working in financial services and to get their opinions on the current status of gender diversity in the industry. All have found it to be challenging, but see opportunities for women opening up more and more every day.

BANKING ON INCLUSION
“We currently have three female board members,” said Susan L. Springfield ’82, executive vice president and chief credit officer of First Horizon National Corp., parent company of First Tennessee Bank. “I would tell you that even when we had two female board members, that was considered unique.” Springfield serves on Hutchison’s Board of Trustees as treasurer.

Springfield echoed that numerous articles suggest that gender and ethnic diversity equal better performance. “The theory is that diversity broadens the conversation and the perspective at the board table and at the management committee table,” she said.

A Credit Suisse paper referenced in the Peterson study suggests seven key reasons why gender diversity might improve company performance, the most relevant of which include creating a better mix of leadership skills; enabling access to a wider pool of talent; and reflecting the high percentage of women who are consumer decision-makers.

First Tennessee is the largest bank headquartered in Tennessee. Springfield is in her 18th year there and works closely with Hutchison alumna Amy A. Shreve ’80. Shreve is executive vice president and director of loan support services, and has been with the bank 21 years.

Sitting together for an interview, Springfield and Shreve admit that it wasn’t easy to reach their executive positions, but both give much credit to their Hutchison foundation. “I think the education I received at Hutchison, and the opportunities to lead as a female at an early age, established a level of confidence that there were no limits,” Springfield said without hesitation.

Shreve noted that her family placed a premium on education, and she discovered an internal drive that has helped her in her career. “A lot of the satisfaction I got from achievement in school is the exact same satisfaction I get in my career,” Shreve said. Was there a secret to reaching an executive position as a woman? “In many cases, I don’t think I was any smarter or better than others. I was just willing to do the work,” Shreve added.

Springfield concurred and added, “It’s not always about the next opportunity being a promotion. When Amy talks about doing the work, I think that having the curiosity to want to try something different and being willing to take the task no one else wants are important.”

Katie Gambill ’64, co-founder of Council Capital in Nashville, has been in the financial world since the late 1960s, when women in leadership positions were pretty much unheard of. She worked her way up at Equitable Securities from analyst to chief investment officer, and from leading the company’s equity business to becoming president. “There’s no one preventing you, but it’s not easy,” she said. “What is different now is that I think any woman who has the aptitude and then the passion and perseverance can be successful.”

Sequoia Taylor ’04 works as an entrepreneur and runs Spry Ventures, her own advisory firm for private placement transactions. She added, “Make sure to show why you deserve to be there with your work. Yes, you’re going to be different, but if you put that energy out there and make that a central focus of who you are and how you interact with people, then it will be a problem. Put your work first.”

RELATIONSHIPS GO A LONG WAY…EVEN ACROSS THE POND
At the University of Virginia, Gwin G. Myerberg ’99 thought she would study English and art history. She was interested in communications and writing. Then she took some courses that were prerequisites for a business school program. “Oddly enough, statistics interested me more,” she said. “Usually that’s what scares people away. But it resonated with me, and particularly how you can apply it to the field of marketing and communications."

Myerberg applied to the business school and has a degree in finance and marketing. She is a client portfolio manager at Southeastern Asset Management. Although she started her career in New York City, she met the founder of Southeastern, a global investment management firm headquartered in Memphis, at a conference and discovered they were looking for someone for their London office. Myerberg jumped at the opportunity and has been there for almost eight years now. “It turns out I’m a city mouse. A big city mouse, I guess,” she said.

As a client manager, Myerberg serves as the main connection between Southeastern and its clients in London and Europe. “It’s all about building and maintaining relationships,” she said. “I think one of the most important things in a role like this—I think in any professional role—is networking and making sure when you meet somebody that you stay in contact with them … helping them if you can, because it can come back around to you in ways that you don’t expect.”

She admits that it can be challenging working in a male-dominated profession, but that she’s enjoyed it. Sometimes, she says, “you have to prove yourself more quickly, because you walk into a room, and often—unfairly, I think—it’s assumed that you’re just the face that they’ve sent.”

Her Hutchison education, she believes, helped prepare her for that. “I think one of the best things Hutchison did is to breed confidence. Those skill sets of being able to speak publicly, speak your mind or your view in a group, and to challenge each other in a discussion in a classroom, that is real-life preparation for what the working world is like.”

Springfield and Shreve see the culture changing. “Men who are raising daughters or have wives or sisters entering the workplace have become more aware of making sure that there are plenty of opportunities,” Springfield said. Shreve agreed. “They want their daughters to have an equal opportunity to excel; they see the talents they have, and I think it makes them more open-minded and really look for that opportunity for women here at the bank.”

MENTORING IS KEY
“We don’t get here alone,” added Springfield. “I think about the people, either as peers who encouraged me, mentors, or role models, who would seemingly pluck me out of a situation and say, ‘We would like you to do this.’ So sometimes it’s others seeing something in you that maybe you thought was there but you weren’t really sure.”

First Tennessee has a mentoring program that focuses on cross-pairing, including men mentoring women, women mentoring men, people of different ages, ethnicities, and positions in the company mentoring one another. “So if I’m mentoring a millennial, sometimes I’ll say, ‘I didn’t think about it from that perspective.’ You think about the mentoring helping the mentee, but it’s actually helping us become a stronger company,” Springfield said.

“Some of my greatest satisfaction comes from developing people,” Shreve said, “seeing something in someone that they don’t see in themselves, and seeing them flourish. That’s very rewarding.”

Shreve and Springfield are both part of the First Tennessee Women’s Initiative which offers professional support and networking opportunities for women working at the bank. The group welcomes men and has several members. “This is not just ‘women power,’ this is about men and women doing things together to support one another’s professional growth,” Springfield added.

Myerberg has had both female and male mentors, including the current head of client portfolio management at Southeastern. One mentor was only two years older, but invaluable because “she had just lived through some of the things I was going through.”

“I’ll go back to Amy’s quote about being willing to do the work,” Springfield said. “It also means being willing to do the work of speaking up for yourself, not in an arrogant or boastful way, but in a confident, realistic way. Being willing to tell others your story, building those connections.”

Everyone agreed there’s plenty of opportunity, but it’s an industry that requires work and perseverance to make that opportunity yours. “Pay your dues,” said Gambill.

“Grind it out for two years after college as an analyst at an investment bank or consulting firm, then join a private equity firm or hedge fund.” And more important, she added, you can have a career and family life. “Don’t think you have to choose.”