(Archived Content)
Celebrating Women Leaders: Shaping the Future Today
Chicago, IL
As Prepared for Delivery
Hello! Thank you, Anne, for that kind introduction. Thank you also to Women Investment Professionals for hosting me tonight.
Before I begin, I would like to introduce Jennifer Imler, who has joins me tonight from the Treasury Office of Debt Management where she is the Head of Rates Markets Analysis. Jennifer has been an important member of our team since joining last year.
It is an honor to be invited to speak to the annual trailblazer’s dinner.
Tonight, I have been asked to talk about my career, how I came to serve in my current position and to offer some advice. Now, I must say, it feels a little strange to offer advice to such an impressive group of women. In many ways, I think that I should be hearing advice from you as opposed to offering it. But, that is what I have been asked to do, so I will offer a few observations and lessons that I have picked up along the way. At the end of my remarks we will have some time where I would like to hear from you.
I would like to begin with a quick story. I wish that I could take credit for finding this story, but it was actually brought to my attention by Secretary Geithner earlier this year.
The story is about a woman named Madelyn Dunham.
Madelyn was known as a tough and intelligent woman. Friends described her as “sharp as a tack.”
Madelyn’s daughter was a single mother with two children who needed her support. So, to meet the needs of her family, Madelyn moved to Hawaii to take a job at a bank. She eventually rose through the ranks to become one of the first female bank vice presidents in the state.
As the years passed, Madelyn was passed over for promotion after promotion. As her grandson later put it: “I know that if given the chance, she would have run that bank better than anybody.”
Madelyn Dunham was President Obama’s grandmother, and although tonight’s dinner is a testament to the progress we’ve made as a country, we can’t forget where we came from. Nor can we forget our responsibility to others.
First used in 1908, the definition of a trailblazer is “one that blazes a trail to guide others.” This room is full of leaders and trailblazers in your communities. The work that you do as individuals and as a group makes the world a better place and helps light the path for those that follow in your footsteps.
As we can see from the women in this room, the financial industry has made enormous progress. Earlier this year, Treasury hosted an investment conference for women in finance. We calculated that women in senior positions across that sector now manage more than $2 trillion in assets in the U.S. today.
Before I joined Treasury in February of 2010, I would have been proud to include myself in that group as the head of fixed income investment management at T. Rowe Price.
As Anne mentioned, I currently serve as Assistant Secretary for Financial Markets. In that role, I am responsible for managing federal debt issuance, coordinating policies impacting financial markets, and generally advising the Secretary on financial market developments.
While the content of each day at Treasury is different, every day begins with a meeting that Secretary Geithner hosts with senior staff to discuss the issues of the day. The topics of the meeting are important, but there is a good share of humor as well.
My responsibility at the meeting is to provide a short update on markets. Of course, there has been no shortage of developments to report since I joined the Treasury 21 months ago.
In early August, the country watched closely as Congress debated and ultimately passed an increase to the statutory debt limit. This vote was preceded and followed by a period of uncommon volatility in financial markets.
Recently, the market has devoted considerable attention to the situation in Europe. As the Secretary has said, we are confident that European policymakers will come to a conclusion to improve financial conditions. Still, it seems that there is new information every day that changes the way that investors are approaching the situation.
There is much to monitor here at home as well. Before the end of November, the Super Committee will make a proposal to the full Congress for finding an additional $1.2-1.5 trillion in savings. This debate has long term implications for the fiscal circumstances of the country.
It is critically important that Congress and the Administration place the government on a path to long term fiscal sustainability. It is also important to support the economy in the short term. This is something that we are focused on every day at the Treasury Department.
In my office, I am focused on efforts to reform our system of housing finance, improve homeowner access to historically low interest rates, and enable easier access to capital to small and medium businesses. Additionally, I spend a good deal of time working on the implementation of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. This Act was passed in July 2010 and is the most significant financial reform since the 1930s.
The Dodd-Frank Act enhances the oversight of financial firms, improves coordination among regulators, provides the government new tools to address a crisis, mandates more transparency in complex financial markets, and importantly, protects consumers through the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
However, passing the Dodd-Frank Act was just the beginning of putting this new framework in place. The Act outlined hundreds of distinct studies and rulemakings that the agencies must address and implement. While we already have made considerable progress, there is still substantial ground left to cover.
My team and I are working with the regulators to put these rules in place to provide much-needed clarity to financial markets and institutions. We are working on the basic infrastructure that supports market functioning and protects investors. Every day I appreciate the consequential nature of those decisions. And there isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t reflect on how astonishing it is that I came to find myself in this position.
Two years ago I was leading a very happy and comfortable life in Baltimore. My husband and I enjoyed our friends, our family, our jobs and our wonderful community. I expected to retire from T. Rowe Price sometime in the next decade.
But the events of the first decade of this century – the horrors of 9/11 and the financial disaster of 2008 – exposed our deepest vulnerabilities as a country. These events also had an important affect on me. I felt that with a quarter century of experience, I knew things that could be helpful to the country at a time of need. So, when Secretary Geithner asked me to serve, I agreed.
At the beginning of my professional life, I never would have imagined that this is how my career would turn out, but I have always liked a challenge.
The story of how I found myself in this position is a long one, so I will stick to the highlights.
I was the second oldest of six children. My parents were academics and teachers and raised us in a way that allowed us to believe we could do anything we wanted to do. My parents’ expectations were high, but in a very supportive way. We celebrated every success and rallied around every failure. I had many jobs in high school and college that helped me understand not just our economy, but all walks of life.
After majoring in the Government Department at Cornell University, I began my career as a Legislative Aide for a Congressman from Missouri.
In Congress, I worked largely on legislation in the House Public Works Committee and on some of the most important laws of the 1970s – the Clean Air and Water Acts, Surface Transportation and Airport Improvement Laws. After that experience, I went back to school at the University of North Carolina to get my degree in City and Regional Planning.
In 1980, I returned to DC to work at the Urban Institute doing some writing and analysis on urban infrastructure and public pension plans. I would note that those were critical issues 30 years ago and remain so today. Nearly 25 years later, I returned to the Urban Institute as a board member, an invitation that brought me back to my Washington roots. Serving on a board like this was a rewarding experience for me and one that I encourage others to pursue.
While working at the Urban Institute, I became increasingly interested in finance and the way that cities and states fund the activities that are so important to the well-being of their citizens. That led me to apply to an ad in the paper for a position as an analyst at T. Rowe Price, a small investment management firm in Baltimore.
I joined T. Rowe Price as a municipal bond analyst and remained at the company for 26 years.
My experience at T. Rowe Price was the most formative of my professional life and, among other things, this experience taught me the importance and value of tenure.
At T. Rowe Price, I served in many roles: analyst, trader and portfolio manager. Finally, I served as director of fixed income where I essentially became a portfolio manager of a business. By the end of my time at the company, I was overseeing a staff of 150. I learned that hiring well and developing people were keys to success.
By serving at every rung along the latter, I learned how important it is to treat people well – in every direction.
Washington is a place where this lesson is especially important. It is a small town where a good reputation carries immense currency. In my relatively short time there, I have seen people enhance their careers by fostering good working relationships. On the other hand, I have seen careers that have been marred because people have failed to see the importance of this point.
Some observations and advice:
As a female in a competitive job, it is important to rise above expectations and outshine every stereotype. Meet the competition head on – regardless of gender – and beat them on the merits. I found it very important to work in a measurable job, where my successes and failures could be evaluated with the same ruler that was applied to my peers.
The world of investing is more objective than many other industries and I have found that “pedigree” can only take you so far. A number of years ago, I fired an individual with a Harvard MBA the same year that someone with an undergraduate degree from a second tier institution saved the day by urging us to avoid investing in subprime securities.
As I have approached new jobs, I have always found it important to interview your bosses. This will give you a clear picture of what is expected of you and what you need to do better to succeed.
In hiring, I have always found it important to avoid “drama queens.” While we have all worked with women who fit that description – I can safely say that I have seen my share of drama kings as well!
Another lesson that I learned at T. Rowe Price is the importance of doing something that is intellectually challenging. When we are challenged, we perform at a higher level and feel better about the work that we are doing. My current job could not be more challenging!
Many professional women also face the challenge of creating a fulfilling personal life in addition to a successful career. Your personal life is important. Don’t neglect it. I have been privileged to have had a career where I have been able to achieve reasonable balance. My husband and I have lived a happy life and have raised two tremendous sons. I would add that there is nothing more challenging than raising teenagers who challenge every aspect of your being.
I have found that a happy personal life also involves giving back. You can choose to give back in the form of community service or volunteering – activities that I know are central to this group’s identity. Another way to give back is by serving on the board of a non-profit. From social services to the arts, these experiences develop your personal understanding of issues facing our communities. This type of service also gives you the opportunity to learn governance skills that will help you in a corporate setting by serving on board audit, investment and finance committees, for example.
You can also give back by serving your government.
My earliest memory of a President is of John F. Kennedy. I was six years old when my family watched his inauguration on our black and white TV in our living room. In that speech, President Kennedy famously said:
“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.”
This directive influenced my life, and I expect that it has or will influence some of yours as well.
In my view, there is no better time to serve than the present. Our country is facing some truly monumental challenges and the government is in need of smart, dynamic and accomplished people – particularly people with experience in financial markets.
If government service is not for you, I still encourage you to be involved. One of the most important parts of my job is simply hearing from people like you. Our door is always open, and our work is significantly improved as a result of the constructive input we receive through the formal rulemaking process, through events like these, and from simply listening to the markets and the public.
There are a number of ways that you can help as we rebuild the market infrastructure for the 21st century.
First of all, weigh in. Stakeholders have engaged extensively in the financial reform process so far with tens of thousands of comment letters. I expect that the proposed regulations that the agencies are still generating will receive substantial additional comments. We welcome that input and view it as an integral part of the process.
In addition to the rulemaking process, however, there is another important way in which we can work together to improve the financial system. You don’t have to wait for the government to act to implement reforms that could reduce risks, improve returns, and strengthen financial institutions. As leaders in your organizations, you have terrific opportunities to make change.
While there is no doubt that we have come a long way from the days when a Madelyn Dunham could be overtly passed over for promotions because of her gender, we still have a long way to go. Groups like this one help to light the path and move us all further down the road. So, thank you for the work that you do and for taking interest in one-another.
It has been a great honor to talk with you tonight and I look forward to your questions.
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