2012 Financial Woman of the Year Luncheon
November 2012
Barbara Morrison, Founder and President, TMC Financing, Honored for 30 Years of Advocacy for Women and Small Business
Without question, this year’s Financial Woman of the Year Luncheon will go on record as one of the most inspirational in this event’s 17-year history. Annually, we gather to raise awareness about the successes of women in finance while generating scholarship funds for Bay Area women.
On October 2, we applauded Barbara Morrison’s outstanding leadership in financial services, her active participation in the community, and her unwavering commitment to the advancement of women. Barbara and her team at TMC Financing have provided over $6.4 billion in commercial real estate financing for more than 3,900 small businesses. These businesses have created and retained over 27,000 jobs. Barbara also founded Working Solutions, a nonprofit organization commit- ted to providing micro loans, coaching, and education to Bay Area entrepreneurs.
Barbara received an uplifting video introduction by California Senator Dianne Feinstein, who was San Francisco’s Mayor when Barbara interned in her office, and a heartfelt, personal introduction by her two daughters Anna and Emily. Barbara opened her address by noting that this year FWA was recognizing a body of work that involves helping businesses expand, hire more people, and grow the economy. Today, job creation, economic development, and public/private partnerships are as relevant as they were 35 years ago when Barbara walked into the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development and asked for a job.
In her remarks, Barbara noted how work/life balance involves a very personal set of choices, and that all choices involve trade-offs. She pointed out that roles change as we go through life, and being able to maintain a healthy balance is really about living with a focus on our priorities.
So, if you can keep a set of priorities in focus that balance career success and personal well-being, then you can achieve true success in life. Achieving balance is rarely perfect, and may require course corrections and compromises, but we are largely in control of our own destinies.
As a child of the 60’s, Barbara knew her generation was destined to change the world. With no career scripted – Barbara explained that one thing just led to another until she found what she was looking for. Acknowledging that our experiences aren’t predictive, Barbara stressed that her daughters’ careers will be as different from hers as hers was from her mother’s, a homemaker. The workplace is evolving and the workforce is changing. 60% of college graduates are women and that gender gap just keeps getting wider.
There was no script for much of Barbara’s generation and there is none today. According to Barbara, that is the GOOD news. Without a script, you can be open to opportunities if you keep your eyes open and your antennae up!
—Contributed by Anne Armento
Our Annual Financial Woman of the Year Luncheon generates much-needed funds for the FWA Schol- arship Program, a program that has contributed to the future of women in finance by awarding over $1.75 million to more than 200 Bay Area women who show promise as future financial leaders!
If you have not already contributed, please visit our scholarship page to learn more and assist us in this worthwhile program.
To view one of our scholarship recipients, Shelby Duncan, interviewed alongside Barbara Morrison on KTVU Bay Area People go to: http://youtube/ Xjf1LSTOI04