Are you a “change agent” in your community? If you’re involved with Financial Women of San Francisco (FWSF), you are making a positive impact on others by improving the lives of individuals and communities locally and around the world. So, YES you ARE a “change agent!” This edition features women in our past and present that are admired for their strength, courage, and tenacity. Who is the woman you most admire?
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A wonderful Q&A narrative (published April 8, 2017) where Darcy candidly discusses her success as a woman leader in the finance industry and as part of FWSF. She offers advice to other women interested in the finance industry, discusses lessons learned, work life balance, issues faced along the way, talks about the importance of leadership, ladies admired and her personal goals for the FWSF organization.
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In celebration of International Women’s Day 2017 held on March 8, we asked the FWSF board to share which woman they admire most. I believe you will be as inspired as I was as you read through this presentation of some very different but amazing ladies. I don’t believe it is about being exactly who they are, but to aspire to be the best we can each be. In so doing we can collectively move to meet our goals, one of which might be Planet 50-50 by 2030, or another might be to have more women in C-Suite positions.
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With social media growing exponentially (think 1.7 billion active accounts), FWSF wants to be a bigger part of the conversation! A key marketing/communications initiative for 2017 is to increase FWSF’s social media presence. It’s another way for FWSF to help facilitate meaningful engagement among our members. We can network and share knowledge, connect with potential members and showcase the benefits of membership by actively engaging on FWSF’s social media platforms.
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On March 7th, the day before International Women’s Day, the FWSF partnered with Wells Fargo for an event on Thought Leadership, featuring Denise Brosseau as the speaker. Denise was introduced by Sue Bunnell, who extolled her professional accomplishments. Among them was co-founding the first women’s venture conference, Watermark, as well as Springboard Enterprises, which raised $7.4 billion for women entrepreneurs since its foundation in 2000. Denise not only teaches at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, but she also received the highest ratings from her students out of the entire faculty.
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On February 23, 2017, FWSF, together with the Cal-Asia Business Council and the Asia Society, jointly sponsored a distinguished speaker panel on the topic of “Doing Business in China.” Hosted by KPMG in their recently remodeled offices in SoMa, the evening began with an outstanding spread of Chinese food and networking time.
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On February 14, 2017, the Financial Women’s Association of San Francisco (FWSF) partnered with The Financial Institutions Committee of the California State Bar Business Law Section and the San Francisco Bank Attorneys Association to host “Challenges in the Financial Services Industry: Legal and Regulatory Developments and the Road Ahead.” A panel of distinguished financial services experts was moderated by Maureen Young, Senior Regulatory Counsel, SVP, Bank of the West and the FWSF Industry Leadership Co-Chair as well as a member of the FWSF Board of Directors. Once again, this event was held at the Federal Reserve Bank (FRB) of San Francisco. The panel included the perspectives from both regulators and banking executives, as well as the legal and consulting communities. The program attracted more than 165 attendees.
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Renessa Boley Layne gave a riveting presentation to a crowded room of over 30 ambitious women in the East Bay on March 21, 2017. There was a delightful amount of crowd interaction, self-evaluations and inspiring realizations and epiphanies. It was easy to leave the event with a new sense of empowerment and a refreshing outlook on life.
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I love books. It’s a love affair that started in the 2nd grade when I realized I could borrow as many books as my arms would hold from the local hometown library. So imagine my delight when I joined the Financial Women SF monthly book club and got to discuss a book and share life experiences. And, for those too busy to read the book, the facilitator Julianna Iran shared that skimming the synopsis off Amazon qualified as having read the book.
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As your president for 2017, I am excited about the year ahead, and I want to personally invite you to deepen your engagement with FWSF this year. We have amazing programs coming up—not just in San Francisco, but in the East Bay and Silicon Valley. Beyond attending these inspiring, fun programs and events, I want to encourage you to get involved by volunteering for a committee or special project.
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Alice May, a founding member of the Financial Women of San Francisco (“FWSF”) organization, passed on November 13, 2016. 1995 FWSF President, Leslie Miller, describes her as ‘quite a pioneer.’ Looking back at her life story, I think you’ll agree wholeheartedly….
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Every year, one of the most popular FWSF events is the end of the year Holiday Party. 2016 wasn’t any different. The Holiday Party and Live Auction in December had a successful turnout filled with members, prospective members, food, wine and fun! The holiday party is an opportunity for members to network, celebrate members and raise money for the organization.
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On January 24, 2017, the Financial Women of San Francisco partnered with the Harvard Club of San Francisco to sponsor a fireside chat between two of our city’s most distinguished citizens, Marie Chandoha and Bill Haraf. Ms. Chandoha serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Charles Schwab Investment Management. Mr. Haraf is Special Advisor to the Promontory Financial Group and serves on the Board of Directors of the Charles Schwab Corporation.
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There has been a lot of change in the world since 2017 began. What a challenge it must have been for presenter, Ms. Michelle Borre, to prepare for our event! Our new President had to be mentioned at the beginning of our presentation as we were less than a week into his term. While Ms. Borre did not get political, she did answer several questions because the audience was not bashful about asking them. Kudos to Ms. Borre for educating us and giving us straight talk.
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Have you ever been told, by a man, that your opportunities were limited because you are a woman? That you would work harder, stay longer, and ultimately produce better work, but you would be a third class employee – belonging to an unpopular department while female. I was 29, in my mentor’s office, and he was explaining to me that is how our company worked. His hands were tied, as he was subject to the views and opinions of his superiors.
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