Many of the women who climbed their way to the top of the ladder in institutional investing make success look easy — from the outside, they appear to balance billion-dollar portfolios, family responsibilities and self-care with ease.
But many of the 65 women featured in this year's inaugural class of Influential Women in Institutional Investing said the challenges are real, even as the industry aims to place more emphasis on attracting and retaining women to ensure greater diversity of thought and, as a result, better performance.
Lingering taboos remain against working part-time or talking openly about the child- or elder-care responsibilities women might have, even though many said the COVID-19 pandemic did help normalize discussions about work-life balance.
To support and encourage women, members of the 2023 class have led a variety of efforts in their firms and within the industry — developing and leading employee resource groups, speaking at industry conferences, actively mentoring younger women and diverse candidates, putting younger women in front of senior leadership and pressing for more inclusion and transparency in hiring, among other initiatives.
But a number also stressed the responsibility that high-level women in the industry have to their younger counterparts to be brutally honest — providing a realistic perspective on the demands of the job and advice on how to manage them.
"I often have people, even now, say to me, 'Oh, you look like you're so cool, calm and collected and like things going on outside don't bother you,'" said Jennifer DeLong, head of defined contribution at AllianceBernstein. "And I'm like, 'I might look that way, but I don't feel that way. Come sit down.'"
Over the course of her 24 years at the firm, Ms. DeLong, among other things, has served as a mentor in AB's Career Catalyst program for VP-level women and is a member of an employee resource group dedicated to helping women build and expand their leadership roles at the firm.
For Olaolu Aganga, the newly named U.S. CIO at Mercer, honesty is a key part of mentorship, because not being truthful about what it takes to be successful at work can make younger women feel like they're doing something wrong or failing when they run into obstacles, she said.
"Can you have it all? Kinda? But not at the same time – not at the same time," she added. "You can have the husband, you can have kids, you can have the career — but can they all exist perfectly well at the same time? Impossible. That is a reality that women in this industry live with."
Before joining Mercer in September, Ms. Aganga was managing director, lead client CIO for endowments, foundations and health care within multiasset strategies and solutions in the Americas at BlackRock Inc. Within her division, she was one of 12 individuals on its Talent Leadership Team, which focused on recruitment development and DEI, according to her nomination form.
She also mentored nearly two dozen junior employees from underrepresented communities — working with them on training and skills development and providing forums for them to connect with senior leaders.