Last month the STA Women in Finance Committee, “STA WIF” hosted its 3rd Annual Evening of Recognition and Education , featuring presentations of the Ken Heath Award and the inaugural STA WIF Excellence in Journalism Award. The event focused on the value diversity brings to firms and to society in general, and recognizing, in a meaningful way, individuals who have made a sincere and genuine contribution to the advancement of women in finance.

The STA WIF Committee assembled a content-rich program that included Dr. Donna Rapaccioli, Dean of the Gabelli School of Business at Fordham University; Annie Massa from Bloomberg, and recipient of the Excellence in Journalism Award; and, this year’s Ken Heath Award recipients: Brian Fagen, Deutsche Bank; Andrew Mannarino, Citadel Securities; Brian Schell, Cboe Global Markets; and, Tito Singh, CRISIL. Thank you to all who attended.

The grassroots foundation upon which STA was built continues to serve our industry and STA Members well. We are pleased that women in finance initiatives have become engrained at several STA affiliates including Boston, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Canada and others, evidenced by the networking and education events that occur throughout the year. Progress can also be measured by the percentage of women currently serving on affiliate boards, which stands at 20 percent. 

[Read To the Women of STA, Julie Andress, KeyBanc Capital Markets here.]

While events and board representation certainly are important metrics, the key metric that STA WIF and the entire STA Board of Governors focus on is the percentage of women panelists and speakers at STA events. Getting women on the stage participating as panelists and speakers is paramount for the success of the overall initiative. Progress in this area has been meaningful but there is room for improvement. Whatever success we have achieved thus far has been done, not by mandates or quotas, but rather a greater awareness of the value it brings to the content and richness of our events. 

The May Evening of Recognition & Education is one of two events that STA WIF hosts each year. The second is the STA Women in Finance Symposium, which kicks off STA’s Annual Market Structure Conference in Washington DC. Last year, due to overwhelming demand, we moved the Symposium into the main conference ballroom to accommodate a larger audience – more than 200 women and men attended in 2018.

This year’s Symposium will take place on Wed., Oct. 2 at the JW Marriott Washington DC. Look for further details soon and please consider attending!

see full STA WIF June Newsletter here