STA WIF Symposium – 2016


Inaugural STA Women in Finance Symposium

September 14, 2016 | JW Marriott | Washington DC


Keynote Speaker

Suni Harford is a Managing Director and Citigroup’s Regional Head of Markets for North America. In this capacity, Suni oversees the North American sales, trading, and origination businesses of Citi’s securities and banking franchise. Suni is a member of Citi’s Pension Plan Investment Committee, and a Director on the Board of Citibank Canada. From 2010 – 2015, Suni was the co head of Citigroup’s global women’s initiative, Citi Women.

Prior to her current assignment, Ms. Harford held a variety of senior positions at Citi/Salomon Brothers including the Global Head of Fixed Income Research and the Co-Head of Fixed Income Capital Markets Origination where she led an advisory team focused on financial institutions.

Ms. Harford serves on the Board of Directors of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), the financial services industry advocacy group, as well as the Board of Directors of The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the world’s largest post-trade financial services company. Suni also serves on several non-profit Boards, including Friends of Hudson River Park, Taproot Foundation, and recently finished her second term with The Forte Foundation, a national, non-profit organization dedicated to increasing the number of women leaders in business. Ms. Harford is also passionate about awareness and support for our veteran community, and is involved in many organizations in this regard. In addition to serving on the US Chamber of Commerce Veteran’s Employment Advisory Council, Suni has worked with First Lady Michele Obama’s Joining Forces initiative. She represents Citi as a founding member of Veterans on Wall Street, a coalition of major financial services firms established in 2010 to engage the broader industry in efforts to support our transitioning veterans. Having helped formalize Citi’s very successful Veterans Initiative, CitiSalutes, in 2009, Ms. Harford remains the senior business sponsor for the initiative. For those efforts Ms. Harford recently received the Outstanding Civilian Service Award from the US Army.

Ms. Harford joined the Markets division of Salomon Brothers, after five years with Merrill Lynch & Co. where she worked in Investment Banking. She joined Merrill upon graduation from the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. Suni received her Bachelor of Science degree from Denison University, where she majored in physics and math.

Suni lives in Connecticut with her husband Woody, three children (Devon (18), Jenna (14) and Liam (11)) and their dogs, Sully and Mike Wazowski.


Presenter

Eleanor Beaton is the President and CEO of Impact & Influence for Women, a global training and development company that helps high potential women reach the top. She is an award-winning journalist, international speaker, coach and expert in high performance for women. Eleanor is the host of Fierce Feminine Leadership, a top-ranked podcast for ambitious women in business. And she is the creator of Bold Women Thought Leaders, an exclusive business coaching program for women thought leaders.

Eleanor is one of 8 global advisors to the Visiting Women’s Executive Exchange Program at the Yale School of Management has been recognized by entrepreneurial expert Ali Brown as “one to watch in the women’s leadership space”. She is the go-to coach for highly accomplished executive and entrepreneurial women who are looking to dial up their impact, results and love the process. As a consultant, coach and entrepreneur, she has worked closely with celebrity entrepreneurs, leaders of major corporations, and founders of international movements.

In addition to her work with established leaders, Eleanor trains up-and-coming professional women to position themselves as credible leaders that others will follow, listen to, promote and buy from. A former journalist and speechwriter, Eleanor won numerous top journalism prizes for her coverage of fast growing, women-led companies and has co-written several best-selling books.


Panel

Women Leaders on Wall Street – Anecdotes, Acknowledgement, Advice
A panel of senior women professionals will share personal experiences that shaped their careers. What were their greatest challenges and how did they overcome them? What does it feel like to be the only woman in the room? The panel will also address the role gender plays when it comes to promotions and salary. How can we close the salary gap? How do you ask for a raise—and get it? How can we create a gender-equal culture in the workplace? Specific communication techniques and tools in these areas will be highlighted.

Participants

CohenAPP
Debbie Cohen
Division Director, Head of Audit – Americas
Macquarie Group

Debbie Cohen joined Macquarie in August 2011 from JPMorgan’s Investment Bank audit team where she was the North America’s Team Lead (Audit Manager) for Prime Services. Prior to joining JPMorgan Debbie was a Capital Markets Bank Examiner at the New York State Banking Department. Post graduate school (1986 – 2000) Debbie traded U.S. Treasuries at First Interstate Bank of California and Lloyds Bank, and foreign exchange and interest rate derivatives at Credit Suisse.
Debbie has a B.S. from California State University, Northridge and an MBA from Wharton.


AlanHillWEB
Alan Hill
CEO
JonesTrading

Alan Hill joined JonesTrading in July 2006 as Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Hill’s immediate responsibility at JonesTrading was to manage its $50MM private placement. Previously, Mr. Hill was Vice President of Finance and Corporate Controller at Korn/Ferry International where he had day-to-day responsibility over the company’s finance, tax and accounting operations across 35 countries, in addition to SEC public financial reporting and Corporate Development roles. Mr. Hill previously served as Vice President of Finance at Jefferies where he participated in spinning off ITG Inc. and worked on Jefferies’ private placement of $60MM senior secured debt. As the Senior Director of Finance at Guidance Solutions, a privately held consulting firm, Mr. Hill managed their $52MM private placement. Mr. Hill began his career at KPMG LLP. Mr. Hill earned an MBA with honors from the Anderson School at UCLA and a BS in Accounting from Loyola Marymount University. Mr. Hill is qualified as a CPA in the State of California, and has his Series 7, 24, 27, 55, and 63 licenses.


Ann Neidenbach
Chief Information Officer
Convergex

Ann Neidenbach is the Chief Information Officer of Convergex and serves as a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. As Convergex CIO, Ann leads all of Convergex’s software development, information services, business processes and technical infrastructure. A well-known technology expert with more than twenty-five years of experience in the global financial industry, Ms. Neidenbach executes on a technology vision supporting the firm’s agency-focused model.
Prior to joining Convergex, Ann served as Senior Vice President of Market Systems at NASDAQ, where she led a team of expert architects and engineers developing electronic trading, clearing, market data, and index solutions. Earlier at NASDAQ, she served as Senior Vice President of Global Products and Services, and as the COO/CIO of Nasdaq Europe. Ms. Neidenbach has also held senior positions at Citibank, including Managing Director of Electronic Trading Technology, where she was responsible for overseeing the technology for equity and options electronic execution, algorithmic trading and electronic market making. She also served as Chief Operating Officer for Lava Trading.


Mee Warren, CFA, CAIA
Portfolio Strategist
Two Sigma Securities

Mee Warren is currently a portfolio strategist at Two Sigma Investments LP, an investment management firm focused on a scientific approach to investing. She leverages her expertise in investments, market structure, and trading to develop new strategies, increase capacity, and enhance returns. In her previous role, she was the Lead US & Americas Equities Trader and covered the Europe and Asia desks. She executed equities, futures, hard & soft commodities, bonds, currencies, and derivatives. Since joining the firm in 2003, she has had the privilege of working with talented people who inspire her.

In 2015, Mee received two industry awards: “Women in Finance Outstanding Contributions” award from Markets Media and “Women on Wall Street Trailblazer” award from Traders Magazine.

Mee is a trustee on the board of directors for Narcolepsy Network Inc., a national non-profit organization, co-chair of the FWA International Conference committee, and a member of National Organization of Investment Professionals (NOIP), FWA of New York, NYSSA, Women’s Bond Club, Women in ETFs and 100 Women in Hedge Funds. She graduated with a B.S. degree from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management in 2002 with majors in Finance, International Business, and Risk Management, and minors in Latin, Chinese, and East Asian Studies.