By Kate McAllister
Global Liquidity Partners and STA WIF Co-Chair

With just two weeks remaining until STA’s 86th Annual Market Structure Conference, I am pleased to say that the 2019 Women in Finance Symposium will be the best one yet. After three years of directly preceding the conference, this year’s Symposium will be incorporated into the main program, with the goal of illustrating the vital role women play in our industry as well as identifying areas where there is work yet to be done.

We are thrilled to have Steph Davis – climber, flyer, writer, speaker – as our keynote. Steph is the most accomplished female free soloist in the world – she was the first woman to free climb the Salathe Wall on Yosemite’s El Capitan, and the second woman to free climb El Capitan in under 24 hours. Her speech will discuss how to turn failure into opportunity and fear into success. Steph believes that by learning to cultivate resilience and choosing to step into the unknown, we can scale our own walls, the challenges we face every day, with confidence and excitement. This ties perfectly into the theme of this year’s Market Structure Conference: Realizing Opportunity.

Following her keynote address, Steph will join a panel discussion with Eva Walsh of JP Morgan Asset Management and Kate Faraday of PineBridge Investments, moderated by BIDS Trading CEO Tim Mahoney. The panel will address a number of crucial issues relating to women in finance, including representation, inclusiveness and networking.

This panel is just one part of a jam-packed agenda, every part of which feeds into the theme of Realizing Opportunity. Opportunity is a powerful word that inspires hope, but how do we ensure that we are realizing all the opportunities that are out there for us?

First, we must review the “missed” opportunities: what are they and what held us back from pursuing them? Then we must challenge ourselves to overcome fears and perceived roadblocks in order to seize future opportunities. Next comes awareness and openness – that is, keeping in tune with the opportunities that surround us and not closing ourselves off. Finally, we must be bold and fearless in seizing these opportunities. We must “feel the fear and do it anyway.”

We hope to see you among the more than 700 financial services industry professionals in DC this Oct. 2-4!