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For women in business, a successful career is about adapting to change, striking a balance between work and personal time, and focusing on goals. Those were the common themes of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business's first-ever conference for women, Booth Women Connect. More than 100 women—a mix of current students, alumni, and prospective students—attended the two-day conference, which kicked off Friday, October 21, and was hosted at Gleacher Center.
The conference was sponsored by Booth's Evening MBA and Weekend MBA programs, the Executive MBA Program, and the student group Graduate Women in Business. About two-thirds of the attendees were prospective students, a group that Booth hopes in the future will include more women, said Holly Shearer, senior associate director of student services for Booth's Evening MBA and Weekend MBA programs.
"I hope they see that Booth is somewhere they fit in. There are women at the event who are like-minded, driven, and who ultimately, if they decide to go to business school, consider Booth," Shearer said. "The strength of our entire network is huge, not just our female network. They can see how much our current students and alumni care about the women business community. That will continue to grow from year to year."
After becoming increasingly interested in economics during her undergraduate study, the conference's lunchtime keynote speaker, Diane Swonk, '89, earned both bachelor's and master's degree in economics with honors from the University of Michigan. Swonk came to Booth, she said, because of its strong economic heritage. At the same time, she accepted a position as an associate economist with a lower salary than she had as a waitress.
"I wanted to take a job in the field that I loved," said Swonk, who is now the chief economist and senior managing director at Mesirow Financial in Chicago. "You have to find those passions that make you light up."
Her education at Booth immediately paid off. After graduation, she received a job offer at the Federal Reserve. Her Booth MBA gave her the confidence to ask her employer to counter with a better offer—and she got it. Today, Swonk is considered one of the top economic forecasters in the country by the Wall Street Journal and MSNBC. She serves as an advisor to the Congressional Budget Office, the Federal Reserve Board, and regional Reserve Banks. She also funds several scholarships for women and minorities who are interested in applying to Booth programs.
Her ascent, however, came with significant challenges. She spoke candidly about going through two divorces, overcoming two strokes, and undergoing heart surgery for a congenital defect. "But there was something inside me saying ‘you're going to make it, you're going to have a voice in this world,'" she told the audience.
Her biggest lesson from Booth is that "no challenge is too large to overcome," she added. "The challenges we overcome define us more than our successes."
The constant test of challenges is exactly why the conference's dinnertime keynote speaker, Susan L. Wagner, '84, described her career as "a work in progress." In fact, the reason she chose Chicago Booth directly after studying English at a liberal arts college was because "it scared the heck out of me. It was known for being among the most rigorous, most mathematical of the business schools, and not touchy feely in anyway," she said. "I figured it would be a good place to learn the tools and conquer my fears."
Today, Wagner is the co-founder and vice chairman of BlackRock, an investment and risk management firm that Wagner started with several colleagues from previous employers. Now, BlackRock is the largest asset manager in the world. With more than 10,000 employees, the firm manages $3.3 trillion in assets for individual and institutional investors in more than 100 countries. In addition to her current role, Wagner spends half of her time in Asia as the company's interim regional head.
She is also the global executive sponsor of the firm's Women's Initiative and a married mother of three children. During meetings with the company's female employees, Wagner said the most common question she gets asked is how she manages a work-life balance.
"There is no such thing as the right balance," Wagner told the audience. "Every day is different. I tell people to give themselves permission to be flexible, to come to grips with the fact that you won't succeed all the time. You'll fail sometimes, but you won't most of the time."
The keys to success, Wagner said, are so simple they can be disappointing to those expecting to hear a big secret: "I tell the young women in our organization to be passionate, be energetic, be positive, immerse yourself in what you do, and become the expert in something."
Wagner also advised the conference's entirely female audience to stretch themselves by doing something that scares them. "Last week, I rode an elephant," she said, "and I hate public speaking."
For Angela Brunner, '09, the conference reinforced why her MBA experience has been so valuable. "It has really helped my career trajectory, really opened doors through the people I've met," said Brunner, senior marketing manager at PepsiCo's Global Nutrition Group. "For prospective students, it's a chance to get that glimpse into what the school, the people, and the culture are like. You're not just signing up for taking classes. You're signing up for a life-long culture and a life-long partnership."
—Kadesha Thomas