Outside the Lines with L&L

This week, L&L spoke with Kathryn Swintek MBA '79 who worked as Managing Director and Group Head at BNP Paribas until April 2008. Now retired, Swintek is on the board of four not-for-profits and a venture capital fund. Swintek shares her insights on the economic crisis, the role of women in finance and entrepreneurship, and how to distinguish yourself in the business world.

L&L: Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us! Tell us about your experience moving up and having such great success in the business world, starting at a time when women weren't necessarily doing that so easily.

KS: I think my career is quite interesting in that regard, because, as you say, when I started in 1974 there weren't too many women in positions of responsibility, authority, power, what have you. I know I was working hard, and there were undoubtedly features that distinguished me apart from being a woman. And it is interesting that it was men who promoted me over my male peers over the years.

L&L: What distinguished you? Obviously you worked hard, but how did you negotiate that uphill battle?

KS: As I heard Warren Buffet say yesterday, pick something that you are passionate about. Don't try to identify the particular industry you are going to go into; try to find what you are very interested in. I think was fortunate to have identified business as a very keen interest from as I recall, a very young age. For whatever reason I'm just one of those people. When I was selecting among positions when I graduated from Mount Saint Vincent in 1974, banking appeared to me, to offer a broader footprint in the financial world in particular.

L&L: You were very clear about what you wanted to do. But some students don't know exactly what they want to go into, including myself. What would be your advice to us?

KS: Having that training and having the opportunity to work with very competent business people is invaluable. So what I would say is if you are not quite sure what you want to do, if you can get into a major company, whether its General Electric or Proctor &Gamble, British Petroleum, what have you, or on the banking side any of the major houses, I think that is invaluable, getting lessons from very competent people.

L&L: Switching gears a bit, how has the economic climate changed the banking world or other changes that you find interesting? In general, not just for women.

KS: The crisis is definitely hitting the banking industry as we well know. But I think that when crises hit, you'll see the stronger companies survive, of course some of whom had a little help from the government along the way. Clearly the entities that are sub-par are just not going to make it or they will either go under businesses, or be merged or turned into other entities. You are going to have a stronger industry that survives after-the-fact…I know that my former employer prior to my retirement last year, BNP Paribas, is one of the few banks, which in this entire maelstrom never reported a loss in any quarter. And knowing the top management as I do, I am not surprised about that. They are very thoughtful, careful, diligent executives who do not cut corners and do not take the easy road. So I think there is a lot to be said for sticking with the basics.

L&L: What are some of the commonalities shared by successful entrepreneurs?

KS: In my experience women can go either directly into entrepreneurship; more frequently they start out in corporate America or corporate International and then using the experience and the contacts that they've build up in that particular part of their career, they then go out and start something, For example a good friend of mine started out at Macy's and rose to VP of Advertising and then started her own advertising agency. I just saw a presentation yesterday by a woman who was an executive at Starbucks who is now starting her own nail salon concept, but with all of the things that she learned at Starbucks that are applicable to this new venture. This is a path that many entrepreneurs tend to follow. So if you have a notion of an area, whether it's retail, consumer products, engineering or what have you, that interests you, you can work at a large company and parlay that into a full-time position prior to entrepreneurship, or you can be there and see if you really like it. See if you have a real passion for something. Test it out and see if that's something you want to do.

L&L: Are there are still things we can do to improve the role of women in the business world?

KS: Yes I still think there is a lot of room for improvement. The statistics I hear are that women still only comprise 15% of executives at major corporations. Another statistic I hear is that women comprise only 15 % of the director positions at Fortune 500 public companies. What is going to change those numbers will be the various programs that are around to raise awareness around the issue and hopefully some action steps that can be more meaningful than others to make that change. For example in Norway, they passed a law, I think it was 2 years ago, saying that women must comprise, I believe, that 40% of the director positions at public companies. And in Spain, more recently, they are also phasing in a similar law-- I am not sure if the percentages are the same--if you are public company by law, you are required to have a certain number of women among the directors in the company. By focusing on directors, members of the board of a company, the hope is that these women serving on the board will be more sensitive to opportunities for women in the company that they are serving on the board for.