To celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD), a new podcast released today highlights and promotes diversity and women in the asset management industry.
The CAMRADATA International Women’s Day podcast features Natasha Silva, managing director at CAMRADATA, along with Helena Morrissey, chair of the Diversity Project and Sharon Bentley-Hamlyn, co-founder and investment manager at Aubrey Capital Management.
The podcast spotlights the importance of IWD, specifically in the asset management industry, along with career-based advice to professionals wanting to break through the asset management space. It also dives into changes the asset management industry must make to bring more women professionals and asset managers into the space.
“It’s also a moment to reflect on things that still need to be done. We’re making great progress around women in business, in politics…, etc.,” said Morrissey. “But there’s obviously still a lot to do in certain sectors, including asset management…”
The speakers criticized how small the asset management industry has altered since the beginning of their careers, noting that any change has been slight to none. “I’m not sure it’s changed very much,” said Bentley-Hamlyn. “In 30 years, when I was working in the M&A department of the City Bank in the 1980s, there were a number of very bright young women working as analysts. Few, if any, are in management positions, and the same is true today.”
In the podcast, Bentley-Hamlyn denounces the culture against women managing finances and calls on the asset management industry to allocate funds for women to manage. “Men are just considered to have more gravitas and to be more competent to do it,” she said of the culture in the asset management industry. “There is some momentum now, especially in the U.S., to allocate public funds to female or minority-managed funds or firms. Maybe if the flows are there, asset managers will bite the bullet and allocate funds to female or minority analysts to run.”
The podcast is available on Spotify, Amazon Music, and other podcast streaming services.
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Amanda Umpierrez is the Managing Editor of 401(k) Specialist magazine. She is a financial services reporter with over six years of experience and a passion for telling stories and reporting news. Amanda received her degree in journalism and government and politics at St. John’s University. She is originally from Queens, New York, but now resides in Denver, Colorado with her partner. In her free time, Amanda enjoys running, cooking, and watching the latest drama show.
