In October 2009, I became Programme Office Leader of PwC’s Global Gender Advisory Council, which provides advice and assistance on the issue of diversity to Chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers International Ltd., Dennis Nally.
As part of this role, I serve on the advisory board of the not-for-profit International Women of Excellence group and represent PwC Global with a number of organisations with whom we liaise and partner, including the World Bank’s Global Private Sector Leaders’ Forum, the Boston College Center for Work and the Family’s Global Workforce Round Table, and the French-based Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society.
I’m also lucky enough to participate in a number of global diversity projects, events, and dialogues. Via the Gender Agenda blog ’ll share with you what I learn, experience, and observe (please contact me with topic ideas or if you’d like to contribute as a guest writer – I’d love to hear from you).
I’ve been fortunate to have had a varied career with PwC, working on a number of projects in offices around the world. In 1999 I joined PwC US’s Washington National Tax Services, a group focused on legislative and regulatory developments emerging from the nation’s capital. Two rotations within the Firm – one with the Health Research Institute and one on a national human capital initiative – gave me exposure to the incredible breadth of our services and opportunities. Working on projects with colleagues who brought different backgrounds, competencies, and perspectives to the table taught me how diversity enhances team dynamics, leading to a truly distinctive experience for both our teams and clients.
In 2005, I moved to Europe to support PwC’s Central Cluster Human Capital Leader. I worked on a number of cross-border recruitment, global mobility, employer branding, and talent management programmes to engage and inspire our people. Collaborating across multiple nationalities to leverage our network and skills in places as disparate as Stockholm, Cape Town, London and Moscow was an exceptional experience in the challenges and rewards of working in diverse environments towards a common goal.
As part of this role, I also drove our regional Women in PwC Network under the direction of Network Leader (and GAC member), Agnès Hussherr. Our network facilitated connectivity and knowledge-sharing between female partners and produced the Eurofirms Women in PwC Annual Report in 2008. I also had the opportunity to interview many of our senior French women for The Leaking Pipeline, an experience that changed my personal career outlook and vision; I learned the difference between adapting oneself and transforming oneself – and the merits and drawbacks of both approaches.
Suffice to say this professional experience with PwC has cultivated my interest in diversity, though it has always been a personal passion of mine. I was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, but raised mostly in Washington, D.C. While completing my undergraduate degree at The College of William & Mary, I lived in the Reves Center for International Studies, and studied abroad at the University of St Andrews. As a result of my wide exposure to different cultures, I’ve always felt an affinity for diversity.
In the past few years, I’ve been fortunate enough to live in Luxembourg, Paris, and now Brussels. Living in foreign countries for an extended period of time has had a profound impact on my personal identity and professional development. I believe that dwelling outside of my ‘comfort zone,’ communicating in a foreign language (an exercise in humility), and adapting to unfamiliar cultural and social norms have made me more agile, open-minded, empathetic, and patient – skills that I use every day at work, and that I see as integral to cultural dexterity and functioning in an increasingly global business milieu.
For more details of PwC’s award winning work in the field of gender diversity, please visit: www.pwc.com/women.
If you would like to contact me, please click here to send an email
If you would like to receive free email alerts when I update my weblog, please click here to subscribe.
