Outside the Lines with L&L
Conversations with Distinctive Alumni
Larisa Terkeltaub & Lola Bakare
Issue date: 11/17/09 Section: Voices
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: 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.
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