Empowering Female Leadership in the Financial Services Industry
Greyline is a female partner-led firm that strives to empower women in the workplace and encourage inclusivity, diversity and equality. The financial services industry is a traditionally male-dominated one, so we are proud to have more than a dozen women driving our organization’s success.
Greyline’s Female Leadership
Kathy Malone
Partner & Head of Consulting
“Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time.” — Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Talia Brandt
Partner
““Diversity doesn’t look like anyone. it looks like everyone.” — Karen Draper
Jennifer Dickinson
Partner
“Unity, not uniformity, must be our aim. We attain unity only through variety. Differences must be integrated, not annihilated, not absorbed.” — Mary Parker Follett
Annie Kong
Partner & Head of Venture Capital Division
“不怕慢，就怕站English translation: This proverb means that the only thing we should be afraid of is stopping completely. It reminds us to be patient and that some things take time, slow progress is still progress after all.” — Confucius
Debbie McGraw
Senior Vice President
“Diversity may be the hardest thing for a society to live with, and perhaps the most dangerous thing for a society to be without.” — William Sloane Coffin Jr.
Christina Shalhoub
Senior Vice President
“We are all different, which is great because we are all unique. Without diversity, life would be very boring.” — Catherine Pulsifer
Jill Demayo
Senior Vice President
“We will all profit from a more diverse, inclusive society, understanding, accommodating, even celebrating our differences, while pulling together for the common good.” — Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Lynne Carreiro
Senior Vice President
“For most of history, Anonymous was a woman.” — Virginia Woolf
Heather Slate
Senior Vice President
“It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.” — Audre Lorde
Jami Jack
Senior Vice President
“Diversity is being invited to the party; inclusion is being asked to dance” — Verna MyersGreyline’s commitment to female empowerment and DEI is reflected in our cultural values:
- Instill a culture of inclusion, respect and empowerment
- Recognize the importance of diversity and perspective
- Enhance professional development through continued investment in our staff
- Promote charitable and socially responsible causes
- We have also partnered with Impactree – a purpose-driven engagement platform that helps build and measure meaningful impact – in an effort to enact positive change within our company, communities and industry.
“Inclusion—It’s amazing what happens when we allow the flower that is us, the flower that is them, to become part of the bouquet.” - Laurie Buchanan
Women’s Equality Day
Women’s Equality Day, celebrated on August 26 in the United States, commemorates women’s advancements towards equality in our country.
Congress passed the 19th Amendment to the Constitution granting women full and equal voting rights on this day in 1920. However, it wasn’t until the 1965 Voting Rights Act that women of color got the legal right to vote. The passage of women’s suffrage in our country continues to remind us of the hurdles overcome by the heroic women who faced violence and discrimination to propel the women’s movement forward. Greyline is proud to be a women-led firm in a traditionally male-dominated industry, and we strive to empower women and embrace diversity in our firm and community.
Amazing Moments For Women In History
- There has always been a presence of women in the military on a volunteer and temporary basis. After the Spanish-American War, the nation finally recognized that there was a need for an ongoing presence of women in the military. In 1901, the Army Nurse Corps was created and the Navy Nurse Corps followed in 1908.
- In 1900, married women were allowed to keep their own wages and own property in their own name.
- The first college to admit women was Salem College, which was founded in 1772 as a primary school. However, it wasn’t until the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act of 1862 that universities had to educate both men and women in practical fields of study. And it wasn’t until 1980 that men and women started to attend college in equal numbers. In the past few years, there are more women than men graduating from high school, attending and graduating from college, and earning graduate degrees.
- Title IX was passed in 1972. This law requires schools that receive money from the federal government to give female students the same opportunities to play sports as male students.
- Before the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, women could be fired if they were pregnant.
- Today, more than 30 percent of all businesses are owned and operated by women.
- In 2015, Capt. Kristen Griest and LT. Shaye Haver were the first female soldiers to graduate from the Army’s Ranger School.
- In 2017, the Navy had its first female applicants for SEAL Officer, Special Boats Unit.
The American Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act was signed by President George H.W. Bush on July 26, 1990, a landmark law that prohibited discrimination against people with disabilities.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in everyday activities. The ADA prohibits discrimination based on disability just as other civil rights laws prohibit discrimination based on race, color, sex, national origin, age and religion. The ADA guarantees that people with disabilities have the same opportunities as everyone else in regards to employment, public transit, purchasing goods and services, and participating in state and local government programs.
After the ADA was passed in 1990, Boston held the first Disability Pride Day. Although Disability Pride Day isn’t nationally recognized, parades are held in several places nationwide, including Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco and San Antonio.
Starting in August, the Tokyo Paralympic Games hosted more than 4,000 athletes from more than 150 countries in 22 team and individual sports including wheelchair rugby, powerlifting, swimming and goalball, a team sport designed specifically for athletes with a vision impairment. In total, Team USA took home 104 medals – 37 gold, 36 silver, and 31 bronze!
Jessica Long: Swimming
Jessica Long competed in the Paralympics in Athens in 2004, Beijing in 2008, London in 2012, Rio in 2016, and Tokyo in 2020. She won gold in Tokyo for the individual and relay events and holds many world records. She’s a 29-time medalist with 16 golds, and she is the second most decorated Paralympian in U.S. history.
Long was born with fibular hemimelia, which means she didn’t have fibulas, ankles, heels and most of the other bones in her feet. When she was 18 months old, she had to have her legs amputated below the knees so she could be fitted for prosthetic legs to learn how to walk. She joined her first competitive swim team at 10 and by 12 was already competing in the Paralympics in Athens. According to her Team USA bio, her interests include Pilates, reading, interior design, finding new coffee shops and spending time with family.
Allysa Seely: Triathlon
Allysa Seely won gold at the 2016 and 2020 Paralympic Games and is a four-time ITU Paratriathlon World Champion (2015, 2016, 2018, 2020). Over her career, she’s won 12 gold medals at ITU World Paratriathlon events.
In 2016, Seely was featured the ESPN Magazine’s The Body Issue. In 2019, she won an ESPY for best female athlete with a disability. In 2010, she was diagnosed with Chiari II malformation, basilar invagination, and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. Complications from these diagnoses and subsequent surgeries led to the amputation of her left leg below the knee. According to her Team USA bio, her biggest talent outside of the triathlon is creating DIY projects.
National Hispanic Heritage Month
National Hispanic Heritage Month takes place from September 15 – October 15 and honors Hispanic-Americans’ achievements, contributions and inspiration to others. Many of these are chronicled in the National Archives, and we encourage you to spend some time there throughout the month.
As NPR noted in a recent article, the term “Hispanic” is not without controversy, as it is meant to encompass some 62 million Americans with diverse identities from many countries.
In 1968, President Lyndon Johnson signed legislation that established Hispanic Heritage Week, which coincided with the national independence days of Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica on September 15. In 1988, the commemoration was extended to the month we celebrate today, which incorporates the independence days of Mexico (September 16), Chile (September 18) and Belize (September 21). Today, census data shows that the United States is more diverse and multiracial than ever, including significant upticks in people who identify as Hispanic or Latino. (Note: There are concerns with people of color being undercounted in 2020.)
The following are a few of the many Hispanic-Americans who have shaped politics, art, media, science, sports, activism and more.
- Jovita Idár, working at her father’s newspaper, advocated for the rights of both women and Mexican-Americans. After publishing a piece objecting to President Wilson’s deployment of troops to the border, the Texas Rangers attempted to shut down the newspaper. She physically blocked them from entering the premises. Although the paper was eventually shut down, Idár continued to campaign for the rights of women and Mexican-Americans.
- José Andrés is a world-renowned chef who has received multiple awards for his culinary innovations. He is also a notable humanitarian, having led campaigns to feed the hungry amidst large scale natural disasters.
- Richard Cavazos was the first Hispanic person to become a four-star general in the U.S. Army. He served as commander in both the Korean and Vietnam Wars, and he was awarded some of the highest U.S. military honors, including those for heroism and gallantry. He also received multiple international honors for his service.
- Silvia Rivera was a pioneer in advocating for LGBTQ rights, having participated in the Stonewall Riots. She went on to co-found the Gay Liberation Front. The Silvia Rivera Law Project was founded after her death to provide legal representation and support to trans, non-binary and non-gender conforming communities.
- Roberto Clemente Walker was a legendary right-fielder and advocate for Black and Latino baseball players’ rights. He dedicated his life to serving others and was the first Hispanic baseball player to be inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame.
- Ellen Ochoa, PhD, was the first Hispanic woman in space. She earned her doctorate from Stanford University, joined NASA as an engineer in 1988 and was selected to be an astronaut in 1990. She served on four missions and ultimately became the first Hispanic director of the Johnson Space Center.
