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Women in ETFs (WE), the first women’s group for the ETF industry, celebrated its third-year anniversary at the Inside ETFs conference in Hollywood, Florida with a breakfast event. Founded in January 2014, WE is a non-profit organization that brings together over 2,500 members, including women and men, in chapters in major financial centers across the United States, Canada, EMEA and Asia Pacific to further the careers of women by leveraging our collective skill and ambition.
In 2016 WE expanded membership to over 2,500 with over 900 new members added. WE’s mission is to connect, support, and inspire women and men across the ETF industry, spanning fund managers, exchanges, index providers, brokers, lawyers and custodians. A large part of its programs include high-quality of education, networking, mentoring and charitable events it offers both members and non-members.
Joanne Hill, Head of Institutional Investment Strategy at ProShares WE Co-Founder and outgoing Co-President remarked “Being a founder and leading WE has been one of the best experiences of my professional life. Thanks to all of you for making it such a pleasure. We all strive to have an impact in our roles, but being able to see the growth in members, new relationships, and sponsors as WE has taken on a life and path of its own has been so rewarding. I keep thinking of how many new friends I have made and how this was only possible because of WE.”
At the WE 3rd anniversary breakfast on January 23, over 270 attendees joined a fireside chat on professional development to hear insights from Alice Handy, founder, CEO and President of Investure, a leading provider of outsourced investment management for endowments and foundations, and Suni Harford, Managing Director and Citi's Regional Head of Markets for North America. The discussion was moderated by Diana Tidd, Managing Director and MSCI's Global Head of Index and incoming Co-president of WE.
Jill Iacono Mavro, Senior Managing Director, Strategic Relationship Group, State Street Global Adviosrs, Global SPDR Business and Co-President of WE “We should feel good about the organization by looking at 3 simple measures: membership continues to grow, the number of corporate sponsors who believe in supporting us continues to grow, and the number of individuals who raised their hand to do more! It is inspiring and truly brings to life the mission that the founders set back in 2013.”
Deborah Fuhr, Managing Partner, ETFGI and WE External Liaison & Co-Founder remarked “WE has been expanding very rapidly globally, thanks to our dedicated leadership, women and men members and sponsors. WE has successfully extended our reach to Denver, Italy and Ireland during 2016.”
WE is looking forward to a great 2017 ahead, including a partnership with the UN Global Compact, UN Women, the Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative, IFC and the World Federation of Exchanges to “Ring the Bells for Gender Equality” at security exchanges around the world in honor of International Women’s Day on March 8, 2017.”
WE was able to offer over 50 events last year that included educational panels, professional development, mentorship and networking opportunities for members thanks to the many participants in the ETF ecosystem that have supported WE during our second year, including our Gold and Silver sponsors: CitiBank, Deutsche Asset Management, iShares/BlackRock, JP Morgan Asset Management, State Street Global Advisors/SPDR, Vanguard, Fidelity, MSCI and AGF as well as numerous other firms that provided financial and in-kind support for Women in ETF events.
