< Previous30 WOMEN IN PRIVATE EQUITY + FINANCE NICOLE BYERS Q: WHAT BOTH ATTRACTED YOU TO PE BUT POTENTIALLY CONCERNED YOU ABOUT THIS CHOSEN CAREER PATH? NICOLE BYERS: I was attracted to PE by the diversity of the experience. In my time in the industry, I've been fortunate to see a wide range of sectors, strategies, operational initiatives and management styles. Every day is different, and I am always tackling new challenges. I believe this has allowed me to learn to recognize patterns, which in turn has made me a better investor. Without having run a business myself, I was initially concerned about whether I could offer useful advice to business owners as a board director. While I was getting my MBA, I worked at a startup to try to build those operational skills. What I found was that it is incredibly difficult to get that big-picture perspective when you're on the ground level of a company, managing day- to-day operations. I have immense respect for entrepreneurs and believe they don't need to be told how to operate their businesses. Instead, I can help to surface patterns that they may not be able to see, ensure that the company is guided in the right direction and help the team get the connections and resources they need to be successful. Q: HOW DO YOU BELIEVE WOMEN OF YOUR GENERATION WILL BE ABLE TO INFLUENCE THE PE INDUSTRY, PARTICULARLY AS THE CAREER PATH CONTINUES TO EVOLVE? NB: I think women can help diversify the PE industry beyond just a gender perspective. PE firms have historically relied on a handful of investment banking and consulting firms from which to recruit associate candidates, and most of those firms aren't particularly diverse themselves. I also saw firsthand how difficult it was for some of my business school classmates without prior industry experience to break into PE. I think, as an industry that wants to attract the best talent, we need to invest in training people from different backgrounds who can bring fresh ideas to the sector. I believe diversity is critical for the PE industry's continued growth. PE has undergone intense scrutiny by the media, politicians and the public, and I attribute this in part to the lack of diversity. Women can change both how the industry operates and how it is perceived, which should ultimately make PE more resilient in an ever- evolving economy. Q: WHAT IS A GOAL THAT YOU HAVE SET FOR YOURSELF IN THE COMING YEAR? NB: I want to be intentional about expanding my network to include more diverse perspectives, which I hope will surface new opportunities for years to come. I think "networking" gets a bad rap, but that comes from the fact that many people pursue it in a very transactional way. I try to approach every conversation from a place of genuine interest and curiosity, and then see if there naturally evolves a way that I can be helpful. Ultimately, PE is a relationship-driven industry, and it is important to find people you respect and will continue to learn from. I am fortunate that my career enables me to meet people constantly, which keeps me energized. Q: WHAT IS A LESSON THAT YOU HAVE LEARNED CONCERNING WHAT'S REQUIRED FOR SUCCESS IN PE? NB: I have learned, and am still learning, to trust my own judgment. Early in my career, it was easy to get caught up in the analysis or the model and lose sight of what would make a deal successful. Now, I know I am never going to hit my investment case exactly, so I focus on understanding the risks we are taking and the upside opportunity if things go well. In my mind, leadership is the element that can make or break an investment, so trusting my judgment with regard to people is important as well. By building those relationships over weeks, months or even years, I feel like I am better positioned to develop mutual trust with those teams. I've been fortunate to find great people leading impressive companies, and that's ultimately what makes PE such a rewarding career path for me.31 WOMEN IN PRIVATE EQUITY + FINANCE Lauren Morera is a senior associate for Audax Private Equity, based in Boston. Audax is a middle market PE firm focused on a buy-and-build approach dedicated to partnering with management teams to drive value creation, build winning teams and accelerate results. Prior to joining Audax in 2017, Morera worked at Credit Suisse on the investment banking team within the financial institutions group covering banks and specialty finance companies. At Audax, she focuses primarily on the business services and consumer industries. Morera received a bachelor's degree in operations research and financial engineering from Princeton University. lmorera@audaxgroup.com LAUREN MORERA32 WOMEN IN PRIVATE EQUITY + FINANCE LAUREN MORERA Understanding that everything can't be done at once and learning what to push ahead over other items are critical to your success and the success of the investment. Q: WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR MORE WOMEN TO PURSUE CAREERS IN PE? LAUREN MORERA: Over the past few years working in PE, I've come to find that success begets success. This translates to all facets of my experience, from our ability to garner high investment returns to any firm's ability to get and retain talented individuals. When talented young professionals are looking for their next opportunity, they want to go to a place where they know they'll be welcome and where they can visualize their future. Firms that have diversity in their senior ranks are much better positioned to continue diversifying their employee base, and by extension, have better investment returns. The more that diversity exists in the PE world, the easier it will be for diverse employees to speak their mind and contribute to the broader investment conversations, and the easier it will be for firms to retain them. Creating a culture where anyone — regardless of background — can openly contribute to the conversation is a key step to success for any firm focused on longevity. As the world changes and more women are running businesses, firms that have focused on gender diversity will inevitably perform better. People naturally gravitate toward those with whom they feel a commonality. Having women on both sides of the table makes for a better working environment for all. Q: WHAT IS A LESSON YOU LEARNED DURING 2020? LM: Although many meetings and discussions can be had over video conference, there is no substitute for an in-person meeting when you are making an initial investment in a company. Overall, I found that 2020 made it clear that in the PE profession, 90 percent of your working time can be spent working remotely without any impact to efficiency. However, there's still that 10 percent of time when meeting someone in person or having a live conversation is imperative. In the PE industry, traveling was a way of life prior to the pandemic. We traveled once a week on average. Since the pandemic, I've traveled three times in 10 months. These three instances have all been final meetings ahead of a large investment decision and were a critical step in our diligence process to determine if we wanted to buy those businesses.33 WOMEN IN PRIVATE EQUITY + FINANCE LAUREN MORERA Q: HOW DO YOU BELIEVE WOMEN OF YOUR GENERATION WILL BE ABLE TO INFLUENCE IN THE PE INDUSTRY, PARTICULARLY AS THE CAREER PATH CONTINUES TO EVOLVE? LM: From where I sit, women in my generation have a tremendous opportunity to help shape the future of the industry by fighting for seats at the table when important conversations are being had regarding investing, but also concerning human resources policies around recruiting and parental leave. Many PE firms now recognize the need for gender diversity and are actively pushing for it, but in the senior ranks, that gender diversity still falls short. At my level and below within Audax, we're split 50/50 in terms of gender, which is really helping to normalize the dynamic of having a woman in every meeting. Having sat through countless meetings as the only woman in the room, I've often seen instances where a colleague or management team member may say something with inherent gender bias and not realize the implications of their statements. Normalizing a female presence will help to erode these biases over time, opening the door to allow more women to join the profession, thereby diversifying perspectives and decision- making in each room and allowing for better-informed investment decisions. Diversifying the employee base creates more opportunity for the business owners of companies we buy, PE professionals in the industry and future PE professionals who don't yet know what PE is. My generation is on the forefront of pushing these changes through the system, and although it will take time, there's now a path to a more equitable gender split across the industry. Q: WHAT IS A LESSON THAT YOU HAVE LEARNED CONCERNING WHAT'S REQUIRED FOR SUCCESS IN PE? LM: The key to success in any investment is learning how to prioritize. At the junior level, you need to learn how to juggle competing assignments for multiple portfolio companies without dropping the ball or turning work around late. Once you've mastered that skill, prioritization takes another form. As you talk with portfolio companies, you realize there are 100-plus things they could be doing to make the business better, but if the team tries to do all of those, they'll inevitably fail. As a vice president/managing director, you need to understand which actions will create the biggest equity value opportunity and learn how to align the management team to those goals. When looking at new investment, you need to know which questions to prioritize that will allow you to most quickly answer, "Do I want to buy this business?" Understanding that everything can't be done at once and learning what to push ahead over other items are critical to your success and the success of the investment.34 WOMEN IN PRIVATE EQUITY + FINANCE Amanda Kim is a vice president at Avante Capital Partner s. Avante is a women- and minority-owned private credit firm and, as part of the Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) program, is proud to create opportunities for small businesses. Based in Los Angeles, Kim is responsible for identifying, underwriting, executing and managing investment opportunities. She joined Avante in 2016. Prior to Avante, Kim worked at Goldman Sachs in its alternative investment and manager selection group where she was responsible for evaluating external managers, with a focus on environmental, social, and governance and impact investments. Kim is passionate about mentoring women in finance and launched Avante's Small Business Investing Scholars Program in 2019. Additionally, she serves on the board of the nonprofit Community Health Councils, which seeks to create systems change and collectively build equitable systems. Kim graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Bowdoin College. She lives in Los Angeles and enjoys singing, church, new mom life, and supporting her husband's businesses at KOBUNGA Korean Grill and 3VERY Cashmere. amanda@avantecap.com AMANDA KIM35 WOMEN IN PRIVATE EQUITY + FINANCE AMANDA KIM Q: WHAT BOTH ATTRACTED YOU TO PE BUT POTENTIALLY CONCERNED YOU ABOUT THIS CHOSEN CAREER PATH? AMANDA KIM: One of the things I love about the industry is helping people fund their dreams and helping private companies grow. They are the backbone of the country. What is unique about Avante is that we're an SBIC. We receive some of our funding from the U.S. Small Business Administration. In the United States, women own about 50 percent of small businesses, but only about 5 percent receive venture capital-like funding. The statistics of women in senior leadership positions are similar to that small percentage. The explanation is pretty clear: People like to invest in people like themselves. If we don't have women and people of color in investing roles, it's hard to get capital funding for those businesses. My husband is an entrepreneur. I've seen him go through the whole investing cycle. Getting to be in that seat where we use our background in finance or accounting operations to connect people who need money with people who have it is rewarding. For anyone who is interested in that concept, is interested in money and business and wants to help facilitate those interactions, PE is a great career path. On the concerning side: This is a tough industry. It can be very technical if you're on the investment side. You're likely looking at long work hours. It can be "old school" in terms of how people view work-life balance, flexibility and what a team looks like. Some people used to go into finance for the money. The industry should really be something you are excited about and have the grit to work your way through. Another hurdle in the industry is exposure. I started my career in asset management and got hired through Goldman Sachs' Diversity & Women Conference. I didn't really know what Goldman Sachs or finance was, let alone PE. I think it's very valuable to have those different touch points of women to help you through that initial funnel. Having women in a position to reach down and help educate and fill that pipeline, such as by partnering with universities or investment banks, is critical. At Avante, we started including local high school women in a lunch-and-learn series we have with our undergraduate interns. Giving exposure to women across all ages and backgrounds, early in the pipeline, will help continue to build the path for women in this industry. And then once you're in it, make sure you have mentors and women above you who are continuing to help other women on that path. Q: WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE FACING WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS TODAY? WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU PROVIDE TO OVERCOME IT? AK: It can be lonely to be an entrepreneur, which is why it's so important to find a community. I have a friend who is starting an events business. It would be easy for this friend to think she shouldn't interact with her competitors, but I think it's much more in your favor to get plugged in. In Los Angeles, we have the Association for Corporate Growth on the finance side, which is essentially a middle market mergers and acquisitions network. Some of my more creative friends are part of an organization called Yellow Co here. I think finding other women and men who have gone before you and can help you avoid some of the pitfalls is important for entrepreneurs.36 WOMEN IN PRIVATE EQUITY + FINANCE AMANDA KIM A lot of women, including entrepreneurs, also struggle with "imposter syndrome." I know I do. I've been with Avante for five years, I've been promoted twice and yet I still sometimes question whether I know what I'm doing. I sometimes fear that someone will lift the curtains and tell me I'm not competent to be in this role and job. We need to be battling this mindset every day. If there is something you feel you are not up to speed on, get educated on it. Get your MBA, take a night class, do something online, work with your mentor to bulk up in that area. Also, something a lot of women struggle with is that when they look at a job description, if they don't check 100 percent of the boxes they may think they can't apply for the job. My husband told me if he checked even just 20 percent of the boxes, he'd think the job could be a good fit. I didn't come from the traditional investment banking background. I didn't have as much of the accounting technical know-how. That's the first thing I was thinking when I walked into the Avante interview, but my husband suggested I walk in and tell them all of the qualities that I do bring to the table: my liberal arts background, my summa cum laude math major, that I'm a good writer and researcher. I have experience with large corporations where I've done investor relations, business development and different roles that are critical for the PE environment. There are a lot of different roles that exist in PE. Leaning into your strengths, thinking about what you can bring to the table while still making sure you're meeting the baseline on some of your weaker areas can really help in the investment industry. I think this is a lesson for entrepreneurs as well. For a career, my grandfather always told me to look for the intersection of things that excite me, things that I'm good at and what the world needs. I thought that was good advice. Q: WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR MORE WOMEN TO PURSUE CAREERS IN PE? AK: I love that the industry is multifaceted. When I was looking for careers, I felt out of place. I like numbers. I was a government minor, so I also love knowing what's going on in the world. I thought I might be a pastor, as I have a heart for people and wanted to help change lives. Does that mean I'm a misfit and can't apply for a job because I'm not like my friend who is pre-med and has known since age 5 that all they ever wanted to do was be a doctor? Our job has so many different parts. If you are passionate about helping to grow businesses and have a desire to learn more, this might be a perfect fit. I always say we get paid to learn. This morning, I was learning about tuning parts for cars. I am not a car enthusiast. Yesterday, I was on a call learning about induction heating equipment for the hospitality industry. It is so fulfilling to get to learn about all of these different things and get paid to do it. I've seen PE make a lot of progress even during the five years I've been at Avante. Avante is a women- owned firm, and I believe we're the largest women- owned credit fund in the country. After the tragic events in summer 2020, suddenly people were calling us to understand how to bring more women and people of color to the workplace. It was a diversity and inclusion reckoning. It was exciting to see some progress in the industry and progress on Capitol Hill. Per Avante's founder and managing partner — Jeri Harman and Ivelisse Rodriguez Simon, who have been around longer than I — the industry had come a long, long way before I became a part of it. I appreciate and understand that. I would encourage people to understand that we are not at parity yet when it comes to women in PE, particularly in investment roles. There will be barriers. There will be uncomfortable times. I would encourage people to keep fighting the good fight. 37 WOMEN IN PRIVATE EQUITY + FINANCE AMANDA KIM There will be barriers. There will be uncomfortable times. I would encourage people to keep fighting the good fight. Just because you run into uncomfortable situations or awkward conversations doesn't mean you need to stop. Keep working through those situations. Reach out to your women colleagues and others in the industry to understand how they handled similar situations. Be persistent. A lot of women with non-traditional backgrounds reach out and ask how they can get into this industry. I tell them it's not easy. Getting into investment banking is hard and then getting into PE is harder, so you're already behind the ball there. But if you want to do it, if you're persistent and keep reaching out to me and have a thoughtful email about why you want to connect, why you think you'd be a good fit for the firm and what you've done to try to get up to speed, I'll probably reply to your email. I think the same can be said for other women in the industry. Finally, I'd tell people not to give up and recognize that there's still a fight to be had. It won't be smooth sailing. If you're not willing to fight that fight, then this may not be the right industry for you. Q: IN AN INDUSTRY WHERE WOMEN LEADERS ARE STILL A RARITY, WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE VALUE OF MULTIPLE WOMEN WORKING TOGETHER AT THE SAME PE FIRM? AK: It is so valuable to have a network effect at an organization, with women at all levels. And if you want to build a team like that, as Ivelisse says, you must be intentional about it. If you want a woman on the team, commit to doing what is necessary to find that person. Diversity is so important to Avante, for happiness, culture reasons and understanding different perspectives. I can enter my female colleagues' offices and talk with them about some things that I can't necessarily always discuss with my male colleagues. We also believe diversity is critical to having a good investment firm. If you are a consumer investor and 80 percent of consumer products are bought by women, then maybe it would be beneficial to have a woman on your team who can speak to that. It's not just about how you look or who you relate to, but it's about having that diversity of thought, background and ability to challenge each other that I think ultimately makes us better investors.38 WOMEN IN PRIVATE EQUITY + FINANCE Samantha Gordon Webb is director of the Portfolio Transformation Group (PTG) for Revelstoke Capital Partners. Prior to joining Revelstoke, she was a principal at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a top management consulting firm working with leading organizations globally. From 2013 to 2019, Gordon Webb was part of BCG's Payer, Provider and Services Group, where she advised a range of for-profit, regional and community health systems, academic medical centers and pediatric hospitals on strategic, operational and merger and acquisition issues. She started her BCG career in New York, then moved in 2016 to start BCG's Denver office. Gordon Webb was also involved in leading the office's recruiting, career development and women's initiative efforts. Prior to BCG, Gordon Webb was an associate in the Healthcare Group of the investment bank at Credit Suisse in New York, where she worked across all subsectors of healthcare on IPO and private placements. She started her career in management consulting from 2007–2010 at Booz & Co., the strategy consulting arm of Booz Allen and Hamilton, where she also advised many regional and national payer and provider organizations on strategy and operational engagements. Gordon Webb graduated from the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University with a bachelor's in biomedical engineering. She also holds an MBA from Columbia Business School. swebb@revelstokecapital.com SAMANTHA GORDON WEBB39 WOMEN IN PRIVATE EQUITY + FINANCE We can start to be more creative in the ways to recruit and retain women, and ultimately help our respective firms define what it means to be an employer of choice for women. SAMANTHA GORDON WEBB Q: WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR MORE WOMEN TO PURSUE CAREERS IN PE? SAMANTHA GORDON WEBB: Recruiting women into PE is a challenge similar to what I experienced in leading firmwide recruiting initiatives in my prior management consulting career. It is often difficult for the junior women to see a path to a successful senior leadership role in these types of career paths while maintaining other personal and family aspirations they would like to pursue for themselves. In PE, I believe it is essential for the senior women in the industry to continue painting clear paths demonstrating the ability to have rigorous and successful careers in this sector — whether on the investing side or on the operational side — while still being able to raise a family or pursue other personal goals outside the office. The more tangible proof points we can put out there as women in PE will, I hope, continue to tip the scale toward more balanced representation across the sector and catalyze more interest in women early in their careers looking to pursue investing or operating opportunities. At Revelstoke, we invest in the provider sector of healthcare, which tends to have a higher-than-average presence of women in these types of healthcare organizations. Having more women representation within the sponsor can help achieve more effective buy-in on initiatives that we ultimately are driving from the sponsor back into the company, highlighting the importance of ongoing diversity efforts in our recruiting. Investors are also wanting to see ESG (environmental, social and governance) and diversity as a meaningful strategy and capability within PE firms, reinforcing the need for more women across the industry. Q: WHO IS AN EXAMPLE OF SOMEONE WHO INSPIRED YOU IN PE AND WHY? SGW: I always had an interest in financial services and PE but was ultimately never as passionate about driving the investing side, compared to the years I spent focused on operations and strategy as a management consultant for most of my career. However, around the time I met my husband, he had partnered with an investor to invest in a small, rapidly growing physician practice management organization, where he led as an executive in that organization for several years. This direct line of sight into the operating side of PE, and the latitude to continuously invest and build, was really exciting to me and opened my eyes to operations within PE. For years, I was able to see my husband build and scale his healthcare business into multiple regions, as well as increase the size of the company significantly, by tackling new growth and operational problems each and every day, which was very intriguing to me as I thought about new career opportunities.Next >