Nasdaq, Inc. (NDAQ) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Next up, we have Renee Arrington, Renee is going to talk about Reflections on Career-Defining Moments and Stories of Career Ascent Strategies with our amazing panel. Renee, welcome to the program.

Hunter, thank you. What a great conference and a great idea to bring women all over the world together. This has been fantastic so far. Well, we have an amazing panel today, and I'd like to ask -- I hope that all of my wonderful panelists are with me. Hello, everybody. It's a pleasure to be moderating this conversation. I'm eager to hear your stories, and I know that our participants are, too. Just very briefly, as Hunter said, I'm Renee Arrington. I'm President and COO of Pearson Partners International. We're a retained executive search firm. And in the context of career, ascent and leadership, I'm pleased to say that I have a front-row seat to really observe career-defining moments and career ascent strategies just in the client work we do. So this topic is of great interest to me, and it's an honor to have 4 wonderful women, technology leaders, to help share their stories. So very briefly, and then we'll jump right in. We have Robin Brown from Cargill; we have Lesley Ma from NSF; we have Susan Malisch from Loyola; and Angie Ruan from Nasdaq. Welcome, everybody. We will have about 25 minutes, and there's a lot to cover. I'll try to leave time for questions at the end. So if you have a question, pop it in the chat box. And if we have an opportunity to address it, we will. But let's jump right in and start hearing stories from these amazing, amazing women.

First question, and I'll ask the 3 or 4 questions we have and have each of you answer just to make sure we have the opportunity to hear everyone's story. But really, this is about career-defining moments. So I'd love each of you to visualize or think about, what was that moment for you in your careers? Was it a situation where you took the job and you thought, "What have I done? I am over my head. I'm never going to be able to handle this." And then you figured it out? Or was it a situation where you thought the role was going to be a piece of cake and then something changed, like COVID, and it made it much more complex than you initially thought? Or was it a challenge, not necessarily of your qualifications, but maybe it was a cultural challenge? You had to adapt to a new culture that was new or different for you. So just think about those scenarios. And I'm just going to go left to right as I see you on my screen. And so Lesley, that means you are first, welcome and help us understand your career-defining moment.

Thank you. Thank you. There's so many, and it's hard to choose one. But if I had to, I would choose one where I was actually given a promotion into an infrastructure role. And prior to being in that area of business, I was in IT, but really business-facing, solving business problems. And I jumped out of bed every day because I was so excited to go and make a difference in how the business enabled itself through IT and innovation, and how to marry business problems with IT solutions. And I got to visit all of the assembly plants at Ford Motor Company at the time to really understand how the business works. So I was really deep into the business and trying to understand how it worked and how it could be improved, and I really loved it. Then somebody had offered me a promotion into an infrastructure role, which would be completely not what I thought my career would go, in the direction of my career would go. And I said, well, I'll be sort of relegated to the back office, to the dark rooms where I wouldn't know what was happening on the business side. And how could I innovate and do exciting things in that role? But I'll tell you, it was the best move I had ever made because I got a chance to see a side of the business where it was so impactful to how the business would run, and in itself, had a lot of room for innovation. So I was able to take a lot of the solutions that I have worked on in the business. And figure out a way that I could improve operations in the business, and tie it, make it really relevant to the people that worked in that group, to my team, and really tie business results to what they were working on every day so that they could have this relationship with how they were contributing to the business. And so I think that it caused me to realize that at that moment, that all of us want to have a purpose in our role and to see that purpose come to life. And so sometimes, when you're a little bit further removed from the business, it's our job as leaders to make sure that everyone can see how they contribute to the goals of the organization and see the products of their work in action. So that, to me, was a career-defining moment for me, something that came out of the blue, and I learned a lot from.

I'm just curious about that, Lesley. Just as a quick follow-up. Was the person who -- did you ever get a conversation with the person who offered you that role and maybe had the chance to say, why me? I'm just curious if you did.

I did. And she was brilliant, because she saw that it would [ ramp ] in terms of my capabilities, and I think -- that totally the right thing to do and was really, really great career advice from a mentor of mine, so...

Good. Good. Well, Lesley, thank you. I'm going to move on now to Susan. Hello, Susan. Tell us about what you would consider your career, one of your career-defining moments.

Absolutely. Like Lesley, I can think of at least 3 or 4 that are really pivotal, but I'm going to go back to kind of an early part of my career to share something that really influenced how I moved forward. And similar to what Jerry mentioned in the opening session, the idea of embracing lifelong learning is part of most -- all of the career-defining moments that I've had. So my first job right out of college was working on a project team at Southwestern Bell telephone doing Unix system administration and C programming for application that tracked all the copper pairs for the telephone company back in the day. I actually thought I had majored in the wrong thing because I just wasn't -- like I was getting up and going to work every day, doing -- and I thought, "There has to be more to this." So Southwestern Bell was a very large company. They had their own technology training center internally. They did a lot of work on Unix platforms back in the day. So they taught Unix system administration, C programming courses internal to the company. A position opened up in that group, and I went to my boss and I asked for a transfer to be considered for that role. And his advice to me was, "Susan, I really don't think you should go. That's not a very good career move for you." And I understood why he advised that at the time, but I went back and I said, "I really appreciate it, but I really do want to go." And so he let me go. I moved to the technology training center. And one of the reasons why I wanted to do that was that I wasn't very experienced at presenting in front of groups. And I thought, "Well, if I could go to the technology training center, I'd be in front of people every day, teaching something that I know that I'm interested in, and I'd get to meet all different kinds of people across the company who are using this technology for other things, and I'd like to learn about that." And that's exactly what happened. I loved it. I met so many people. I was good at it. 2 years later, my boss came back and promoted me out of the organization and into a management role. So it all ended up working out for everyone. But it gave me the exposure. It gave me some confidence. It was challenging. It was a little bit stressful because it was something I was uncomfortable doing right from the beginning. But I knew that it would help me grow and to do -- and force me to do something new. So I would cite that as kind of the beginning of a number of opportunities in my career where I've been asked to do, as you said, how in the world, am I going to do this? Those are really exhilarating, a bit stressful, but the enormous opportunities that we have to grow.

Yes. But I think what I heard there, too, Susan, is you trusted your gut, right? Even after the person said to you, "You know, you may want to rethink this." You trusted your gut and said, "You know, I think this would be good for me." And it proved out. So well done you for having that trust in your own instinct about your career. I want to move on next now to Angie from Nasdaq. Hello, Angie. Tell us, as you think back on a career-defining moment, what one might be for you.

Thanks, Renee. Just it's an honor to share my experience, but let me mention a little bit of a history. So I'm a Senior Vice President of Technology in Nasdaq. And I've been with the eBay, PayPal, American Express, all different tech companies. And my -- it's really hard to pick like which one is. And I thought there's a unique one, I'm hoping to share this experience for all of you, that I got computer science degree undergraduate and sort of really, really narrowed and have done a lot of transformative technology changes. However, I definitely felt stuck in where I was going, even though I work -- I've been working with all those greatest company in the world. And I was a mother of 2 and juggling between handling product issue technology stuff, and the little 2 kids. So -- and I want to share the story, this is probably over 10 years ago. And if you know, there's a famous person of mindfulness expert in an industry, and his name is George Mumford. And at the time I was at eBay, so George was invited to be a speaker at eBay to talk about this mindfulness methodology. So I went there and attended. And as you know, George Mumford is actually the coach for Phil Jackson. If you don't know Phil Jackson, Phil Jackson is actually coach for Michael Jackson. So many, many of the amazing athletes. So I went to listen to his talk, and it's pretty amazing. I was like really excited how -- really how does the mindfulness really apply to me, which in that time, I felt, I was Asian, my English, my second language, technical women in that very men-dominated environment. Even though I was doing well, but I felt, as a mother of 2, it's really hard. I felt like my full potential was not being maximized. So I asked a question, I said, "Hey, George. And here's my situation. I'm a woman. I'm in tech, a minority, working at a tech company, what are the advice you give to me?" And George said, "You know what, I actually have no idea how can I help you." And he said, "But I know somebody who can." So his mentor actually came together with him in that trip to California. Her name is Judy Lane, who's actually a professional coach. And after the meeting, the session, and Judy connected with me, and so -- and Judy has been nothing but amazing, a life-changing moment for me. And she taught me how to believe in myself. And she thinks I am sitting on the giant shoulder, can do so many things, really unleash tons of potential. So Judy becomes my lifetime friend and coach, and I took all different [ roles ], took a lot of risk. And currently, I actually work in New York. So I went from eBay, PayPal and to American Express, a lot of people reached out to me, what can you help me to transform American Express and come to Nasdaq. So I wanted to say that my experience is amazing to have somebody outside my area to really spot the potential and really encourage me. And I can talk more question about that pretty good moment, how did it help me throughout my life journey to be where I am now.

I think that's a very important comment, Angie, because with so many of us, our work can become our life journey. And that's not necessarily the healthiest balance ever, so it's nice to have that outside influence or coach or mentor kind of guiding us along the way. I definitely want to come back to that. But let's move to Robin. Hello, Robin. Love to hear about your -- I think your current role at Cargill or whatever -- what you might consider a career-defining moment for you.

Thank you, Renee. So for my career-defining moment, I go back to really early in my career. And I -- at the time, I was working at Best Buy world headquarters, and I was our senior web art director. And I had a graphic design major as my degree, and I had put myself through a lot of nighttime classes afterwards to do web development, web programming. So when they brought me into Best Buy, it was specifically to redesign their intranet and give them their very first portal. So oftentimes, I had to go down to the IT department, 4 to 5x a day, begging them to run my CRS jobs, which is a content-replicating system job. It could have been batch jobs, moved my code every day, and it got to be kind of a running joke. Hey, if you just give me access, I'll do it myself. I don't have to bug you guys in IT, and of course, they would never give me access, right? In one particular day, one of my good friends that would run my CRS jobs every day, said, "Hey, you're down here all the time. You realize, you're doing IT work?" And I kind of rolled my eyes and I laughed it off and he goes, "No, really, our boss wants to meet you here in a couple of minutes." And I thought he was joking. And sure enough, the leader of that organization came around the corner and said, "Hey, Robin, let's go talk." And so I had this just panicked look in my face of, what did I do wrong? And what's he going to speak to me about? And so the short of it was as we sat down and he said, "Hey, Robin, I know you don't have an IT background, but I see something in you. I see leadership qualities that I think if you came to my team and changed over to IT, I think you could do some really amazing things." And that panic moment in me went, "Why me?" I'm pregnant with twins right now. I don't have an IT degree. I would be the single female in IT, which it just -- I was looking through all the reasons why not instead of why I deserved a seat at that table. And at that point in time, he said "You know, you'll be an IT project manager. Let's have you start Monday." And that's how I switched over into IT. And boy, did they give me heck for probably a good 1.5 years and challenged me every step of the way. I had to work harder than all of the guys on the team just to prove myself. But within 1.5 years, that leader moved on, and I became the leader of that infrastructure team. And over the course of every year, they kept giving me more responsibilities. And eventually, I look back now in becoming a CIO at a couple of different companies, you look back and the career path changed, and what I realized is it's okay to change your path along the way and be okay with opening those doors or allowing someone else to open those doors and recognize them through your mentors, through your sponsors. And that's how you have a potentially different career plan and can make a big difference. So that is what I define as my pivot moment in my career, Renee.

Well, I think that's a great story. And it's so interesting what you said, you had to take a step back and ask yourself, "Why do I deserve a seat at this table?" I think often, as women, we ask ourselves those questions, as opposed to just assuming that we do, right? So perhaps that's a lesson that all of us can learn from you, Robin, on that, that you earned your spot and you got in there, and now, look at you. This is wonderful.

Thank you.

Lesley, I want to go back to you and kind of reflect for me on -- you talked about one moment, and I know there were others. What have you learned from your career-defining moments over the years, 1 or 2 lessons that they've really taught to you.

Well, I think you mentioned it before, which is really keep learning. And I feel like if you can find your purpose that really energizes you, and you can see your role and a vision for yourself and what you can achieve, then I think you can go a lot of different places in a lot of different ways. I recently left automotive after spending 20 years in that industry. So leaving behind that deep, deep knowledge and going into a nonprofit, which is focused on protecting human health and safety, is completely different. And I think we all get opportunities presented perhaps that you didn't envision, and you have to think about it, is it the right time in your career to make a move and to take a risk and achieve something different? And if you keep learning and want to expand your horizons and have that learning mindset, I think then, it just keeps you very motivated and moving in the direction that you choose to.

No, I think that's good, and we always have to keep learning. Just to mix it up a bit in terms of our order, Angie, I'll come next to you, and you talked a bit about your journey. What have some of those defining moments taught to you about yourself?

I almost feel like very similar to what Lesley and Susan is saying, is that I probably will say 3 Cs, like letter C. So it's being curious, first. Really learn about things and have the courage to pursue. I would say the last C is carry it forward. So what I'm really blessed to have the opportunity for so many mentors that coach, [ respond ] to really help me, and sisters around me that always -- we know a lot of women in leadership really help each other out, is that we -- how we -- how I, personally, every single year, really help to carry this forward to next-generation forward. So I think it's also critical important. So the one thing, if I summarize this for my journey, is this is one of the quote that came -- really given to me from my mentor, and he said, "Get comfortable with being uncomfortable." So which I have all the time, any difficult moment, I think, actually, this is the greatest moment because I actually am learning. So...

Right. Right. I'm scared to death, but that's okay. I'm out of my comfort zone, but that's a good thing, right? It's sometimes hard to intellectually process that, Angie, but you're absolutely right. Susan, I'll loop back to you. What have you been taught by some of your career-defining moments?

Well, Angie and I went to the same school. So I have 3 Cs, too. But the third one is a bit different. I start with the curious one, and again, embracing that whole approach of lifelong learning. I'm never done. It's not as if there isn't something new, I can't figure out, learn how to do, et cetera, and then have the courage to act on that. And the last one, I would say, is confidence. And we've touched on this in some of the other sessions, but actually being in those uncomfortable places has inspired and instilled more confidence that, wow, I didn't know how to do that, but I did that really well. And it just sets you up for -- you don't know what those experiences prepare you for next, but invariably, it's preparation for something that happens next. So those are my 3 Cs.

That's wonderful. It's kind of like unconscious competence. You really are good at it, you just don't know it yet because you haven't done it. Hunter, I see you pop on. I can just go back to Robin for one last answer, and then we'll close out. Robin, what have your career moments taught you?

Yes. I think it's more about not letting those personal insecurities of not being good enough or not knowing why you have a seat at that table, you do have a seat at that table, and you deserve to be there. I think taking that to that next step is because some of those doors were open for me, it's being authentic and very intentional to open doors for others that you see who have high potential. I kind of take that into some learnings that you can give others, is that, that path that you're on today may not always be the path that you're going to be on. It's not always going to be a straight line. So recognizing when that opportunity is an open door, reflecting on your concerns as to why you're scared to walk through that unknown door, but walk through it. Be curious, ask questions, challenge yourself as to why you do deserve to be at that table, and take the risk. You can always all back to your prior type of role that you feel comfortable in, but you'll never move forward until you take that risk and move forward.

Wow. Wise words from 4 amazing women. A virtual round of applause to each of you. Thank you for letting me direct this discussion today. I learned a lot, too. Hunter, thank you very much.

Hey, Renee, great job. Lesley, Susan, Angie, really, really appreciate it. Robin, awesome. Thanks so much.