Diversity & Equity On Wall Street

Meena Thever is a Partner at Bridge Investment Group, a $25 billion US real estate private equity firm. She is responsible for product development and capital formation and works with institutional investors around the globe, including public and corporate pension plans, sovereign wealth funds, university endowments, foundations and family offices. In addition, Thever has established and leads the US Insurance business at Bridge, partnering with leading Life, Health, P&C and Multiline insurance investors.

Prior to joining Bridge, Thever served as a Director at BlackRock. She was a member of the BlackRock Alternative Specialists where she worked with institutional clients and represented real estate, infrastructure and private equity strategies. Previous to BlackRock, she was an Executive Director at JPMorgan where she served as the Head of North America Pension and Insurance Distribution within JPM Asset Management Alternative Investment Strategies. In this role, she was responsible for leading client engagement focused on real estate, infrastructure, private equity and private credit investments.

Thever began her career in investment banking in the Financial Sponsor Group at JPMorgan and Bank of America Merrill Lynch executing leveraged buyouts and capital markets transactions for leading private equity firms. She worked on the buyside as a private equity investor in the Credit Suisse Customized Fund Investment Group where she created investment portfolios for institutional investors focused on primary fund investments and direct co-investments.

She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Economics, magna cum laude, from Tufts University, Master in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School where she was a Kennedy Fellow, and Master of Business Administration from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Thever is a Fulbright Scholar and published author of the book entitled ‘Health Care for All: Is Canada’s System a Model for America?’ with foreword by Michael S. Dukakis.

Thever serves on the Harvard Women’s Leadership Board, Harvard Kennedy School Women’s Network board and is the Co-Founder/President of the Wharton Women’s Network. She was appointed by Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer to serve on Manhattan Community Board 8 (2018-2020) and served on the board of Futures and Options, a nonprofit organization focused on empowering New York City’s underserved youth (2012-2017).

Sucharita joined Citi in July 2022. She has 15+ years experience in Investment Banking and worked at Barclays and J.P. Morgan prior to joining Citi. She has advised on over $50bn strategic and capital markets transactions for clients in Diversified Industrials and Clean Energy Transition sectors in New York and London.

Sucharita holds an MBA from Ross Scholl of Business at the University of Michigan.

Julia is a partner in the firm’s Global Markets practice. Drawing on her background in securities offerings and her previous experience as the acting chief operating officer of a trading desk. Julia focuses her practice on derivatives, distressed debt and structured credit markets. She advises clients in transactional and regulatory aspects of their trading businesses, and collaborates with them to formulate strategic, pragmatic legal solutions to complex trading and risk management issues.

Julia has deep experience in credit default swaps, total return swaps, options and other credit and equity derivatives transactions and related regulatory issues. She has advised clients in connection with well-known events affecting CDS referencing Sears, Hovnanian, Windstream, iHeart Communications, Caesars Entertainment, among many others, as well as successfully led submissions of an amicus brief (Sears) and a winning brief (Caesars) to the ISDA Credit Derivatives Determinations Committee External Review Panel.

Errol Brown is counsel in the Finance and Project Finance and Development Practice Groups in the Denver office of Haynes and Boone. Errol advises companies in a variety of industries, with an emphasis on sports, media, entertainment, and technology. His practice is focused on corporate transaction and governance matters related to sports and entertainment venues, professional sport teams, broadcasting rights and emerging technologies.

Prior to joining the firm, Errol was the Vice President of Corporate Strategy for Aon Cyber Solutions where he was responsible for product and partnership development. In addition, Errol has served as in-house counsel to a global private equity firm and a national cooperative bank along with working as a consultant at a Big Four accounting firm.

Errol has also been involved in community-based organizations, such as serving on the board of directors for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Colorado and providing business development support to Code.org a nonprofit dedicated to expanding access to computer science in schools and increasing participation by women and underrepresented youth around the globe.

Lourdes Fisher serves as a Senior Managing Director, Bridge Fund Management Holdings at Bridge Investment Group. She is responsible for securing capital commitments and developing and maintaining relationships with institutional clients, including pension plans, insurance companies, endowments, foundations, and family offices.

Prior to joining Bridge, Lourdes was a Managing Director at Deutsche Bank where she led the investment grade debt capital markets coverage of clients in the real estate, gaming, lodging, leisure, specialty finance and asset management sectors. In this role, Lourdes’s primary responsibilities included advisement on global capital raising alternatives, optimization of capital structures, and management of interest rate and foreign currency risks. ESG finance was also a critical element of her coverage effort having led over a dozen green bonds for her clients. At Deutsche Bank, Lourdes was also the co-head of Deutsche Bank’s debt private placement business where she worked on originating, structuring, and distributing bespoke securities to insurance companies and pension funds.

Lourdes received her Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University. She is also fluent in Spanish.

Alana C. St. Aude is Vice President and Senior Counsel for Private Credit in Goldman Sachs Asset and Wealth Management where she leads legal coverage of private credit transactions, with a focus on direct lending, hybrid capital, business development company, senior, subordinated, unitranche and mezzanine loans, equity co-investments, preferred equity and fund formation matters, along with other complex structuring and financing transactions for middle market and large cap private equity sponsored companies.  

Alana also has experience as in-house counsel for Capital One’s Commercial Bank where she was lead counsel for technology, media, telecom (TMT) leveraged finance and financial institutions group, and as a Banking & Finance Associate Attorney at the law firms of Weil Gotshal and Paul Weiss.  

Alana is the Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Advancement Initiative, an organization of mid-career women of color attorneys both in-house and at outside law firms.  Alana was selected as a Leadership Council for Legal Diversity (LCLD) Fellow for 2021, a 92Y Women in Power Fellow for 2020 and has been recognized as a Top 10-30 Somethings Award recipient for the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) and Top 40 Under 40 by The Network Journal.  Alana received her law degree from Harvard Law School where she was honored as a member of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, and received her Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University where she was a recipient of the Cornell Tradition Fellowship.

Megan Penick is a partner in M&R’s New York office and the firm’s Public Securities Chair. A general corporate and securities lawyer and business and corporate governance consultant, Megan brings nearly 20 years of experience to her practice and is sought after for her work guiding private companies through the process of going public.

Megan is also known for helping public companies meet their SEC filing and disclosure requirements. In addition, she represents issuers and underwriters in the sale of equity and debt securities, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate governance matters.

A niche area of Megan’s practice includes working with entrepreneurs, start-ups, small-cap and mid-sized ventures as outside general counsel, assisting these clients in all aspects of their corporate legal development. In this capacity, she handles a range of transactions, including those involving initial public offerings and uplisting issues (whether to NASDAQ or NYSE), as well as Regulation A+ offerings, the preparation and filing of quarterly and annual reports, proxy statements, current reports on Form 8-K, and registration statements.

Cecilia Hong is a partner in the Transactional Practice Group in our New York office, with a primary focus on leveraged finance and complex financing transactions (distressed and non-distressed). Cecilia has been an active legal and business advisor with over 15 years’ experience in leading and advising various complex financing and transactional matters, in particular in the spaces of private equity, mergers & acquisitions, debt capital market and bankruptcy/restructuring, ranging in size from multimillion dollars to multibillion dollars.

Geraldine Ang is a Director in Global Compliance & Operational Risk at Bank of America. Prior to joining Bank of America, Geraldine worked in compliance, internal audit and financial controls in various financial institutions including HSBC, Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs. She began her career in public accounting at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Singapore.

An inclusive leader, Geraldine is actively involved in numerous banking organizations focused on mentoring and developing talent. In 2022, she was selected as a top candidate for Bank of America’s annual Diverse Leadership Sponsor program.

Geraldine received a Bachelor of Accountancy (Hons) from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. She currently resides in New York City.

Karen is a financial services professional with over a decade of experience in Corporate & Investment Banking; with proven ability to manage and build teams, drive business strategy and client implementation. Recognized as a versatile, highly interpersonal and results driven leader who can navigate organizations to resolve complex business challenges, influence change and deliver results. 

Karen holds a Bachelor of Science from Long Island University – CW Post and an EMBA from St Joseph’s University, New York.

During her free time, she enjoys volunteering and giving back to the youth by serving as a career coach for America Needs You, an organization that provides mentoring services to First Gen college students. Karen is a wellness advocate who strives to stay active by practicing mindfulness, Yoga and Pilates. 

Jamie Kocis advises securitization participants in both warehouse securitization facilities and term securitizations across all esoteric asset classes. She serves as deal counsel in market-leading transactions involving new and emerging asset classes, including in the solar asset and commercial PACE (property assessed clean energy) space.

Jamie represents issuers, underwriters, borrowers, lenders and service providers in structured finance transactions involving a variety of asset classes, including timeshare loans, solar assets, commercial PACE assets, structured settlements, lottery receivables, equipment leases, auto loans, consumer loans, small business loans, collateralized debt obligations, commercial mortgage loans, marketplace lending, distressed assets, government contract receivables, student loans, and trademark and licensing rights. She also counsels investment funds in their participation in tender option bond programs.

Jamie is co-chair of Kramer Levin’s Women’s Initiative Committee and is a member of the firm’s Attorneys of Color Affinity Group.

Tiffany Perkins-Munn, Ph.D. is a Research, Data and Analytics Executive with 20+ years of expertise in helping firms compete at the intersection of data, analytics and insights; providing visionary business-building leadership in highly competitive markets. Demonstrated success driving solutions that generate significant revenue growth by uncovering clients’ unmet needs, implementing operational improvements, augmenting financial gain, and improving market positioning. Forging strong relationships with internal and external partners. Leading teams through crisis and change. Recruiting, developing, and retaining top research talent. Dr. Perkins-Munn is a recognized author on using data and analytics to drive significant revenue and profitability outcomes. She has received international acclaim for her research on customer satisfaction, share of wallet, profitability and brand-centricity. View a selection of her publications here: Dr. Perkins-Munn’s Publications on Google Scholar

She started her career as an academician, publishing articles, authoring and co-authoring books on diverse topics such as client satisfaction, impact of volatility, share of wallet, brand, women, identity, disability, education and intelligence measurement. She continues her commitment of connecting industry and academia and currently sits on the board of the ANA Educational Foundation. She is the ‘Intersectionality Chair’ for the Women’s Interactive Network and is on the Executive Committee for the Black Professional Network.

Nikisha Alcindor is a strategic management leader with expertise in organizational change, investing, and fundraising. She is Managing Director at Riverside Management Group and previously worked at Apax Partners, Pfizer Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Goldman Sachs, and Columbia University. As the former Executive Director and Developer of the Columbia Girls in STEM Initiative, Nikisha is passionate about leveraging her background in science and academia to transformative change in STEM. She is the President and Founder of the STEM Educational Institute. A nonprofit that gives underrepresented high school students the technological skills needed to enter today’s workforce while building generational wealth. In partnership with several firms, the program serves as the diverse talent pipeline for organizations. 

Nikisha is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Business – Strategic Management at the Graduate Center of The City University of New York (CUNY), Baruch College – Zicklin School of Business. Her research examines the failure rates of Mergers & Acquisitions by using artificial intelligence and machine learning. She is a CUNY Graduate Center Fellow and the Provost Enhancement Fellow. Nikisha has taught a master class at Columbia Business School and done several guest lectures at Columbia University. Currently, she teaches Business Policy at Baruch College. She is the 2021 Dean Huss Teaching Award recipient and a 2021 Harvard Rising Scholars Conference Presenter. Nikisha is a Board member of the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone. Nikisha holds a BA in Chemistry from Emory University and an MBA from Columbia Business School as a Leon Cooperman Scholar. 

Jessica Taub Rosenberg is a leading trial lawyer in the employment field having represented employers and prominent senior executives for over a decade in employment-related litigation before federal and state courts, administrative agencies and arbitration panels. Jessica regularly defends claims of discrimination, retaliation and harassment; disputes involving the enforcement of employment contracts and non-competition covenants; and tort claims such as fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, tortious interference and defamation. Jessica also conducts internal investigations on employee misconduct in the workplace.

Jessica routinely advises clients on employment policies and practices and conducts employee trainings. In 2020, she began advising clients on Covidrelated employment issues, from mandating tests and vaccines in the workplace to mitigating litigation risk arising from Covid.

Jessica was named a 2021 Notable Woman in Law by Crain’s New York Business and named one of Lawdragon’s 500 Leading U.S. EmploymentLawyers. She was shortlisted by Euromoney as Best in Labor and Employment for its 2020 Women in Business Law Americas Awards and as a 2019 Labor & Employment New York Attorney of the Year. In 2019, she was awarded the Burton Award for excellence in Legal Writing. Jessica was recognized as a New York “Labor & Employment Star” by Benchmark Litigation, as well as included in Benchmark Litigation’s Under 40 Hot List. She was shortlisted as a 2019 Rising Star in Labor & Employment for Euromoney Legal Media Group’s Americas Rising Stars Awards. Jessica was also named a 2019 Woman Worth Watching by Diversity Journal and recognized as a Super Lawyers Rising Star in the area of Employment & Labor.

Vanessa Jackson is a partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, representing borrowers and lenders on a broad range of finance transactions, including acquisition and restructuring financings. She is Co-Chair of the firm’s Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Committee. Vanessa was named a 2022 “Rising Star” in banking by Law360 and is ranked by Chambers USA as “Up-and-Coming” in Banking & Finance. The Partnership for NYC named her a 2022 David Rockefeller Fellow. In 2022 she was listed among Crain’s New York Business’s “Notable Women in Law,” Savoy’s “Most Influential Black Lawyers,” IFLR1000’s “Women Leaders: United States” and MCCA’s “Rising Stars.” Vanessa received a Bachelor’s from Duke University and JD from Columbia Law School.

Renata Dinkelmann is Managing Director, Head of Human Capital at Paine Schwartz Partners, a sustainable food chain investing Private Equity fund. 

Ms. Dinkelmann joined Paine Schwartz Partners in 2019. Prior to Paine Schwartz Partners, she led the global executive recruiting function at Kraft Heinz. From 2012 to 2018, Ms. Dinkelmann worked as a consultant recruiting and assessing talent at global executive search firm Egon Zehnder. Ms. Dinkelmann has held executive roles at Patria Investimentos and BRMALLS and began her career at JPMorgan’s Investment Banking and Private Banking groups.

Ms. Dinkelmann serves on the board of Urban Farmer. She leads Paine Schwartz Partners DEI committee and is also a member of the firm’s ESG committee. Ms. Dinkelmann received an MBA degree from Columbia Business School, and a B.S. in Commerce from the McIntire School of Commerce at The University of Virginia. She was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Elisa Zheng is currently a Vice President at Nomura Holding America Inc. (“Nomura”) and supports the Global Markets businesses, which includes residential mortgage loan securitizations, collateralized loan obligations and warehouse financings, among other products. She is a founder and co-chair of Nomura’s Asian Network. Prior to joining Nomura in 2021, Ms. Zheng was a Managing Associate at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP’s Structured Finance Group. She received her J.D. from Columbia Law School, where she was the Business Editor of the Columbia Journal of Asian Law and a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, and her B.A. in Philosophy from Barnard College. 

CASSANDRA LABBEES is a Member of the Firm in the Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation practice, in the New York office of Epstein Becker Green. For more than a decade, she has provided counsel to clients in the financial services and health care industries, corporate clients, and tax-exempt and not-for-profit institutions on a wide range of employee benefit issues involving tax-qualified and non-qualified plans, 401(k) plans, ESOPs, defined benefit plans, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), multiemployer plans, and health and welfare plans.

Jane Ma is a Managing Director at Moelis & Company where she specializes in advising clients in the Asset Management and Wealth Management sector. Ms. Ma has over 15 years of investment banking experience. Prior to joining Moelis & Company, Ms. Ma worked at both Greenhill and Deutsche Bank focusing on M&A.

Ms. Ma holds a B.S. in Applied Economics & Management from Cornell University and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.

Bobby Johnson, CFA®, CFP®, Vice President, is a Business Manager within BlackRock’s ETF and Index Investing Business (EII). In this role, he works closely with business heads to develop and execute strategic talent initiatives, including the management of the Americas Summer and Graduate Analyst programs, while also contributing to the overall management process of the global platform.

Mr. Johnson’s service with the firm dates to 2013. He previously served as strategist on the US Factor based ETF team, where he was responsible for providing subject matter expertise on Factor investing to Institutional and Advisory clients. Prior to his time as a strategist, he was a member of the firm’s US Wealth Advisory Sales division where he was a relationship manager to Financial Advisors across the United States.

Prior to joining BlackRock, Mr. Johnson was a financial representative at Northwestern Mutual and J.P. Morgan Chase.

Mr. Johnson earned his BA in Psychology from SUNY Albany and his MBA from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. He is a CFA® charter holder and CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™.

Anita joined BNP Paribas’ Capital Structure and Ratings Advisory team in 2018. She advises the Bank’s leveraged finance and investment grade clients on capital structure and rating agency issues, including first time ratings and assisting rated and unrated clients through the ratings process. Anita also analyzes debt capacity and capital structure/financing considerations for strategic transactions.

Anita leads North American Ratings Advisory coverage of several sectors including: Technology/Media/Telecom, Healthcare, Engineering & Construction, Consumer/Retail, Transportation, Building Materials, Industrials, Services, and REITs. 

Prior to joining BNP Paribas, Anita was with S&P Global Ratings for over 12 years. While there, she was a lead analyst for a variety of companies within the real estate, retail, transportation, and general industrials sectors. Prior to S&P, Anita worked at Bear Stearns in the investment banking team, covering global industrials.

Anita has a Bachelors of Science in Finance from Pennsylvania State University, an MBA in Finance from New York University Stern School of Business, and an MPA from Columbia School of International and Public Affairs. 

Airi Hammalov is a partner in the New York office of Baker McKenzie and a member of the Firm’s Transactions practice. Prior to joining the Firm, Airi practiced at top international firms in Europe. Airi’s practice focuses on M&A and private equity, particularly cross-border transactions and Nordic related tech deals. She has extensive experience representing domestic and multinational corporations, private equity sponsors, portfolio companies and financial institutions on their most complex acquisitions, strategic investments, joint ventures, leveraged buy-outs and corporate matters. Airi has advised on large transactions across many industries and verticals, including technology and particularly gaming.

Shanaye Carvajal is an associate in the firm’s financial services practice group, where she works on high-stakes litigation matters. An expert in legal research and analysis, Shanaye engages in all aspects of complex litigation related to banking, securities, and other areas, in state and federal court. When litigation can’t be avoided, Shanaye is her clients’ go-to advocate: She assists with trial preparation – by drafting opening statements and direct/cross-examination outlines, preparing witnesses and declarations, and leading document review – and handles all motions and briefings before and during trial. She has assisted first-chair attorneys in the courtroom while supervising and mentoring junior associates behind the scenes. Shanaye also counsels clients on mitigating risks and is on hand to conduct internal investigations, preparing summaries of findings and recommendations for corporate boards. She also has experience in commercial litigation and in drafting contracts, agreements, and releases. Outside of financial services, she takes an interest in immigration law and education; before launching her practice, Shanaye taught low-income, at-risk students through an after-school program she helped develop.

Alex Esparza is an Executive Director in the technology investment banking group at Oppenheimer & Com Inc. where she has built and leads the digital health and wellness investment banking practice.  Prior to focusing on healthcare technology, Alex worked to build the private capital markets platform within the TMT investment banking group.  She has spent over a dozen years on Wall Street, and has held roles  as a small-cap global equities investor and in institutional equities sales and trading.  Alex is on the advisory board of the Kupona Foundation and is an alumna of the New Leaders Council and SEO ( Sponsors for Educational Opportunity).  Alex is part of the founding team of AWSM ( A World Serving Many), an organization and venture studio focused on advocacy and capacity building to increase capital access for underrepresented tech founders.  She holds a BA from Stanford University, and an MBA from the Yale School of Management.

Martin L. Schmelkin focuses his practice on employment and employee benefits issues for hedge funds, private equity firms, asset managers and investment banks. He has nearly 30 years of experience in employment law, representing clients in all aspects, including counseling on recruitment, hiring, employment agreements, compensation, promotions, disciplinary action and terminations. Additionally, Marty has experience advising on litigation strategy, coordinating the implementation of policies and programs across multiple global jurisdictions, and leading workplace training programs. He has a wealth of experience with diversity, equity and inclusion policies and programs, including the interplay with Environmental Social Governance (ESG) reporting. Marty also counsels financial services firms on employment related FINRA arbitrations and regulatory filings. Marty brings a unique perspective to clients, having worked for 15 years in the legal department of Goldman Sachs, where he was a managing director and associate general counsel in the employment law group. While there he spent time in the firm’s Hong Kong office covering employment law matters throughout Asia and also had responsibility for employment law in non-U.S. offices in the Americas. Marty serves as an Associate Lecturer on Labor & Employment Law at Columbia University, and is a member of the Executive Board of the Cornell University School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR) Alumni Association.

Jessica Palacios is the Head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) for Talent Acquisition at BlackRock, the largest asset manager globally with over 9 trillion assets under management (AUM). In this capacity, Jessica leads a Center of Excellence established to drive and support DEI projects, partnerships, and practices on behalf of the recruiting function globally. Jessica’s team collaborates with senior leaders and recruiting professionals to ensure fairness through the full candidate lifecycle. At BlackRock, Jessica is also a founding member of the Somos Latinx Network.  As a member of the Executive Committee, Jessica partners with sponsors and advocates to advance Latinx causes for employees such as the Hispanic Promise, a national pledge to hire, promote, retain and celebrate Hispanics in the workplace. Jessica also sits on the New York Leadership Team, an entity dedicated to cultivating an inclusive culture and community in our New York City headquarters at Hudson Yards. Previously, Jessica led Americas Campus Recruiting with oversight over BlackRock’s Summer Analyst and Full-Time Analyst Programs.  Prior to Recruiting, Jessica served as the HR Business Partner supporting the Aladdin Product Group, BlackRock’s software engineering arm. Jessica joined BlackRock in 2016 from JPMorgan Chase & Co, where she held various HR roles supporting Corporate Functions and Commercial Banking. In addition to her professional responsibilities, Jessica volunteers with the New York Chapter of the Association of Latino Professionals for America (ALPFA) where she spends time with Latinx executives, professionals, and first-generation college students.  Jessica also serves on the New York Advisory Council for the Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF), the nation’s largest not-for-profit organization supporting Hispanic American higher education.  As an advocate for Latinx advancement, Jessica has served as a panelist and moderator for various organizations including Bloomberg, JPMorgan, Citi, and Proud to be Latina.  In 2019, Jessica was recognized by Negocios Now magazine as one of NYC’s 40 under 40. Jessica holds a B.A. degree from Duke University, an M.S. in Human Resources Management from New York University, and a DEI Certification from Cornell’s School of Industrial Relations.  As a first-generation Colombian-American, Jessica is also a native Spanish speaker.  On a personal note, Jessica enjoys cooking, travel, and sports. She lives in the state of New York with her spouse and sons.

Fola leads the investigations practice. She is an experienced licensed attorney practicing as a forensic accountant with a specialization in serving financial institutions. Accomplished and results-driven, offering extensive expertise providing legal, ethics, and regulatory compliance guidance to the leadership of public sector and private sector organizations, with extensive experience in forensic accounting investigations, document review, and the development of expert opinions. A demonstrated record of success investigating allegations of legal, regulatory, and ethical requirements. She leads client forensic investigation projects, managing up to 15 team members and offers a history of delivering solid results in a series of positions with CliftonLarsonAllen, FERC, the SEC, Navigant Consulting, and other corporations and agencies.

Kira Córdoba-Brown is the Managing Director Head of Talent & Diversity, Equity & Inclusion – Banking & International at Citi. In this role, Kira is responsible for the strategic direction and execution of a widevariety of global talent and diversity functions, including developing insights that inform the ICG Talent/Human Capital strategy, innovating new programs to meet the highest strategic areas of need within the ICG talent market. Kira’s focus is on the ICG’s ability to Attract, Develop, Engage and Retain talent from Early Career through Senior Leaders in partnership with multiple HR stakeholders across the ICG and the Firm by establishing a future-focused culture of belonging. Kira is also responsible for overseeing, developing, implementing and tracking the success of the overall diversity strategy for this division globally, in addition to mobility and experiential volunteerism for Early Career Talent. Prior to joining the ICG Talent and Diversity team, Kira served as Talent and Development Manager for the Global Consumer Banking (GCB) organization. In that role, Kira had the opportunity to work on multiple talent management initiatives, as well as high potential development programs. She collaborated with Citi’s corporate talent & diversity office on GCB’s participation in Citi-wide diversity initiatives, as well as helping to set and ensure that the diversity strategy in GCB is actioned.

In her 15 years at Citi, Kira has served other roles in human resources, including: program manager for the consumer banking analyst and associate programs, diversity recruiting manager on Citi’s graduate recruitment team responsible for assisting in the development and implementation of strategies to attract and recruit top diverse talent into Citi’s summer and full-time analyst and associate programs, as well as diversity manager in the office of global workforce diversity. Prior to joining Citi, Kira was a research associate at PEA Capital, a subsidiary of Allianz Dresdner Asset Management, where she was responsible for conducting fundamental research, developing proprietary financial models and valuation analyses, communicating with company leadership and sourcing industry information for the investment management team.

Kira graduated magna cum laude from the Metropolitan College of New York, where she received her bachelor’s degree in business administration. She currently resides in Queens, NY with her husband Reggie and their daughter Hailey.