Articles by National Association of Women MBA's

If you are anything like me, you feel like you can accomplish anything in business irrespective of your gender! However, intellectually, we as females know that there are indeed different ways that men and women approach their professional careers as well as how we are both perceived in the professional arena. There are indeed unique aspects to being a woman in the corporate world. This is what my first encounter with the Women’s MBA Association at Smeal has me thinking more about.

Sitting in the light breeze on the third-floor terrace of the business building in our first association meeting, the incoming class of women was greeted with curiosity and warmth. As we went around introducing ourselves, I began to see a pattern of how accomplished, interesting, and comfortable each of us were sharing pieces of our stories that led us to study at Smeal.

It is at this, our very first meeting that I first heard the term “mommy tracking”. As a married student in the program, this term in particular spurred my interest. I later googled it to fully understand its meaning and came across this article in US News & World Report (http://www.usnews.com/usnews/biztech/articles/070826/3mommy.htm) that summed it up for me. What has it taught me you might wonder? Well, the lesson for me is that as a woman who wants to start a family soon and also repositioning herself to renter the corporate realm, looking more closely at the benefits companies offer to women with families should be a very important part of my company and job research.

- Kerean G. Povich
MBA Class of 2011

Last Friday night all the WMBA members got together at The Indian Pavilion for
our annual dinner meeting. This was the fateful day that the torch would be
passed onto the new officers of the class of 2010. The entire evening was
planned out thoroughly. It started with wine and the careful selection of
appetizers followed by the main course and not to forget the great dessert!
Over the sumptuous meal, the election was held and the new officers for the
year were introduced. They are Tamara Tyree -President, Aditi Gupta – VP of
Finance, Sara Paige – VP of international affairs, Sneha Sundaram – VP of
Corporate and Alumni Relations, Rebecca Lankin- VP of Recruitment and I, Kaushal Shah -VP of Communications.

Amy the outgoing President read out a very touching letter she’d written to
addressed to the WMBA and all the incoming officers gave short speeches on how they see this organization growing and shared their ideas on how to develop it further. The entire evening was a great time for the members of Class of 2009 and Class of 2010 to further strengthen the bond. We couldn’t have called it a day without a photo session of all the officers, the members of the WMBA and our support in 220 (Susan we missed you at the dinner!).

I am really excited to be part of such a great team and am looking forward to
work with them! All of us bring along different ideas and strengths with us and
with these we wish to make this coming year very eventful for everyone.

Kaushal Shah
Class of 2010
WMBA VP of Communications

This past Friday Wendy Graham from Honeywell was kind enough to visit with the WMBA here at her alma mater to talk to us a bit about what it takes for women to become executives in the modern workplace. We talked about how her prior experience in various company environments ranging from government work to non-profit to startups each played a role in her development as a leader, and of course spoke specifically about Honeywell’s corporate climate and what kind of specific traits she capitalized on to move ahead. The discussion was interesting and insightful and I’m sure each of us walked away with a few more ideas tucked away in our mental file for professional development.

Here were a few of the key pieces of advice I picked up from Wendy’s presentation.

Wendy’s Wisdoms – Top 7

1. You must want to be a decision maker
2. Stick with something and work on building credibility
3. Work on self-monitoring strong personalities (yours and others’!)
4. Be aware of how other personalities influence your own, and associate with those that bring out your best side!
5. Work on genuine relationship development and a mutual give-and-take
6. Have someone or something to ground you (ex: good friend, kickboxing, or just venting to your pup!)
7. Manage stress by being honest and transparent – don’t internalize!

Thank you so much Wendy for coming out to Old State – we are honored to have you as an alumnus. The advice you shared will take us far, now we just have to follow it! Next up – teaching women how to negotiate!

-Christina Conley

Smeal MBA Class of 2010

It was during the 1^st week of Module I when I was asked if I could go to the 1^st tailgate on Saturday.  I could not answer. I knew Football at Penn State was more like a religion than just sport.  But I still hesitated because I did not even know the rules of the game. At that very moment, I received the email about a Football Clinic, which I attended instead of an Accounting review session.

The 2^nd year student, Muhammad Abdullah who was previously a football captain at Illinois, provided the presentation. He handed over his helmet for us to feel how heavy it was and also drew some formations.  Most of all, the Youtube clips of real plays were the best teaching materials by which I felt how strategic and passionate the football game is.

Right after the event, we were able to practice on  the field in front of the Business Building.  My throw was without spin and the ball waivered.  However, It was worth it as I felt refreshed after the hectic week.  This weekend, I am going to my 1^st Tailgate!  International students who don’t know about Football at all, should Go to the Clinic!

- JungHo Lee
MBA Class of 2010

Last Thursday, the WMBA welcomed Tonya Olpin, the Executive Director of the National Association of Women MBA’s, to campus.  We ate, drank and talked about the many issues facing women in the workplace as well as the good work that NAWMBA is doing to help us all succeed.

In a world where only 13% of boards contain women and where only 16% of CEOs are women, NAWMBA is dedicated to helping women gain equality in the upper levels of management.  Tonya spoke for a bit about how NAWMBA does it.  She also answered our questions about work/life balance and how women can help each other in business.

Tonya also informed us that NAWMBA is hosting seven, $2,000 scholarships. Please go to the website and apply.  The deadline is October 1, 2008, so if you are interested, please apply soon.   Additionally, the national conference is from October 23rd to the 25th, and registration is open.  There will be about 75 companies represented at the conference’s career fair.

- Sara Paige
MBA Class of 2010

This summer I interned at PNC bank’s Corporate and Investment Banking(C&IB) Division, in the Corporate Finance department as a Junior Relationships Manager (RM). My department lends credit to and deploys PNC’s tools and services in large corporations with annual revenues of $500MM and higher. PNC was named the Middle Market Investment Bank of the year by Investment Digest in 2008, was ranked amongst the “Most Admired Companies” in Fortune 2006 and PNC now is the number one lead arranger of market syndicated loans in the North East..

As an intern and Jr. RM, I spent a lot of time prospecting new clients. What that meant is I would review the 10-Ks, 10-Qs and credit ratings of customers that PNC would like to do business with and rate them based on their credit worthiness, liquidity, outstanding debt and overall risk profile. PNC has very stringent lending standards and its this risk averseness that has led PNC to book a 20% Net Income growth in 2Q08 compared with Net Income a year ago, while other banks and financial institutions are booking subprime related losses. My team and manager encouraged me to meet with other departments and locational teams of PNC. I went to Pittsburgh and Philadelphia locations of PNC C&IB and met with other businesses like Treasury Management, Capital Markets, Business Credit, Credit Policy, Asset Backed Securitization, Loan Syndications etc. My other job functions included, sitting on prescreen meetings (to screen new or existing clients), learning about PNC’s portfolio of clients, tools and services, developing a Formalized and Business Independant Client Acquisition strategy and developing a mechanism to get any RM’s portfolio breakdown by location, clients and facilities.

Thankfully within 6 weeks of my being with PNC I was offered a full time position within the C&IB. I am looking forward to the remaining weeks in PNC and am equally eager to go back to State College and to the blessed life of a second year MBA. A word of advice to the incoming class, if you are interested in Corporate Finance or in PNC, please give your 100% to Dr. Muscarella’s and Dr. Fisher’s classes. All the concepts taught in those classes come back to you while interning.

-Amishi Patel
MBA Class of 2009

I spent my summer working for Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development, L.L.C. in the Global Pharma R&D Sourcing division, specifically supporting Clinical Services. I was tasked with developing two high-level budgeting tools, which allowed me to interface with both internal and external stakeholders. The tools will result in a significant time savings for the company and will provide consistent, accurate results on an ongoing basis. They also provide the ability to do more analytics on the tracked data and will aid in controlling scope and price creep on projects.

Aside from my actual projects, I had ample opportunity to learn about other areas of J&J through various Procurement Leadership Development Program events. One of the major highlights of my summer was the open access and exposure to top executives, ranging from Directors to Vice Presidents, and even included both the CEO and CPO. J&J is all about passion and purpose, both driven by our Credo, and it is certainly a culture that I would be thrilled to build my career in. Overall I had a wonderful summer and am grateful for the opportunity that I had to join the 250+ Johnson & Johnson family of companies!

Emily MacPhail

Women in the Workplace:

A group of Smeal MBAs spent a couple of hours discussing the context of “Women in the Workplace”. Despite the female context of the session, a few brave male students contributed greatly to the session as well as Smeal MBA faculty and staff. Co-sponsored by the WMBA and Minority MBA clubs, the session was facilitated by Peggy Lorah from Penn State’s Student Affairs Department. A selection of Valentine’s Day desserts helped to bring in the crowd.

Peggy really left the floor open to discussion regarding a few topics that are seldom broached in everyday business conversation. Participants reflected on whether they had a preference for a male or female boss and, if they had a preference, what made them more inclined to work under one sex over the other. Conversation soon turned to the fine line that female managers sometimes face – how to balance competence with compassion. Peggy explained how female bosses are typically viewed as having to forego relationships with coworkers in order to maintain an expected level of respect and allegiance. However, a few of the participants were able to share management experiences where they were able to develop comfortable relationships with subordinates and still be respected for their competence as a leader. The discussion approached several other topics regarding “Women in the Workplace”, specifically the sometimes dilemma of work/life balance and how to be recognized for the work ethic that you have regardless of sex. By the end of the session, all participants seemed to have learned something more about the framework of women in the working world.

- Jenny Moerschbacher

Prior to coming to Smeal, Jenny was an Operations Manager in Phoenix, Arizona for a large private label food company. Jenny earned a B.A. in Engineering Policy from Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. Her areas of concentration include Strategic Leadership, Supply Chain Management, and Product & Market Development.

24th of January was an exciting day for many of us. Lots of internship
action around. Sears had come in for summer 2008 internship
interviews, and DuPont had also invited us for a day long DuPont visit
early next morn. But the most exciting part of the day for us women was
getting together that Thursday evening to celebrate the success of the
existing WMBA board of officers and welcome the new board members for
2009.We were also excited to elect our new VP -Communications for WMBA.

The event was organized at one of the local Indian restaurants in the
downtown area. Since most of us love Indian food around here, we couldn’t
wait to reach the venue. A bunch of us huddled together in Jodie’s car
(thanks Jodie for the ride that night) and reached Indian Pavilion just
in time to taste some wine and chat with the girls before we began the
main elections event. Marcela, WMBA President 2008, addressed us with
warm touching words to kick off the events. She welcomed the new board
members and encouraged us to keep WMBA as a special and a safe space for
women in the MBA program. Amy, our newly elected President for 2009 took
the stage next and enthused us all with her energy and excitement for
the year ahead. After each one of the new board members had shared with
the group their vision for WMBA in the coming year, we voted for the
post of VP-Communications. With most of the “business” for the night out
of our way, the fun began. We celebrated a second year WMBA member, Jess
Berger’s birthday, ate some cake, drank some more wine and eventually
enjoyed the scrumptious spread of Indian appetizers and main courses
that were served. To add to the merriment, we had an exciting round of
lucky draw with special gifts of Penn State memorabilia for the
winners, Kat and April.

Finally, no WMBA event can be complete without a photo session for the
ladies. Both the incoming and the outgoing board members had a great
time clicking away for the official group pictures as well as some fun
shots with all the WMBA members to remember the evening with. Overall, a
fantastic time spent well with girlfriends and colleagues from 220.
Robin and Carrie, thanks to both of you for your continued support to
our group, and ladies, let’s keep up the good work in 2009!!!

-Priyanka Dwivedi

MBA Class of 2009