Boston or New York? After graduating with a BA in economics from Trinity University in Hartford, Connecticut, Lisa Jones was faced with a career-defining decision. Born just outside Boston, Jones chose to begin her now 35-year professional journey in New York City. The allure of the career opportunities on offer at the big city brokerage firms would propel her to impressive heights.
Today, as a female CEO in a traditionally male-dominated profession, Jones admits reaching this level in her career is both a great personal and professional highlight. But she feels her accomplishments go far beyond her current role. “Uplifting others and celebrating the successes of my team is the fuel to my fire,” Jones said. “After all, as colloquial as this proverb may now be, it still rings true: It takes a village.”
“I’m a builder, and so my leadership style doesn’t involve simply maintaining the status quo,” she said. “Having teams of fellow builders alongside me is what I’m most proud of. When you have a group of talented people working together towards a goal, on an initiative or in the name of a powerful vision, magic can happen.”
THE IMPACT OF UPLIFTING OTHERS
“Growing up in a traditional, Italian Catholic family, work ethic and values were extremely important,” Jones said. “It’s common within families like mine for parents to want more for their children than they themselves had. But my parents didn’t go to university. I didn’t have guidance on the university admissions process or the support system of a network to fall back on. I made it work, but it was daunting.”
Reflecting on her own experience helped her realise how advantageous and impactful helping first-generation students – especially women – get a strong start in university can be for their future and their careers. Amundi US supports Bottom Line, an organisation that has helped create a far-reaching ripple effect by equipping first-generation students with access to university degrees that help launch a mobilising first career. “I’m inspired by their stories and feel passionate about doing my part to help be a resource for the future generation,” she said.
“To attract more women to financial services, I feel there’s a lot of work the industry needs to do to refresh its image and its appeal,” Jones said. “Unconscious bias still exists and perceptions matter. As leaders we need to do our part to successfully oversee and encourage a staff made up of cross-generational individuals, while also recognising that people enter their careers in different phases of the economic cycle, with different educational backgrounds and with different values they prioritise. I love how the world turns, how times change and how people bring their own experiences with them to the professional table.”
When talking to audiences at colleges and universities or at various women’s programmes, Jones often makes a point of advocating for workforces built on varied skill sets and creative capabilities – largely because those different perspectives are key for diversifying and succeeding in the long term. But on top of the skill sets needed for the future, Jones further explains that the profession needs to do better at promoting work-life harmony.
“Take mothers as just one example,” Jones said. “I can speak from experience that working too much can leave us with a sense of guilt or angst when we miss our kid’s football practice or ballet recital. The reality is that when women feel they’re forced to choose between work and family, there’s a strong chance they’ll get off the career track.”
“In the financial services profession, we need to be more flexible – whether through job sharing or simply by allowing people to pursue different paths that work more cohesively with their personal and family lives. That way, we don’t lose them completely, because bringing them back into the fold after an extended amount of time can be extremely difficult.”
WHY ALLYSHIP MATTERS
“The success I’ve experienced in my career is owed partly to my work ethic, values and upbringing, but also partly to the help of men who have mentored, sponsored and championed me to push for more in my professional life,” Jones said.
“I’ve had men as my mentors and my advocates for most of my career. When I started in the business 35 years ago, I was one of few women. There weren’t many other successful women around me that I could establish a mentorship or advocacy relationship with. And so, I’ve turned to many great men for career advice, support in meetings and as allies.”
Amundi Women Network is a gender diversity network for women and allies, created in 2017. It now has over 566 members in France, 30% of whom are men, and is expanding in Ireland, Germany, Japan and the United States. In its sixth year, Amundi Women Network has evolved, grown and become livelier as the years go on, according to Jones: “We’ve managed to nurture this grassroots initiative into one that’s now globally coordinated. For example, for International Women’s Day in March 2023, we created a video montage where women from around the organisation shared their successes, observations, stories and more. That brought to life how similar the conversations and issues are internationally, but importantly was an exercise that embedded a cultural lens and stronger, organisation-wide awareness to the issues at hand.”
“The more we focus on diversity, equity and inclusion [DEI],” Jones said, “and the more we embrace having diversity within our workplaces, the better we perform as companies. From an investment perspective, we as financial professionals preach that diversification across our portfolios reduces risk for our investors. Why then should we not apply the same logic and subscribe to the fact that diversification at C-suite or executive level also reduces risk?”
BRINGING AN AUTHENTIC VOICE TO THE CONVERSATION
“As a female-led organisation, Amundi Asset Management is credibly positioned to share an authentic perspective on discussions around DEI,” Jones said. “We take diversity seriously, and make a proactive effort to acknowledge it and measure it – whether that involves paying close attention to the number of women that represent our executive board and C-suite, or measuring how diversity is impacting the service we deliver to our clients.
“Our business model is built on distributing our asset management and partnering with third-party partners, like Raymond James Financial, and marketing our capabilities to a diverse range of institutional clients. We find our successful partnerships and client relationships typically look for colleagues that represent a diversity of thought, background and experience. We share value in that, so we make sure that we’re bringing a complex mixture of perspectives to the problems we solve.”
Based on her tenure and experience alone, Lisa brings a powerful and authentic perspective. To other women – whether working in financial services or looking to enter the profession – she stresses the value taking risks can have on career trajectory.
“I’m a big believer in taking calculated risks and getting out of your comfort zone,” Jones said. “Not all risks pay off – that’s the reality. But when I’ve begun to feel too comfortable in my career, that comfort has acted as a catalyst for me to try something new. Have the conviction and confidence to push yourself and others forward – but never be afraid to look back, reflect and learn.”
Bear market of 1974The severe bear market of 1974 threatened the existence of Raymond James, which was bleeding capital by the day. Tom James, his father and other leaders took extreme measures to keep the firm afloat, slashing costs, forgoing pay checks and even attempting to sell the firm for just enough capital to protect client assets and retain as many associates as possible. The story could have ended very differently if not for a sharp upturn and continued rebound in the stock markets late in the year. |
|
Black MondayOn 19 October 1987, the stock markets experienced a dramatic plunge that prompted many firms to shut down their trading desks and turn off their phones to minimize internal losses. Raymond James refused to do the same. Our desks stayed open to help meet clients’ needs, resulting in our first and only unprofitable quarter since the firm went public in 1983. |
 |
Who was Raymond James?The Raymond in our name is actually from Edward Raymond, owner of a 15-employee mutual fund sales group, Raymond and Associates, along Florida’s west coast. He sold his company to Bob James on 15 July 1964, on condition that the surviving firm be called Raymond, James & Associates. Three days after the sale, Ed Raymond was involved in a near-fatal automobile accident and never joined the firm. Nonetheless, even after Raymond had passed away, Bob James insisted that his name remain on the door – ahead of James’ own. That was a promise he made to Ed Raymond three days before the accident, and Bob James was a man who kept his promises. |
|
Taking Raymond James PublicWhen consideration was being given to taking Raymond James public, Tom James penned a letter to shareholders (largely employees at the time). ” … the public offering should be considered as a statement of our independence. While this is a psychological rather than an economic rationale, it is nonetheless very important. We have asserted for some time that we are not interested in becoming a small part of a very large corporation. That assertion results mainly from the inclinations of management rather than the economic benefits associated with either alternative. The public stock offering affords us the opportunity to enjoy a little bit of the best of both worlds. While shareholders will be given liquidity at fair market value, we will still have the ability to control our own destiny.” After 40+ years of Tom’s leadership, upon becoming CEO, Paul Reilly was often questioned about whether the company might ultimately surrender its cherished independence and be acquired by some larger entity. His response: “Not while I’m around.” It’s a theme that continues today. |
 |
