The Lehigh Wall Street Council hosted Dina DiLorenzo ’93 for an evening of career development guidance at the third annual Women of Wall Street reception. View photos from the event
On Monday, October 15, 2018, members of the Lehigh Wall Street Council (LWSC) and their guests, gathered for an evening of discussion and networking at the Penn Club of New York City for the third annual Women of Wall Street reception. Keynote speaker Dina DiLorenzo ’93, senior managing director, Guggenheim Partners, and COO, Guggenheim Investments, spoke of lessons learned throughout her career journey. She was introduced by Jennifer Miller ’82, LWSC vice president and Int’l Equity Portfolio Manager, JM Hartwell.
In her remarks, DiLorenzo shared the criticality of being proactive in your career development rather than reactive, and of finding sponsors early on “to guide you, promote you, and advocate for you behind closed doors.” She also discussed the importance of taking risks in order to “understand if you are good at what you do” and “trusting your gut as it will tell you when the time is right to move forward and onwards.”
Neha Rachumallu ’15, Investment Strategies, PAAMCOPrisma, was particularly moved by a piece of valuable insight Dina provided during her address.
“[Dina’s] advice to ‘forgive yourself’ resonated with me the most because, in the context of work-life balance, it can get overwhelming managing the perfect balance. However, she reminded us to not be so hard on ourselves about it.”
Miller concurred with another great point made by DiLorenzo which was you have to let people know what you want professionally.
“You can’t just assume that your boss knows that you want a promotion, or new responsibilities,” said Miller. [Dina articulated that] you have to ask for it, or work with your boss and set goals and a timeline so you know what is required to get that promotion.”
Within DiLorenzo’s remarks, there was a final takeaway – to not have conversations about your career in isolation. Success is bred, cultivated and achieved when both men and women, from entry level to the C-Suite, converse about their career aspirations together.
The evening ended with refreshments, dinner and a formal networking session where guests were able to exchange and gain further career advice from one another.
“I was initially nervous when I was introduced to Dina due to her impressive career stature,” said Catherine Wright ’15, associate consultant, Gartland & Mellina Group. “Those nerves quickly vanished though as Dina was very pleasant and personable. She was able to swiftly identify that my professional experience was similar to the type of work she leads at Guggenheim. And she currently lives in the town where I grew up!”
Miller was pleased with the event that is for Lehigh alumna in the financial services industry.
“My biggest takeaway from the event is that there are so many dynamic successful women who genuinely want to help the next generation and impart wisdom based on their experiences,” she said. “We have to maintain this forum for them.”
Contributed by Catherine Wright ’15
About the presenter: Keynote speaker Dina DiLorenzo ’93 is a senior managing director at Guggenheim Partners and serves as Chief Operating Officer of Guggenheim Investments, the global asset management and investment advisory division of Guggenheim Partners. Guggenheim Partners is a global investment and advisory firm with more than $265 billion in assets under management, of which Guggenheim Investments has more than $208 billion in total assets across fixed income, equity and alternative strategies. As COO, Dina provides oversight and management of the firm’s infrastructure, information technology, operations, client servicing, policies, procedures and strategic planning functions.