WHN Miami 2023: Championing Women Leaders in the Workplace

Panelists

• Ileana Musa, Managing Director, Head of International Banking & Lending, Morgan Stanley 
• Andrew Martin, President, Latin America Cluster, Pfizer 
• Svetlana Kropp, Global Vice President, Customer Engagement & Experience, SAP (moderator)

“As women many of us are over-mentored and under-sponsored, so sponsorship is the name of the game," said Ileana Musa of Morgan Stanley on a panel entitled "Championing Women Leaders in the Workplace" at the 8th AS/COA Women's Hemispheric Network (WHN) Forum in Miami. "And sponsorship starts with building a powerful network,” she continued.

Musa discussed how to make the most of your connections. “Leaning into and building relationships with individuals that look very different to us has been very rewarding for me,” she said. “I always took the time, and it's a best practice, to share with more senior leaders what do you aspire to do … People remember.”

For Andrew Martin of Pfizer, the company's goal "is to make sure that women feel that men are as actively involved in gender as men feel they’re involved in gender equality,” he said. "And there's still a big gap." He listed Pfizer's work in advancing gender equality, including training men "to help them understand the unconscious bias and micro-aggressions that unfortunately continue to reinforce gender inequality issues that we see on a daily basis," he explained.

For Svetlana Kropp of SAP, "it’s not just up to individuals, but it’s really up to the industry to change that standard,” she said. "It’s educating the industry. It’s educating the companies."