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#5 Women in Fintech

In the Fintech industry, it's estimated women represent only 30% of the workforce.

According to a study from Credit Suisse Research Institute, companies with at least one female board member had a 26% better performance than male board-only companies. How can you help encourage more women to start a career in Fintech? Let’s start by highlighting and celebrating the trailblazers!

On today’s episode, your hosts Trent Berry and Sarah Johnson from SS&C Advent are joined by Melissa Gilbertson, Assistant Vice President, Information Technology and Trading Operations Manager at Mairs & Power & Jennifer Kirksey, Managing Director, Wealth Operations at Tolleson. They’ll share their trailblazing stories and discuss the changing landscape around gender diversity within the Fintech world.

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Speakers

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Jennifer Kirksey

Managing Director, Wealth Operations | Tolleson

Jennifer Wagoner Kirksey serves as Managing Director of Wealth Operations at Tolleson Wealth Management. She leads a team that facilitates client reporting, investment partnership activity and custody relationships. She also oversees client bill pay, bookkeeping and cash flow statement preparation. She serves as the Co-Chair for the Tolleson Wealth Management’s IT Governance Committee and is a member of the firm’s Risk Committee and SEC Compliance Committee.

Jennifer joined the firm in 2003 as a Performance Reporting analyst. She was promoted four times within the firm from an Investment Analyst to her current role as Managing Director. She is also the firm’s first employee to grow her career from entry level to Managing Director. In these roles, she assisted in the execution of the firm’s investment research process and took on managerial responsibilities for the department before she was appointed to her current Managing Director of Wealth Operations role. Jennifer received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from Southern Methodist University and is currently a member of the Junior League of Dallas.

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Melissa Gilbertson

Assistant Vice President, Information Technology and Trading Operations Manager | Mairs & Power

Melissa oversees the daily operations of the Information Technology and Trading Operations departments. The IT group provides overall technology support for our key systems and network, disaster recovery, data security and all related activities. The Trading group handles, among other things, trading strategies, portfolio construction, internal reporting, compliance, execution and broker management. Melissa has built a wealth of IT and project management skills through her previous positions with Alerus Retirement Solutions, Fairview Health Services and United Health Group.

She is an active member of several industry peer-to-peer organizations. In addition to participating in professional activities, Melissa is a Board of Trustee member and chairs the Finance Committee of the Episcopal Homes of Minnesota and is a board member of the CFA Society of Minnesota. She earned a BA from the University of Minnesota and an MBA from the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul. Melissa and her husband are happy empty-nesters and now spend their free time raising bees and selling honey to support their local non-profit scholarship program promoting arts in the public schools.

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Sarah Johnson

Host | SS&C Advent

Sarah is part of SS&C Advent’s advisory marketing team, with her primary focus being the Black Diamond® Wealth Platform. Along with writing and managing sales enablement content, she also develops client communications, coordinates webinars, and portrays the value of integration through her work with complementary partner solutions. Sarah began her marketing career in financial services in 2009, holding roles at Atlantic Coast Bank and TIAA Bank before transitioning to financial technology in 2018 when she started with SS&C Advent. She holds a BBA in management with a minor in communications from the University of North Florida.

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Trent Berry

Host | SS&C Advent

Informally known as ”The Voice of University,” Trent Berry joined SS&C Advent at the turn of the century in 2000, having previously worked in Support and Consulting before occupying his current long standing role as Advent’s Senior Instructional Designer As such, he is responsible for client and employee training for products such as APX, Axys, and Geneva. In his spare time when not working or perfecting French cooking techniques in his kitchen, Trent owns and operates Dreamrack Studios, a professional recording studio in San Francisco where he can be found producing and engineering music for various artists.