When Suni Harford was promoted to head Citigroup's newly formed global fixed income research department, she traveled to nine cities across the globe, from Hong Kong to Sydney to São Paolo, for face-to-face talks with each of her 300 research analysts—85 percent of them men and a third of them PhDs. "I was an outsider—a banker, no less—so I needed to learn exactly what they did, as well as what they felt needed to change," she says.
That exceptional quality of interaction has propelled Harford's career into the higher reaches of the sales and trading world, where few women hold managerial posts. "You can't be a woman in this business and not know you're a woman," she says with a laugh. Her female role model at Citigroup encouraged Harford to make herself heard. So she has trained herself to make her views known. Or to let management know when she felt worthy of a new role. "In my major career moves, I've raised my hand and asked," she says.
Deciding to go for the most recent promotion was itself a big step. Harford had just delivered her third child. "In every woman's maternity leave, there's a point where you ask yourself 'Am I going back or not?' Having to make compromises forces you to make the most of your choices, and I knew I wanted to come back to a career, not just a job. I wanted a change and, ideally, a bigger management role."
She got it. The department was new and unique on Wall Street as a global, central repository for the trading and risk management analytics for fixed income. Though essential to the success of any trading franchise, the research analyst is often behind the scenes. Harford has worked to raise the visibility and effectiveness of her researchers and has navigated a regulatory environment that is inclined to treat her experts as tightly governed equity analysts rather than as quantitative analysts and risk managers. As a result, her group was the first on the Street to cease publishing corporate bond research. "I spend a lot of time with lawyers and compliance officers, but I love my job," she says. "It's different every day."
Harford didn't envision a job in finance—much less a career—when she majored in physics and math at Denison University, but a stultifying year as an insurance actuary persuaded her to go to Tuck, where she acquired the preparation, presentation, and people skills that helped her ascend quickly on Wall Street. Starting in investment banking at Merrill Lynch, she went on to head up the medium-term note group at Salomon Brothers (later Citigroup). Then she moved to the capital markets group, which she would eventually co-head and where she worked for 10 years until her recent move.
She plans her workdays and business trips to maximize time at home with her husband and three children. Balancing work and family "involves compromises," she says. "I don't like the word 'sacrifice.'" Her dream for her life five years from now? "To teach physics! Unfortunately, you can't send three kids to Tuck on a teacher's salary, so it will be my retirement program. Physics is so easy, and everyone—especially girls—is so afraid of it. But majoring in it gave me an advantage in the business world: people assume you're smart, whether it's true or not."
