In honor of International Women's Day, two BBVA managers in Switzerland, Janet Pitan and Eva Blaya, share their female role models from the worlds of business, investment, and finance. These stories highlight contemporary women who make a difference: pioneers, innovators, and leaders.
International Women's Day is a time to continue advocating for equality and the inclusion of women and girls across all sectors of society. It is also an opportunity to honor the work of all those trailblazers who paved the way and made it possible for women to take center stage in various fields, including finance and investment.
In these sectors, numerous women have shattered the glass ceiling, paving the way for future generations. Among them are Muriel Mickie Siebert, the first woman to hold a seat on the New York Stock Exchange; Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank; Arundhati Bhattacharya, the first woman to chair the State Bank of India; and Sallie Krawcheck, CEO and co-founder of Ellevest, an investment platform designed specifically for women. And the list continues.
To celebrate International Women's Day on March 8th, we spoke with two women in the financial sector, who are executives at BBVA in Switzerland. They shared with us the figures in the banking and finance industries who inspire them, the professionals they admire, and the valuable lessons they have learned from them for both their personal and professional lives.
Esther Dufló, Nobel Prize winner in Economics
“My role model is Esther Duflo, an innovative woman with a real impact on people,” says Janet Pitan, Human Resources Director at BBVA in Switzerland. Duflo was born in Paris in October 1972. In 2019, at the age of 47, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics for her approach to reducing global poverty. She became the youngest person and only the second woman in history to receive this honor.
“I deeply admire Duflo's dedication to understanding and combating global poverty. One of her most notable achievements is co-founding the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). This organization promotes using scientific evidence to inform policy-making aimed at reducing poverty,” explains Pitan.
“I have learned from her that it is crucial to rely on data and evidence when making decisions, and that combining knowledge and action can create a positive impact on the world,” adds the head of HR at the financial institution. Another significant achievement to highlight is her role in ensuring that the women who followed her have more opportunities and open doors in their careers.
“Without a doubt, Esther Duflo has been a pioneer and a role model for women in economics,” Pitan notes. Her success and international recognition have proven that women can lead and make meaningful contributions in fields traditionally dominated by men. Furthermore, her position as a professor at MIT and her active involvement in various organizations have opened doors and created more opportunities for women interested in economic research and the effective implementation of public policies.
Jane Fraser, leadership on Wall Street
Jane Fraser was born in July 1967 in St. Andrews, UK, and has committed her career to economics and banking. Her appointment as CEO of Citigroup made her the first woman to lead one of Wall Street's major banks. “She made history in 2021. In a male-dominated industry, her rise represents a milestone in the fight for gender equality in finance", says Eva Blaya, CFO of BBVA in Switzerland.
Her success has inspired many women to pursue careers in finance. She demonstrated that women can successfully lead global companies. Among the aspects that lead Blaya to choose Fraser as a benchmark in the world of finance, they are also her leadership capacity and her vision to modernize banking.
Blaya admires Fraser's leadership skills and her vision for modernizing banking, which are among the reasons she considers her a role model in finance. "She has demonstrated admirable leadership in times of crisis. Before becoming CEO, she led the consumer banking division and played a crucial role in the bank's recovery after the 2008 financial crisis", says the CFO. Moreover, since taking the helm, she has initiated changes in Citigroup's culture, emphasizing efficiency, digitization, and sustainability.
“If I had to highlight Fraser's qualities, I would emphasize her resilience and adaptability. From her early days at McKinsey to reaching the top of Citigroup, she has held various roles and navigated challenges across different markets and during crises. I believe her ability to constantly reinvent herself and learn is key to her achievements, argues Blaya. "However, if I had to choose a single trait to define her, I would say she is a leader who combines strategic vision with humanity, something that sets her apart in the competitive world of finance.
Other influential figures
Many professionals also see Gita Gopinath as an example. And that's not a coincidence: in January 2022, this economist became the first deputy manager of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Gopinath was born in December 1971 in Calcutta (India) and studied economics at different universities in India and the US.
Over her career, she has held important positions, such as professor of economics at Harvard University and chief economist at the IMF, which made the British newspaper Financial Times include her in its list of the 25 most influential women in the world in 2021. Gopinath has used and continues to use her voice to highlight the importance of breaking the glass ceiling and of having more women occupy leadership spaces in financial institutions.
Another professional often highlighted as a role model is Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the first woman to lead the World Trade Organization (WTO) and also the first person from Africa to hold this position. Okonjo-Iweala was born in June 1954 in Ogwashi-Uku (Nigeria), trained in Economics and Development, and has held various positions that have made her one of the most influential women in the world.
The economist has worked as Nigeria's Minister of Finance, as Managing Director of Operations at the World Bank, and as a member of the boards of companies such as Standard Chartered PLC and Twitter Inc. She is a true advocate of trade as a weapon to promote sustainable development and distribute wealth.
Any list of influential women in the world of finance would not be complete without Claudia Goldin, who won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2023 for her research on the gender gap in the labor market. Goldin was born in May 1946 in New York (USA) and studied economic history.
She quickly became interested in the role of the female workforce and its impact on economic growth, ultimately directing her career towards studying gender inequality in accessing the best jobs and highest salaries. In 2019, she received the BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge Award for her innovative contributions to the historic analysis of women's role in the economy. Her work is fundamental to understanding the economic component of gender inequality.