BNY Executive Platform Owner Wealth Services, Ainslie Simmonds

Girl Money Talks, Annette Walker

You work for the Bank of New York. Please describe your job and what you do in straightforward terms.

BNY, Ainslie Simmonds

The Bank of New York develops financial platforms to help companies manage their operations. The platform I manage helps wealth management firms. These are financial advisors who assist individuals with their personal financial matters. The platform I run helps wealth management firms have everything they need to assist individuals with their financial needs. For example, financial planning, the ability to trade stocks, and building portfolios — everything a financial advisor would do for a wealthy client — is my business. My platform builds and supports these things.

Girl Money Talks, Annette Walker

Would your job involve a lot of structure, or is it more flexible? I’m the type of person who likes to do something different every day, but I know what kind of routine I’ll be in. Is there a lot of structure or not?

BNY, Ainslie Simmonds

When you start your career, there’s a lot of structure because you’re working on a specific project. But when you end up in a seat like mine, it’s really juggling a lot of different things in my day. That’s more a question of where you want to be on the corporate ladder. There are plenty of opportunities for people who want to come in, take pieces of something, and then become an expert, living a very structured path. But then there are other paths for people like me who want a tapas platter of all the things. So that’s less about finance, and that’s more about where you want to be on the ladder.

Girl Money Talks, Annette Walker 

More towards college, was there anything that you liked studying that contributed to your success, or, on the flip side, was there anything that you regretted not studying that you think could be useful?

BNY, Ainslie Simmonds

I didn’t know I was going into finance when I attended university or graduate school. It’s never been my ambition to be in finance. I got here by mistake. So I think what I liked about all the classes I took in undergraduate and graduate school, I took general sorts of business classes, and it gave me a broad exposure to everything, which I thought was really good because even like in the vertical of finance, you still have to understand operations and marketing and HR and all the other things. So, remember that my job is to do a lot of everything or a little bit of everything. Sorry, that’s what I meant to say.

For me, having that comprehensive approach was an excellent way to take it all in, and I have never regretted that. If I had to be more of what’s called a domain expert or a specialist, then I might have and probably should have dived into some other topics. For example, I never really learned how to handle mergers and acquisitions. That’s a thing in finance. You can work for a company that buys and sells other companies. However, I knew enough to recognize that when it came time to buy and sell companies as part of my job, I could at least work with the experts who specialized in that area. So, again, it depends a little bit on what your ambition is, because if your ambition is to explore that part of finance that you’re super interested in, then you can take some in-depth classes. But if you aspire to be more of a generalist, then I would be more general. That being said, there’s nothing you can take in university that you’d ever regret.

Girl Money Talks, Annette Walker 

Could you talk a little bit about your first jobs after college and how you got to where you are now?

BNY, Ainslie Simmonds

Upon graduating, I entered the marketing field and worked for Campbell Soup Company. The reason I really loved that job is that I felt like I owned a product. I was given the responsibility of managing and marketing Swanson Broth. Okay, let’s take that as an example. I could make all the decisions, and I took ownership of them. And I got that job through the career placement center at my university. After I did that for a few years, Campbell Soup, a company, offered to send me to Harvard for my MBA for free. So I took them up on it. I asked, and they said yes. Then, I worked for Campbell’s for three more years, taking on additional responsibilities. 

It was like the early 2000s, when the internet was really taking off. And I thought, wow, that sounds really interesting because one of the things I loved most about being a product manager was how data-driven it was, and on the internet, you could measure everything. And I thought that was fascinating. I joined a company that was more digitally focused. It just so happened that the company was an options trading company, and I knew nothing about options or trading. But I thought, Wow, this seems really interesting. There’s this gentleman that I’ve met who wants to hire me. He’s going to let me jump into this role. So, I took a giant leap and moved into finance and digital, where I’ve stayed for the rest of my career. 

When I say I got there by accident, I really did. But what I always try to tell people is that your career is like sailing. You need to know where you want to go on the lake, but you’ll have to tack to get there. There’s no straight line. So I tried to work on exciting things. I knew I wanted to be data-driven. I knew there was a lot I was familiar with. Still, I was open to leaving the food and consumer products industry, where I was, to transition into finance because it would put me in a position to work with digital technology. And that was really important. So, I’ve made a series of decisions like that in my career, where I’ve always gone to the next challenge, and I’ve often had to jump sideways or backwards. Sometimes I’ve even taken significant pay cuts to do that. However, it has always made sense to me because I’ve been guided towards the general idea that I wanted to be the CEO of a large company. And now I’m currently the CEO of a $3 billion company.

Girl Money Talks, Annette Walker

It’s incredible that, despite all the jobs you had, they sent you to Harvard for free. That’s so nice.

BNY, Ainslie Simmonds

Sometimes you have to have the moxie to ask.

Girl Money Talks, Annette Walker 

Who did you turn to for advice or guidance, as finance is a slightly male-dominated industry, when you were starting your career and moving up the corporate ladder?

BNY, Ainslie Simmonds

I’ve been in a male-dominated environment, as it’s also a tech company, which is traditionally very male-dominated, and I’m at the intersection of tech and finance. I didn’t have a great set of mentors to guide me. But what I learned is that I could hold my own in any of those rooms and that it was just essential to be myself. There are all kinds of things you could worry about. Still, my honest advice to you is not to worry about it, because women possess a wide range of capabilities, including collaboration, communication, networking, and high emotional intelligence.

There’s a long list of female-positive attributes that finance needs and appreciates. And as long as you’re effective and you’re listening and learning along the way, I wouldn’t worry too much about it. The industry has shifted. There’s definitely still bro moments, but on the flip side, I’ve got a great girl tribe here, and we really lift each other. So not your first worry. Your first concern should be to ensure you have a broad exposure to various aspects of college life. You start to listen to yourself about what you like and don’t like.

I always recommend keeping a journal. I know it sounds hokey, but it’s a good idea. What are you thinking? Did I like this class? Did I not like this class? Was this interesting? Was this not interesting? Would I want to do more of this or less of this? When did I get really excited? When was I bored out of my mind? Those self-reflections will help you navigate effectively. I don’t worry too much about other people.

Girl Money Talks, Annette Walker

Well, thank you so much for that response, because my following two questions were just about advice. So you got it all perfectly. I really appreciate you sharing some valuable insight for our readers.

BNY, Ainslie Simmonds

I’m happy to do that.