Lunch with a Leader
Students need to practice being uncomfortable and take risks
Jacqui Canney, a 1989 Boston College graduate who majored in accounting and spent 25 years at Arthur Andersen (now Accenture) before transitioning to her current position as vice president of the Global People Division for Walmart, kicked off the semester’s Lunch with a Leader Series. Canney praised Boston College for offering her a liberal arts education along with access to a diverse wealth of course options. Born in New Jersey, she was the first one in her family to graduate college and had to take out loans to afford school. She credited this with motivating her to do well and the sense of responsibility to her family. Canney held several roles in accounting and finance at Andersen, and eventually discovered her passion for human resources through years of relationship building with her many clients. On recommendation from a client, she accepted a role at Walmart, an offer she had been initially skeptical about until she saw the company’s forward-thinking plan to move into the digital marketplace. She took the job and relocated her family to Arkansas from New Jersey, a move that Canney said was a strategic risk based on the principle of curiosity imbedded from her years at Boston College. Making a point to practice being uncomfortable and take risks is a quality that she stressed as important to students looking to join the workforce. Canney went on to explain that human resources is especially important to the Walmart brand because it is deeply intertwined with their objective as a business—to make life easier for busy families. Walmart employees go through virtual reality training on how to deal with crying babies and stressed out families as a way to meet this lofty goal. She also discussed Walmart’s commitment to diversity and explained that it is very important to be a diverse company so they can best serve their similarly diverse customer base all around the United States and the world. Instead of buying smaller companies and replacing them with the Walmart brand, they retain the company name so customers feel a more local and personal atmosphere. Finally, Canney concluded with a suggestion that students should relax more and be open to the job search instead of seeing it as a source of anxiety.
Christopher Murphy ’20, Winston Ambassador
Uncertainty should be viewed as an opportunity
Janet Wang ’99 is a senior investment professional and managing director specializing in emerging markets at Oaktree Capital Management. After college, she pursued job opportunities in various areas before finding the one that was the right fit for her, including at Evergreen Funds as an institutional services representative, and a research assistant and sell-side analyst at ABN Amro Asia in Taiwan. It was at ABN that she was able to hone her finance skills and understanding of markets and decided that she wanted to be in New York City, the home of finance. Wang answered questions that ranged from her experiences in Taiwan to her views on the landscape of current financial markets, and had a lot of insight on the current outlook of emerging markets. She addressed current issues of trade deficits, the Trump administration, the hiring environment of finance, and the technologies changing the industry, such as passive investments and quants. All of the advice she gave and the questions she answered were coupled with life lessons that extend beyond any certain job or opportunity. She stressed the importance of maintaining a good work-life balance and sustaining a core group of colleagues that are enjoyable to work with. While she may have visited as an alumna, her stories of hard work and tenacity as well as the success it has yielded resonated deeply with BC students, who are about to start new lives and careers. Wang’s final message to students was that uncertainty should be viewed as opportunity, as one never knows where the future will take you.
Roshan Taroll ’21, Winston Ambassador Student Co-director
Find a work-life balance that reflects your passions and goals
Husband-wife duo Keith and Anne Wargo shared their wisdom and gave advice to students as they embark on their own professional journeys. Mr. Wargo, a 1990 graduate from Boston College’s school of management, currently serves as managing director at Mizuho Bank. Mrs. Wargo, a graduate of Skidmore College, majored in English and French, and through connections and a love for solving complex problems, ended up pursuing a career in management consulting. She stressed the importance of seeking out opportunities through connections and not being afraid of putting yourself out there. Mr. Wargo talked to students about the common perception that Wall Street companies only hire candidates from schools of management. He shared an anecdote about how his best analyst was a French major who had written a book in French. This woman knew nothing about investment banking but he saw her potential and believed she possessed the skills to learn on the fly. He used this story to illustrate that students do not always need to take the straight path and can join industries they did not major in. The couple stressed the importance of finding a work-life balance that reflects their passions and goals. Mrs. Wargo expressed that her work at IBM was a dream come true because she was able to work as an educator of women within IBM and help to teach leadership skills. The Wargos left the students with some key bullet points to remember. Mr. Wargo wanted students to develop an appetite for information, remember BC and other schools they attend, set goals, be honest, and take the important steps to achieve objectives instead of skipping ahead. He also spoke about the need to seek truth in a world that becomes less and less clear each day. Mrs. Wargo recommended that students be aware of their emotional intelligence scale and maintain control over themselves in even the hardest times. When asked what regrets they might have about their college years, Mr. Wargo wished he had taken more arts and sciences classes while Mrs. Wargo wished she had taken more business classes. With a laugh, they both agreed it is important to diversify your knowledge and not become hyper focused on one single topic.
Christopher Murphy ’20, Winston Ambassador
Don’t be afraid to ask for help
Best Buy’s president of services, Trish Walker ’88, spoke with students about her career path and personal life. Walker talked about her 27-year career at Accenture Consulting after graduating from BC with a computer science degree. In the early years, she utilized her knowledge of computer science to work in a technical aspect for the firm, but began to marry her IT expertise with business while working with the vice president of pricing at CVS, who was a client. Later, Walker went on to work in a similar capacity with clients like Nordstrom and Best Buy, who eventually hired her to oversee the Geek Squad. Walker noted that mentorship was crucial to her success at Accenture. She cited her ability to ask for help from those she looked up to and her willingness to prepare her mentees to take her place as the key reason behind her ability to continually find new opportunities and grow while only working at one place for nearly three decades. In addition to mentorship, Walker also noted the necessity of maintaining a work-life balance. Even though she is the primary breadwinner for her family, Walker still has to juggle her responsibilities outside of the office. Thus, it is important to her to learn how the people on her team work, figure out what they love, and then accommodate their needs based on these factors, as flexibility facilitates collaboration, success, and happiness in the workplace.
William Taber ’20, Winston Ambassador