From left to right: Charleen Huber, Sheryl Lisowski, and Charlotte Roraff
Women in Finance, a recent topic at a Finance@Noon event, featured Charleen Huber, Sheryl Lisowski, and Charlotte Roraff. All three have experience working in the financial industry and were ready and willing to share their experiences they have encountered in the workplace.
Charleen Huber graduated from Winona State University with a bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Business Administration. She started as a Financial Analyst at Mayo Clinic and worked her way up to become a Program Manager at IBM where she has been working for 22 years. She believes that some of the most important qualities that you can have when in the workplace are to be focused, organized, and detail-oriented. One should also make sure that others contribute to the conversation and try to be a coach to everyone. She did share some of the disadvantages of being a woman in the workplace, one is that men are often given more credible compared to women. She recommends to be confident in what you do and say, emphasizing on the fact that everyone should always try to do the right thing.
Students paying attention to the panel of women at Finance @ Noon
Sheryl Lisowski in her current role serves as the Controller, CAO, and Treasurer for Fastenal. In the past she has served as their CFO as well. She shared how one of the most important qualities someone can have in the workplace is that you should know how to work with all different kinds of people. If you can do this, you will be much more successful. She offered this advice, “be confident in what you’re doing and try to learn from one another.” When asked how she handles unethical situations, she told everyone, “surround yourself with people who are better than you.” That point seemed to resonate with students.
Charlotte Roraff ’99, ’02 graduated from Winona State with a bachelor’s degree in Human Resources Management and a masters in Training and Development. She shared with the group that the most important quality someone can possess in the workplace is resiliency. Being able to bounce back from a situation is something that is very important. She also shared that professionals should always try to be flexible and remember that privacy is important; never tell other people about someone else’s finances.
Thank you to these three strong women for sharing their experiences in finance with us, the College of Bussiness students. It was an eye-opening experience.
Finance@Noon is a program started by Associate Professor of Finance Robert Wolf in the Fall of 2018. It gives students majoring in Finance the opportunity to gather and talk about topics related Finance.