New AHA board chair 玛莎·琼斯 knows all about navigating challenges
一个星期二的清晨, 玛莎·琼斯 was meeting in a corporate boardroom with about 25 colleagues, all fellow women financial advisers. 他们来自世界各地,讨论公司如何更好地支持他们的职业生涯.
他们听到一声巨响.
The boardroom concierge rushed in and said, "There's been an accident."
An airplane had hit the building across the street. 世界贸易中心.
另一架飞机撞上了第二座双子塔,而琼斯和其他女性则爬了33层楼梯. Exiting the building, they entered pandemonium.
他们看到碎片坠落. 人,太.
"There's no point in staying here," someone said. “我们需要行动起来!"
A colleague lived in the Chelsea neighborhood, so they headed there. Sticking close to each other, they walked to the West Side Highway and turned north. Nearly 3 miles away, Jones turned back.
"That's when we saw the first building collapse,她说. They later learned an eruption of heat, metal and dust whooshed toward the spot where they'd been standing.
The most gripping part about Jones' story from Sept. 11, 2001, however, isn't what happened that day. It's what she did to help her company, Merrill Lynch, recover from that day.
Jones spearheaded rebuilding that office — not the physical space, 而是它的精神, as well as its vital role in the company's legacy. Her success led to more prominent roles, 接下来是另一个独特的挑战——不仅是成为PNC金融服务公司的首席多元化官, but creating the diversity department for a regional bank that was becoming a national one.
On July 1, Jones takes on her next leadership challenge. 她将开始为期两年的美国心脏协会全国董事会主席的任期.
“玛莎的愿景, wisdom and guidance will benefit every aspect of our organization," AHA Chief Executive Officer Nancy Brown said. “她对我们最珍视的价值观的承诺非常适合明年我们成立100周年,同时我们也将迎来第二个世纪."
***
Before working for major financial institutions, Jones worked in another profession where numbers mattered.
她教小学.
她白天在南布朗克斯工作,晚上在哥伦比亚大学攻读硕士学位. She earned her degree in June 1973. When school started that fall, budget cuts had shrunk the job market for new teachers.
由于需要另一种支付房租的方式,她参加了一个培训她成为秘书的项目.
An alum of that program now working on Wall Street spoke to Jones' class. The visitor mentioned the added training needed to work there. 仅此一点就吸引了琼斯.
"As an educator, you are a constant learner,她说.
Jones wound up as the assistant to a man who was starting a business that studied mutual funds. His company — Lipper Analytical Services — began to transform the field, 她坐在前排.
After years of apprenticing, she made the jump to becoming a trader. Then, while working on the government securities desk, 她意识到 something. She was better suited for sales than trading.
那是在20世纪80年代,股票经纪人是黑人或女性是不寻常的,两者都是就更不用说了. Jones figured she needed the credibility of working for a major firm. She interviewed with Merrill Lynch and got hired the same day.
***
Growing up, Jones picked up a nickname from one of her friends: "The Crusader."
She earned it by becoming the first female crossing guard at her elementary school. 她领导唱诗班的女孩们罢工以确保她们能得到报酬,就像男孩们一样. (This wasn't about equal pay, it was about getting paid, period.)
看到美林的管理层很少有女性,也没有黑人,《沙巴足球体育平台》开始改变这种状况.
晋升之路, 她意识到, was less about gender or skin color and more about the bottom line. She needed dominating sales figures.
“所以我就这么做了,”她说.
接下来,她通过了公司的考核中心,接受了严格的培训和考核. She came out of it with a management job. She also landed a mentor who helped her understand the nuances of the corporate culture. Among those nuances was the fact that as he rose, so did she.
Jones became the company's first woman to be national sales manager. She was in that role when the planes hit the twin towers.
当时,美林约有200名员工分布在世界金融中心2号楼的两层. 除了这群人,还有这间办公室的历史:美林的第一个销售部门. 所以大家都叫它S.D.进一步增加了它的遗产, the walls were lined with photos of former directors of that office, many of whom went on to more powerful roles.
The building itself endured relatively minor damage, allowing Merrill to reopen its office within a year. But it wasn't the same place it had been.
9月11日没有人在那里死亡. 11, 这个团队确实遭遇了一名伤亡人员——一名金融顾问,他当时正在其中一座塔楼的高处与客户会面. 还有无数人患有PTSD, 包括一名妇女,当第一架飞机撞击时,她正看着窗外,永远无法摆脱那个画面.
The company needed someone strong and steady to take over this location. Someone who understood its history and machinations. 一个能够说服该办公室的成员回来并能够招募其他人加入他们的人.
That someone, of course, was Jones. She became the first Black person to hold that job, 领导一个包括75人的核心团队,他们和各自的销售助理一起回来.
"To some extent, you're a professional family, right?她说. “你知道吗?, 是的, there's a job that we're doing on a day-to-day basis, 但在一天结束的时候, 我们都是人. 你们必须互相关心. You have to recognize that and make it part of the culture of your organization."
***
Jones continued to climb the ranks at Merrill. Not long after it became part of Bank of America, she took a call from a friend.
The woman invited her to a meeting with Jim Rohr, the CEO of PNC.
“什么是PNC?琼斯问道.
Based in Pittsburgh, the company was a "super regional" and still expanding. Rohr wanted to create the position of chief diversity officer.
"I am not an HR person," she told him. “我是做财富管理的. Looking at this from a business standpoint, you've got all kinds of opportunities for diversity to drive revenue."
罗尔很喜欢他听到的. 她得到了那份工作, and both Rohr and the entire executive committee supported putting her ideas into action. When a new CEO took over in 2013, the commitment from the top remained strong.
Jones made it work by fostering the concept of a professional family. It also could be described as the kind of inclusivity found in a fourth-grade classroom.
"If every single manager created an environment where every employee felt that they belonged, 他们也做出了贡献, and that everybody was on the same page, then the manager would be more effective, and that team would be more effective, more innovative and more profitable,她说. "And when you connected the dots across the organization, that would have a positive impact to revenue."
***
Because PNC plays a large role in Pittsburgh, its executives were in high demand there from nonprofit organizations seeking volunteers.
Jones became president of the YWCA of Greater Pittsburgh, 高级领导学院(一个专注于匹兹堡地区黑人高管发展的组织)主席, 很快, nationally) and on the board of the Imani Christian Academy.
She also joined the local board of the 美国心脏协会.
At first, it was because she believed in the mission. Then her dad died of complications from a stroke. Upping her involvement became a meaningful way to honor his memory.
"And then one thing kind of led to another,她说, laughing.
She rose from the local board to the regional board to the national board. On the national board, she served on the audit committee, then became its chair. That led to a term as treasurer and, 2022年中期, she was selected to succeed Ray Vara as national board chairperson.
***
琼斯被选为候任主席的几个月前,她在职业生涯中担任了另一个新角色.
退休人员.
现在住在佛罗里达, 她与美林的一位前同事一起创办了一家高管咨询和培训公司,至今仍与企业界保持着联系. Like her, he broke several glass ceilings for Black employees.
在不做志愿者或新工作的时候,她很可能在玩她的最新爱好:麻将. 她每周和一群来自她所在社区的女士一起玩一次,并喜欢在网上练习.
"To me, it's an adult video game,她说, laughing.
另一个奉献是她的家庭. She and her husband, Roderick, have three children and eight grandchildren. 最年轻的一代有在墨西哥打职业篮球的25岁女子,也有18个月大的男孩.
***
As she scaled back on work, why did Jones ratchet up her involvement with the AHA?
原因有很多. 这包括她对美国心脏协会强调人人享有健康平等的支持,以及首席执行官布朗和其他董事会成员像PNC的领导人一样致力于多元化.
She's also inspired by what she described as the organization's ongoing evolution. 她喜欢美国心脏协会进入第二个100年,仍然在寻找改进的方法, such as harnessing new technologies and addressing shifts in demographics.
在她的任期内,琼斯的目标是增加心肺复苏培训,特别是在资源不足的社区. She also hopes to see more diversity in the volunteer ranks, from committees to boards.
“我们有机会让不同年龄段的人发出自己的声音,这些声音可能没有得到很好的代表, particularly since they're going to be our future — Gen Z and millennials, 例如. 我认为我们有机会进入西班牙裔社区,也许我们还没有充分利用这种方式,她说. "So when we think about representation, 参与和志愿服务, there are still pockets for growth. 非常令人兴奋."