After years of toleration, a female Wall Street executive takes action but not before serial pawings, and a mauling, at corporate event
The fiasco -- extreme but far from rare, says the author -- and its fallout inspired the 20-year industry veteran to revisit her 'high road' approach
Author Anonymous Guest Columnist March 8, 2016 at 6:09 PM
Appalled
March 9, 2016 — 7:42 PM
I want to thank the writer for having the guts and intelligence to write her story. I worked for 20+ years as an executive in the insurance industry working for one of the largest p/c carriers in the world. It was very common for high ranking executives to do just what was described in this article with promises of career enhancements for those that cooperated with the unwelcomed advances. Executives making claim to females as “private stock”, invitations to their rooms, and plenty more. Sickening but not unusual.
Rob Martorana
March 26, 2020 — 3:48 PM
I am so sorry to hear your story.
If I may make a suggestion, would it make sense if the advisory industry had a National Sexual Harassment Database (NSHD)?
It could be modeled after FINRA, and keep a public record of a person's disciplinary history, including their responses.
Alternatively, another way to operate might be to use the standards of the CFA Institute, a voluntary organization instead of a government organization. This would overcome objections from people who don't want "more regulations and intrusions". It might work as a voluntary associate that charges charterholders a fee to join.
The key recommendations I would make about the National Sexual Harassment Database (NSHD) is that it should be:
A third-party organization (because businesses and other organizations are not reliable when investigating themselves)
A specialized organization (because businesses are not qualified to investigate themselves--sexual harassment is a complex topic and beyond the scope of ordinary business)
Empowered to publicly discipline or remove members.
Public and free to access
Have a threshold for complaints, just like FINRA or the CFA Institute have thresholds for complaints.
Prioritize harassment, which if I understand correctly, means the exploitation of someone in a business relationship.
Focus on the NSHD charter holder, which is a specific person operating in a fiduciary capacity. (This would discourage anonymous complaints, or complaints that are unrelated to the person's fiduciary capacity and to sexual harassment -- i.e., they have overdue library books, they looked at me funny, or they parked their car in my driveway). In other words, the NSHD should be linked to individuals throughout their career in their capacity as a fiduciary.
I am not an attorney and this may be off base.
Once again, I regret to hear about your experience.
Sincerely,
Rob
