The importance of agility in a changing world.

Geraldine Sundstrom is a managing director and portfolio manager at PIMCO and in 2022 won the Lifetime Achievement Award at our European Women in Finance Awards. Here she discusses curiosity, progress and empowerment.

Market conditions have been volatile but what have you found to be the most challenging?
I primarily manage the asset allocation team and portfolios in Europe at PIMCO. We are all used to encountering adverse markets, but 2022 has been challenging in terms of the length of the high volatility and the lack of avenues for diversification as both bonds and equities fared poorly – so it was really correlations.

What skill-sets are required for today and have they changed over the past couple of years?
Intellectual flexibility and constant learning is what you need in a changing world. That never changes, except nowadays everything seems to be happening faster. For instance, some markets might be pricing the recovery before the recession has even happened. My tendency would be to stick to the discipline of sequencing and not put the kart in front of the horse and that patience with a strong fundamental compass is the way to go.

How did you get started in financial services and is this the career you envisioned? If not, what had been the plan?
It was a series of 180 degrees turn really, I first wanted to go into engineering but the prospect of being the sole woman in the class scared me and I veered for politics at the last minute, which turned out to be a wrong choice. However, it made me discover economics and finance and this is where I eventually settled for my studies and career.

What progress do you think women have made in financial services? How have things changed since you started?
Things have definitely changed in the past 26 years but the greatest move has to be the past 3 years or so as the industry embraced the benefits of diversity. I see more women joining the industry at the junior level but also more women climbing the ladder which is really heart-warming. That said there is some way to go still but you need time to bring-in and develop talents, I am optimistic this is happening and I take immense joy in helping and mentoring young talents.

What needs to be done to move the needle further?
As a woman in the industry, I have always felt I had to juggle too many tasks 24/7 as a professional, wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend… with the constant feeling of failing on all counts. To me this is the biggest problem for women in the workforce and the biggest help really is empowering us to manage our time in and out of the office, trusting that the job will get done well even if we do not necessarily Facetime the longest hours in the office. It is trust, as simple as that.

How does your firm support women and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in general?
Inclusion and diversity is core to the way we work and develop our people at PIMCO. It is incorporated at every level and through every team. We also have a number of different employee resource groups that support key I&D areas at the firm.

How are you involved?
Absolutely both formally but also informally. The informal side is of crucial importance too, reaching out to colleagues facing tough times, sharing experience, tips, being honest. The feeling of being part of a group and not being alone, having a shoulder in the room to go to, is of huge importance.

There is a plethora of awards for women in the financial sector. In your opinion, what still needs to happen before we no longer need gender-specific awards?

Probably when women at the top have reached the critical mass of 1/3, some way to go.

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