100 Women in Hedge Funds Brings Education, Philanthropy and More to Boston

Groundbreaking event delivers three pillars of educational programming, professional leverage initiatives, and philanthropy. Formed in December 2001, 100 Women in Hedge Funds was created by Dana Hall, Carol Kim, and Sarah Dyer with the goal of bringing together 100 seasoned female industry leaders. In terms of the organization itself, this event in Boston tomorrow said that the overall mission has not changed. “We have three pillars: Education, Philanthropy, and then what we call Peer Leverage,” Amanda Pullinger, Executive Director of 100 Women in Hedge Funds, explained. “That's really interesting about this event in Boston tomorrow s that it's actually the first time we've brought together three pillars in one event.” Pullinger provided Benzinga with the following description of each pillar: Education – “These are our industry education events, industry topics, panel discussions, high-level speakers. I think we've had over 600 speakers at this point. We've put on over 300 education events globally in 14 locations. And I anticipate this year that we will do 70 industry education events.” Philanthropy – “We've raised over $25 million for charities in the areas of education, mentoring, and women and family health over the last 10 years. We've mainly done that through three galas – one in New York, one in London, and one in Geneva, but also other types of fundraisers.” Peer Leverage – “That's really about connecting and engaging our senior practitioners, usually in a smaller environment where we're linking people either on a role basis (we bring together CFOs or portfolio managers or lawyers who are in the industry) in a smaller setting than our normal education event. Or it's bringing a group of senior practitioners to have a higher-level conversation about topics that might range from investing in infrastructure to women in corporate boards to a whole bunch of other topics that are relevant to the senior practitioners.” “What tomorrow brings is our very first event where we've taken our education format, extended it – we usually do it in the evening and it's usually one panel or one speaker – but we've extended it to a whole day with the proceeds going to last year's beneficiary, the Clinton Foundation and the Alliance for a Healthier Generation,” Pullinger continued. “What we found in this event is…it's probably going to be one of the most senior practitioner-focused events we've ever done. We're seeing a number of interesting people who haven't necessarily come to our events before that are coming tomorrow. So it's really the first time we've combined all three of our pillars.” A Grassroots Organization Pullinger told Benzinga that 100 Women in Hedge Funds is “definitely an organization that's grassroots in terms of the local committees that create all of these events.” “100 Women in Hedge Funds provides an overarching brand and a global network for our local committees,” said Pullinger. “But each of the events you see listed on a local basis are generated locally by our volunteer committee members in those locations. They're hosted locally by a firm that's a supporter of the organization. And the topics and speakers, again, are sourced locally. What 100 Women in Hedge Funds has ended up becoming is, we created kind of a framework – and we have very high standards, so we are looking to make sure that the quality of all of the events that we do in each location is the highest possible quality.” Pullinger said that the actual events are “very much generated at a local level, based on local interests.” “Obviously there are some global topics that cross over all of our locations, regulation being one,” she said. “But it the management of those events is really through local volunteers, and I see that continuing and growing.” After an event gets started in a particular location, Pullinger said that they might have four education events in the first year. “But what I see in each location is that they then grow from those education events often into doing a fundraiser in that location, maybe small at first and then growing, as Boston has done, and then looking how they can engage senior practitioners in that location,” she said. Right On Target When asked about the market Pullinger hopes to serve with 100 Women in Hedge Funds, she said that the interesting thing about their events is that they give people a choice. “Not everybody wants to come to every topic,” she said. “What I find when I look at the data is, let's take portfolio managers, they tend to come to events that are around investment topics, not surprisingly.” Pullinger said that there are some people who are particularly interested in supporting our philanthropic efforts and put their energy into that, while others are more interested in the education sessions. “And that's what's great about our volunteers,” said Pullinger. “They take the passions that they have in a particular area and basically spend their time putting together events in that particular area.” With volunteers investing hundreds of hours of their time into the organization without compensation, you might be wondering what compels industry professionals to help out. “I am a director of marketing at an IT services firm, and all of our clients are hedge funds,” said Mary Beth Hamilton, the Marketing Chair for 100 Women in Hedge Funds Boston Conference. “So, for me, I was taking a look at the industry and looking for an opportunity to combine my professional background and work with hedge funds and marketing with my interest in philanthropy and giving back.” Hamilton said that in 2010, the 100 Women in Hedge Funds Boston community was looking to build up its philanthropy committee. “[They were] looking for volunteers and that matched perfectly with my personal and professional interests,” said Hamilton. “I attended the initial meeting and was really excited about the possibilities. Later that year we came together and held a kickoff fundraiser with a vision towards holding a bigger conference. It has been really exciting putting together the pieces and building one of the first, if not the first, hedge fund conference where all net proceeds will be donated to 100 Women in Hedge Funds' charitable beneficiary.” Finally, Mimi Drake, the Chairwoman of 100 Women in Hedge Funds, shared her excitement for tomorrow's event. “The event really represents what is so great about 100 Women in Hedge Funds and what I love about it and that is by taking a group of accomplished, dynamic, smart women and pulling them together for the hedge fund community we can be much more impactful than anything we could ever do on our own,” said Drake. “We are thrilled, not only in how successful and well-coordinated the event is, but also with the amazing response and we thank our team. This is our first time doing this, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. I think the event speaks to all the things that are great about 100 Women in Hedge Funds.” Follow me @LouisBedigian