During her nearly 30 years in banking, Anita Glencoe of Flossmoor has been helping to shatter the male dominant stereotypes about bankers.
Today Glencoe is senior vice president/senior portfolio manager at Bank of America’s offices in Chicago, but when she started “there were very few women” around the office.
It’s a different story now, and Glencoe encourages women to look at a profession in banking. She also mentors young women through the Chicago Area Mentoring Program under the LEAD for Women Group at Bank of America. LEAD, or Leadership, Education, Advocacy and Development, is a global network of the bank’s employees.
“When you think of the clientele that a large bank has, (many) are women. Women control a large portion of wealth as well. And so I have a lot of clients who are women,” including young millennials, women who own businesses and business professionals, Glencoe explained.
“So, it makes sense that you have women (at the bank) to assist them with their investments and financial goals, etc.”
After graduating from Northern Illinois University, Glencoe’s first job in the banking industry was a temporary position at First National Bank of Chicago (today JPMorgan Chase). It turned into a four-year position in the Regulatory Reporting Group where she worked on monthly, quarterly and annual reports of the bank’s profits and losses for reporting agencies.
During those years, she went back to school completing her MBA from DePaul University in 1992.
“I mentioned to an associate that I wanted to go some place where $1 million actually meant something,” she recalled. She moved to the consumer side High Net Worth Group as a portfolio manager in 1994.
Initially she started in the Estate Administration Group to assist with administering the estate when a client passed away.
“It was a way for me to get my feet wet, work on an account. The bank kept the account while the administration process was going on and then the assets were distributed per the trust document or will,” she explained.
“Then I also worked with guardian accounts for minors or disabled adults where the bank held the assets and managed those assets.” It was another way for Glencoe to learn the business.
Her next move was working with clients who had $3 million or less in assets.
“As the assets grew, my career moved upward,” she said. Today she is working with clients who have greater than $3 million in assets “but also I’m assisting not-for-profit groups, endowments, charitable organizations as well. I was able to build that when I moved to Bank of America (in 2005).”
Glencoe’s career experiences are enabling her to mentor young women in the field.
“When I was coming up, I don’t think it was called mentorship,” but she has had bosses who would help address her concerns. She appreciates that her current boss has that open door policy.
Glencoe’s role with the bank’s Chicago Area Mentoring Program is similar. She has been a sounding board to address her mentee’s concerns and give her a different viewpoint.
