Kathie Andrade
“My biggest dream was always to be a mother. Because of that, I’ve taken a very nontraditional career path and tried some groundbreaking ideas that paved the way for many others at the companies I’ve worked for. I had the first job-share at FleetBoston Financial and began working on what’s now known as ‘flex time.’ It wasn’t easy. I would work from 9 p.m. until 3 a.m., while my kids were sleeping. I didn’t have work-life balance, but I had balance in what was important to me. That created an inner motivation for me. Because I was charting new territory, it forced me to imagine what could be possible and assume that it was achievable. That’s been my secret to success.”
How to do better: “Women need to have extra support. One recent initiative about which I’m particularly pleased is TIAA now offers 16-week parental leave at 100 percent compensation for all new parents—regardless of gender or status as primary or secondary caregiver. It’s an old-fashioned idea that women should shoulder more responsibility for children. But if we don’t allow men the ability to be there, we shift an incredible amount of work to women.”
—Kathie Andrade is CEO of Retail Financial Services at TIAA. tiaa.org
