SEI Women's Network

24 #HERSTORY How it all started It all started with a connection and an idea. You may remember one of the speakers from the 2020 SEI Women's Network Leader Summit, Lindsey Larrabee from Templar Advisors, who spoke about decision-making in environments of uncertainty. Since that amazing discussion, Templar Advisors maintained contact with the SEI Women's Network (SWN) board, specifically Alyssa Mandeville, and talked extensively about how they could help SEI through their women's professional development program. Understanding the need to ensure gender diversity across all levels at SEI, Alyssa recognized this as an opportunity to engage and influence in that space. "The SEI Women's Network board had just gone through an extensive exercise to develop our five strategic objectives to guide us in our priorities for 2021. The five objectives are Growth, Community, Recognition, Authentic Voice, and Collaboration. To me, creating a development program tailored to women aligned perfectly with our growth objective of increased development and education for women at SEI across the career spectrum. With this program, we look to help these women grow and refine skills necessary to take the next step in their journey," said Alyssa. Bringing the idea to fruition The idea of this learning opportunity was then socialized within the SWN board and took off from there. In the fall of 2021, SWN partnered with SEI Learning and Development and the SEI Get Grow Keep committee to pilot a new learning and networking cohort called the SEI Women's Development Series. Each cohort, which consists of 10 SEI women, was developed to provide a balance of learning sessions, networking, and discussion circles with a strong focus on growth and development. The program leveraged Templar Advisors to facilitate three of the sessions, while the other sessions were developed and facilitated by SEI's Learning and Development team. The initial pilot cohort was a six-week program, comprised of women leaders in manager and director roles, representing each of our business units globally. With the success of the pilot, SWN launched the second cohort in the spring of 2022, which had a similar makeup to the pilot cohort but extended the program over eight weeks, adding more opportunities for connection. The third cohort launched in the fall of 2022, but this time the focus was on women leaders who are currently individual contributors. The program grew again to an 11-week series, which allowed more time for participants to reflect on the learnings and connect with each other. The feedback received after each cohort has helped SWN and Learning and Development to build out the program with meaningful and effective sessions, while providing opportunities for networking and personal growth. It has also validated SWN's vision, purpose, and need for this offering. "I think it was a great opportunity to connect with leadership of all levels at SEI and to open the doors for one-on-one conversations. I've found that mentorship at SEI is a huge part of development within the company and the THE WOMEN'S DEVELOPMENT SERIES: Educating and connecting women at SEI. Pam Hernandez Workforce Development SEI Women's Network Board Member

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