Black Excellist: Suzanne Shank the $2 Trillion Dollar Woman - 10 Things You Didn't Know

hello and welcome back in today's black excellence presentation we will highlight 10 things you didn't know about Suzanne shank welcome to black excellest comm the site where we celebrate black excellence opulence and affluence our mission is to inspire you as we enlighten you Suzanne shank is a two trillion dollar businesswoman and is unarguably one of the most powerful women on Wall Street shank story is a fascinating one and shows how talent hard work and the ability to embrace change can have remarkable outcomes she's broken through the glass ceiling that holds women back especially black women and she has gone on to be the chairwoman and CEO of Siebert Cisneros shankin company under her watch and from her offices in Detroit her firm has grown tremendously by arranging billions upon billions in financing for airports roads schools and other municipal and corporate projects across the nation her determination shows us that no matter what barriers are in front of you you can break through them this powerful black woman is one to remember as her trailblazing ways will continue to inspire and nurture more and more great minds in the african-american community in this original black excellence video we will be featuring students and shank so without further ado let's get started 1 Suzanne is a native of Savannah Georgia growing up in a middle-class family as an only child in Savannah Georgia Suzanne shank was a gifted child who could read by the age of three she excelled at math science and was quite an overachiever she was a straight-a student cheerleader homecoming queen school newspaper editor and valedictorian of the class of 1979 her parents Mary and larger shank were her role models and instilled into her incredible work ethics her mom a graduate of Spelman College held a master's degree and would become a sister school superintendent her father was George's first black bus driver which helped him land a position as head of the Regional Transit Authority almost 35 years after graduating from high school Schenk would return to Savannah to structure a fifteen million dollar refinancing deal for the Savannah Airport project in 2013 - Suzanne earned her MBA at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School Schank credits her guidance counselor for steering her to a STEM education which eventually led her to enrolling at the Georgia institution of Technology which she earned a bachelor's degree in civil engineering after graduating from Georgia Tech Suzanne was attracted to the city of Atlanta and joined General Dynamics a global aerospace and defense company General Dynamics was opening a new facility in Atlanta that allowed her to work on their nuclear submarine program however after two years it became clear to shank that she was drawn more to financial management than engineering so she shifted gears and applied to a handful of prestigious business schools she was accepted at Harvard and Columbia but decided to pursue her MBA at Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania her parents were not thrilled that she was leaving a stable engineering job in corporate America for a degree in finance but she followed her instincts and it was at Wharton where she became intrigued with Wall Street 3 Suzanne is co-founder and CEO of Siebert Cisneros shank Siebert bradford shank and company was started in 1996 by shank napoleon bradford and Muriel Siebert the first woman to own a seat on the New York Stock Exchange Bradford and shank built a successful boutique municipal bond firm when secret raised the idea of merging her firm with them shank was immediately tapped to serve as president and CEO of the merged company after a turn of events Siebert died in 2013 and Bradford retired making shank the majority owner of the firm she acquired two new partners in Henry Cisneros and William Thompson which resulted in the company's name changing to Siebert Cisneros shank and company today her company employs 80 people in 17 offices nationwide with dual headquarters in New York and Oakland California for Suzanne has participated in more than two trillion dollars with the transactions shank along with her former partners built a firm that has managed over two trillion dollars in financing for municipal users corporate bonds and equity transaction the transactions include more than 1.2 trillion dollars and principal amount of municipal bond transaction an 800 billion in corporate bond and equity transactions since her company's inception in 2010 her company made history by becoming the first minority or a woman owned firm to break into the top ten municipal bond underwriters on Wall Street throughout her 30-year journey shank has been able to successfully pivot by adopting a don't give up mindset 5 Suzanne is the first black woman to lead a publicly traded financial institution with Siebert's death in 2013 and Bradford's retirement the firm realigned its ownership structure under shanks leadership to create the preeminent black Hispanic and women-owned firm on Wall Street she had to grow into the role of CEO with on-the-job training she had to figure out how to balance managing clients along with compliance responsibilities human resource activities fair trade policies as well as administrative duties she was fully responsible for all aspects of the business while stepping away from her normal traditional banking role her tribe and intelligence helped her think more strategically and she has been very successful in moving her business forward as a CEO today her company ranks among the top ten in seven key infrastructure categories for underwriting municipal bonds in the world we would like to thank patentee Joseph and company they are an international tax team who can help American entrepreneurs and business owners expand and operate internationally in particular cadency Joseph and company helps American business owners expand to Southeast Asia visit WWE TV ad X or check out their link in the description box below 6 Muriel Siebert was her best mentor secret who was the first woman to own a seat on the New York Stock Exchange would advocate taking risk is sometimes what we have to do to advance our career shape work closely alongside the Wall Street legend Muriel Mickey Siebert absorbing as much as she could from the first woman of Finance the knowledge and experience she gained from Siebert was a critical and large part of Schank success shake acknowledges the late Mickey is a wonderful business partner mentor and friend shank is paying it forward by being a role model to her employees committing extensive amount of time to mentor young people in Detroit and supporting several mentorship programs for inner-city youth across America 7 Suzanne is a very successful businesswoman and even better wipes and mother shank is a trailblazer and is one of the most successful african-american women ever on Wall Street this is a monumental feat indeed but her legacy is defined by her excellence both in the office and at home this working mom knows how to balance her priorities and feels it's very important to be a loving wife an extraordinary mother her husband Sean word low is the chief operating officer of the company and has played a key role in the firm since joining in 2005 together they have two daughters who are currently age 15 and 19 8 Suzanne has received numerous honors and awards Schenk has won several awards and garnered numerous accolades from a variety of organizations and publications the financial maven has been inducted into the Academy of engineering alumni by Georgia Tech a 30 year veteran of the industry Schenk is also named Entrepreneur of the Year by the National Association of securities professionals and top 25 women in finance by US Banker magazine she has also been recognized by American Banker magazine and wealth manager web.com as one of the most powerful women in finance she was recognized by essence magazine in its power list by Black Enterprise magazine as one of the 50 most influential black women in business and as one of the 75 most powerful blacks on Wall Street she has also been recognized by the Wharton School from among a hundred thousand graduates as one of its 125 influential people and ideas shank was also named the national Entrepreneur of the Year by the madam CJ Walker center nine suzanne is deeply committed to promoting mentorship remembering her humble beginnings Schenk is deeply committed to causes promoting mentorship of inner-city youth having formed and supported various mentorship programs across the country she is active in numerous industry and civic organizations and serves on several boards including the Wharton graduate Board of Trustees citizens Budget commission women and public finance Detroit Institute of Arts and Detroit regional chambers among others she is also a member of the Spelman College Board of Trustees she is heavily involved in the Charles H bright Museum of african-american history she spearheaded the formation of the Detroit summer finance Institute an internship program that introduces high school students to the financial world she is also the vice president of the founding board of the water access volunteer effort which helps underprivileged Detroit residents pay their water bills 10 Susan's advice I've always seen myself as a business leader being a woman has armed me with attributes that are indicative of great leaders women tend to multitask well women promote collaboration and teamwork women are their own toughest critics so we work hard and as I said previously we have great empathy for others these are qualities necessary to be a great leader and women are just wired with these strengths by my goal is to be viewed as a leader not only a woman leader as I have great men working for me too we appreciate the fact that you stayed with us until the end thank you for spending time with us and don't forget to like this video also make sure you subscribe so that you never miss a video bye for now we will see you tomorrow

Channel: Black Excellence Excellist

Views: 131,989

Rating: 4.9628725 out of 5

Keywords: black, excellist, african, american, wall street, money, suzanne shank, cisnero, muriel siebert, nyse, muni, municipal bonds, bonds, stock, stock market, investments

Id: FkSXOamXD1c

Length: 11min 28sec (688 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 06 2018