Stephanie Warren: Celebrating Two Decades of Leadership and Service

Mary Ellen Stanek:

Can you tell us a bit about your educational background?

Stephanie Warren:

I started interning at Baird while I was a sophomore in college and pursuing my degree in accounting. Back when I was in school, there was a prescriptive track which included targeting an internship your sophomore or junior year of college before accepting a job in public accounting. I went to a career fair my sophomore year, which was part of that track, with the goal of starting a dialogue and building relationships with some firms that were there, knowing that I would be back when I was a junior to try to seek an internship.

Following the career fair, I was so humbled to receive a call from Baird. They had a year-round internship open, which meant I would continue to go to school full-time and intern on a part-time basis during the school year, and then intern full-time during summer, spring or winter breaks. My internship at Baird was incredible. I was doing real work that other full-time analysts were doing. Even as an intern, I felt very valued and included. I was part of the team. I was allowed to sit at the table when there were meetings with senior leaders as they were working on various business initiatives. I was incredibly impressed with the opportunity.

One year into my internship, as I was finishing my junior year, I was offered a full-time job to stay at Baird and pursue my graduate degree in accounting full-time and work full-time. I enjoyed my internship so much and learned so much that I accepted. It was a bit of a non-traditional path at that time, as it was not typical to go directly into an industry job.

Mary Ellen:

You went to gain some broad business experience before you thought you would go into a public accounting role, and then got here. So, as you think about those days, how many years does that time horizon span?

Stephanie:

I’ve been at Baird for 20 years, and it doesn’t feel that long at all. I spent my first eight years in our Corporate Finance department starting as an intern, and ended year eight as the manager of the team that supported our Capital Markets and Asset Management businesses. Along the way, there were numerous title changes, but all within that defined career path. I was so fortunate to be aligned with three of our five businesses. I learned so much during that time, not only about our businesses, but I was given an opportunity to work with our incredible leaders, including you, Mary Ellen, early on.

The next 12 years at Baird I have spent in our Fixed Income Capital Markets business. An opportunity arose to join fixed income. The role was new, it had no title, but the goal was initially to transform one of our existing businesses that was consistently losing money to becoming profitable. It was more of a project-based role.

After that, my focus was onboarding a new product line to our business. We titled this role Operations Manager, but it encompassed any projects that came up or things that needed to be worked on. It was such an exciting change for me. I didn’t know I needed a change at that time because I was happy in my prior role, but realized it was exactly what I needed shortly thereafter.

About seven years ago, I became Chief Operating Officer of Fixed Income Capital Markets, which is my current title.  My role has continued to evolve into a true partner within the business, working with our leaders in Sales, Trading and Public Finance. If I had to summarize what I do every day, it’s running the business. It’s focusing on strategic planning, recruiting, onboarding and career pathing for our associates. I’m also involved in all things related to compliance, legal risk, HR, et cetera.

Mary Ellen:

Your plate is full. When you think about all the things you’ve done, what’s been your favorite job at Baird?

Stephanie:

It’s hard to narrow it down to a single role that’s been my favorite. As I reflect on the many roles that I’ve had, they’ve all challenged me in various ways and provided me with an opportunity to learn new things and work with different people and leaders across the firm. If I had to say what my favorite type of work has been, it would be work that was outside of the box, projects or things where I had no expertise and needed to figure it out. I’ve realized that I like to be in the deep end of the pool without a life raft because it gives me that challenge and opportunity to work on things and work with people that I may not cross in my day-to-day life.

Mary Ellen:

So, you’re a problem solver. Along the way, I’m guessing you’ve had mentors. How important have they been and how do you think about mentorship now as you find yourself in a leadership role?

Stephanie:

I’ve had several mentors over the course of my career for all different purposes, and currently still do. All my mentors aligned with different things I was working on or goals that I had for myself.

Early on, my dad instilled the value of hard work in me. He always pushed me to be my best and he had confidence that I could do anything I set my mind to, even when I was young. He was a small business owner, and he often included me in work projects that were beyond my level. As an example, as a high school student, he had me running payroll for 100 associates and doing tax filings.  These were projects that challenged and taught me that I could work through anything – especially when I was collaborating with those around me that had the knowledge and expertise I didn’t.

I also had a mentor who I worked with previously, Laura Piotrowski. I always reflect on our time together. She always had a positive can-do attitude and mentored me to realize that you could learn something from any project, even projects that didn’t seem desirable. She was great at giving feedback and having the tough conversations, all things I carry with me today.

Mary Ellen:

I’m guessing you’ve internalized those experiences into your own toolbox. I know in your role you have dozens of partners, all the senior folks being men and most of a different generation. How have you been able to navigate those challenges and truly get a seat at the table as an equal partner?

Stephanie:

In our Fixed Income group, there are two (previously three up until a year end retirement) senior leaders of our business who’ve been partners together for over 20 years now. I began working closely with them in my role as COO. Today, I’m blessed to be part of that partnership. I have a voice and I have a vote. I think they recognized early on the value of my hard work and my ability to deliver excellent results no matter who I was. It’s more of a testament to the three of them and the culture and environment that Baird creates.

It happened organically over the years as I was working with them on various initiatives. We formed a partnership where we were talking all the time about all our initiatives and issues and challenges. I enjoy my role and the people I work with. It’s challenging and fun and I laugh every day, which is something I truly value. And I commented before on the leadership team and the people I work with, “But that extends well beyond my partners.” We have some talented individuals in our group that have significant expertise in their products and have strong relationships with their clients, and I look forward to the next several years of cultivating those relationships and working alongside my colleagues.

Mary Ellen:

You produced results, and it didn’t matter how old you were or what gender you were or what your background was. You’re often called upon to do things beyond the role in Fixed Income because you willingly bring everything you’ve got to the table. Can you talk about those opportunities?

Stephanie:

They truly are opportunities. I’m involved in various firm-wide committees, all of which give me a greater perspective of what’s happening in the industry, what’s happening at other firms or what’s happening at Baird. I think without that I sometimes get so focused on what’s happening in my business that I wouldn’t have that perspective, so I truly value that. I serve on our audit committee, financial risk management committee, talent HR, Fixed Income Capital Markets deal committee and women’s marketing committee. It’s a really great opportunity to connect with others across the firm who are in roles that I may not cross paths with on a day-to-day basis. I really value that. I also serve on two external boards, both with a focus on serving kids in our community.

Mary Ellen:

How do you balance all of that? Because I know you have an active young family and you’re juggling a lot of balls, so what does balance look like for Stephanie?

Stephanie:

I’m very deliberate in how I spend my time. I try to always bring myself back to three things that are important to me and that bring me the most joy and energy. First and foremost, I focus on my family and friends. I want to be a present mom to my three young boys and a good wife to my husband. Second, I enjoy the opportunity to serve the community in which we live and work and in which I’m raising my boys. And third is my career. I decided early on as a young mom that I needed to pick my spots that mattered to me and give myself some grace on the rest. These spots are really going to be different and unique for each person.

I remember when I had my first son, my girlfriends were surprised to learn that my sister took my son to the zoo for the first time because for them it would’ve had to be them making the inaugural trip. But for me, I was just happy that he could go and spend some time with his aunt – and that’s okay. But on the flip side, my husband and I take our boys to our family cottage during the summer. It’s our time. It’s extremely important to me and we do whatever the boys want to do. There’s tons of board games and bike rides. This is our family time and I’ve prioritized it. There’s hardly anything that trumps it. The point is, I pick my spots and I’m intentional. And when I do this, I feel balanced. I feel I’m able to contribute fully and I don’t feel the stress and guilt. And then I’d leverage help for the rest.

Mary Ellen:

To pick three things to come back to and give yourself grace on the rest is a great piece of advice. You are involved in so many things, including recruiting, which when doing so, we place an importance on people’s personal lives and stories and who they are. Can you talk about the importance of that in terms of attracting and retaining talent?

Stephanie:

Flexibility is so important. For many years now, our philosophy within the business has been to attract talent that has significant knowledge or expertise in our business, great client relationships and fits the Baird culture. We hire those types of people wherever they want to live or work. We have offices in all the major city centers, but also in places like Stamford, Connecticut; Paducah, Kentucky or Oakdale, Minnesota.

Mary Ellen:

When you think about your 20 years at Baird, you’ve lived through and helped drive significant changes. What have been the most important to you and your team?

Stephanie:

There’s been so many things, but reflecting on what has changed the most, I would say the size, the breadth, depth and brand of Baird overall. It’s significantly changed and evolved over the last 20 years, and it’s exciting to see it continue.

Thinking back to 20 years ago when I first joined the firm in 2003, Baird revenues are five times now what they were back then. And our revenues for Fixed Capital Markets are four times now what they were, and headcount is two times now. It’s incredible to think about that growth over a reasonably short period of time.

When we talk to a potential recruit or client, it’s more than likely now that they’ve heard of us and they know what we do, and they know the knowledge and expertise that we bring. Baird’s brand recognition has come a long way over that period. The brand recognition and depth of knowledge and expertise is truly incredible. And frankly, I think it’s allowed us to get back to recruiting some of that incredible talent and working with some of our clients. That’s certainly been an important factor in all of this.

Mary Ellen:

What would you say is your secret sauce?

Stephanie:

I think it’s just keeping it simple. I really try to stay humble, and work hard and just care about doing the right thing for Baird and our clients, but also for our associates. I try to learn from others and listen. I’m often the person in a meeting who listens most of the time and talks some of the time because I feel you can learn so much when you’re truly listening. Seeing how others approach topics, seeing how they’re saying what they’re saying, it’s really benefited me greatly, and so that’s what I would say. It’s “keep it simple.”

Mary Ellen:

Thank you so much. We are so proud of you and can’t wait to watch the next 20 years to see all that’s ahead for you and for you with Baird.