In the second installment of our Flywheel: Women Voices in Finance series, Pillsbury Global Sourcing & Technology Transactions Partner Elizabeth Zimmer sits down for a conversation with Nicole Olson, who leads Digital Product Development & Innovation at State Street. Their conversation covers topics ranging from innovation in digital assets and cryptocurrency to fintech’s impact on diversity and women in leadership to the greater representation and support of women in the fintech community.

Small but Meaningful Steps in the Transformation to Digital Assets

In discussing the development of the digital assets pipeline and its optimization in global financial markets, Olson tells Zimmer “the win right now” in her team’s research and exploration is the ability to uncover and analyze inefficiencies in the market. Decoding pain points allows a better understanding of where technology can be applied to remediate them more efficiently.

“What we're finding is that, when you look at inefficiencies that exist in the market—not even necessarily tokenizing a traditional asset, but applying DLT to the underlying processes that support a transaction or an asset—applying the technology and creating a much more efficient process can actually transform the asset itself, and you haven't even tokenized it," she said. "I mean, that's a real gain, it's a real efficiency—it's meaningful for the asset."

Women and Diversity in an Evolving Sector

Though the financial sector has historically lagged on gender equity and diversity and inclusion, particularly at the highest levels of leadership, Olson says the tide is changing and notes State Street and other institutions’ “absolute show of commitment” towards cultivating more diverse teams and “providing opportunities for growth and for leadership.” Though women currently represent only 7 percent of the total number of fintech founders, a steady effort to recruit more women and diverse professionals continues to pick up steam.

“When I started in fintech 15 or 20 years ago … women were expected to sort of fit into what was a leadership team dominated by men,” she said. “And now I think the diversity that exists is celebrated and promoted, not only from the top, but also among team members.”

Zimmer and Olson also point out that technology is providing greater accessibility for professionals who want to prioritize flexibility and work-life balance in their careers. With the massive recent shift to remote work for many organizations, this flexibility is becoming a new norm for many in the modern workplace, enabling more opportunities for everyone, especially women and diverse professionals.

“I think what we've learned is that actually we can function with a bit more flexibility,” Olson said. “And I think flexibility is just inherently more inclusive. And so, if the technology has enabled that … it's a plus for everyone. So, I absolutely think that the pace of adoption of technology has helped to facilitate that.”

As more women enter fintech sector, Olson is noticing a greater sense of comradery and encouragement amongst her peers. “[There’s] an implicit partnership [that] exists now between professional women, certainly at organizations that I've been lucky enough to be a part of, where we support one another,” she said. “I think we understand the context of where many of us have likely been, of how we may be, individually, an anomaly within the organization. And so, any extra support that we can provide to one another, I think is important.”