Last month, more than 400 people gathered at the Deutsche Bank Conference Center in New York, excited for the opportunity to network and hear from woman leaders from across the financial services industry and beyond.

This September, Deutsche Bank hosted the inaugural industry-wide ‘Women’s Rising Stars Conference’ in the NYC office, dedicated to empowering the next generation of women in finance.

Katie Flood, Managing Director, Global Equity Sales, Deutsche Bank & Co-chair of the Women on Wall Street (WOWS) Employee Resource Group (ERG), said the event left people “feeling empowered and inspired” by the speakers they heard from many of whom shared deeply personal stories about their career journey.

“From the highs and lows, the mistakes made, calculated risks taken, and the opportunities seized, and the opportunities missed, or so they thought,” she told Traders Magazine.

The keynote speakers included: Emily Yoder, Global Head of Strategic Relationships, Blackstone, who shared candid insights on cultivating relationships along with progressing and transitioning in your career; Erin Passan, Spencer Stuart, who led an executive coaching workshop and shared insights on communication, storytelling, and how to be impactful with words; Katie Fogertey, CFO of Shake Shack, who shared insights on the future of the restaurant industry, Shake Shack, and thoughts on leadership and culture.

In addition, Leadership in Finance Panel featured senior leaders from Nuveen, TPG, Neo Ivy Capital, and Allspring.

On stage, Emily Yoder, Global Head of Strategic Relationships at Blackstone recounted how she wished she had realized at a younger age that a career doesn’t always have to go in one direction – “a lot of influential professional experiences can result from a non-linear career path, and she implored attendees to not put too much pressure on themselves to stay on a particular path”.

Flood added that women have incredible value in the financial industry, and this conference further emphasized “the impact we have in driving innovation and success within this sector”.

“Younger generations are prioritizing purpose-driven careers with opportunities for personal and professional growth, and it’s critical that financial services firms and their leadership recognize the importance of visibility at the senior level,” she stressed.

At the event, DB ran a survey aimed to understand: factors that are most important in women’ career advancement; how the financial services industry can better support younger generations in their career journey; and the biggest challenges those surveyed have faced in advancing their careers.

The survey findings and insights, were gathered from some of the over 200 conference attendees. Majority (73%) of attendees surveyed, were the ages of 25-44, (41% between 25-34 and 32% between 35-44), while 15% were between the ages of 45-54, 8% were between the ages of 18-24 and 4% between the ages of 55-64.

When asked what the most important factor is in advancing their career, more than half (61% ) said a strong manager and senior advocate with more than a quarter (27%) stating a mentor and receiving mentorship, while a combined 13% said external professional development (7%) and internal Employee Resource Group (6%) as important in their career advancement.

When younger generations think about their career journey and how financial services firms (their current and future employers) can best support them, 41% said more visible woman leaders within organizations and over a third (38%) said professional development opportunities, compared to only 15% that said cultivating a culture of inclusivity, and 6% who reported women-led Employee Resource Group (ERG).

When asked what the biggest challenge has been advancing their careers, 42% said leadership opportunities, just under one third (31%) reported work life balance, compared to only 16% that said manager and senior advocate, followed by 11% that said a mentor and receiving mentorship.

According to Flood, these survey findings demonstrate that there is a correlation between ‘leadership opportunities’ and ‘strong manager/senior advocate’ suggesting without the support of a strong manager/senior advocate’ less ‘leadership opportunities’ may be presented to women.

“They also said that financial services firms can better support younger generations in their career journey by having more ‘visible woman leaders within the firm.’ Increasing female representation in these leadership roles and advocating for women’s career advancement are key to building an environment where women can thrive in this industry,” she said.

Flood argued that empowering the next generation of women in finance is a multifaceted opportunity not only for Deutsche Bank, but for the broader financial services industry.

“It would be great to see an industry-wide collaboration initiative designed to attract, retain, and foster best-in-class talent at all professional levels,” she said.

“Through this and various other efforts, hopefully, we will see a greater number of more women ascend to more visible senior leadership positions within the industry paving the way for the next generation of women leaders,” she added.