Dateline: 1956

The Fifties: The decade remembered for the birth of Rock 'n Roll, space exploration, the hula hoop, Burma Shave wisdom on the highways, and the Barbie doll, was also the decade in which FWA, San Francisco came into being.

The Financial Women's Club of San Francisco was founded in 1956 as the first club in the Bay Area for executive women in the field of finance. The Club began 6 months before the Financial Women's Club of New York, and provided a forum in which its members could meet to further their interests, establish professional relationships, and be of service to their community. Meetings were held at Gino's in the alley off Montgomery Street.

Janet Codding, Jane Puffer Steele and Margaret Buehler were the pioneering women who were instrumental in forming the group with the goal of providing mutual support and opportunities to get to know other professional women. Although there was only a small community of professional women in the field at that time, the 17 founders saw the benefit of meeting other successful women focused on similar goals. As founder Marcia Wolfe, Vice President and first female partner of Dodge & Cox, said, "It was very helpful in those early days to be able to call another member."

Alice Williams Henry recalls the dress code of the day included suits, hats, gloves and small furs worn around the neck. Alice started at Dean Witter in 1950 at a salary of $200 per month. Janet Codding, a municipal bond trader on Montgomery Street, was the first FWA President in 1956. She recalls many women entered the professional financial arena through the back door, as secretaries. Lucy Ritter, a founding member, started her career in 1931 as a research secretary at the California Taxpayers' Association in Stockton. She had a masters degree in Political Science. Lucy said, "I started in business long before the advent of Women's Lib, because I thought women could be very good at handling money. In the great bull markets of the 60's we made millions in profits, and results speak for themselves. Your work can be measured in terms of results and you are therefore less likely to face discrimination on account of your sex than is true of other fields."

Dateline: 1966

The sixties were turbulent and revolutionary and are remembered for the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, JFK assassination, peace marches, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Not far from the Haight-Ashbury, the Financial Women's Club was experiencing a revolution of its own, with the onset of the women's liberation movement. Not far from U.C. Berkeley, where sit-in protests were prevalent, FWA members were experiencing new freedom of expression and striving to enter professions as stock brokers and securities analysts in record numbers. FWA applicants needed to work for a financial company and be in a "decision making capacity."

Women were competing with men, recalls Judith Bedell, who later became FWA President in 1975. Bedell, who entered the investment world in the 1960's with an MBA from New York University, remembered the 60's as a time when "Men didn't even talk to us, and preferred to refer business to other men." There was a dress code: no pants.

FWA membership was expanding, as the business community became more aware of increasing opportunities in finance for women. However, membership remained limited to women employed in the investment field. The original 17 founding members who signed the membership charter on January 18, 1956, continued to expand to encompass not only women working in the San Francisco Metropolitan area, but women in Marin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Alameda and Contra Costa counties.

Dateline: 1976

The decade of the "Super Seventies" found lava lamps, incense, pop music, disco and the onset of the "me" generation. Women were entering colleges in record numbers, and the price of an FWA luncheon meeting increased to $3. The initiation fee for membership was increased to $20 and annual dues, in the amount of $25, were skyrocketing, along with the lunar landings. Professional women mimicked professional men's dress by giving up hats and gloves for tailored business suits. Once populated almost entirely by women in the securities industry, bankers became the predominant group. FWC changed its bylaws to be gender neutral and for a time, accepted male members.

FWA's mission expanded to include recognition of the importance of giving back to our communities, and a vested interest in making women's influence felt. Women began to network effectively and a public relations board seat was established. Lucinda M.S. Smith of Bank of America's Trust became President of FWA in 1974. She recalls a time when women were forging ahead in the financial industry, occasionally by filing lawsuits for discrimination, but more often, moving ahead by hard work. Lucinda, as many others, balanced career, family and community commitments, and was elected FWA President again in 1994.

Dateline: 1986

The mid eighties through the mid nineties included the end of the cold war and "perestroika" and we witnessed the Berlin Wall come down. We saw the advent of technology and people began using personal computers. We witnessed the Challenger explosion, a stock market crash and MTV. For women, the fitness boom served as a social movement and women struggled with alterations in the work force, childbearing trends and fertility rates as they worked outside the home in record numbers.

At FWA, San Francisco, 1985 President Susanna Coxhead and 1986 President Ellen Courtein spearheaded a membership drive to broaden the interpretation of the qualifications for membership from the "investment field" to the "financial field." FWA welcomed diverse members from many related fields, including estate planning attorneys, CFO's and consultants. Judy Craig, who later became FWA President in 1996, formed a working mothers support group who met over brown bag lunches to talk about nannies and how to balance diapers and deadlines.

A plethora of new programs and initiatives exploded on the FWA scene, including expanding the Scholarship Program to involve Junior Achievement and the initiating the Directors' Resource Committee, which focused on preparing FWA members for service on non profit, government and corporate boards of directors. FWA created an award for the Distinguished Member of the Year, and Patricia Love Anderson was the first recipient in 1987. The award recognized contributions to FWASF, the finance industry, and the community.

In 1986, FWASF came together to celebrate the club's 30th Anniversary. We sought to memorialize our perceived successes in crashing through the glass ceiling. The party was held on September 26, 1986 at the World Trade Club in San Francisco and evening highlights included comic sketches about the changing roles of professional women over the decades.

In 1989, the name of the club was changed from Club to Financial Women's Association because it sounded more professional. During the '80's FWASF had so many new members on the Peninsula, that the Peninsula Chapter was formed.

Dateline: 1996

During the '90's, there was a shift in the membership of FWA to fee-based businesses verses commission. There was significant downsizing in the late '80's and early '90's and mega-mergers of financial giants resulted. Due to cost cutting and streamlining, the banking industry emerged lean and mean and there was an influx of New York contenders. Many FWA members held 2 or 3 jobs and worked 14 hour days.

"Quality of Life" and "Sabbaticals" became the industry buzzwords, and power breakfasts were replaced with juice drinks at the health club. The technology boom in the Silicon Valley spread to other tech centers throughout the country and Armani suits and crocodile shoes were replaced with business casual khakis and loafers. Martini lunches were out and tall half-caff lattes at Starbucks were in. Everyone has a cell phone and a p.c. Attaché cases gave way to gym bags, as everyone strives for "balance" and "stress reduction."

The Directors' Resource Committee attracted name speakers like Kathleen Brown, Marion Sandler, and Sheila Wellington of Catalyst to focus FWA members on seeking corporate board positions. Many FWA members held executive level positions and were recognized for their expertise and seniority in their fields. It is the decade of the entrepreneur.

In 1996, FWASF celebrated its 40th Anniversary with a celebration luncheon honoring the Financial Woman of the Year, Terri Dial, Vice Chairman of Wells Fargo Bank. In what was to become an annual event, over 450 people helped us celebrate and Kathleen Brown, former Treasurer of California, delivered the keynote speech.

During 1997, under the leadership of Kathy Dodds, FWA President and Jean Blomberg, Directors' Resource Co-Chair, FWASF developed a website and went live on the Internet. A mentorship program was developed where FWA members acted as mentors to FWA scholarship applicants and recipients. Mentoring programs are all the craze, as successful women actively seek to help young women develop in their careers.

The future of FWASF looks brighter than ever with women helping women and demonstrating outstanding career achievement and leadership. It is true that to see the future, one must study the past. As we look ahead, we should also look back to the future to see how we are not much different from the FWA founders who started us on this path in 1956!

FOUNDING MEMBERS

January 1956

CHARTER MEMBERS

1956

Ann Healy Vedder
Alice Henry
Madeline Hulsman
Regina T. Krefft
Ferne M. Peterson
Bettina F. Sullivan
Doris N. Wood
Marjorie Woods
Margaret Zinkand
 

HONORARY MEMBERS

Linda Grimes
Angie Lamé
Lucy E. Ritter
Katherine Allen Williams
Marcia Wolfe