Breaking Into the C-Suite Through Sponsorship

[Lorie Konish]

As the new president of the New York-based Financial Women’s Association, Anne Izzillo is making it her mission to educate female professionals about the importance of having a sponsor and what it can do for their careers.

Having a sponsor is particularly important for women, who represent 50% of the population but still just 3% of Fortune 500 CEOs, Izzillo says. Most women fall short in identifying the need for a sponsor in the first place, she says, while men tend to form these relationships naturally.

“Even when they’re given a sponsor or someone grabs them by the hand and says, ‘You do great work and I want to help your career,’ women don’t tend to say what they need,” Izzillo says.

The role of the sponsor should not be confused with a mentor, according to Izzillo. A mentor is someone who helps you overcome professional difficulties, achieve a goal and knows you “warts and all,” Izzillo says.

A sponsor, on the other hand, only knows your best you, best work and best presentation. The sponsor is also the person who can use their political capital to help you advance, Izzillo says. They are the person in the room who can be a voice on your behalf when promotions, pay raises, top accounts and coveted projects are decided.

“You could probably get through without a mentor,” Izzillo says. “You really can’t move up the corporate ladder without a sponsor.”

Advocating for more sponsor relationships for women in business will be a prominent goal of Izzillo’s one-year term as president of the FWA that began in July, she says. The association has two separate events lined up with firms including Bank of America to discuss how they are fostering those sponsor relationships now and what can be improved.

Izzillo is also hoping to take the association’s presence, which is concentrated in the New York City area, global. That will include holding this year’s annual FWA conference in Dubai.

Izzillo spoke at the association’s holiday party this week at the Nasdaq OMX headquarters in Times Square. The event also featured an interview with Nasdaq Chief Executive Robert Greifeld.