Interview with Janice

I got to know Janice only during the middle of the Bootcamp, the main reason being we were in different teams and different training rooms majority of the time. She was the Individual Award winner for CLG-IT in December 07, her personal commitment being “I will be accountable, disciplined, and accept personal ownership in everything I do”. From what I know of her, she is very friendly, smart and a finance guru.

Tell us a little bit about your educational/professional background.

I graduated from Notre Dame with a degree in Accounting, but took a number of IT courses out of personal interest. With my major, I spent the past two summers doing internships in fields entirely unrelated to IT; one was spent as a Business Analyst for a non-profit company and the other as a Forensic Accounting intern for a Big 4 Accounting firm. I applied to TLP out of recommendation from another current TLP, Rosie DePaoli, knowing that I had an affinity for technology and wanted a leadership program with plenty of variety after graduation. The opportunity to do something different was exciting - So far, so good!

The rotations are almost coming to an end. So far how would you rate the learning and contribution factors in your current rotation and in the Consumer Lending Group?

My current rotation is as a Strategic Initiatives Project Manager in the Consumer Lending Group. I’m working with a Senior Leader in CLG and cannot say enough about the experience thus far. I have been given the opportunity to do significant project work on highly visible initiatives across CLG’s three lines of business – CitiFinancial Auto, Student Loan Corp (SLC), and Real Estate Lending (REL). It’s nice to know that I’m not just doing research or a “case-study,” but actually contributing to NAIT/CLG-sponsored projects. I’m in the process of closing out my rotation by leading the CLG NAIT Planview (Resource Management, Time-tracking Tool) implementation and it’s my project. I am the person accountable if anything goes wrong, and I enjoy the level of responsibility/ownership. My manager has been great about giving me opportunities to stretch myself and gain exposure across CLG.

What would you say is your biggest take away from being with Citigroup as an organization for the past 7 months?

Stating the obvious here, but Citi is a large, large corporation and as with any corporation this size, bureaucracy exists – often in large amounts. Initially, it was easy to become discouraged in dealing with the “red tape,” but I’ve found that with the right amount of prodding, eventually you’ll get what you need. Rules, processes, and even people will get in the way so if you want anything to get done, find a way to deal with those obstacles immediately. There’s always a workaround or alternate solution. Sucking it up and working a little bit harder helps.

Thanks a lot Janice!