The Monticello team joined a conversation with Darden School of Business professor Yael Grushka-Cockayne and entrepreneur, author, and mother of two Rana el Kaliouby as they shared their perspectives on their common passion for supporting diversity and inclusion. As the CEO and co-founder of Affective and author of Girl Decoded, Rana points out that diversity of experiences, thoughts and backgrounds are critical to success and we need diversity across age and gender to be inclusive as we develop new transformative technologies. It was fun to learn about their personal journeys and global experiences in business, school and life in general. Responsible leadership and stakeholder inclusion are on the rise and the community continues to grow. Be driven! Be ambitious! Most importantly, seek access and you may be pleasantly surprised!
Monticello Participates in Cybersecurity Executive Forum
The Monticello team joined the WSJ PRO Cybersecurity Executive Forum yesterday. Trending topics such as the impact of Covid-19 on cybersecurity, new risks in ransomware, lessons from a data breach, addressing the talent gap in cybersecurity and regulating data during the pandemic were discussed by various industry experts. As consultants, it’s vital for our firm to continue to expand our knowledge on the latest cybersecurity issues and trends so that we are positioned to support our global clients on their latest technology needs.
Predictions 2021 - Automate!
The Monticello team participated in Gartner’s 2021 Predictions: Accelerate Results Beyond RPA to Hyper-automation training yesterday. Despite the pandemic, interest in RPA software and hyper-automation continued to achieve growth as the need for resilient operations and business process improvements are top of mind as firms look to rapidly identify, vet, and automate as many business and IT processes as possible. Certainly the work from home mandate has accelerated the need to “default to digital” and we continue to support our clients and their automation goals for 2021 as we anticipate that everything that should be automated will be automated!.
Monticello Thanksgiving Chopped Challenge
The Monticello Team participated in a unique virtual cooking event hosted by the very ambitious Rebecca Smith who served as both a contestant and a judge! The team had three secret ingredients (Carolina rice, ranch dressing, and cranberries) and just 50 minutes to complete a winning dish. Temperatures rose, but it did come together in the end. Thank you to everyone who participated in this great team building event. We are looking forward to seeing all of the Insta-worthy pics soon. Gobble. Gobble.
Mushroom risotto with turkey kabob (ranch marinade) and cranberry sauce.
Midwestern Cranberry Wild Rice Bread served with Ranch Compound Butter and Cream Cheese spreads
Cranberry fried rice
CFA Society NY's - "Diversity & Inclusion in the Consultant Community" Discussion
Monticello Consulting Group had the privilege to present at the CFA Society NY’s "Diversity & Inclusion in the Consultant Community" Discussion! We not only enjoyed exchanging ideas with many other leaders in the D&I space, but as a minority owned business we are truly encouraged about all the increased action being taken in the investment community today! Thank you for inviting us to be a part of this important dialogue.
Thanksgiving Children's Village Fundraiser!
Monticello is honored to support this year’s Children’s Village Annual Thanksgiving fundraiser, helping to provide families a full Thanksgiving meal! Please join us in this effort, as we help give families a Thanksgiving to be thankful for. https://app.mobilecause.com/e/zAwHkA?vid=e4xsh
Honoring the Brave on Veteran's Day!
Thank you to all the brave men and women who served and continue to serve our great country in our military. Monticello Consulting Group is pleased to support the United States Military today through one of local community groups, Camp Masters, who is shipping treats directly out to our Military personnel. If you’d like to join us, please reach out so we can connect you.
Team Lunch at Bryant Park!
With the beautiful weather here in NYC today, some of our teammates decided to enjoy a lunch together in Bryant park, keeping social distancing and COVID in mind as they dined outside. Cheers to teambuilding and bonding whenever it is possible to do so safely. We look forward to many more normal days in times ahead.
Monticello Supports Our Veterans
Monticello Consulting Group is proud to have participated in this year's 10th Annual Veterans on Wall Street (VOWS) symposium. Our consultants had the opportunity to hear from many inspirational leaders on how financial services firms can take an active role in recruiting and developing veterans as they make career transitions, as well as learning more from veterans about military values such as commitment and resilience. Monticello actively supports veteran hiring and understands the unique skillset military leaders can bring to our firm and client engagements.
CFA Society NY - State of LIBOR Transition Virtual Conference
Monticello joined the CFA Society NY’s “State of LIBOR Transition” Virtual Conference, to continue learning how the market views this major shift, as the LIBOR Transition implementation continues to push on with full speed ahead. Our team is supporting multiple global clients on this massive change project and are happy to help if your firm needs assistance. Please reach out to us and visit our LIBOR Center of Excellence to learn more. https://www.monticellocg.com/libor-center-of-excellence
Make Your Voice Heard!
Monticello encourages all of our employees and partners to vote and make their voices heard, and thanks those who have already cast their ballots!
Monticello Welcomes New Hires
Monticello welcomed our newest hires with a fun round of golf last weekend. The course provided a great way to catch up in person while maintaining social distancing. Monticello continues to build its culture of collaboration by maintaining strong social and professional connections with our team of exceptional employees. Most importantly, the cold weather didn’t cool off the team’s hot putting and the clubhouse offered up some hot cocoa for our post-match social.
Children's Village 2020 Masquerade Virtual Gala
Thank you to all the co-sponsors and donors who helped raised funds this weekend for the Children’s Village Annual Masquerade! This year the celebration was virtual, however, the costumes and participation was just as impressive as in years past. : )
Monticello Discusses Human-Centered Design Thinking in Banking
Monticello recently participated in a roundtable hosted by American Banker to gain further insights into human-centered design thinking to drive customer experience in banking. Participants – including design thinking experts from banking, tech and consulting firms – discussed their own firms’ journeys with design thinking and the importance of integrating design thinking across the enterprise. Design thinking is not only suitable for designing products and experiences for customers, but also vital for employees and partner organizations who can benefit from the approach. Beyond merely incorporating design thinking, however, organizations need to back it up with an Agile organization that allows the kind of experimentation and feedback that is required for effective implementation.
Participant surveys revealed the current state of design thinking in banking – a plurality of participants felt their organizations were only at a basic level of strategically integrating design thinking and that the biggest obstacle to moving further with the approach was cultural barriers. This shows that banks will require support for transformational change in order to make greater use of design thinking as they continue their journey from a product and monetization focus to a human-centered approach.
Hispanic Heritage Month - Support for Puerto Rican Charity!
As Hispanic Heritage Month came to a close last week, Monticello Consulting Group selected to support an important Hispanic led charity, Phyt Cares, whose mission is to educate youth and communities in New York City and Puerto Rico through fitness. Cheers to you and your focus on uplifting our community and bringing increased strength to Hispanics and non-Hispanics alike!
Monticello Celebrates Women in Leadership
Monticello participated in the American Banker “Most Powerful Women in Banking” event this week as financial services leaders came together to honor the most important women in the industry and demonstrate their commitment towards driving real outcomes for diversity, equity and inclusion.
Monticello’s next wave of women leaders participated in a session with Cathy Bessant, Chief Operations and Technology Officer at Bank of America, and the recently retired Beth Mooney who was appointed Chairman and CEO of KeyCorp following the 2008 financial crisis. In their conversation, they discussed banks’ role as institutions that communities inherently trust. Given this, banks should contribute to the community and society not only through inclusivity, but also through support for social causes. Internally, they advocate broadening the direct reporting structure and enforcing a diverse slate for recruiting senior management as methods to better include underrepresented groups in bank leadership. These women leaders shared their personal stories and highlighted the importance of persistence and authenticity in the pursuit of creating purposeful organizations with an uplifting culture.
Monticello Gains Insights on the Evolving Customer Experience
The turbulence of 2020 has led to dramatic changes in how financial institutions interact with their customers. Monticello recently attended a leadership event to better understand how different types of banks are adapting to the pandemic. Marketing and customer experience executives from large regional banks highlighted that they have seen their customers’ needs and expectations change considerably this year. This shift has required them to make changes throughout their organizations, utilizing deep learning and Agile coaching to enable a deeper dive into the psyche of their customers. Elsewhere, executives of large consumer banks held a roundtable on how they have evolved their interactions with customers to provide seamless omnichannel transactions and banking services. The events of 2020 have accelerated the adoption of digital technologies and brought both opportunity for increased customer engagement and increased risk from cyberthreats. Monticello consultants are in constant contact with experts across the financial sector to ensure that we remain at the forefront of digital transformations and customer experience design as we move from insight to execution to support our clients.
Monticello Looks at the Current State of Community Banking
Monticello recently participated in a roundtable with community banking leaders to discuss how the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has created financial pressure for small businesses. Bankers discussed the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans that they have offered to such consumers, the associated repayment policies, the forgiveness process, and the overall functionality of their organizations during this time. They also brought to light how this adversity has created a unique opportunity for the industry to put its local knowledge and connections to good use, helping their communities weather this crisis. The Monticello team stands ready to continue to support our banking partners to ensure they are well-positioned to meet their customers’ changing needs.
Monticello Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month!
Monticello wishes all of our stakeholders a happy and enriching Hispanic Heritage Month! As a Hispanic-owned business, diversity is core to Monticello’s culture and we are proud to celebrate the diversity and contributions of the Latinx community. As part of our observance, MCG consultants attended a webinar held by the Association of Latino Professionals for America (ALPFA). Panelists discussed the diversity and economic power of the Latinx community in the US – for example, Latinx entrepreneurship is growing at the fastest rate of any group and Latinx buying power is growing faster than the national average. Also addressed were strategies for non-Latinx colleagues to better provide mentorship and sponsorship to Latinx employees and serve as active allies.
Monticello Participates in ESG & Derivatives Training
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues have become increasingly important in many financial markets, including derivatives. Monticello consultants were pleased to participate in ISDA’s ESG and Derivatives Virtual Conference as panelists explored developments in ESG regulatory policy, sustainable finance derivatives products, and the future of ESG derivatives. Nearly all speakers called for improvements in data quality that firms can use for disclosure and to measure progress to drive sustainable investment decisions. Today, managing climate risk is center stage as recent climate events have raised awareness that this permeates all parts of our lives. Behavioral change is needed and policy makers are incentivizing the transition on a global scale. As ESG related policy shifts, the transition needs to be done in a thoughtful way and we at Monticello look forward to supporting continued progress in the area of consistent, reliable and comparable data to drive ESG growth and innovation across the financial services industry.