Leadership Insights from Carlyle Women in Global Credit

By: Lauren Basmadjian, Erica Frontiero and Linda Pace
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At Carlyle, we believe that embracing diversity in decision-making promotes better investment decisions and business outcomes. Diversity is important as a framework for sourcing and vetting investment ideas and deals.

Leaders on Carlyle’s Global Credit team are committed to diversity of thought in the pursuit of better opportunities for investors and solutions for borrowers. Perspectives and insights from managing directors Lauren Basmadjian, Erica Frontiero and Linda Pace illuminate tips for leveraging diversity in support of building better portfolios and other business outcomes.

An Emergence of New Talent

Lauren Basmadjian is a Senior Portfolio Manager in Global Credit focusing on leveraged loans and structured credit. A key shift that she’s noticed over the past decade in the financial services industry is that more women feel comfortable exploring career opportunities in investment management. She has noticed more progress and inclusivity within structured finance compared to other segments. Lauren encourages women to cultivate relationships with multiple mentors and believes that as more women develop broader networks – while juggling families and leadership roles – a new generation of leaders will emerge, follow similar career paths and feel more confident about entering the industry.

“A greater dedication to diversity is starting to create change today, but there’s room for more progress as momentum continues to build.” - Lauren Basmadjian, Managing Director, Senior Portfolio Manager

The Importance of Building a Credible Reputation

Erica Frontiero has a range of experience in the investment management industry across a variety of products and solutions in her role as Managing Director, Carlyle Capital Solutions. Erica emphasizes the importance of building a credible reputation and brand, alongside maintaining and developing diverse industry relationships. She emphasizes the importance of collaborating strategically and maintaining a commercially-minded approach to every investment decision. Erica also believes it is essential for emerging leaders to determine how to quickly add value for key stakeholders. She encourages investors and managers to embrace diversity of thought to drive better business decisions.

“With investment strategies merging and consolidating, differentiation is key, emerging leaders need to think about what makes them unique; how does their approach add value and stand out from others.” - Erica Frontiero, Managing Director, Carlyle Capital Solutions

Asking the Right Questions

Our Head of Loans and Structured Credit Linda Pace has a long-tenured investment career within credit. Based on her leadership and experience, Linda believes that women can provide differentiated perspectives and opinions to benefit investors and support business outcomes. She also emphasizes the importance of communication and asking the right questions. A pillar in Linda’s keys to success is using a strong, diverse network of perspectives to promote better decision-making and build better portfolios.

“It’s important to communicate, respect others’ opinions but also maintain a healthy degree of criticism when making investment decisions.” - Linda Pace, Managing Director, Head of Loans & Structured Credit

At Carlyle, we believe that embracing diversity and embedding it throughout every facet of strategy will create better outcomes for investors and businesses. Our leaders in Global Credit summarize key insights for emerging leaders, investors and business managers:

  • Constantly reassess, actively manage and consistently maintain a forward-looking outlook in an ever-evolving financial environment.
  • Build diverse relationships to understand how to accomplish strategic objectives through collaboration.
  • Maintain a commercially-minded, entrepreneurial approach to every transaction and investment decision.
  • Speak up, ask questions and direct conversations across teams, managers and peers.
  • Embrace new, challenging opportunities and add value to key stakeholders.

Read more insights on our Global Credit platform 

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