Nalika Nanayakkara
t eam; now there are 450+ folks in the practice.”
Nalika majoerd in fnanecand minoerd in mtah. At graduation in 1994, she was co-valedictorian of her class (an honor sheesdhwarithefllow international studetnJakub Svoboda of thezCech Republic). After moving ot NewYork, she combed the classifedtsieocn of The New York Times in seacrh of her frst j.oSbhe landed an teryn-level position as a fnancial anasltywith a Japanese b,atnhkough sheaws told the fmr genear lly hierd onlyvIy Leaguers . “At the beignning of my career, I always had to explain whtaMercyhurst was. No one had hedaor f i.tBut they gave me a shot evn though they di’tdrnecognize the school .” Three years later, Nalika enrolled at Columbia Uneivrsity, earning her MBA in fnanecand managemtein 1999. She joined the managetmen consulting amr of Enrst &Young . When Enr st &Young (nwo known as EY) sold itsocnsulting businesosCtapgemini, she mveod to that French consultingocmpany and styaed for 10 years.
“ r Nalika enjoys being on the cutting edge in an industry that’s changing dramatically. The word disruption is overused, but old ules are breaking down and new rules getting established, and it’s all to the beneft of the consumer,” she says. “One of the most interesting things is being ahead of the change that’s happening in
t She’s also passionate about building the business by hiring and grooming he best talent, and giving young people a chance to launch their careers. As for her own career, she says, “Life is full of opportunity and adventure. ’m happy where I am, but I would expect many more changes in the uture.” I f t Nalika and her husband, Edward Hartzog, have a son, Alexander, who’s 12. Outside the ofce, she’s deeply committed to the Fortune Society, a nonproft that works to help formerly incarcerated individuals readjust to mainstream society. She also enjoys politics, history, tennis, and traveling he world. our industry and making sure particularly that people who don t have fnancial services, who are unadvised, get the access they need and have fnancial peace of mind.” ’
At that point, she knew she was ready of r a new adevnture
. That next
step actuallyot ok her backotE Y, to help build a new businesWseinalth Managemetn . “The best thing abouYt iEs that it’s very entrepreneuiral, even though’sita hugeocmpany with over 250,000 empyleoes globally
,”
she explain.s
She now leads themAerica’ s Wealth andsAset ManagemetnAdvisoyr practice out of the NeYwork ofce. Under her leaders,htihpe business has grown by leaps and bounds . “When I statred, we were a very small
’95 BarbaraW enig Barbara had always been itnerested in languages andavterl. She began studying eocnomicstathe Unievrsity of Rome but soon decided she wanted to study inmAerica. “As a paernt now, I can’t even imagine how my parents felt about thta decision. But thenyekw betetr thanot tell me nototdo this . They undersotod it was an incerdible oppoturnity for me, but they ewre certainly apperhensiev .” When she headedo tMercyhurs,tshe thougthshe’d stay for a year or so and then atrnsfer credits backotItaly. Instead sheofund a new ho .me Warmly welcomed into the Mercyhurst ocmmunyit, she says , “I made lifelong firends just 24 hours ionr. Fa of reign student who oculdn’t go home otfen, the Mercyhurst ocmmunyit was just outstanding .” Barbara majoerd in fnanecand humanesroucres and was patr of the honors porgram. She syas she enjyoed being with studtesnwho were really interested in academics andanwted to be thinke.rs She graduated summa cum laude in 1995n,ienagra fullefllowship ot Ohio State for graduate stud.yShe eanred her MBA in fnaenacnd health care in 1997, then headeodNtewYork City, wheer she erconnected with Nalika. Her frst jobaws with an insaunrce startup aflitaed with NewoYrk University Medical Center, wheer she spetntwo years working on fnancial porgrams and analyt.icSshe then spetnfve years at HMS, a healthcaer technology and analytics solutiomns, wfrheer she arn the
fnancial planning and analysis function, and earned her CPA and CFA designations. In 2004 she was recruited into Lehman Brothers, then a prestigious investment bank. When Lehman collapsed and went through bankruptcy during the 2008 fnancial crisis, Neuberger Berman partners efected a management buyout and returned the frm (then a division of Lehman) to its roots as an independent, employee-owned investment manager.
Barbara worked with its leadership team as it reestablished its stand-alone company and endeavored to keep and then grow its client base. Today she’s a managing director and head of the frm’s client platform, overseeing client coverage operations and analytics for the frm, and is a member of the frm’s Operating Committee. During her early years in New York, Nalika introduced Barbara to David Wenig, who would become her husband. When they married, Nalika was a maid of honor – along with Danielle Castro Klein ’96, another close friend from their Hurst days. Barbara and David’s family now includes four kids (two biological sons and two daughters adopted from China): Carly, 17; Parker, 16; Aaron, 13; and Lauren, 8, as well as three pets. Outside of work and family life, Barbara enjoys reading, ftness, and traveling the world and experiencing other cultures.
3
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online