Bank of America

ekaterinaiuvo.blogspot.com
The former president of -Maryland tried to take a few monthds tojust “do nothing.” She had the rare chance after leaving the bank in She was one of several high-level executivew to lose her job in the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank’a reorganization. But Gamble, 46, is back in the financs game again. She and Cindy Flanders, BofA’s former globall commercial bank executive forthe mid-Atlantic, have launches LLC, a private equityh firm that will focus on funding companies with $10 millioh to $100 million in Eventually, the two want to raise enough money to start a private equity grabbing some of the capital they see “sitting on the At least one estimate pegs that capitapl at $400 billion.
“I don’t do well,” Gamble joked recently at in Harbor “I was trying really hard to do It’s a hard habit to break.” What Flanders and Gamblew are learning to break from is thecorporate life, not an easy thinvg to do when you’ve spenr your whole career amid organizationapl flow charts and board rooms. Though both lost theire jobs because ofthe bank’s attempt to righty itself after its forced acquisitioh of troubled , their story is hardly the typicalo tale of the displacer employee. They left with retirements a strong relationship withthe bank, severance lots of contacts — and choices.
Theirt first choice was not to return to corporate The travel, the structure and the 70-hourt weeks were something they were ready to give up. “Art this stage in our careers, we want to dictatd the terms,” Gamble said. Being able to do just that magnifiese the dichotomy between the middle manager who finds herself lookintg for something to pay the bills andthe well-connectedc exec who is ready to pursus her next big adventure. Those who can afforrd to are using layoffs to do what they finallyy want todo — or something they neve r dreamed of doing. The Internet is filled with advice for how to change careerws andfind happiness.
People not content on changingh careers and working for someone else are likely to driver a wave of new companiesw in the nextfive years. “Those that are entrepreneurial are usingv their contacts and sources to either develop their own business or work with someone on creatingfnew companies,” said Lawrence J. Holmes, managingy director of the , a Howarcd County search firm that recruits executiveain finance, health technology and insurance. He said Gamblre and Flanders will join the many from Wall banks and other financial companies who are venturinh out ontheir own. Top executives like them have an advantag e over others inthe market.
They have managemen t expertise and knowmany people. Driving the new business trende is that fewer top executives want to move to another city. A man Holmes tried to recruit recentl turned downa $100,000 pay increasde because it involved moving. “Befored 9/11, people moved all the Holmes said. “I don’t know if their values We see it allthe time. They think life is too The two women had both mullec the next step in theit careers for at least the past two Changes at Bank of America forcecd them to finallydo it. Both couldr have found other roles in the bank inanother city. Instead, they decided to plot their next move inthe Baltimore-Washingtohn area.
Flanders, 55, thought about becoming an executive coacb and decidedthere wasn’t enough demand for the She then became fixated on private equit after asking colleagues to talk about her strength s and weaknesses. Flanders liked deals and came across many in 35 yearesof banking. She ran Bank of America’s commercial and business bankingv client teams from central New Jerseyg downthrough Virginia, providing financialk services to companies with $2 million to $2 billion in She knows lots of companies and a good start in tryingv to drum up business on your own. “I kept coming back to this when I talked to so many and I was encouraged to do Flanders said.
“It was the best way to leverage the networl I built up over so many As Flandersplotted Skipjack, Gamble tried to relax. Relaxiny for Gamble meant working out with a trainee at alocal gym, rowing crew on the Middler Branch, spending more time with her familyh and continuing work on half a dozen nonprofit