FTF News speaks to the 2017 winner of the Editor’s Choice Award for Operational Excellence Karla McKenna who is a director at Citi and the head of standards for the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF).
(Editor’s note: The following Q&A is with the 2017 winner of the Editor’s Choice Award for Operational Excellence Karla McKenna who is a director at Citi and the head of standards for the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF). A specialist in financial standards, McKenna has been facilitating the development of GLEIF standards and is working with other organizations such as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The honor via the editorial staff is part of the annual FTF News Technology Innovation Awards presentation.)
Q: Can you share an anecdote that shows you in the midst of an industry standards initiative that was steeped in conflict?
A: I found myself recently in such a situation.
One of the committees that I manage decided to conduct a strategic review of the scope, structure, communications and stakeholder engagement aspects. We formed a group to discuss, debate, formulate and document the ideas that could become potential recommendations that would result in change in our committees.
At the conclusion of the last meeting of this strategic review group, with the proposals and recommendations drafted for discussion with the broader membership, it was the sincerest and most meaningful compliment to hear from the participants of this group that throughout the process, I did not discourage the brainstorming, the consideration and discussion of conflicting and divergent ideas; that members of the group felt that they had been heard and had contributed positively to the outcomes and proposals.
I continue to value the importance of providing a proper platform and setting for ideas to be thoughtfully proposed and considered.
Q: Please share with me something about yourself that you’re attempting to improve.
A: I continue to try to improve my time management.
Although I realize that it is impossible, I would welcome the ability to be in at least two places at one time.
The increased usage of standards by new stakeholders, most recently the global regulators, has resulted in more demand for continued dialogue, sessions, workshops and other types of engagement to make new users of standards aware of the resources and possibilities available.
Q: What would you describe as the most important impact resulting from your work at GLEIF?
A: At GLEIF, a not-for-profit organization created to support the implementation and use of the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI), I am responsible for facilitating the development and implementation of GLEIF standards and leveraging international standards to maximize data quality and the operational integrity of the Global LEI System.
To date, discussion related to LEI rollout has largely focused on initiatives relevant to legal entity identification in regulatory reporting and supervision. This reflects the immediate objective pursued with the introduction of the LEI standard following the financial crisis: to increase the authorities’ ability to evaluate systemic and emerging risk, identify trends and take corrective steps. As demonstrated with the current LEI population, these efforts have generated excellent results.
This said, we are convinced that the Global LEI System has the potential to also benefit the wider business community. Organizations across the globe not only need to keep on the right side of the regulators, but also need to be able to make smarter, less costly and more reliable decisions about who to do business with.
GLEIF offers the only global online source that provides open, standardized and high quality legal entity reference data with the potential to capture any entity engaging in financial transactions globally.
Taking advantage of the wealth of free information available with the LEI population empowers organizations across the board to cut costs, simplify and accelerate operations and gain deeper insight into the global marketplace.
If your counterparts — corporate customers, providers and other business partners — could all be uniquely, easily and speedily identified with the LEI, that would provide you with cost benefits and new business opportunities. Accessing and using the LEI data pool could support a multitude of applications in, for example, risk management, compliance and client relationship management.
Primarily, my work at GLEIF shows that standards such as the LEI solve real life issues and offer real life opportunities and improvements.
Q: What were the biggest obstacles you experienced in your professional life? How did you overcome them?
A: I think that the biggest obstacles are my own ambitions, wanting to contribute to or to lead important initiatives, industry debates and discussions. With so many important priorities, the main constraint, of course, is time, along with my constant expectation to maintain perfect and effective contribution across all my commitments and responsibilities.
Q: What are some of the biggest epiphanies that made you into the person you are today?
A: I guess that the first realization was my interest in wanting to work in an international setting. The opportunity to meet and to work with people from different countries and backgrounds was a main driver in my move to Citi many years ago. As I worked on projects with virtual management responsibilities across many countries and regions, I began to master the art of virtual management and coordination of global projects.
This epiphany, as you call it, became very important as I began to take on significant leadership roles within the securities, financial services and standards domains. I had become a broker of ideas, within Citi and within the committees and organizations which I led or to which I contributed. I became particularly adept at making sure that the right people could engage with one another and in identifying people and the efforts to which they could contribute effectively.
Q: How did you develop your life philosophy? How has that informed your work on industry standards?
A: I developed my life philosophy as I think many other do, over time and through both easy and challenging experiences. As I gained the benefits of experience, my work on industry standards benefited from my ability to synthesize clear ideas from diverse inputs, the ability to give guidance on ideas in a clear, thoughtful and respectful way.
This has resulted over the years in bringing our committees through tough discussions and decisions and maintaining the forward progress that is so important in sustaining our work and our membership.
Q: Where do you see yourself in five years?
A: In five years, I hope to see the successful result of the work that I have undertaken with my colleagues working on ISO standards to reorganize our committee structures to more consistently and effectively develop and maintain standards that are fit-for-purpose for their users. By that time also to see the GLEIF maintaining business as usual with the Global LEI System as the established source for legal entity and relationship data.
I also hope to have made significant progress on issues that are important to me, namely the interoperability of standards and coordination and cooperation among standards setters, users and stakeholders. I have been privileged to meet and work with some of the best business and international standards professionals in our industry and look forward to continuing to contribute in this way.
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