| | CAREER OUTLOOK
they can represent and offer the products to help meet their clients planning needs, which in turn helps AXA to meet its sales and revenue objectives. Nanda joined AXA four years ago and her marketing and technical support experience have made sales and sales management a natural fit. Thus far in her career, Nanda’s proudest achievement, and one that caught AXA’s attention, occurred at a prior company. She took a small office, made it the highest revenue generator within a year, and then maintained that momentum. She has maintained her high standards and her team is currently the leading wholesaler in the AXA career channel’s largest territory. In 2009, she received “Emerging Talent Develop- ment Program” designation. Nanda has a Bachelor of Science degree in marketing from Bridgewater State College. She advises other women, who want to climb corporate ladder, to “cast any fears aside and make yourself heard and known in the company.”
Shari L. Ballard
Executive Vice President, President-Americas Best Buy
Shari L. Ballard was named to her current position in March 2010. Previously, she served in the pivotal positions of executive vice president of retail channel management, and execu- tive vice president of Human Resources and the Legal Department. She was responsible for overseeing Best Buy’s human capital strategy and leadership development, human resources service delivery,
Daphne Thomas Jones Vice President, Product Life Cycle Management
AXA Equitable
Since childhood, Daphne Thomas Jones wanted a career with a mathematical focus, and found a great one. She was introduced to the actuarial field by a career-day speaker who described how actuaries use statistics to evaluate risks and determine insurance premiums. This is Jones’ second officer position at the financial protection company. From 1986 to 1994, she served as a senior product manager in
annuity product management at AXA Equitable. Now at a significantly higher level, her job is to oversee the enhance- ment of the value of in force variable life and corporate- owned life insurance (COLI) policies through increased earnings, reduced capital or increased capital efficiency. That means collaborating broadly to identify, analyze and evaluate trends, risks and opportunities in areas including pricing, operations, financial management and marketability. Jones manages a team comprised of an actuary and three product managers. They support more than 380,000 variable life insurance and COLI policies. Prior to AXA, she held positions of increasing responsibility at MetLife. Jones graduated from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in statistics.
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and human resources operations. Although she has her hands full at work, she finds time to serve as a member of the University of Minnesota Foundation board of trustees, and to sit on its executive and human resources committees. Ms. Ballard graduated from the University of Michigan-Flint with her bachelor’s degree in social work.
Carol A. Surface
Executive Vice President, Human Resources Best Buy
Carol Surface is responsible for developing and directing Best Buy’s global human resources organiza- tion. She is the overseer of Best Buy’s human resources strategy, which means that she coordinates global talent attraction, staffing and retention, leadership development, diversity, organizational design and cultural development, employee
education and development, compensation and benefits, and employee relations. As if that is not enough, she also has oversight over Best Buy’s legal department and reports directly to Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn. Prior to joining Best Buy in March 2010, Ms. Surface spent 10 years at PepsiCo, Inc., where she served as senior vice president of human resources and chief personnel officer for the PepsiCo International division. It is safe to say that she is something of a globe- trotter: Before taking her current post at Best Buy, she was located in Dubai, where she was responsible for all aspects of PepsiCo’s human resources across the Asia-Pacific region, Middle East, and Africa.
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