The Hindu Business Line : Winner all the way

She built up a unique business venture from scratch and seems unfazed by her feats in corporate America. This executive tided over cultural issues and fought cancer thrice. From her childhood days in a quiet neighbourhood of Chennai to the top echelons of Merrill Lynch, New Jersey, Subha V. Barry has come a long way.

Drawn to the `mechanics' of running a company, she made her debut in the financial services sector in the 1980s. However, success did not come easy. During her earlier stints at World Bank and Bankers' Trust, the budding financial advisor had to grapple with an unfamiliar work culture. "At that time, women were a minority in the sector. Being a non-white added another layer of complexity," she says.

But now, as the First Vice-President of Multi-Cultural and Diversified Business Development, Merrill Lynch, Subha is bullish on her future ventures. She launched the multi-cultural business division fours years ago, through which the company partners with various ethnic minorities in the US.

Financial advisors for each of these communities (such as South Asian, African American, Native American and Hispanic groups) are consulted and a range of investment services provided. "I believe diversity is about doing smart business. People in these communities create a lot of wealth, which becomes an opportunity for Merrill Lynch."

During her previous role as a financial advisor at the company, Subha had to use inter-personal and sales skills to deal with clients. She lauds the company's inclusive HR practices. "It's not the colour of your skin or your accent that counts," she says, citing the example of the company's African-American CEO, Stan O'Neal, whose ancestor was a slave.

On the biggest challenges the financial sector is faced with, following the Enron and Worldcom scandals, she says, "Stan O'Neal tells us that every employee must be accountable irrespective of his position. We should not just stand by when a train wreck happens."

Affirming that the work ethic in the US stands unparalleled and the education system there encourages out-of-the-box thinking, she points out, "The individual is celebrated here. A kid can walk down the street thinking that he could be the CEO of a big company or the next President no matter what his background."

Thanks to her high-profile job, she hobnobs with powerful South Asian business leaders such as Indra Nooyi and was also one of the invitees to the White House dinner during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to the US.

She has been actively involved in the South Asian community's activities. Many NRIs have contributed their mite towards earthquake and tsunami relief efforts in India through Merrill Lynch's schemes, which are tax-deductible in the US, she adds.

Gung-ho about India's economic strides, Subha says, "If I had remained in India, I could have run a company here. The country is now a beacon for the world." Call centres, in fact, are only the tip of the iceberg. The future lies in the outsourcing of intellectual guidance — be it finance, IT or medicine — to India.

She has been married to John Barry, an Irish-American, also a financial advisor at Merrill Lynch, for 19 years now and has two children, Tara and Jay. Balancing financial projects with household chores has been a tightrope walk: "The financial sector is an uncompromising kind of business, which has not drawn many women. The hours are long."

When her life was a smooth sail, Subha was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma. "They say something has to give. My family life and my career were great." However, she survived the disease and has got stem cells implanted.

Her family members and Merrill Lynch have stood by her during those tough times. "The company kept giving challenging assignments. They were trying to tell me, `We don't think you are sick'."

A rebel from an orthodox South Indian family, she did an MBA course at Rice University in the US, instead of settling for a domestic life. "It was very unusual then for single girls from my community to move to the US," she recalls.

But today she is firmly grounded in her Indian heritage. "My children see India through my eyes," she says and produces a Sanskrit mantra and a deity's photo from her purse.

"You can take me out of South India, but you can't take South India out of me."

Picture by K. Pichumani

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Lip-smacking facts

Unhealthy health business

Making value-based films

Winner all the way

Holding up a `Nobel' example