Full Name: Emily Dahlen
Current Title & Company: Director of Finance at Geode Capital Management, LLC
Brief description of who you are professionally with concise accomplishments:
I am a numbers girl who loves to manage a team and has fun while doing it! My career began at PwC – what I consider to have been four years of professional boot camp. Since then, I’ve worked at two asset management firms for over nine years total. From PwC, I started as a senior accountant and progressed to the director of finance and assistant treasurer at Geode, which has over half a trillion of assets under management! I primarily oversee the hedge fund and investor reporting side of our business. I received my BS in Accounting from Fairfield University, MSA in Accounting from Northeastern University and have had my CPA since 2009.
Why did you join Tomorrow’s Women Today and what are you hoping to achieve as a member of the organization?
Very simply, I met Francesca Federico at a Fairfield U. alumni event and we talked through the entire thing (whoops). Following that event, I joined TWT and the Copley Society of Art because of her – I wanted to be a part of whatever she was focusing her infectious energy on! I strive to be this type of person for others because sometimes you just need a little push or recommendation from a friend (new or old) to start something new and get involved! I wanted to meet other like-minded professional women in Boston, learn new interesting topics and hear about a wide array of leader’s experiences, including their stories of success and failure. As a member for many years now, I can honestly say I have been empowered, encouraged and inspired both from the women who lead the organization to the powerhouse women who speak at the events.
What is one of your most proud professional moments and what are you most looking forward to professionally in the next five years?
I’m very proud of my professional career, but it’s not the titles I focus on – I am most proud of the relationships I’ve made along the way and have continued to nourish. I stay in touch with many colleagues that have become close friends and I look to them for guidance, laughs and professional insight (or for a job reference!). In my current role I have also worked really hard at ramping up excitement and internal funds for our Geode WE! (Women’s Exchange). Geode became a TWT sponsor, got a table at the Massachusetts Conference for Women, is bringing in notable speakers (and hosting a TWT event this month), setup a firmwide clothing drive and is promoting volunteer/fitness/business opportunities through a monthly newsletter. Our goal for this group is to provide resources and knowledge to the women at Geode so they can make the best choices possible for their career, financial well-being and personal goals (while getting to know your fellow female colleagues better). Being able to empower those I work with – especially in our male dominated finance industry – and help those outside of our office who might not have the same opportunities is something I think about a lot for the future. How can our women and firm support each other better? How can we all gain more confidence, be more compassionate and challenge others to just GO FOR IT? A work in progress 😊
What do you do in your “free” time? Hobbies, interests…
I have a 15-month-old chatty and silly daughter named Molly who my husband and I are constantly chasing around. We love to go to Duxbury beach, travel to new places, or get a work out in (2 days a week I hop on a 5 a.m. bus to get to a 6 a.m. spin or boot camp class in Boston… see my 1st core value below).
3 Core Values:
- Make time for what’s important to you (not really a value per se, but something I stand by professionally and personally)
- Respect – because without it, there is no foundation for a relationship.
- Finding humor or the positive in everything – because life is too short to not to!
Fun Fact/What makes YOU, you?
I could live on fruit and soft serve.