- Area of expertise: financial services
- Lives in: Manhattan (since 2011)
- Relishes: the sense of community she’s found in New York, despite its size
- Misses: friends and family
Jane Sloane arrived in New York in July 2011 in a wheelchair, one foot dislocated after a fall in Indonesia. By no means did it slow her down. It was quite the entrance for the former executive director of the International Women’s Development Agency, now vice president of development for Women’s World Banking.
“Even arriving with my foot in plaster, I had to create a strategic plan within four weeks, recruit new staff, present to the board,” Sloane says. “There’s no let up in what’s expected of you.”
Sloane’s partner lives in New York, which helped with her transition, but she was also warmed by the friendly, open community she found in Manhattan’s West Village.
“You’re doing everything on foot, you get to speak to more people. That makes you really feel connected,” she says.
Sloane’s blog, janeintheworld.com, allows friends and family to keep up with her, and lets her reflect on work and extraordinary people she meets.
Women’s World Banking is a global microfinance network. It has served 26 million people, 80 per cent of whom have been women. It provides micro finance, health insurance and leadership support to help people escape poverty.
“I had time with Nelson Mandela [when he was in Sydney for the What Makes a Champion event in 2000] who said, ‘Jane, if you really want to make a difference in the world, you should focus on conflict resolution’,” Sloane says. “I feel like I’m now living that life here.”
She has been able to bring Australian systems and ideas to the US. “In Australia, I was used to having a risk and
audit committee associated with the board and I was used to doing risk management plans – that’s not the norm in a lot of NGOs in New York.”
Sloane, who counts Malcolm Fraser and the late indigenous poet Roberta Sykes among her mentors over the years, now leans on Australia’s alumni for support. “I feel like I have a community around me. I can reach out and say, ‘How would you deal with this situation?’ ”
Working abroad provides access to new opportunities, too. In March, Sloane heard Madeleine Albright and Hillary Clinton speak at the Women in the World Forum. She encourages other women to aim tall and would love to see Clinton’s Women in Public Service program brought to Australia.
“It gives younger women the opportunity to understand from older women what public service and leadership mean in practice. You can see opportunities for extending great projects and initiatives in this country to Australia.”
“Globalism is as much about how you see yourself in the world as any tangible product or opportunity.”
April 12 2012 AFRBOSS.com.au pg19