Winnie Roberts grew up in Haiti and Miami – but then moved to Stamford, CT her senior year in high school. She received both her Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Finance from Sacred Heart University in the evening while working full time during the day in various Leadership, Analytical and Process Improvement roles for Fortune 500 companies (including General Electric, Cigna Healthcare, Playtex Apparel and Georgia Pacific). While her 15 years experiences began in Finance, she discovered her passion for Human Resources and Diversity during her 5 year tenure at GE (where she held various roles including Global Balance Sheet Analysis, Expense Management and Sales Compensation Administration). Known for her creative ability to design sales compensation plans and statistical expertise to measure their effectiveness, Winnie recently returned to school to complete a certificate in Human Resources from New York University (NYU) in 2010. Winnie has also held leadership roles in GE’s 20 year old affinity group: African American Forum (AAF).
Winnie is currently the Assistant Vice President of Business Development for Diverse & Multicultural Markets at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. In this role, she optimizes overall Assets Under Management (AUM) through exceptional project management, team leadership, problem solving and unwavering creative expertise. This role also offers an opportunity for Winnie to stay in tune with her passion for Human Resources & Diversity -- for she actively recruits diverse talent into organization as well as manage two online blogs designed to attract diverse talent into financial advisory roles at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.
Winnie has an intense passion for people, community and volunteerism of which she channels through the Leaders of Tomorrow Mentoring Program (LOT) hosted by this very chapter - National Black MBA Association WGC Chapter - of which she is the Chair. Currently, LOT has +80 students registered with 11 mentors staffed and ready to assist our youth in building and facing a greater tomorrow. LOT was recently featured in the United Way Mentoring Newsletter for its excellence in June 2011. Winnie is well known for stating what she believes is the obvious: it costs you nothing to help others.
Winnie lives in Stamford, CT with her 14 year old athletic son, Christian, who attends Rye Country Day School in Rye, NY -- and according to him: future NFL player and Heisman Trophy recipient (acceptance letter: written!).