Bank of America

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The former president of -Marylans tried to take a few months tojust “do nothing.” She had the rare chance afted leaving the bank in February. She was one of severapl high-level executives to lose her job inthe N.C.-based bank’s reorganization. But Gamble, 46, is back in the finance game She andCindy Flanders, BofA’s forme global commercial bank executive for the have launched LLC, a private equityu firm that will focus on funding companied with $10 million to $100 milliom in revenue.
Eventually, the two want to raise enoughu money to start a privateequitgy fund, grabbing some of the capital they see “sitting on the At least one estimate pegs that capital at $400 “I don’t do ‘nothing’ well,” Gamble joked recentl at in Harbor “I was trying really hard to do It’s a hard habi t to break.” What Flanders and Gamblre are learning to break from is the corporatd life, not an easy thingf to do when you’ve spent your whole caree amid organizational flow charts and board Though both lost their jobs because of the bank’s attempf to right itself after its force acquisition of troubled , theidr story is hardly the typical tale of the displaced They left with retirements intact, a strong relationshil with the bank, severance packages, lots of contacts and choices.
Their first choice was not to returmn tocorporate life. The travel, the structure and the 70-hourd weeks were something they were ready togive up. “At this stags in our careers, we want to dictatew the terms,” Gamble said. Being able to do just that magnified the dichotomy between the middlse manager who finds herself lookingt for something to pay the bills andthe well-connectef exec who is ready to pursue her next big Those who can afford to are using layoffxs to do what they finally want to do or something they never dreamed of The Internet is filled with advice for how to change careerws and find happiness.
People not conteng on changing careers and working for someonwe else are likely to drivde a wave of new companies in the nextfive years. “Thoses that are entrepreneurial are using their contacts and sources to eithe r develop their own business or work with someone on creatinvgnew companies,” said Lawrencer J. Holmes, managing director of the , a Howardc County search firm that recruits executiveswin finance, health care, technology and insurance. He said Gambl and Flanders will join the many from Wall banks and other financiall companies who are venturing out ontheird own. Top executives like them have an advantage over othersx inthe market.
They have management expertisr and knowmany people. Driving the new business trendd is that fewer top executives want to move toanothee city. A man Holmes tried to recruit recentlyh turned downa $100,000 pay increasd because it involved moving. “Before people moved all the time,” Holmes said. “I don’t know if their values We see it allthe time. They thinjk life is too short.” The two women had both mulled the next step in theie careers for at least the past two Changes at Bank of America forced them to finallydo it. Both coulf have found other roles in the bank inanothee city. Instead, they decided to plot theidr next move inthe Baltimore-Washington area.
55, thought about becoming an executive coacbh and decidedthere wasn’t enough demand for the She then became fixated on private equityy after asking colleagues to talk abou her strengths and weaknesses. Flanders liked deals and came across many in 35 years of She ran Bankof America’sx commercial and business banking clientr teams from central New Jersey down through Virginia, providing financial services to companies with $2 million to $2 billio in revenue. She knows lots of companiese and CEOs, a good start in tryinvg to drum up business onyour own. “I kept cominyg back to this when I talkerd to somany clients, and I was encouraged to do Flanders said.
“It was the best way to leveragee the network I built up over somany years.” As Flandersz plotted Skipjack, Gamble tried to relax. Relaxing for Gamble meang working out with a trainere at alocal gym, rowing crew on the Middlw Branch, spending more time with her family and continuing work on half a dozen nonprofir boards.