

When I joined Vanguard almost 6 years ago, I knew I wanted to find a community of women who championed one another and were each other’s biggest advocates. I started my Vanguard career supporting communications for our Institutional business and immediately joined Vanguard’s Women’s Initiative for Leadership Success (WILS) Crew Resource Group. As I began attending events, networking sessions, and webinars, I quickly realized what an incredible network I was building. Meeting both new and tenured Vanguard women and understanding their career paths provided me a huge sense of comfort and security.
When it was time for my next challenge, I took on a role as a senior writer for Vanguard’s Office of the General Counsel (OGC). I applied so many learnings from my mentors and friends in my WILS community, and I continued to lean on them when I needed advice or was facing challenges. I eventually expanded my role in WILS and became the OGC WILS Chief of Staff where I formed relationships with several of Vanguard’s senior leaders. It was during that time that one of my mentors encouraged me to pursue people leadership fulltime. Little did I know that I was about to take on not only more responsibility within my role at Vanguard, but also within WILS.
Today I lead a team of five incredible communicators for Vanguard’s Personal Investor business where I have the unique opportunity to communicate our digital strategy and client experience objectives to our crew. I also have the pleasure of serving as the WILS Communications Chief of Staff where I have met some of the most talented and strategic women I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. Without my network of extraordinary, inspiring, and powerful women — both in and outside of WILS — I never would have had the courage to pursue people leadership or expand my responsibilities within WILS. I hope I can one day return the favor and provide other women the same opportunities that were afforded to me.
– Huntley W.