Leadership Award
Shaheen Dil
Managing Director
Protiviti
There are many different roads that lead to a consulting career and Shaheen Dil is proof. She had spent a very successful and happy 25 years in banking, most recently as an executive vice president at PNC Financial Services Group. But she was thinking of making a change, and friends suggested she could use her banking experience in consulting, something she had not considered. A friend gave her name to Protiviti EVP and Global Financial Services leader Carol Beaumier, who passed it on to Cory Gunderson, Protiviti's U.S. Financial Services Leader.
You know the rest.
For the past few years, Dil has been a Managing Director with Protiviti, responsible for the model risk and capital management practices. It's a welcome change from her career in banking, specifically "the variety of interesting challenges I face every day. Each client and engagement is new and different, so there is always something different to share and learn," she says. "In addition, I am lucky to have an amazing team and helpful colleagues, who make it fun for me to come to work every day. I wake up every morning before my alarm rings, because I'm eager to start my day; who could ask for more?"
Dil says her greatest professional achievement is building successful teams, particularly the Model Risk & Capital Management team she's built at Protiviti. On the personal side, she says her greatest achievement is having a wonderful family, including her supportive and long-suffering husband, her son David, and daughter, Maya.
Shortly after joining Protiviti, Dil says Gunderson gave her the best advice about consulting she ever received. "Listen to your clients" is what he told her. "I'd like to thank my clients for giving me their problems to solve, my colleagues for helping me solve them, and my family for always being there for me, though I have often not been at home for them," Dil says.
Gunderson's advice has certainly served her well and now it's led to a Women Leader in Consulting award just a few years after joining Protiviti.
Dil says she is "surprised, honored, and humbled" by the recognition. "I believe this recognition is for my entire team's accomplishment, and the collaborative, supportive environment at Protiviti that makes our collective success a reality," she says. "It is also a testimony to the possibilities that this great country offers."
Her mother brought Dil and her sister to this country when they were very young. Neither Dil or her sister spoke any English. "We had no connections, no money, and no history here," Dil says. "Here in the U.S., you can, in fact, accomplish anything you want by dint of talent and hard work."
What advice would you give to a female consultant just beginning her career?
"Remember to take time to network and build relationships with the people with whom you work. Working hard is essential, but not sufficient, to be successful. Remember to keep track of what you have accomplished, both so that you feel good about yourself, and so that others in your organization understand what you have contributed."
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