Reva Shakkottai said she has lived by the credo of
persistence and resilience throughout her career in
investments and finance. And as Neuberger Berman's regional vice president in the private asset management
group, she is responsible for her clients' investment strategies.
"Money management is not just about punching data into
an asset allocation model," she said, "but about having a singular focus on helping clients
choose portfolio strategies that win over time in virtually
any market environment."
She grew up in Pasadena; her father was a rocket scientist. She obtained a
bachelor's degree in from USC's Marshall School of Business and her M.B.A. in finance
from UCLA's Anderson School of Management.
After graduating, her first job was with investment
management and research firm Sanford Bernstein. The
job helped prepare Shakkottai for her next post, as
a vice president of Bank of America. She spent two
years with the bank and learned the various aspects
of investment caretaking and preservation of wealth
from the banking side.
"I wanted to advise my clients in a more specialized
setting," she said. "At Neuberger Berman, I can focus on individualized
service. We're a firm with a specialization in money management,
but being a Lehman Brothers company, we have all the
advantages of a global investment bank."
As regional vice president in the private asset management
group, Shakkottai has set three goals for herself: advising younger executives in their entrepreneurial
endeavors; letting her clients know how their wealth is working
for them; and giving no-holds-barred advice to her female clients.
"Women are starting businesses twice as often as men," she said. "And at least 75 percent of all women will be solely responsible for
their finances and purchases at some point in their
adult lives. To ignore the importance of this segment
of the population is a huge mistake. Women are eager
to work with an advisor who will tell them what they
need to hear, not what they want to hear, and who will
come up with creative financial solutions."
Shakkottai lives in Santa Monica and enjoys tennis,
yoga, and snowboarding.
