Tammy McPherson had 17 years of experience, 14 of which were in the financial services industry in the United Kingdom, before joining T. Rowe Price. When she was first approached with a new job opportunity, the firm's depth of expertise and the intellectual rigor present across all functions of the business made an impression on her. As she learned more, however, it was ultimately the strong client-centered approach that made the firm stand out to her.

Before moving to the U.K., Tammy worked in a completely different industry. She found herself in the remote Kimberley region of northwest Australia, focusing on diabetes treatment and prevention in Aboriginal Australian communities. "It was so remote that during the wet season, some of the communities could only be reached by light aircraft," Tammy recalls. "These communities were enriched by the program that was created in partnership together."

While on the surface, her former and current jobs might appear to share little in common, the link between them is evident to Tammy as she reflects on the trajectory of her career. "I wanted to continue helping people when I moved across to financial services," she says.

Developing a business while working closely with clients and investors is now part of her role as T. Rowe Price's Head of Institutional, U.K. & Ireland. The end clients in this distribution channel tend to be organizations such as pension schemes. The ultimate goal for Tammy's team is to form partnerships with clients and consult with them on the challenges they face to achieve their investment goals.

She and her colleagues collaborate with the investment teams to propose and construct solutions that enable pension schemes to provide financial security to their members. "We need to ensure that, as a business, we're able to fulfill our clients' needs. It requires us to be aligned with them and to understand fully the challenges and risks they face," she says. "Whether it's depressed bond yields, low-interest rates inflating the value of future liabilities, or increasing geopolitical tensions or global growth concerns."

In Tammy's experience, T. Rowe Price also excels at reaching and connecting with individuals from different backgrounds. "When building a sales or relationship management team, it's important to have individuals who reach every part of your client base," she explains. For her, that includes women, people from different ethnic backgrounds, and people who simply think differently. "There's no value in having teams where each person processes the world in the same way," she adds.

Keeping in mind that the firm's clients themselves are diverse, connecting individuals from different backgrounds within T. Rowe Price helps her team foster deeper relationships. It also introduces creative and diverse thinking to determine the right answers for the client. In the end, working towards inclusion and diversity not only lifts individuals, but it also results in more productive teams that benefit the client.

Successful client outcomes do not just sit with the distribution teams; they require different parts of the business to work together – from investments to client operations. "It comes down to more than just collaboration, although that collaborative spirit is there," Tammy says. "It's the fact that we are all inspired to do our best work because we have the client at the heart of everything we do."