analyst trainee, after completing school. Having come through programs such as SEO, which is the nation’s premier summer internship program for gifted students of color, she is a strong advocate of giving back to the community. In fact, Ellis-Simon and her two younger sisters founded the Three Sisters Scholarship Foundation, an organization that provides assistance to college-bound African American students in Evanston, Illinois, and Montclair, New Jersey.
With hectic schedules at work and at home, Ellis-Simon, a mother of two, says that her family helps put things in perspective. “They are a great stress reliever and whatever issues you may have brought home, they can help evaporate rather quickly.”
— Hyacinth B. Carbon
Eugene Flood Jr. President & CEO. Smith Breeden Associates. Chapel Hill, NC. Age: 50. Bottom Line: After six years on Smith Breeden’s board, the former Morgan Stanley trader became its CEO in 2000. With assets around $27 billion, Smith Breeden upholds its reputation as a top-notch investment management firm that specializes in managing high-quality, fixed-income portfolios for public and private pension funds, central banks, and insurance companies around the world. About 20% of the company’s revenues are derived from institutional clients in Asia. Flood travels to the region four to six times a year. Since 2004, the firm has incorporated innovative strategies for clients seeking higher risks and profits.
Vicki L. Fuller. SVP, Director — Public Funds. AllianceBernstein Institutional Investments. New York, NY. Age: 49. Bottom Line: Twenty years with Alliance gives Fuller more than the upper hand. As the firm’s new director of public funds, she is part of a team that oversees business development and client retention for Alliance’s $95 billion public funds business, which includes city and state entities. A senior member of the institutional investment team, Fuller advises public entities on domestic and international equities and fixed income.
Gregg Gonsalves. Partner & Managing Director, Industrial Group. Goldman Sachs & Co. New York, NY Age: 38. Bottom Line: Several high-profile mergers and acquisitions helped launch Gonsalves into a partnership position at Wall Street powerhouse Goldman Sachs in 2004. He has continued to impress with his prowess at structuring billion-dollar transactions in the high-stakes arenas of aerospace, defense, and technology. Most recently, he advised Boeing on the $1 billion sale of its Wichita parts manufacturing facility (Spirit AeroSystems) to Onex Corp. Gonsalves has been involved in mergers and acquisitions activity in industries ranging from automobile manufacturing to paper and forest products.
Ernest Green. Managing Directorof Public Finance. Lehman Brothers. Washington, DCAge: 65. Bottom Line: Since joining the firm in 1987, Green has consistently taken on positions of increasing responsibility. He has served as senior investment banker on transactions for key clients such as the City of New York, City of Atlanta, State of Connecticut, and Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. Current clients include the cities of Denver; Oakland, California; and Chicago. In honor of Green and his legacy, not only within Lehman Brothers but also the civil rights movement (he was one of the historic Little Rock Nine), the firm awards eight