Bank of America

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The former president of -Maryland tried to take a few montha tojust “do nothing.” She had the rare chancse after leaving the bank in She was one of several high-level executivew to lose her job in the N.C.-based bank’s reorganization. But Gamble, 46, is back in the financs game again. She and Cindy Flanders, BofA’as former global commercial bank executive forthe mid-Atlantic, have launche d LLC, a private equity firm that will focus on fundinhg companies with $10 million to $100 million in revenue. the two want to raise enoughy money to start a privateequity fund, grabbinfg some of the capital they see “sittinyg on the sidelines.
” At least one estimate pegs that capita l at $400 billion. “I don’g do ‘nothing’ well,” Gamble joked recentlyy at in Harbor East. “I was tryiny really hard to do nothing. It’s a hard habiyt to break.” What Flanders and Gamble are learning to breako from is the corporate not an easy thing to dowhen you’vre spent your whole career amid organizational flow charts and board rooms.
Though both lost theie jobs because ofthe bank’s attempt to righr itself after its forced acquisition of troubled , theirt story is hardly the typical tale of the displaced They left with retirements intact, a strony relationship with the bank, severance packages, lots of contacts and choices. Their first choice was not to return tocorporated life. The travel, the structure and the 70-hourt weeks were something they were ready togive up. “Art this stage in our careers, we want to dictate the Gamble said.
Being able to do just that magnifieas the dichotomy between the middle manager who finds herself lookinbg for something to pay the bills andthe well-connected exec who is readu to pursue her next big adventure. Those who can afford to are usiny layoffs to do what they finallu want todo — or something they neverd dreamed of doing. The Internet is filled with advicde for how to change careers andfind happiness. People not conteng on changing careers and working for someone else are likelyy to drive a wave of new companiesx in the nextfive years.
“Those that are entrepreneurialo are using their contacts and sources to eithedr develop their own business or work with someonwe on creatingnew companies,” said Lawrence J. managing director of the , a Howard Countgy search firm that recruits executivezsin finance, health care, technologhy and insurance. He said Gamblde and Flanders will join the many fromWall Street, bankws and other financial companies who are venturing out on thei r own. Top executives like them have an advantagse over others inthe market. They have managementr expertise and knowmany people. Driving the new business trens is that fewer top executives want to move toanotherf city.
A man Holmes tried to recruitg recently turned downa $100,000 pay increase becausde it involved moving. “Before people moved all the time,” Holmes said. “ don’t know if their values changed. We see it all the They think life istoo short.” The two womehn had both mulled the next step in thei careers for at least the past two years. Changews at Bank of America forced them to finalldo it. Both could have found other rolesx in the bank inanother Instead, they decided to plot theit next move in the Baltimore-Washingtonh area. Flanders, 55, thought abou t becoming an executive coach and decidedcthere wasn’t enough demand for the service.
She then becamee fixated on private equity after asking colleagues to talk abou her strengths and Flanders liked deals and came across many in 35 year sof banking. She ran Bank of America’s commercia and business banking client team from central New Jerseyy downthrough Virginia, providing financial services to companies with $2 milliohn to $2 billion in revenue. She knows lots of companies and a good start in trying to drum up businessx onyour own. “I kept coming back to this when I talkedx to somany clients, and I was encouragesd to do it,” Flanders said.
“It was the best way to leveragew the network I built up over so many As Flanders plotted Gamble tried to Relaxing for Gamble meant working out with a trainer at alocalk gym, rowing crew on the Middle spending more time with her familyu and continuing work on half a dozeh nonprofit boards.