Teena Piccione, currently senior vice president of information technology at Fidelity Investments, has held significant leadership roles in a number of service-critical and high-profile positions. She is a leader and professional who is always looking for new, better and innovative approaches.
According to her peers, she is also a personable and approachable colleague, who works well in a collaborative and innovative environment. She is generous with her time and recognizes the value of giving back to both her community and other professionals.
Truly a valuable asset to her team and Fidelity Investments, Piccione is consistently recognized in the financial and telecommunications industry as best in class. In 2015, she won both a Women of Color award and the Innotech IT Executive Leader of the Year award.
Piccione is committed to giving back to her community. While working as an assistant vice president at AT&T, she volunteered more than 500 hours a year mentoring and teaching middle and high school, as well as college, students. Working with Lamar Middle School in Texas, she designed and developed an innovative approach to math that involved middle school students in building a business. At Southern Methodist University, University of Texas Austin/Dallas and University of North Carolina, she judged graduate Capstone projects.
“Diversity to me is everyone’s personal story and journey,” says Piccione. “Celebrate your diversity, for that is your story. Then, be inclusive of everyone else’s story as well.” When it comes to the importance of diversity to business, she expands, “Women drive 70–85% of all consumer purchases. If you do not have a diverse workforce, you will lose business – it’s that simple.”
For women building careers, Piccione offers this advice, “Be laser focused on what you want to achieve and know your boundaries, limitations and compromises. Say yes to opportunities. Be relevant and bold. Speak up in meetings, but be sure you know the topic better than anyone else in the room. As a woman, you will need to know more, be more adaptable and creative, than anyone else in the room.”
