On Wednesday, November 13 Trinity Hall welcomed Kristine Benefield, assurance partner for PricewaterhouseCoopers, as the second speaker in our “Women in Leadership” series.
Kristine is originally from Auckland, New Zealand and attended St. Cuthbert’s College, an all-girls school, from the time she was 4 years old until she was 15 years old. She went to Australia for her university years, where the newly established Bond University was changing the traditional Australian education model. Kristine believes strongly that the risk to attend a brand new school paid off for her and for all graduates of Bond University. She graduated with two degrees: Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Commerce.
In 1993 Kristine joined PwC in its Auckland office. She has worked for the firm in many offices around the world (in NYC since 2003) and was promoted to Partner in 2006. Kristine has extensive experience serving virtually all segments of the Entertainment and Media (E&M) industry including television and radio broadcasting, advertising, publishing and cable clients in New York, Washington DC and Norfolk Virginia. In addition to serving her clients, Kristine is the Strategy Leader for the US Technology, E&M, Communications and Health Industries Practices, and is active in PwC’s E&M Thought Leadership initiatives.
Our students truly enjoyed what Kristine had to say. In their own words, here are some of the ideas they took away from the discussion:
“Taking risk is a good thing.”
“You should pursue your dreams and not let biases hold you back.”
“It’s not enough to know that women can do what men can do. You must show it.”
“Public speaking is important and is something that you shouldn’t be afraid to do because you will have trouble in the future if you can’t speak in front of people.”
“Your opinion does matter. You shouldn’t be afraid to say what you think.”
“Sometimes trying new things is good.”
“Being a graduate of a brand new school will help you because you are considered a risk-taker in a good way.”
“Ms. Benefield moved to so many different countries in her life and was still able to adjust to different environments and still be successful.”
“Being a risk-taker doesn’t mean you are bad but that you are willing to take new opportunities.”
“It’s important to network and, even during our high school years, focus on how we present ourselves and come across to others.”