Kirsten Rhodes, Vice Chair and Client Relationship Development Leader at Deloitte, Named 2025 FWSF Financial Woman of the Year
Kirsten exemplifies the mission of Financial Women of San Francisco—to advance the success of women in finance through mentorship, leadership, and opportunity. Her distinguished career and passion for uplifting women reflect the values we strive to promote
Share
Through her professional leadership and advocacy work, Rhodes' achievements exemplify her dedication to mentoring and empowering professionals in the financial industry. For example, her passion for leadership development served as a springboard for the creation of a Women on Boards program that explores topics relevant to today's board directors. She not only convenes leaders to foster growth, support and development, but also regularly shares insights from her network with a wide LinkedIn audience to exponentially reach more professionals seeking to learn from her experiences, financial acumen, and deep understanding of the C-suite.
Rhodes' commitment to fostering an environment that supports career growth and well-being is reflected in Deloitte's recognition as one of the top 10 best companies for future leaders. A sought-after thought leader, Rhodes is consistently tapped by leading business publications to share her insights and knowledge about strengthening client relationships and cultivating personalized experiences to foster deeper connections.
Inspiring and leading positive change within Deloitte and across the broader business community, Rhodes linked business, innovation, and purpose through her leadership of the Yes SF Challenge upon its launch in 2023, driving collaboration across sectors. Her multifaceted commitment to advancing women in leadership and improving the communities where they work, live and play are among the many reasons Kirsten Rhodes has been named as the FWSF's 2025 Financial Woman of the Year.
'I am deeply honored to receive the Financial Woman of the Year award,' said Rhodes. 'I share this recognition with esteemed past honorees who have paved the way before me and inspired me to be a champion helping more women achieve their fullest potential. It takes a collective commitment to create cultures and communities where everyone has an opportunity to excel, and together, we can make an impact beyond our own workplace and drive meaningful change across broader society.'
In addition to her responsibilities at Deloitte, Rhodes' leadership extends to her involvement in local corporate citizenship strategies and board membership with organizations such as the Bay Area Council and the California Academy of Science, where she contributes to broader community initiatives. She was recognized through the Jefferson Award for public service in 2018 and was named among the San Francisco Business Times Most Influential Women in Business for three consecutive years.
Mona Ahmadi, FWSF's 2025 president and director of FP&A at Earnin, also shared her excitement regarding the FWSF's 2025 honoree: 'Kirsten exemplifies the very mission of Financial Women of San Francisco—to advance the success of women in finance through mentorship, leadership, and opportunity. Her distinguished career, commitment to inclusive leadership, and passion for uplifting women reflect the values we strive to promote. Kirsten's impact reaches far beyond her own accomplishments, inspiring and enabling the progress of countless women across the industry. We are proud to honor her as our 2025 Financial Woman of the Year.'
The Financial Woman of the Year award was established in 1996 to mark the 40th anniversary of FWSF. Created by past FWSF presidents Leslie Miller and Shelly Porges, the honor and related event serve three key purposes: fundraising for FWSF's scholarship program, expanding awareness of FWSF, and recognizing the leadership and achievements of senior financial executives. Over the years, the award has become a platform for trailblazing women to share their insights, inspire the next generation of leaders, and highlight the evolving landscape of finance.
This year, Rhodes joins an esteemed group of past honorees, including Lisa Pantages, CFO of the San Francisco Giants; Teresa Bryce Bazemore, CEO of FHLBank of San Francisco; Nancy Pfund, founder and managing partner of DBL Partners; Jenny Johnson, CEO of Franklin Templeton; Terri Kallsen, chief operating officer at Wealth Enhancement Group; Heidi Roizen, partner at Threshold Ventures; Robin Washington, president and COO of Salesforce and former CFO of Gilead; Debbie Messemer, former managing partner of KPMG's Bay Area Market; Carrie Dolan, CFO of Kraken Digital Asset Exchange; Sarah Friar, CFO of OpenAI and former CEO of NextDoor and CFO of Square; and Pat Yarrington, former CFO of Chevron.
ABOUT FINANCIAL WOMEN OF SAN FRANCISCO
Financial Women of San Francisco advances the success of women in finance in the Bay Area. Formerly known as 'The Financial Women's Association of San Francisco,' the organization is an essential source of insight and inspiration to more than 300 financial women throughout the Bay Area. Members are executive and managerial-level women who work in finance or financial services. Many are CEOs, CFOs, corporate treasurers, CPAs, and attorneys. FWSF also welcomes commercial and private bankers, investment advisors, fund managers, securities analysts, administrators, financial planners, consultants, recruiters, marketers, and other professionals who work in financial services. It's membership represents all generations and cultural backgrounds. In addition to the FWSF's professional organization focused on advancing women, since 1985, the FWSF Scholarship Fund (a 501(c)3 organization) has awarded more than $3 million in scholarship grants to more than 355 Bay Area women. Beyond financial support, FWSF scholarship recipients are mentored by FWSF members, become members of the organization, and attend career development and networking events. Learn more at www.financialwomensf.org.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
1 in 6 workers pretend to use AI amid workplace pressures, survey finds
This story was originally published on HR Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily HR Dive newsletter. As more U.S. workplaces adopt artificial intelligence tools, 1 in 5 workers say they feel pressured to use it in situations they're unsure about — and 1 in 6 say they sometimes pretend to use AI, according to a recent survey from Overall, 75% of workers said they're expected to use AI at work, whether officially or unofficially. Although most workers said they agree with their leadership's approach to AI, others said they feel pressured and uncomfortable, and some said they pretend to use it rather than push back. 'Artificial intelligence (AI) is taking over the white collar workspace as a daily updates provide opportunities to optimize,' according to the report. 'However, potential does not always lead to smooth implementation.' In a survey of more than 1,000 full-time U.S. professionals, 59% said they use AI at least daily. While two-thirds said they feel energized by integrating AI into their workflow, 1 in 10 said AI has damaged their sense of self-worth at work. In general, 84% of workers said they feel more productive using AI, and 71% said they know how to use it efficiently. Most AI users reported less burnout, less work stress and better job satisfaction. Nearly a third said they feel less lonely, and a quarter said they collaborate more. In contrast, some workers said they struggle to keep up, with 1 in 4 feeling 'often' or 'always' overwhelmed with AI developments. A third also said that learning, using and checking AI takes as much time as their previous approach to work. Among those expected to use AI at work, 25% said they haven't received any training. Another quarter said they received formal training, and a third were given dedicated time at work to learn AI skills. For some U.S. employers, an AI development disconnect has emerged, where some workers pretend to understand the technology and others decline to prioritize AI learning and development opportunities. HR professionals can help by implementing programs that build AI fluency, tailoring initiatives to employees' skill levels and personalizing career paths, Deloitte AI leaders say. HR teams can also identify future-critical skills and create pathways for employees to transition into AI-augmented roles. Recommended Reading How companies are planning for AI disruption
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
OPINION: Start secure, scale smarter: cybersecurity essentials for Canada's AI startups
Canada's AI ecosystem is booming. With more than 670 startups and over 30 generative AI companies, Canada ranks fourth globally in generative AI firms per capita, according to Deloitte. The market was on track to reach US$4.13 billion in 2024, fueled by fast-moving innovation hubs in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary. However, behind the momentum lies a growing blind spot: cybersecurity. For many AI founders, the race to ship products and secure funding can overshadow security concerns. This tradeoff may seem efficient now, but it creates long-term risks that can derail even the most promising ventures. Canadian startups can't afford to ignore cybersecurity Most founders are familiar with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), which governs how Canadian organizations handle personal data. But fewer are actively aligning with emerging global standards such as the EU AI Act, which is already shaping how AI systems must be designed, secured and monitored worldwide. Even if your company does not operate in the EU today, your users or enterprise clients might. If you plan to scale internationally, security and ethics will become non-negotiable. The hidden risks of speed Modern AI products are often built using large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Claude or open-source versions. Developers increasingly rely on tools like GitHub Copilot to generate code from natural language prompts. This trend is known as vibe coding. Vibe coding refers to the practice of using generative AI tools to accelerate software development, often without a deep understanding of the generated code. It enables rapid prototyping and gives non-technical team members access to development processes. However, the speed it enables comes with significant risks. These include insecure default settings, lack of input validation, poorly understood codebases, susceptibility to prompt injection and data leaks and training data that may contain vulnerabilities or bias. These issues can accumulate quickly. One incident such as a data breach, flawed output or regulatory violation can stall growth and erode user trust. Security best practices every Canadian AI startup should adopt Security should not be treated as an afterthought. It must be a fundamental part of product development. From day one, apply a security-first mindset when designing your AI systems. Conduct threat modeling to understand how your data flows, who interacts with it and where potential vulnerabilities exist. This includes identifying high-risk areas such as unsecured APIs, risky third-party dependencies and overly permissive access controls. Go beyond traditional application security by accounting for risks unique to AI systems. These include adversarial attacks, model extraction and unpredictable behavior in fine-tuned models. Building with security in mind from the start can prevent major issues later in your product's lifecycle. Your model is only as trustworthy as the data it is trained on. Poor data hygiene can embed toxic language, biased assumptions or sensitive information directly into your AI outputs. Avoid scraping random data from the web or relying on unverified synthetic content. Instead, establish a process to validate, sanitize and document your datasets, just as you would with source code. This ensures reproducibility, transparency and compliance with legal or ethical standards. Use scanning tools to detect anomalies, inappropriate language or bias indicators. Store dataset documentation in a way that makes it easy to audit when needed. High-quality data is foundational to safe and effective AI. Prompt injection is one of the most critical threats facing LLM-based applications today. These attacks manipulate inputs to trick models into behaving in unintended ways. This can include revealing internal logic, executing hidden instructions or leaking sensitive information. To prevent this, sanitize and validate user inputs rigorously. Avoid exposing system-level prompts to end users and implement safeguards for any feature that allows file uploads, command execution or plugin integrations. Conduct regular AI red teaming exercises to test how well your application defends against malicious or unpredictable input. Controlling what your model sees and how it responds is essential to maintaining the integrity of your product. AI-specific regulations are still evolving in Canada, but global frameworks already provide valuable guidance. The NIST AI Risk Management Framework helps teams assess and mitigate risks associated with deploying AI systems. ISO/IEC 42001 offers a governance model for responsible AI development, while the OWASP Top 10 for LLMs identifies the most common vulnerabilities found in AI-powered applications. Adopting these standards early allows your startup to build systems that meet enterprise-grade expectations, improve credibility with investors and prepare for future compliance obligations. The more opaque your AI model is, the harder it becomes to protect, debug or improve. Explainability is essential for building trust, ensuring accountability and meeting regulatory requirements. Use tools like LIME or SHAP to help unpack how your models make decisions. Maintain detailed logs of model inputs, outputs, user interactions and changes over time. Strong traceability supports both incident response and compliance with privacy laws such as PIPEDA and GDPR. It also provides a foundation for transparency when communicating with customers or responding to audits. When users understand your model, they are more likely to trust and adopt your product. Closing thoughts Security should not be treated as an after thought. The earlier you integrate cybersecurity into your startup's culture and development lifecycle, the more resilient, trusted and scalable your product becomes. By embracing secure-by-design principles now, your team can avoid costly rework, reduce risk exposure and build the kind of AI that earns market respect and stands the test of time. Canadian AI founders have a unique opportunity in leading innovation and setting the bar for ethical, secure AI that puts users and trust at the center of technology. Kelly Onu is a cybersecurity consultant at EY with eight years of experience and a passion for building secure systems across various industries. She is an active community advocate, sharing thought leadership and mentoring emerging professionals through outreach and inclusion initiatives. This section is powered by Revenue Dynamix. Revenue Dynamix provides innovative marketing solutions designed to help IT professionals and businesses thrive in the Canadian market, offering insights and strategies that drive growth and success across the enterprise IT spectrum. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Yahoo
Is $4 Million Enough For A Wife To Leave Her Job That Brings In $220,000 Per Year? 'My Husband Supports It.'
A wife in her early 40s has climbed the corporate ladder and become an associate vice president at a finance company that puts her under constant stress. She has considered leaving the job, especially when one of her two children endured a serious illness out of nowhere. Even though she earns $220,000 per year, she can leave the job. The couple has $4 million, which includes a fully paid-off house. Although the husband's income fluctuates, he is projected to earn $800,000 this year. Don't Miss: The same firms that backed Uber, Venmo and eBay are investing in this pre-IPO company disrupting a $1.8T market — 'Scrolling To UBI' — Deloitte's #1 fastest-growing software company allows users to earn money on their phones. You can She doesn't feel rich yet because the couple wants to buy a house somewhere warm in the South or move to a high-cost area to escape cold winters. The couple wants to upsize their home even if a move doesn't happen, and they are looking at $2.5 million properties. Many Redditors encouraged her to quit and that her finances were good, but there are deeper lessons for people who are in a similar situation. Don't Let Your Ego Pull You Away From The Right Decision A key part of the conversation is the wife's ego, which she mentioned in the post. It's a small omission that acts as the foundation for why she's currently staying put. It started when she rejected the idea of a lateral move, citing her ego in the process. "A lateral move would mean the same stress, and my ego won't allow me to take a step down," she said. Leaving the job requires taking a step down. From a career perspective, going from an associate vice president to unemployed is one of the biggest steps down that you can possibly take. However, it may be the biggest step she can take upward from the perspective of being a mother. "I want to be more present for my kids. All in all, being there for them in their teen years would be really rewarding," she said. Trending: Kevin O'Leary Says Real Estate's Been a Smart Bet for 200 Years — Money Isn't An Issue The conversation would be different if she were the breadwinner and needed to work in order to pay the bills. If the husband were only earning $50,000 per year, she'd have to stay put in most cases. However, that isn't the case at all. The husband's $800,000 earnings, the $4 million net worth, and a fully paid house suggest that she can walk away from her job. It's also important to consider that her $220,000 is a lot lower if you consider taxes. Since her husband earns roughly $800,000 per year, all of her money is likely getting taxed at an elevated federal tax rate. While the couple will take home less money if she leaves her job, the husband takes home enough money to raise a family of two children. The fact that he has encouraged her to leave her job further demonstrates that money is not an You Really Need A Big House? No one will question the couple's ability to afford a $2.5 million house, especially with their current property fully paid off. However, it may not be the right decision, and that seems to be causing the wife financial stress. We don't know about the current home, but she didn't mention anything about the space being too tight to raise her two children. If you're buying a house in a Southern state that you will only visit in the winter, you don't need to buy a big house. A condo with a pool may be more sensible since it immediately inserts you into a community and has built-in security. The husband's $800,000 earnings should still be enough to afford the $2.5 million house, especially if they sell their current property. However, you don't have to creep up your lifestyle just because you are suddenly earning more money. Leaving the job and staying put in the current house may be the best route for the wife. Read Next: The ECG Hasn't Changed in 100 Years — Image: Shutterstock Up Next: Transform your trading with Benzinga Edge's one-of-a-kind market trade ideas and tools. Click now to access unique insights that can set you ahead in today's competitive market. Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? APPLE (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report TESLA (TSLA): Free Stock Analysis Report This article Is $4 Million Enough For A Wife To Leave Her Job That Brings In $220,000 Per Year? 'My Husband Supports It.' originally appeared on © 2025 Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
