When Cathy Engelbert joined Deloitte in the mid-1980s, she was quickly identified as one of the few high-potential women in a “very male-dominated environment.”
Former Chairman and CEO Mike Cook was just launching Deloitte’s first women’s initiative. “He had daughters and he looked at the fact that 50 percent of accounting majors coming out of grad school were women,” she recalls. “Our leadership at the partner level was less than 10 percent women at the time.”
As a high-potential, Cathy was encouraged to take risks and stretch assignments. “I was a young manager, not yet married, and the culture at Deloitte helped me grow and get different experiences. The partners sponsored me and asked, ‘What does Cathy need What client should she work with'”
