Equity, the first Wall Street movie that stars and is produced and directed by women, opens this weekend in theaters across America.
In 2014, actresses Alysia Reiner ("Orange Is The New Black") and Sarah Megan Thomas ("Backwards) launched a production company to feature strong-female roles. Equity is the first offering.
The plot follows investment banker, Naomi Bishop, played by "Breaking Bad" star Anna Gunn. Gunn's character competes hard to take a promising fledgling company public through an initial public offering of stock. However, she runs into trouble when she discovers wrongdoing that could scuttle the IPO. She has to battle the powerful guys in her office who seem to be more about making a buck than ethics.
Marcia Page, executive chair and a founder in 1993 of Minneapolis-based Varde Partners, a globe-spanning investment firm, sponsored a private premiere of Equity this week as well as a panel discussion with 155 investment professionals afterward.
"This was an opportunity, as we as a firm and industry are ratcheting up our gender diversity, particularly on the investment side, because in my 25 or 30 years in the industry, we really have not moved the needle in terms of diversity among investment professionals.
"On the other hand, it was serendipity to use the movie to have an innovative conversation about this. It's a Wall Street thriller from a female point of view. And we had a full house."
In addition to Page, the panel included Jody Gunderson, executive managing director, Carval Investors; Jennifer Ponce de Leon, senior portfolio manager Columbia Threadneedle Investments, and Kirsten Voss, senior managing director at Värde. My contention: women tend to be as sharp and less greedy and corrupt than the boys. So good to have them on board, whether Wall Street, the boardroom or the church offices.
Equity was written by Amy Fox, sister of Jon Fox, head of business development at Varde.
Varde, which has offices in Minneapolis, Singapore, London and elsewhere, manages about $11 billion in client money that is invested among several industries through 235 employees.
Neal.St.Anthony@startribune.com
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