Career Achievement Award
Linda Layman Redding ’88

Converse salutes Linda Layman Redding ’88 who has dedicated herself to a financial services career that has been nothing short of stellar, with the Career Achievement Award.

She joined Wachovia Corporation in 1995 as one of ten founding members of what was then First Union’s Loan Syndication Group. She helped to develop the start-up effort into a dominant market player in both the leveraged and investment grade loan business. In 2000, Linda founded Wachovia’s Loan Market Research Team, one of the first proprietary research desks in the loan market. Linda and her team strengthened Wachovia’s relationships with issuers and investors, and improved overall brand awareness through published research, market-leading pitch materials and newsletters. She also was a contributing author to The Handbook of Loan Syndications and Trading. In 2006, Linda was named Wachovia’s first Managing Director and Head of Corporate and Investment Banking Women’s Initiative, a position she holds today. In this role, she is responsible for working with business leaders to create and execute strategies to improve the recruiting, retention and engagement of women in Wachovia’s Corporate and Investment Banking division.

Linda’s whirlwind financial career began in earnest in 1988 when she worked for Dominion Bancshares (Roanoke, Virginia) as a Relationship Manager, and cross-sold credit products, and treasury and trust services to Fortune 500 clients. From 1993-1995, she worked as a Senior Treasury Analyst for Johns-Manville Corporation (Denver, Colorado), and negotiated and executed over $700 million in capital markets transactions.