Featuring insights from PNC’s Eileen Kowalski, Newpoint Advisors’ Carin Sorvik, Hilco’s Ervisa Ismailaj, and KPMG’s Andrea Beirne, this article delves into gender dynamics, and the hurdles women face in male-dominated sectors. Discover how these leaders have thrived and their perspectives on the progress—and remaining gaps—in achieving gender parity.

We have seen great progression of women in the workplace over the last several decades.  Through DEI programs and initiatives, we are seeing mentorship, sponsorship and allyship being prioritized in organizations for all individuals, not just women.  However, there is still a lot of work to do.  According to McKinsey’s 2024 Women in the Workplace Study, women still face a lot of factors that inhibit their ability to progress in their careers and continue to face challenges in the workplace. 

In 2025, we are still seeing many functional areas in the workplace where women are underrepresented.  Women face many challenges in the workplace including gender pay gap, work-life balance and lack of diversity in leadership.  Studies have indicated that women often have to work harder to prove themselves and can experience bias.  Despite this, women are succeeding and being promoted in a variety of functional areas. To get a perspective on whether gender has played a part in their success, I had the opportunity to sit down with four exceptional women in what are described as “male-dominated” functional areas to discuss what has made them successful and discuss the impact they feel gender has had on their role.

Eileen Kowalski is SVP and national recurring field exam manager for PNC Business Credit. With a distinguished career of more than 30 years, she is responsible for managing and developing a team of seven field exam managers and, indirectly, 35 field examiners working on regional and national field exams. She is integral to PNCBC’s Field Exam training program and to the team tasked with developing talent for PNCBC. Eileen is a member of the SFNet Education Committee, the SFNet Inclusiveness Committee, and the Women in Commercial Finance Conference Planning Committee. She is also the chair of the College of Business Advisory Council at Kutztown University.

Carin Sorvik, managing director at Newpoint Advisors Corporation, is a CPA and Certified Insolvency & Restructuring Advisor (CIRA) focusing on providing complex restructuring, bankruptcy consulting, forensic accounting, litigation support, and other financial management services to companies, national and global commercial lenders, private equity firms, and key stakeholders in various turnaround stages in and out of court (including Assignees, Receivers, Debtors, Creditors, and Trustees in subchapter V and traditional Chapter 11 bankruptcies). With over 20 years’ experience focused on insolvency and turnaround matters, Carin is proficient in effectively and efficiently administering estates and resolving litigation disputes.

Ervisa Ismailaj is an executive director at Hilco Diligence Services, leading buy-side, sell-side, and transaction financial due diligence engagements for private equity middle-market, and corporate clients. With nearly 20 years of experience, she has deep expertise across business services, industrials, consumer, and healthcare and biotech, and telecom sectors, bringing a strong accounting and finance background to complex transactions, including acquisitions, divestitures, carve-outs, and refinancing. Her career spans both Big Four and boutique consulting firms, with a proven track record of successfully managing transactions in over 25 countries.

Andrea Beirne is a partner at KPMG LLP in the Deal Advisory and Strategy Practice.  Andrea provides due diligence assistance and structured finance consulting services to clients in the financial services industry. Andrea has over 31 years of experience, including more than 22 years with KPMG, and nine years with Arthur Andersen LLP’s Transaction Advisory and Assurance Practices. Andrea is a member of the AICPA and is a Certified Public Accountant.  In addition, Andrea is a member of the SFNet Inclusiveness Committee. 

What do you believe has made you successful in your role? Do you believe that your gender has impacted your ability to succeed?

Kowalski: When I first started in ABL field exam in 1990, I was very fortunate to join a f ield exam department at a small bank that was completely staffed with women. When that bank was purchased by another bank, the merged field exam group was comprised of both men and women almost equally. So, from the beginning, I did not necessarily perceive field exam as being more dominated by men.  Most of the people in field exam roles at that time were accounting majors or finance majors, so my perception of the role was actually that successful examiners needed to be good accountants. That thought process caused me to return to college to earn an MBA in Accounting.  My personal focus was always on doing a good job and performing the task as well as I was able. I think that I have been very lucky in my career to have had the pleasure of reporting to strong female managers who encouraged my continued growth and development – both in my career and as a person. They served as examples for me, and their focus on training and development inspired me when I was tasked to create more formal training for field exam at PNC. I never had to look far for great role models in this industry – female or male. 

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