rather than the government running their business. >> i probably fly no fewer than two or three times a month. i think the government would benefit from reining in on some prices. airlines have gotten lazy on. they're gouging prices and things like that where you go in and if you booking an emergency and a week before the flight happens, you play fees. i think capping fees for certain flights would make everyone's experience better. >> we'll get that your thought about that tonight after remarks from southwest airline ceo gather kelly. leave us your thoughts on air travel on our facebook page. >> they had a tremendous role and talking about martha and the

thing she gave george. that going to camp every winter was huge. it wasn't just valley ford, it was every winter of the ability long -- eight long years. she hated it. she was key to troop morale. he felt that very strongly. she would organize the other officers wives and they would have -- they would cook for the soldier, they will sew for the soldiers and pray for the soldiers. during the war, the washington genius was keeping the army together. washington would say he couldn't have done it without martha. he begged her to come to camp every year.

the troops adored her. >> as we continue our conversation on first ladies, leslie stahl, cokie roberts discuss first ladies from martha washington to michelle obama. tonight at 9:00 eastern on c-span. >> former morgan stanley trader alexa von tobel. this is from the atlantic magazine and the aspen institute. this is half hour.

>> i'm executive director for the center of quality. on behalf of the caq, we are thrilled to be a supporting underwriter of new york ideas. the caq is a nonprofit organization that serve investors and the capital market. it is my distinct honor to introduce our next panel. "the girls club: women and wall street." our panelist are uniquely qualified to talk about two issues. confidence in the capital market and advancing opportunities for women in positions of corporate leadership. although more women are advanced degrees in the united states than men do and roughly equal number of women and men represent our workforce, few women have earned positions of

corporate leadership in wall street. facebook coo cheryl sandberg's book "lean in" have returned this issue. women must advocate more fiercely for their own advancement. our next panelist, sally krawcheck and alexa von tobel have certainly learned this lesson as evidenced by many career successes. sally krawcheck, the former president of global wells and investment management for bank of america, is currently an industry commenter focusing on her passion. regulatory reform, the analysis of big banks. sally was the first president --

although working in the immediate aftermath of the financial crisis, sally led that unit to $3.1 billion in profits during her two years in that position. sally previously specificked as ceo of city global wealth investment management, ceo of citigroup. she began her career as a research analyst covering financial services, a role in which she was consistently named first in her field and called the last honest analyst by fortune magazine. alexa von tobel is the founder and ceo of learn vest which she launched in 2009 to provide tools to help women to be more

financially savvy. alexa has been selected as young global leader by the world economic forum featured as one of the coolest young entrepreneurs by inc. 30 under 30 future an and named ernst and young entrepreneurial women class. we are lucky to hear from two women who are truly are stars in the world. please welcome second and alexa von tobel and moderator steve clemons who himself a star in the boys club. thank you. >> how is everybody doing? enjoying the day? only just beginning. alexa come join me. boys club girls club. you made $3.1 billion for bank of america and they fired you. >> you got .

>> david bradley, our chairman may be interested in talking to you. >> i was more exciting to hear myself described as a girl. it's been a while. >> i didn't pick the headline. any case, we are going to talk about a number of things. we have such an open arena that we can discuss. women in finance. we can discuss things like cheryl sandberg's book and the sociology and the architecture of constraint for women today. the atlantic most of red article ever in our history was by ann marie slaughter "why women still can't have it all." i have been in the room where women will walk up and cry and say this is their life story. others who will say why is this

disconnect. >> i sort of back up, which is if there were one answer to success for women in business, we're not so dumb. we all understand and see the research which is that nothing bad happens when women are in position of power. only good things happen. via in position of power in countries or in businesses higher returns, better stockholder returns, lower volatility and less risks. good things happens. the research is there. >> why do you think that scares your ceo so much? >> let's keep that aside for the time being. let's talk on a macro issue. one of the challenges is, we have this amazing robust energetic and emotional debate. we need to remember there's a

lots of definition for success for a women. i want to be the ceo of multinational. for another i want to have a fulfilling career and spend time some time with kids and for another i want to start up a company. there's not one path and one answer. we need to -- smart companies will increasingly embrace the fact that there's not one answer and really work to not only move women through the different levels to seniority but also recognize that there are many women who like to have flexibility without shame and carve their own path. >> before i jump to alexa who's story is also amazing. i want to ask highly substantive question on the world of finance where this may important. you've been a big critic,

sally, how the regulation of the banking sector. it's interesting to see such a profitable business person like yourself looking at areas, looking at the disparity between regulations and what's happening here. i get the sense reading this you keep talking about arenas that big bankers don't want to talk about because it may be where they see profit, the regulators are not looking. i can understand why you make people nervous. is it these old boy networks that remain large in place that to some degree you're inhibiting. turn it around, are the faults, the bubbles, related to the nepotism between men? >> the way you introduced the topic, we could talk about this for hours and days. what i would observe in my

entire time in financial services, i never heard a client called a muppet. i never was in a meeting where anybody said we will rip people off. i was never in a meeting where anybody said, subprime thing, i got to tell you, we're going to ride this and we're going to let everybody crashed. that never happened what i saw. what i did observe, which is a important missed concept, of a lot of people grew up together talking the same aand thinking the same way. >> you grew up with stephen colbert. >> that's a side point. >> you helped fundraise for his sister. >> the fact it's really important financial services point. which is one of the -- my background is a research analyst and business leader with an industry. one of the things research

analyst you learn, facts can be stubborn thing. you need to look at them and accept them and speak the truth about them. i think a real challenge that we have in the industry today is whether it's regulated or senior executive. it's sort of the same people having the same conversations. somehow we're hoping there will be a different outcome. there may be and the regulation is very important, the most important of which is not the little details of it but do the banks have enough capital. do you know that today we're looking for and guiding towards a minimum of 3% equity assettings for some of the banks. let's call it on average 8%. do you know the beginning of the 20th century, it was 20 to 30 percent and 100 years ago it was 50%. what was the right amount of capital for these banks to have.

to me that's the big picture and important issue. accidents are going to happen. when accidents happen, it's a lot easier to to absorb. >> alexa von tobel is a real disruptive innovator. we've got the 1%, are you the 99% super star as i understand it? >> she's 0.1% in terms of her talent. >> yes, my personal story i graduated from harvard college, worked at morgan stanley and trading derivatives. i went back to harvard business school and launched learnvest. you can sign up for free and use

a lot of our tools. you can pay a small fee like a gym membership and get access to a certified financial plan and help you with advice. i started it because i gone to these great schools and i never learned a single thing about personal finance. we make about six to ten money decisions everyday. i'm extremely passionate about empowering myself. i had a wonderful education. i knew nothing about personal finance. i felt like this is a big problem. we knew others were going under in 2008, i was seeing the scene of unemployment. that means people were having money problems. i said this is the right time. we raised about $25 million from excel venture partners. >> how many people are in your network? >> our company just under 80

full time employees. we added three yesterday. >> how many people do you service now? >> we're servicing hundreds of thousands of people. our customers are growing rapidly adding about 1000 to 5000 a day on the free side. it's been a lot of work over the last four years. it's not rocket science. >> if you google sally krawcheck and you go into her past, you read that she was considered to be one of the most ruthless and honest analyst in the business. that's essentially what propelled you not really up the ladder. you were brought in a very unusual way sally, in the business based on the research. two questions to that, one is how do women make it in the profession and other is on broad financial literacy. if you look at what's happening in the large banking

institution, i call it what it is. i look at the regulatory dereliction, was that kind of structural corruption. these are the big player. you're meeting a lot of people who have financial literacy challenges. if women are more trustable, are you designing something we'll look back years from now and saying wow, learnvest was amazing. lot of people don't trust what they hear and read out there. >> it's simple. we you go to the doctor, they should never get paid to give you shots and sell you drugs. the financial state should be the same way. you should be able to show up. for me, it's not limited structurally our planners are

set up. we don't get paid to sell products. it should be like oil and water. the financial world have changed massively. they make money to sell products to those people. as a result, we don't learn about money and school across the country, people are really ill quipped to walk into those conversations. >> did you in part start your company because you didn't want to go through the ladder climbing in a large firm? sally i want to ask you that. you didn't really climbed ladder. you came in kind of a god from atlantis. >> i was going to tell you, i wish i could take credit for being as bright and figuring out my career at age 24. it was not that way at all.

i was extraordinarily pass -- passive. the company grown rapidly and we have lots of people. we've won lots awards. we're on a path to do something successful. i wake up every morning feeling like we have lot more to do. i have the outset of figuring out my career. >> sally how do you feel about your advancement and where other women go. neither one of are you traditional. many guys go up the ladder. >> what i can say with, almost absolute certainlity if i had started my first really big job was running smith barney. if i started at the bottom there as trainee, i never would have made it to the top. because, this is sort of the old wall street, is that the

interviewing process they use and questionnaire was from the marine corps. in order to then -- you had to make it in. women financial advisors tend to be successful but more slowly than men financial advisors. the industry keeps them out before they're successful because they're forming these deep relationships. in order to be successful in the way the business works is to get your first promotion, you go to be the number four manager in a big branch in new york or cincinnati. then you go to be the number one manager in a really small branch. i'm sure there are lots of wonderful husbands out there that will move six and eight times. my husband doesn't have to be one of those nor will my

children. that path, let's call a spade a spade, was not conducive to getting women to the top. only woman at the top was a single woman who made those types of sacrifices. the challenge about changing that, when you're making billions of dollars, we can read the great books. having run larger companies when you're making a boat load of money, you can put it off until next week or the week after. that's why i love -- alexa and i completely agree on financial advisors. there are a lot of enormously terrific ones out there. the whole industry should move to fiduciary standards so the whole industry is raised up. i'm hopeful we'll see action out of our regulators. there seems to be a break somewhere in the mid-30's where

there's a sense of entrepreneurialism and open environment. i really enjoyed in the past year spending time with alexa and her cohort of young women >> s. -- entrepreneurs. i learned more in the past year couple years i was at bank of america. it's really phenomenal what these young people and ladies are accomplishing. >> when you're sitting in large bank, it's just enormous. do you sense -- does the bank have ways of think being innovating. do you see something like alexa is doing. to some degree, can large institutions innovate? >> it's an excellent question.

i would put forth so that we can be controversial and have the discussion that most of the innovation that occurred at the large financial institutions through the past cycle, the institutional trading, instructions, etcetera. were increased risk not innovation that was wrapped in complexity. that rode the volatility. everybody thought it's innovation and it's growth. >> that will fit very well in 140 characters. >> it's growth, look at it it's growth. when you have the downturn, you realize you were way far out the risk tail. on the other hand for these banks, what seeing less of it is real significant innovation on the consumer side. when i was at bank of america, we talked -- i was chief financial officer for a period

of times at citi. you have people come with their investment plan. you make money like that on institutional product. if you are innovating on the consumer side, because of the construct of the industry, it was so difficult to pull consumers from another bank in the return of innovation on the consumer side were much slow coming. >> interesting. alexa how do you see the innovation challenge? i hear you're on iphones now. is there an app we can get? >> yes, plain and simple, learnvest made a free tool where you can electronic your account -- link your account to it. we made this a free tool. our average user spend about 25 times a month which is 2.4 times a day. it almost has a five star

rating. proud of it. if you decide to upgrade -- you don't have present out -- print out documents. lots of the financial planning that happens offline is very archaic. i say that respectfully. you see your planner and they charge you $3000 a year on average. why i don't know about you guys i will not be willing to pay $3000 for a financial plan that seems steep. we simply said, let's use a free tool. let the user organize their financial life and if they have questions, they can talk to a financial expert.

it's affordable. for us, we wake up every morning just trying to think about the consumer. i'm consumer one, i literally create the product. i wish it existed for me. that's where my passion and commitment lies our product team and tech team and innovation. that's all we innovate for the consumer and on the side of the customer. >> one thing that alexa has really focused in on, which may not feel like an innovation but is important which is the female customer. the female investor. one of the industry publications for the wealth management industry, recently did a series of pieces on niche market financial advisor. anyone want to guess what those niche marks was? women. half of the population, 60% of

college attendees starting businesses. it's unbelievable. what you hear from women who interact and engage with the traditional wealth manager is that while they may be in the meeting, typically it's men talking to men and nodding to the woman. that's part of the challenges the traditional wealth management industry have about 16% or 17% of their advisors as women. it's really men with men. they think they're getting the whole family but when the husband advise and the guy advise first, that happens -- >> thank you for looking at me with concern. >> the guy advises first is that the woman typically does on average does not keep her money with the financial advisor. on average she leaves because she feel like she wasn't engaged. >> let me ask you both quickly. if the tilt was the other

direction, you had many more women on the board, many more ceos, just much more embedded to the system. would the financial performance with the stakeholder side will be different. what will be different? just snapshots of how you see that alexa >> i would say it should be the best person. men and women, i never saw myself -- >> you saying that to be politically correct? >> i never saw myself a young female entrepreneur, i saw myself as a young entrepreneur working as hard as possible. >> i'm going to end by slightly disagreeing with you. i think it should be the best team. think about a basketball team. if all five members are raymond felton, jimmy black, kendall marshall, i'm naming point

guards, they could be the best players but they won't be the best team. research shows more diverse teams not only outperforms on most metric, undiversed team, they outperform more capable teams. what i would say as we look at the research, i think it stands that we would have had a more prosperous economy. >> ladies and gentlemen please thank sally krawcheck and alexa von tobel. i should add my colleague elizabeth baker. in our group, we've got 25 women and one other guy. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> they had a tremendous role.

she was talking about martha the things she gave george. that going to camp every winter was huge. it wasn't just valley ford, it was every winter of the ability long years of the revolutionary war. she hated it. it was dangerous. the roads were dangerous. she was a prime object of hostage taking. she was key to troop morale. he felt that very strongly. she would organize the other officers wives and they would have -- they would cook for soldier, they will nurse the soldier, pray with the soldiers, they put on great entertainment for the soldiers. during the war, the washington's genius was keeping the army together. washington would say he couldn't have done it without martha. he begged her to come to camper

year. the troops adored her. >> as we continue our conversation on first ladies, leslie stahl and cokie roberts discuss first ladies from martha washington to michelle obama. tonight at 9:00 eastern on c-span. >> coming up tonight on c-span, we'll show you southwest airlines gary kelly. then we want to hear your experiences on air travel and what you like to tell the u.s. government. later on tonight, at 9:00 eastern, we continue our focus on first ladies with a discussion on the influence of women in politics. that's at 9:00. up next gary kelly in about a half an hour with this being the start of the busy air travel weeks of the year, we're going toop