Saaima Khaliq is the managing director and private equity chief financial officer for New Mountain Capital, where she has worked since 2015. In those roles, Khaliq manages all aspects of the accounting, financial reporting, and administration of New Mountain’s private equity funds and the firm’s general partner operations. She has over 20 years of experience overseeing private equity and venture capital accounting, portfolio company valuations, reporting and financial systems.
But more recently, she was named the 2024 Alumnus of the Year for INROADS.
She received her B.S., magna cum laude, and M.S. degrees from the University of Connecticut. Munson Steed, the publisher and CEO of rolling out, reached out to talk to Khaliq about her brilliant career.
[Editor’s note: This is an extended transcription. Some errors may occur.]
Munson Steed: Hey, everybody! This is Munson Steed and welcome to Sisters with Superpowers, where we introduce you to sisters that are truly sharing their powers, creating true benefits for all those who are in need, giving vision and a future to those in need as well. My dear sister today, and she has so much superpower including [being a] CPA — Saaima Khaliq, how are you?
Saaima Khaliq: I’m doing great. It’s a beautiful day in New York City. So, I’m really happy to see the sun shining bright today.
MS: I think so, too. You truly are a visionary. When you think about your career, and you think about your intersection with INROADS? What do you think about when you think about those young people?
SK: Oh, there’s a lot that comes to my mind just when you ask that question, Munson. But first and foremost, I think about a pathway which is what INROADS provided me. I moved back to this country at the age of 10. I didn’t speak a word of English. And coming here, my father died pretty early. So, I was being raised by my mother, who’s a nanny. [I] didn’t really have access to understanding business and how all of that works, let alone just understanding a new culture.
So, when I was in college, I was researching organizations that would introduce me to what the business world was all about, and specifically targeting people of color and minorities. This is something I jumped on, and I’m really glad I did. Because it gave me access to understanding what business is all about, and being able to enter into this pathway, to get to where I am today is something that I’m super thankful to INROADS for.
MS: You mentioned something that was beautiful, and I like to say INROADS and access. They give you an intro ticket to access someplace. What was that like when you got access? What’d you see for those who’ve never or may not understand how important INROADS is when they know that this person, a woman of color, literally had the opportunity? You described it, but what was it like when your eyes got in there, and you said, You know what? There’s a possibility here.
SK: Yeah, Munson, it’s a wonderful and great question. So, when I was a sophomore, finishing my sophomore year in college, when I landed upon that opportunity. And I can tell you one thing I told myself, I am going to take every advantage of this as possible to learn what this entire world is all about. So, even though I was majoring in business accounting and finance. My first internship was in the HR Department, which had nothing to do with accounting and finance. But to me I said, “I’ll take that. I’ll do whatever I can to learn from this,” and always rolled my sleeves up to do whatever was being asked of, and I was grateful to just have that internship.
I remember it was paying $20 an hour. I don’t know what internships pay now, but to me that was huge. I was earning $5 prior to that. So first and foremost, that was wonderful but I work in the HR Department. I was doing filing, I was screening résumés, I was even asked to be a receptionist when one of our receptionists called out. And that’s an interesting opportunity and a story that I want to share with the audiences that someone in that position might say, you know what? I’m a finance major. I don’t want to sit behind the desk and be a receptionist, but I said, “Why not?”
And for one week, I was a receptionist and answering calls. Now everything’s over Zoom but back then you did have to call people. It allowed me to create relationships with people and building those relationships was something, a lesson that I learned and still keep near and dear to my heart today. Because the second internship that I got also at Arthur Anderson, through INROADS, having the foundation and those relationships allowed me to get the larger clients at Arthur Anderson.
I was working on Casino audits, Starwood Hotel audits because people were able to know the person who’s at that receptionist desk, and they knew my face. So, it introduced me to a lot more opportunities that I don’t think I would have gotten if I didn’t raise my hand to take on a role for one week and just answer phone calls and connect people to each other. So, to me it was an opportunity to learn as much as I possibly could, and build a lot of relationships, which I think is an important lesson for anyone in the business or other fields. And it allowed me to continue providing more access to more and more opportunities down the road.
MS: Curiosity plays a huge part in how we all move. How did curiosity play with you as an INROADS? Now you’re at Arthur Anderson trying to… How are you curious? And what did you apply? And what do you apply from that experience, even today that you’re not saying I’m here, but you literally knew that you know what there’s a world out here for me to play in, and I now have the confidence and the curiosity to grow bigger?
SK: Yeah, I mean, just as I have a young daughter who’s 6½, and curiosity is something that you just have to remember. We always have to be curious, regardless of whether I was an intern back then or now but you learn more and more by being curious. So, at that point in time, working at Arthur Anderson. I was curious about the types of engagements there were in different industries I was working on. As I mentioned, many different types of audits, financial audits, working with airplane parts, working with casinos, as I mentioned.
When I was put on the Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods audit, I wanted to learn about the Mashantucket Pequot tribes and just understand a little bit more about how that organization came into existence and everything else. So, there was a lot of curiosity around that, but from a cultural perspective business lingo and understanding that too, because it was very different for me. I didn’t grow up playing a lot of different sports and conversations around basketball or football.
I know enough to be able to have a conversation, but there were a lot of sports that I may not have understood as well, and I wasn’t shy to ask questions. Now, I remember being invited to my first football game. Somebody just explained this to me, and how it works, and even that in itself builds relationships. It’s not being scared to raise your hand to say what you don’t know and I do believe people appreciated the authenticity.
MS: I love that so, as a Sister with Superpowers. Truly! Thank you for sharing your insight on INROADS, but describe two of your superpowers.
SK: I’ve been told my smile is my superpower by others, but for me to describe some of my superpowers is … honesty, Munson. It’s just something all of us should entail. But I’ve always been true to myself, and honest with who I am, and never ashamed of my background, which is why I speak so openly about it. And it allows you to just develop connections with other people. Even though you’re so far away, I’ve never met you in person, but we’re able to just connect by just being who we are and letting ourselves be vulnerable sometimes, I think, is important as humans.
And in the world that we live in today, especially post-pandemic, we have harder times making connections. So, I feel like it is just important to let loose sometimes and be who you are is one thing that I would say sets me apart. Second, I would say I listen to the song by Shakira, “Try Everything.” It repeats on my playlist all the time, and I really, really try. I’m still excited to learn new things. I took my first ice skating lesson with my 6½-year-old last week. People thought I was crazy, but I loved it. I had fun doing it. I learned snowboarding not too long ago. So I like to try a lot of different things and just keep learning and keep growing.
MS: Well, I just wanna thank you and thank your mom, for giving you. Obviously, it doesn’t matter where we start, but where we finish. And I think that, you were saying your mom, I had a mom and clearly she was a secretary and went to college at night, and didn’t go to four years of college, but she truly gave me the world, and I thank her, and I thank your mom for all the beautiful pouring into, because the love is what I think I see when I think about you as a superpower, and what obviously I think and hope that you got.
So, just wanna thank you for being here, sisters with superpowers, big ups to learn how to ice skate. I think that’s amazing but really, wanna thank you for coming on Sisters with Superpowers. Congratulations for all you do and continue to do for INROADS, and be a shining light or a candle in the dark for those who don’t know that they can, if they just have access through INROADS and congratulations to all you continue to do.
SK: Thank you so much. Thanks for having me and listening to my story.
MS: Well, ladies and gentlemen, I’ve been hanging out with my dear sister, Saaima Khaliq, and I got it right. Khaliq, who is a true Sister with Superpowers. Her smile is definitely bright, and she is definitely part of the bright future, for those who support and understand that INROADS does make a difference in the future of all but congratulations to you. You are definitely an example, a candle in the dark for a world that needs hope each and every day. I’m Munson Steed with more Sisters with Superpowers.
SK: Thank you.
