Voices of Experience: Alice Wang, Managing Director, Global Credit Markets, J.P. Morgan
by Pamela Weinsaft (New York City)
“Nothing is impossible – there is always a solution,” advised Alice Wang, Managing Director of Global Credit Markets when interviewed by The Glass Hammer. In 23 years with J.P. Morgan, Ms. Wang has seen the company and the industry change dramatically.
She started her career in investment banking after a stint as a CPA with responsibilities that included auditing banks, government entities and non-profits. “When I joined J.P. Morgan, it was still thought of as The Morgan Guaranty Trust Company–the bank–not J.P. Morgan, the investment bank that we think of today. I was offered a role as an internal consultant, which at the time felt like a good fit, as problem solving was and continues to be very appealing to me.”
Ms. Wang described her career path as one of a “generalist” which she defined as “someone who knows a lot about the overall firm and moves around to different businesses.” She continued, “At J.P. Morgan, I have held positions in technology, operations, risk management, business development and strategy and was the Chief Operating Officer of a number of our global businesses. I also have had the opportunity to work on a wide range of strategic initiatives…and was on the very first diversity initiative that the firm undertook.”
A turning point came when she ran a small user project team responsible for designing and testing a new foreign exchange back office system. Responsibilities included designing the seat plan, training the operations staff, developing procedures and designing specs for more than 100 programmers. “The five women on my team and I worked until 2 A.M. for about five months to get the project done. The best part was that there was absolutely no contingency. We were moving into our new headquarters at 60 Wall Street and the new data center cold not accommodate the old technology. It was a great coup to get that done on time and under budget. It moved the entire business forward in a big way. This project required ingenuity, intellect, teamwork, decisiveness, stamina and guts. I am still friendly with many of the people who worked on the project, which was over 15 years ago.”
While she started as a grade 20 analyst–which is about 4 grades below what the first officer level was at that time–she worked her way through the ranks and was made Managing Director in about 7 years, a promotion that she said was “very rewarding.”
Ms. Wang was the first person at J.P. Morgan to telecommute on a regular basis and has been telecommuting at least part of the week for 10 of her 23 years at the bank. “It was not really that difficult for me because I was always an early adopter of technology. Plus I had global responsibility very early in my career, so I was always working from home or at odd hours, or from the road. I think it was a bit shocking for some that a Managing Director would take the risk of being out of the daily flow, but that really didn’t concern me. I had enough confidence that I could contribute at the same level [although] it wasn’t clear if everyone would be receptive regardless of what I produced or said.” She credits her boss at the time, Peter Hancock, who was the head of Global Fixed Income, for putting the telecommuting notion into her head. “I was thinking about a change, and he suggested that there was a job that he needed me to do and because of my background, I was the right person to do it. He said he didn’t care how I did it or where I did it from, as long as I produced results. ”
She still telecommutes about a day a week if possible, enjoying the change of venue, the lack of commute (as opposed to her regular two-hour one) and the increased productivity that comes from working at home. But she added, “I don’t make a secret of where I am. Everyone who needs to reach me has my home number, my cell and of course my email. Knowing how to work more flexible, versus being chained to my desk, has allowed me to really take better control of my life overall.”
Ms Wang believes work/life balance is possible but it is up to the individual to define what it is for herself. “I have developed a solution that works for me, based on what I view as important in life, and what I view as my responsibilities at work, to the firm and to the people I work with. I’m very conscious of both. I’m quite confident that if I were to be judged on how I live my life and how I comport myself under all these various circumstances, I would do pretty well.”
In addition to her numerous work responsibilities, Ms. Wang has worked extensively to promote networking among the women of J.P. Morgan. She, along with some colleagues, started Morganae.com, a virtual network to keep former and current female employees connected. The network includes many of the women who left or were downsized when Chase acquired J.P. Morgan. In addition, along with other senior women, she started the Investment Bank Women’s Network (IBWN), an effort to tie together women in front office roles in the Investment Bank. “The objective of IBWN was to provide networking and training opportunities, as well as sponsorship and avenues for visibility with senior management. This effort is now much more formalized and is part of the fabric of the institution.” She also recently participated in the development and launch of Continuum, the JPM alumni network.
When asked if there were any barriers to success for women in the financial industry, Ms. Wang pointed to the fact that women are less likely to take the risks that men do. “There continues to be a bit of a cultural barrier where women think that they need to be 100% sure before they are willing to say anything. I would also say on the trading floor especially, you need to be heard. If people can’t hear you, that’s a problem. I find that some women have a problem with being loud or aggressive. ”
Ms. Wang notes that in finance, as in many other traditionally male-dominated corporate environments, micro-inequities still exist. “It’s tough to have to overcome them and fit into a team or on a desk, plus have all the quantitative and qualitative skills required for any given job.” She advises young women to “be aggressive, be curious and be results-oriented. But most importantly, take advantage of where you are. You are surrounded by some of the smartest people in some of the most interesting markets. Don’t just sit back. Be a participant.”
For mid- to upper-level women, her advice on advancing through the ranks is to “be conscious at all times of your objectives and what you want to achieve. Make sure that you measure your success and achievements based on what’s important to you, not just by the obvious or the measures that everyone else uses. If something is not working – do something about it. Don’t expect someone else to fix it for you.”
When asked what piece of career advice has proved most valuable to her over the years, she related a story about a job she tried to turn down. Her boss at the time advised her not to, even if she didn’t think she wanted to do it, because, having never done anything like it before, there was no way she could know for sure. She continued, “I took the job and it was great. It gave me my first opportunity to centralize an operation into one location and one booking entity. You have to remember, this was in the mid 1980’s, so it was groundbreaking work.”
When not working, Ms. Wang will likely be found on the tennis or badminton court, or even playing video games. She also spends time reading newspapers, magazines and research pieces, rather than business books. “I actually find these pieces to be most relevant to what I am doing. Staying up on the latest ideas and issues provides a great basis for innovation and new solutions. ”
And her next career move? “To be honest, I’m not sure,” Ms. Wang said. “I love what I do and the people that I work with and for. As long as there are problems to solve, trades to do and strategies to be developed, I’m perfectly content.”
