Top 30 Under 30 with Cindy Ko of JPMorgan

Last week, The Glass Hammer interviewed Cindy Ko, a rising star in the prime brokerage division of JPMorgan, who happens to work in a chain of three female supervisors. We caught up with Cindy about how she got her current job and what it was like to work on a team of strong women in finance.

Cindy spent some time during university working abroad in Asia. She graduated from Syracuse University in 2001 with a B.S. degree, double majoring in Finance and Management Information Systems. She worked a few years at a previous employer before she took a break in Hong Kong and returned to New York in search of employment in 2005.

Cindy credits some of the experiences that she had at her last job with helping her develop her career and grow as a person. Cindy told us about an experience she had with her previous employer that really challenged her.

At the time, she was searching for an internal transfer to the Tokyo office of that company. She interviewed with several managers based in Tokyo and was offered a position. She gave it some serious thought and ultimately decided not to accept the offer, and resigned from the firm shortly thereafter. Cindy explained how this decision was formative.

“In hindsight, I made the right decision as I am more than happy with my current employer, role and opportunities available to me at JPMorgan. Though at the time I felt defeated as my plans of moving to Tokyo did not come to fruition, I’ve learned since that I shouldn’t worry too much about my immediate circumstances. At the end of the day, I have options available to me and the situation always works itself out although it may not be according to my initial plan. Life really does work in strange ways and I’ve grown to realize and appreciate that one always has several options in each and every circumstance.”

Cindy explained that she found her current job with JPMorgan through one of several headhunters whom she had worked with. A recruiter found her resume on eFinancialCareers.com and thought she would be a great candidate for a position at JPMorgan. Cindy had four interviews for the position, and was hired in July 2005.

In the prime brokerage division of JP Morgan where Cindy works, she had had the unique opportunity to be managed by a chain of female bosses. The Glass Hammer asked her to explain a little more about the structure of this arrangement and her role.

Cindy works as a client service representative within JPMorgan’s Prime Brokerage unit and her primary focus is to facilitate hedge fund intermediation trading. While this includes booking and reconciling trades, her job primarily consists of fielding client inquiries pertaining to something as straight-forward as margin statements, PNL reporting and confirmations in addition to providing more complex client services. Cindy explained, “For example, a client would like to trade a contract in a new emerging market currency and then it becomes my job to find out who at the firm makes a market in that product.”

Cindy’s expertise is interest rate derivative products and her manager heads up the Interest Rate Derivative Client Service team in North America within JPMorgan’s Prime Brokerage unit. Her boss’s manager heads up Client Solutions in North America across four products – interest rate derivatives, credit derivatives, fixed income and foreign exchange and subsequently her boss runs client solutions teams for all four products globally – NA, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions. It just so happens that all three our employees in this supervisory chain are women.

We asked Cindy to describe some of the pros and cons in working in an all-female supervisory structure. She said, “It actually never occurred to me that I work with so many female managers, as that’s just not the angle I normally view line management. Then I met Nicki Gilmour at an industry event and we began to talk about my role at the firm. I think it is truly great that I work in an all-female supervisory structure because it’s living breathing proof that my employer values meritocracy above all.”

Cindy went on to explain, “It’s about working and promoting those who are at the top of their game, whether those individuals are male or female.”

While working with a chain of women is certainly inspiring to our Glass Hammer readers, who always like to see multiple women breaking the glass ceiling at one company, it’s not always easy, according to Cindy. “I think it can be challenging to work with female managers. From my experience, females tend to continuously expect more from fellow females. We’re tough on each other because we are advocates for one another,” she explained.

Cindy’s advice for young women working with a female boss? “Don’t take it personally. It’s business not personal. This applies to both males and females,” she said.

She also offers the piece of advice which has been most valuable to her in her career, which is, “Get involved. Engage yourself. You aren’t in the game if you’re standing on the sidelines.”

When asked about the next steps in her career, Cindy said, “In the mid-to-long term, I would like to work abroad to gain international business experience.”

As the topic of work/life balance is frequently discussed in the comments section of Glass Hammer articles, we asked Cindy about what steps she takes to help balance her demanding job and her personal life. She told us that she usually goes to the gym to help de-stress, clear her mind and relax. “Laps in the pool and a steam afterwards usually do the trick,” said Cindy.

Finally, we asked Cindy to recommend her favorite business book to our readers. Cindy favored Liar’s Poker by Michael Lewis, “a classic amongst the Wall Street set which depicts with extreme clarity the era that no longer exists – the high flying, cigar-chomping bond traders on the Street. It’s entertaining if nothing else.”

Hopefully, this bird’s eye view into the life and career of a young woman seeking to break the glass ceiling in finance will inspire our readers. That’s the goal of our new 30 Under 30 series, so look out for future pieces. Know any fabulous women in finance or law who fit the bill? Email us at erin@theglasshammer.com to nominate someone for our next 30 Under 30 piece.