Bola Oyesanya: Managing Director, Head of the Law Firm and Professional Services Group, J.P. Morgan Private Bank

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Bola Oyesanya“I take a daily dose of vitamin G for gratitude,” says Bola Oyesanya. “It’s intentional. I make sure to remind myself how fortunate I am to be here and be able to do what I love.”

It’s a fitting metaphor for how Oyesanya moves through both her career and her life: with deliberate optimism, an eye for other people’s strengths, and a belief that gratitude is an everyday practice.

We first profiled Oyesanya in 2018. Since then, she has changed firms and stepped into a new leadership role. She shares the lessons she has learned in stepping into a leadership role at a market-leading firm, the lasting legacy of her mother, and why caring will remain an essential leadership skill, no matter how much AI changes the landscape.

Scaling Up

When we last spoke with Oyesanya, she was a mid-level executive at a different firm. Today, she is a Managing Director at J.P. Morgan, where she has spent the past three years leading the Law Firm and Professional Services Group.

What drew her to JPMorgan was the scale of the opportunity. “It was the allure of doing this with a bank of this brand and stature,” she says. “The opportunity to serve clients on this scale was too good to pass up.”

Today, she leads a team of bankers and specialists serving the wealth management needs of professionals in the legal and professional services industries. Her group supports clients across the balance sheet, from investments and estate planning to liquidity and financing.

“Our clients are sophisticated but incredibly busy people,” Oyesanya says. “Most of their time is spent focused on their own clients. My team’s job is to be the ones thinking about their finances, so they don’t have to.”

For Oyesanya, the role is “a happy marriage” of everything she has studied and done: law, banking, and now leadership.

Fighting Adversity With Optimism

Speaking of challenges, Oyesanya’s perspective on adversity has been shaped by experiences that tested her both personally and professionally. Years ago, she was diagnosed with cancer and survived it. Last fall, what was supposed to be a routine mammogram led to a biopsy and a second diagnosis.

“Everything comes to a grinding halt,” she says of receiving the news.

What carried her through was a combination of faith, family, and friends. Her manager and HR told her simply to take the time she needed and not worry about work. “Being in an organization where you hear that, it puts your perspective in the right place,” she says. “And my team really rallied around me.”

In the aftermath of her second diagnosis, a friend’s words crystallized something for her: “You fight adversity with optimism.”

Oyesanya came back from treatment with a small plaque on her desk that reads Grace and Gratitude. “There’s always room for grace,” she says. “There are things that may go wrong, but how we approach them, what we say, can still leave a positive impact.” More than ever, she says, “I’m filled with a sense of grace and gratitude.”

The experience has also made her more intentional about how she leads. She believes in the mantra: work hard, play hard. When she takes a vacation, she truly steps away, and she encourages her team to do the same.

“It’s informed how I choose to be intentional day to day and how I bring that same intentionality to my colleagues, peers, and the team as a whole.”

Her Mother’s Secret

That intentionality has deep roots. Oyesanya traces much of it to her mother, who passed away in 2019 but, she says, left her with a legacy she brings to work every day.

“My mother died with a secret,” she says. “Each of her children thinks they were her favorite.”

One of eight children herself, Oyesanya says her mother made each of them feel uniquely valued without making the others feel less so. “What she did instead was to celebrate everybody’s strengths.”

Oyesanya carries that lesson into her own leadership.

“I’m very intentional about celebrating and cheering my team on and playing to everybody’s strengths.”

One of her favorite desk items is an applause button, given to her by one of her bankers before she went into surgery. It captures the culture she tries to create: “Everybody knows they will have their day of applause. And when you know your day is coming, it’s easy to cheer for someone else.”

What AI Can’t Do

Asked what skills will matter most for future leaders, Oyesanya doesn’t hesitate. “The one thing AI will never get is caring. That’s a human trait.”

In a business becoming increasingly high-tech, she believes the human side of leadership will only become more important.

“AI will never be able to emote like we can. That’s where we need to spend a lot of our attention, showing that care. That’s how we earn business, that’s how we keep business.”

She sees the same principle at work in leadership and retention. “Showing a team, as a leader, that you care, more than anything else, is the number one retention tool.”

That philosophy extends beyond her own team. She recalls interviewing a candidate who arrived late and visibly rattled after helping his mother open her store that morning. Rather than let him carry that anxiety into his next interview, she sent him to straighten his collar and tie and start fresh. “I’m the only one who knows you were late,” she told him.

He later thanked her on LinkedIn for the moment. “That caring, showing up, and making an impact in people’s lives, I hope those are the things I’m remembered for.”

For Oyesanya, legacy is something considered in everyday decisions. “I always ask myself: long after I’m retired, what would people say? What would people remember? Keeping that legacy in mind helps inform decisions and not make shortcut decisions.”

Staying Present and Dancing in the Kitchen

Two unlikely mentors have also shaped how Oyesanya stays grounded. One was a mailroom clerk, whose calm she once asked about. “I don’t focus on the things I cannot control,” he told her.

“It seems very simple, but it was profound,” she says. “Markets rise and fall, portfolios fluctuate, there are countless things we cannot control in the course of a day, but we sometimes allow them to really determine our moods.”

The other was a shoeshine man Oyesanya encountered in an elevator after an exhausting day. When he asked how work was going, all she could manage was a deep breath. “Work doesn’t finish,” he told her. There would always be more to do tomorrow.

The line changed how she leaves the office. Rather than carrying home everything left unfinished, she takes stock of what she accomplished that day before turning her attention to her family.

These days, she finds her own ways to step away and recharge, including dancing in the kitchen.

“If you wait to find the right time for fun, honestly, you will miss a lot,” Oyesanya says. “Don’t wait until a vacation before you take five minutes to decompress and celebrate. Find a moment to pat yourself on the back and remind yourself how great you are, because each of us is phenomenal in our own way, and we should celebrate who we are.”

By Jessica Robaire

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Allison Lurton: General Counsel and Chief Legal Officer of Futures Industry Association

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Allison LurtonBy Jessica Darmoni

“As a lawyer developing policies, we bring meaningful change to the market, but it has to be logical and the new rules need to move our markets forward,” says Allison Lurton. “Everyone in this market is a steward of it, and we want to make sure that any change we introduce drives responsible innovation.”

Lurton looks at how rule changes and new market structures may impact the capital markets ecosystem in her role at the Futures Industry Association (FIA). However, she wasn’t always involved in policy and advocacy; Lurton started her career in product liability litigation. She held roles in the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Her litigation experience proved valuable and paved a journey crossing law, policy, regulation and financial markets.

Learning the Markets from the Ground Up

Lurton learned early in her career that moving forward sometimes meant stepping into unfamiliar territory. Her first role put her on a large litigation team representing cigarette manufacturers, but an opportunity through a friend who had moved to the DoJ gave her the chance to take on greater responsibility.

She joined the DoJ in 1999, gaining trial and case-management experience before making another significant move in 2003, this time to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). She arrived with strong litigation skills, but little familiarity with the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) or the intricacies of commodities markets.

“The CFTC had been using magistrates but were looking to hire people with experience in federal court and litigation,” she says. “At the time, there weren’t a lot of school or academic courses focused on commodities trading so many of us were unfamiliar with the CEA. We were learning the markets from the ground up.”

For Lurton, that meant learning directly from the people operating within them. She interviewed traders and market participants, learning about commodities markets, their structure and complex cases along the way. One investigation involving natural-gas market data and alleged fraud provided an especially intensive education when Lurton found herself learning about arbitrage strategies while interviewing traders.

Litigation vs Advocacy

“I had started as a litigator but found myself drawn toward policy and advocacy,” she notes. “They require different skills. Litigation can be highly adversarial, while policy work requires listening to different perspectives, understanding the broader system and finding a way forward.”

After leaving the CFTC, Lurton returned to private practice in 2011. She worked on issues surrounding the implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act, and swap execution facility rules.

In 2012, one of Lurton’s mentors and colleagues, the former Acting Chair of the CFTC Walt Lukken, joined the FIA as CEO and Lurton joined in 2013 under his leadership. She currently oversees all legal aspects of the trade organization. This includes examining how government rules affect FIA members and the broader cleared derivatives industry as well as managing all the legal needs of a global company

An Interdependent Ecosystem

Lurton’s work requires her to think beyond individual rules and consider how changes affect an interconnected market structure. Clearing, exchanges, intermediaries and technology providers all form part of the same ecosystem. It is this view that has shaped her perspective on responsible innovation.

“I like structures of clearing rules now because they are interdependent. A change in one area can have consequences elsewhere” she explains. “It is really important that the industry is making sure that one small change will not impact the overall system.”

For Lurton, supporting innovation does not mean resisting regulation or standing in the way of new ideas. The challenge is finding ways for new asset classes, technologies and market structures to fit responsibly into an existing framework while preserving the parts of the system that are essential to its stability.

Lurton leans on her past work when drafting comment letters for the FIA.

“I consider not only what the industry wants to say but how those arguments would hold up if the issue was litigated,” she says.

Combatting Career Doubt

Lurton’s leadership philosophy extends beyond market structure expertise. She acknowledges that self-doubt is something leaders can experience at any stage of their careers. Her answer is to recognize that leadership is not an individual exercise.

“The best outcomes come from a group of people expressing their views,” she says. “You do not have to know everything in the room to have something valuable to contribute.”

Lurton emphasizes the importance of appreciating the expertise of colleagues and contributing what you know to a larger discussion. This message is particularly important for women navigating industries where they may sometimes feel they need to prove themselves before speaking up.

“Take up space,” she advises. “Take the seat you want in a meeting without hesitation.”

Her advice for future leaders is straightforward:

“Even experienced professionals walk into rooms where they are encountering something new. That should not be a reason to remain silent. Instead, it can be an opportunity to ask questions, share a perspective and learn from others.”

Lurton has not moved forward in her career by having every answer from the beginning. She continued to learn, adapted to new opportunities and grew the confidence to take her place in the room.

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Juli Bowe: Head of CMBS and CLO Trading, Wells Fargo

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Julie Bowe“The times throughout my career that seemed the most challenging have turned out to be some of the most incredible opportunities,” says Juli Bowe.

For Bowe, the challenge is often where the opportunity begins. In 2023, she was promoted to run Wells Fargo’s CMBS trading desk just as commercial real estate entered a distress cycle. “That felt very daunting,” she admits. Yet it was also the kind of moment that brought into focus what she has learned throughout her career: do the work, trust the expertise you’ve built, have the confidence to put your perspective forward, and stay humble enough to know there is always more to learn.

Learning to Take the Leap

Bowe majored in finance and minored in math at William & Mary, graduating in 2009, 2010 right as the financial crisis had frozen Wall Street hiring. “Internships were slim,” she remembers. Through her network, she was able to secure a sales and trading internship at Goldman Sachs, whereby summer’s end, she’d landed on the CMBS (Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities) desk, the seat that would define the next decade and a half of her career.

Four years at Goldman taught Bowe the mechanics of flow trading. A move to the buy side, at hedge fund Appaloosa, allowed her to continue building her skills while also giving her the unique opportunity to work with David Tepper.

“He is one of the best investors in the world; being able to watch him every day was an invaluable experience.”

In 2019, Bowe returned to the sell side, joining Wells Fargo and relocating to Charlotte, where she and her husband knew exactly one person.

“There was an opportunity to build something here at Wells, and that was really exciting,” she says. “Despite all the unknowns and how crazy it seemed at the time, it’s definitely been one of the best decisions of my life.”

The Work You Can Control

Bowe describes her work ethic as one of her defining characteristics, something she honed early on as a competitive soccer player. While she played all through childhood and then at William & Mary, she had to fight for a starting spot.

“I was not the best player on the team, wasn’t the fastest, but I could work harder than anyone else.”

That ethic became her professional foundation, and the first thing she tells the interns and young analysts who come through her desk.

“The number one thing you can control is how hard you work, especially early in your career. Over time, the challenge is turning that preparation into judgment and conviction.”

Build Credibility, Then Use Your Voice

That advice matters even more, she believes, for younger women in trading. While she has seen progress, women remain underrepresented on trading floors, and Bowe says it took her longer to build credibility than it did for some of her male counterparts. Her message is direct: “If you are good at what you do and do the work, you build credibility. The next step is trusting that credibility enough to develop a point of view and use your voice. It can be hard, especially in those earlier years, to hold on to that. But if you stick with it, it pays off.”

But preparation alone isn’t enough if no one hears your thinking.

“Earlier in my career, I wasn’t always confident enough to speak up with people I thought knew more than I did. I learned that having something valuable to contribute doesn’t necessarily require being the most experienced person in the room.”

In her role leading CMBS, that’s sometimes meant taking a contrarian stance. In 2023, when many investors were avoiding office exposure, Bowe built a thesis that companies would want people back in the office. “I was able to trade and connect with clients on that view,” she explains.

Relationships Are the Differentiator

For all the market knowledge and analysis trading requires, Bowe returns often to the human side of the business. “I really care about people and value relationships,” she says. Across her career, mentors, managers, and sponsors have shaped her path, and she’s careful to distinguish between them.

“A mentor is someone who you can get advice from and talk with, but a sponsor is someone who’s going to have your back when you’re not in the room.”

That kind of advocacy shaped Bowe’s own decision to join Wells Fargo. “A huge reason of why I came to Wells was that I saw senior leaders here that were women. That was really important to me.”

Relationships matter in the market, too. As AI and other technologies make information faster to access, Bowe believes human connection still sets people apart.

“The real value that you can add as a trader or a salesperson is your ability to connect with somebody,” she says. “If you’re able to do that better than everyone else, you’ll be able to differentiate yourself.”

It’s why her team is in the office five days a week, and why so much of her own client work happens on the road, over a meal or a round of golf, rather than at a desk.

Knowing What You Don’t Know

That same instinct to lean on relationships rather than shortcuts has shaped how Bowe approaches leadership itself. When she first took over the CMBS desk, she assumed the leadership side would be the easy part.

“I’ve been captain of soccer teams, I’ve been president of clubs, I know how to lead people,” she remembers thinking, “But I was humbled very quickly in terms of the people management.”

That same humility has carried into her newest challenge. Earlier this year, Bowe’s role expanded to include CLO trading, a business outside her wheelhouse that required learning a new product, meeting a new client base, and thinking about risk differently. It reminded her that experience doesn’t always transfer cleanly.

“Being a contrarian in CMBS has set me up well, but it does not necessarily mean that I can just bring that skill set over to this different asset class and expect the same results,” she says.

“Taking on CLO trading expanded my leadership responsibilities, but also required me to become a student again. Experience gives you a foundation, but every new market has its own dynamics and requires you to keep learning.

Becoming a Multiplier

The mark Bowe wants to make now extends beyond business performance to the people she develops and the team she builds. Having worked under both exceptional and difficult managers, she knows firsthand “how impactful a person’s manager can be” on someone’s day-to-day quality of life, and that awareness has shaped the kind of leader she wants to be.

“I want to deliver great business results, but I also want to set people up to succeed and build teams of people who can go on to have great careers.”

Outside the office, Bowe is raising three kids under seven and still finds time to train for half marathons. “Having a plan keeps me accountable,” she says. It’s the same mindset that she has carried throughout her career: take on what feels daunting, and trust you’ll figure it out.

By Jessica Robaire

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The Skills That Will Matter Most for Future Leaders

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Skills that matter most for future leadersAs part of our mid-year roundup, we’re revisiting the answers women leaders gave when we asked them what skills will matter most for the future of leadership.

Their answers were wide-ranging. Some pointed to adaptability and learning agility, while others emphasized judgment, instinct, communication, empathy, execution and curiosity. Together, they offer a compelling range of perspectives on what tomorrow’s leaders will need most.

Adaptability and Learning Agility

“Adaptability is a leadership superpower. The next generation of financial leaders will not thrive by mastering one static domain,” says Laura Magyar, Partner at Patomak Global Partners. “They will need flexibility, openness to change, and the willingness to evolve alongside the markets.”

For Erika Irish Brown, Head of Talent and Engagement at Citi, that adaptability begins with learning.

“Future leaders will need learning agility above everything else. The pace of change is only accelerating,” she says. “What we do know is that the leaders who thrive will be the ones who stay curious, stay open and embrace change rather than resist it.”

Carey Ryan, Chief of Staff for Citi Technology Business Enablement, has reached a similar conclusion through her own experience.

“You quickly figure you’ll never know it all, because the world is always changing,” she says. “Instead, I found the key is to always be ready by learning how to operate effectively with uncertainty and always be willing to learn.”

Jamila Piracci, Founder of Roos Inovations, puts the emphasis on how we learn, rather than simply what we know.

“The ability to learn new things matters more than simply amassing new facts,” she says. “The real skill is learning how to learn differently.”

Judgment and Instinct

As AI reshapes professional services, Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos, General Counsel at Starkware, believes some skills will remain firmly human.

“AI is a powerful tool,” she says. “But it can’t replace instinct.”

For Kirkpatrick Bos, that instinct is closely tied to judgment and problem-solving.

“Judgment is hard to teach. Problem-solving, instinct, knowing when something doesn’t feel right—that still matters.”

Nancy Stern, Managing Director at Simplex Trading also puts judgment high on the list, alongside the ability to listen and make decisions amid an abundance of information.

“Strong listening skills, sound judgement and the ability to sift through vast information to make principled decisions will be demanded of our leaders,” she says.

And while vision remains important, Stern is clear about what has to follow it.

“Vision without execution doesn’t count.”

Communication and Human Connection

For Joanna Fields, CEO of Aplomb Strategies, the changing nature of work will make another skill increasingly important: being able to articulate your own value.

Looking forward, she believes the leaders who will thrive are those who can harness AI securely, protect data privacy, and clearly articulate their value in an increasingly automated world.

“As roles evolve, the ability to communicate your unique contribution will be paramount,” she says.

That ability to communicate extends beyond self-advocacy for Bos, whose role as General Counsel often requires her to bridge technology, regulation and law.

“You have to listen carefully,” she says. “Then explain things in a way the other side can actually understand.”

For Stern, meanwhile, leadership is ultimately about people.

“As markets evolve, so must leadership,” she says, pointing to the importance of empathy and “the ability to put others first.”

Curiosity and Complexity

Curiosity is another recurring theme.

For Brown, it is at the heart of learning agility: “The willingness to ask questions, seek out new perspectives and lean into what you don’t yet know.”

Pooja Prahlad, Head of Americas Equity Restructuring at Goldman Sachs, similarly sees curiosity as something leaders need to deliberately preserve as they progress.

“As you grow in your career, you end up teaching more than learning. It’s really important to stay curious and create the time for that.”

But Prahlad also offers a counterpoint to the increasing emphasis on speed and efficiency, particularly in the age of AI.

“Resist the pull toward quick, serviceable answers,” she says. “The distance to an answer is so short now, especially with AI. It’s easy to stop there, even when it’s not the best answer…Spend time to earn the answer.”

What Comes Next

There is no single answer to what future leaders will need most.

For Magyar, it is adaptability. For Brown, learning agility. Ryan emphasizes the ability to operate with uncertainty, while Piracci focuses on learning how to learn. Kirkpatrick Bos and Stern point to judgment, instinct and principled decision-making. Fields highlights communication and the ability to articulate value. Prahlad emphasizes curiosity and the willingness to sit with complexity.

And that may be the larger takeaway from the range of perspectives: the leaders who are best prepared for the future will not necessarily be those who know exactly what is coming.

They will be the ones equipped to meet it.

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Jeanine Oliva: Global Head of Tax Operations, Citadel

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Jeanine OlivaBy Jessica Darmoni

“I have built genuine trust and strong relationships with my team here at Citadel, which go beyond the day-today work,” says Jeanine Oliva, Global Head of Tax Operations at Citadel and Treasurer of WILD Gives Back. “Taking the time to get to know team members as individuals deepens trust, fosters collaboration and in my experience, high performance naturally follows.”

The Glass Hammer sat down with Oliva to learn more about her path to one of the world’s most demanding financial firms. It was not shaped by a master plan but by trusted relationships, a relentless work ethic and a refusal to let self-doubt have the final word.

Impactful Connections

Oliva has always been in roles that support middle and back office operations by understanding how global transactions are taxed. Her path to Citadel first emerged while she was a public accountant at RSM McGladrey.

“I was working with a close friend when he left to join Citadel,” says Oliva. “Soon afterwards, I was hired by a hedge fund administrative company that at the time was owned by Citadel.”

It was through this role that Citadel became one of her clients. The proximity gave her first-hand insight into the company’s culture.

“I saw their high standards and approach to excellence up close,” she explains.

Those qualities did not intimidate her but instead drew her in. She had kept in touch with her former colleague from McGladrey and when the opportunity presented itself to work at Citadel, she was ready.

The Human Endeavor in Leadership

“Being trusted as a leader at Citadel is one of my greatest motivators,” she says. “However, what really sustains my day-to-day are the people.”

This philosophy extends beyond her immediate team. She describes keeping in touch with former colleagues over the years, offering support in the form of a fresh perspective on a tricky problem, or a job reference at just the right moment.

Oliva is also the Treasurer of WILD Gives Back, a not-for-profit 501(c)3, which raises funds for students to study derivatives courses at the Associated Colleges of Illinois. She has a unique perspective from her vantage point.

“Some of the most meaningful moments in my career have been watching people I’ve worked with grow into their full potential,” she reflects.

The Value of Being Seen

Oliva thinks back on her career, which was more of a game of chutes and ladders, than a direct climb to the top. She describes a pivotal moment when early in her career, and pregnant with her first child, a former boss tried to bring her back to his team. She raised a concern that it might not be practical timing and his response has stayed with her ever since: “Half of Jeanine is better than no Jeanine.”

His comment was a critical reminder that genuine professional relationships are not transactional. For a woman in finance, navigating a career alongside pregnancy and motherhood, being told plainly that her presence was valued regardless of circumstance was a message that carried real weight.

Making Space

Oliva points to Harlan Ten Pas, lead partner of the Financial Services team at McGladrey, as another significant influence, shaping not only the early years of her career, but also her leadership.

“He was exceptionally sharp and always approachable, regardless of his seniority. He took a personal interest in each member of his team creating an environment where many colleagues felt like family.”

That mattered especially in the early years, when she was often one of the only women in the room.

“His warmth and investment in his people showed me that belonging was possible in a field that didn’t always make space for me.”

He also modeled something she values deeply. She says he taught her “that a successful career and a fulfilling personal life aren’t mutually exclusive.” Though he passed away last year, his influence continues to shape how she leads.

Turning self-doubt into fuel

While Oliva is secure in her industry knowledge, that does not mean she is not faced with moments of uncertainty.

“When resistance arises in a meeting, I lean into it rather than away,” she says. “At Citadel, being entrepreneurial from day one and challenging ideas constructively and constantly asking, “is there a better way?” is not just permitted, it’s expected.”

When self-doubt surfaces, her response is characteristically grounded because she doubles down on the work. This could mean reading up on recent regulations, talking through issues with colleagues, or building her understanding until she is confident.

“At Citadel confidence comes from knowledge, rigor, and continued curiosity, not complacency.”

A Human Mind Behind AI

Even when it comes to modern technologies such as AI and Machine Learning, Oliva believes the human element will still be an important one.

“Technology, including AI, is only as good as the human mind behind it,” she says.

In an era of rapid AI adoption in finance, this stance feels more relevant than ever. Questioning outputs and challenging existing processes, are not just encouraged at Citadel but expected. The culture of continuous improvement is something she genuinely values, and something she sees as essential for the next generation of leaders.

One of the most practical pieces of guidance Oliva carries is a healthy skepticism of doing “the same as last year.”

“The principle is straightforward,” she says. “Don’t accept inherited processes at face value. Rules and fact patterns can change. Understand the calculations. Know where the data comes from. Do the research.”

Leaders in a Crowd

When she thinks of the young women only starting out, she says, “Keep pushing toward what you want. Persistence and hard work generate dividends. Don’t be afraid to take a different path to get there, and if others doubt you, prove them wrong.”

She believes the leaders of tomorrow will be defined by the strength of their personal relationships and the ability to trust their own judgment.

“Relationships keep you grounded, keep you motivated, and open doors,” she said. “Critical thinking, the capacity to reason beyond what any algorithm can offer, is what ultimately distinguishes a leader from the crowd.”

It’s a vision of leadership that’s both deeply human and rigorously disciplined, which sounds a lot like Jeanine Oliva.

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Charlotte Weir: Head of Corporate Banking, EMEA at Wells Fargo

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Charlotte Weir“Leadership isn’t about directing from the sidelines,” says Charlotte Weir. “It’s about standing shoulder to shoulder with your team, celebrating success together and, when things don’t go to plan, being the first to own it.”

In a career spanning nearly three decades, Weir has operated by a consistent set of principles: be genuine, be present, and invest in people for the long term. It’s a philosophy that has defined her career, whether she is building client relationships lasting over 25 years, mentoring junior colleagues, or being candid with her team about the demands of balancing life and work.

Do What You Enjoy

“My philosophy is to do things you enjoy,” says Weir in explaining how she made her way to a career in finance. At first that meant a chemistry degree, pursued simply because she loved the subject. But once she graduated, she realized that she needed to find something that matched her energy.

“I’ve always been a high-intensity, competitive person,” she explains. “I wanted to be in an environment that was buzzy, fast-paced, and pushed me.” A recruitment firm landed her on a trading floor at Bear Stearns in London, where “the speed, the pace, being on the trading floor, it really excited me.”

What drew Weir specifically into debt capital markets wasn’t the products, but the relationships. “It’s about building relationships with clients while being very strong in your subject matter,” she notes, “building that trust so clients come back to you time and time again.”

After Bear Stearns, nearly two decades at Barclays followed, building seniority across UK, Northern European, and EMEA corporate teams. But the pandemic prompted a change of course.

“I had this moment where I thought, am I really doing what I want to be doing?” Weir recalls. “I was looking for a challenge. I was looking for the next opportunity to stretch myself.”

The challenge of building Wells Fargo’s corporate banking franchise in EMEA was the catalyst for Weir to make the move and step into a leadership role at Wells Fargo, with a team of about 50 people across London, Dublin and Frankfurt and a mandate to grow the business.

“My DCM background is still part of my DNA, but this role has challenged me to broaden my expertise, think more strategically, and help shape a team capable of taking the franchise to its next phase of growth across EMEA.”

Integrity and Showing Up

A defining feature of Weir’s leadership is integrity: doing what you committed to and not asking of others what you wouldn’t ask of yourself. That principle becomes most visible when things don’t go to plan. When a deal goes in the wrong direction, she doesn’t wait for someone else to manage the fallout.

“I am first on the phone to the client. I’m as much a part of the success as when things don’t go right.”

Rather than viewing those moments as setbacks, Weir sees them as some of the most powerful opportunities for growth.

“You learn so much more when things go wrong. It feels terrible in the moment, but you come out with lessons learned and much stronger.”

That same commitment to honesty and accountability carries through to how she shows up with her team internally. As the mother of 18-year-old triplets, Weir believes in being transparent about the realities of balancing work and family.

“I expect the team to work hard but it’s better if people know that home needs to come first sometimes,” she says. “Modeling that behavior helps other people realize it’s okay too. And that can change how they feel about work, because they know that there is flexibility there.”

Relationships and the Long Game

A defining thread in Weir’s career is her commitment to investing in relationships, especially when it comes to her clients.

“Some of my clients I’ve covered for 25 years. That creates an incredibly strong bond.”

That bond, she says, is what allows her to have conversations that go beyond the transactional and it means clients keep coming back, whether through market cycles or personnel changes.

Weir’s emphasis on relationships also shapes how she has approached mentorship and sponsorship. Rather than waiting to be noticed, she has consistently sought out senior leaders whose values resonated with her own, and asked directly for their guidance. At the same time, she is clear that while mentors and sponsors can open doors, it is equally important to learn how to advocate for yourself.

“While others may advocate for you, you also need to learn how to advocate for yourself, and it has to be done in a natural way, that feels like you.” For Weir, that meant connecting with senior leaders, often one or two levels above her direct manager, so that her contributions were visible beyond her immediate team.

“It’s about finding opportunities to help people recognize and realize what you’ve been involved in, what you’re doing, and how you’re driving the business forward. And doing it in a way that feels authentic to you.”

The mistake Weir made early on was assuming strong work would speak for itself. “There’s a mentality of put your head down, do your job really well, and you’ll get promoted. That’s not always the case.” Relationships, she learned, are not only how you serve clients, but also how you build and sustain a career.

Planting Seeds

Having entered the industry when she was, in her own words, “one of very few women,” Weir now channels that same long-term thinking into ensuring the next generation has an easier path. She is consistently involved in Wells Fargo’s campus recruiting and helped launch Treasurers and Bankers of Tomorrow, a Wells Fargo forum connecting junior bankers with junior finance professionals on the client side. The goal is simple: build authentic relationships long before anyone is in a position to do a deal.

“So much of my career comes back to relationships. If we can help our teams foster those connections early on, they’ll carry them throughout their careers.”

Switching Off

Outside the office, Weir stays active year-round through running, skiing, and paddleboarding. Running often becomes thinking time, while skiing offers something entirely different.

“It’s one of the only times when I can truly switch my brain off and enjoy being active in beautiful scenery.”

It’s fitting for a leader who believes in showing up fully: for her clients, her team, and herself. Knowing when to step back and recharge is what allows Weir to step forward when it matters most.

By Jessica Robaire

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Melinda Schramm: Founder and Chairman of The National Introducing Brokers Association (NIBA)

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Melinda SchrammBy Jessica Darmoni

“What an incredible purpose the derivatives markets play… price discovery and risk management together represent a massive economic purpose for being,” says Melinda Schramm. “Beyond traditional and agricultural markets, they are essential in emerging markets, shaping how we manage risk and our future. I am proud to be part of something that is essential to the American value of life.”

After more than four decades in the derivatives industry, Melinda Schramm still approaches the markets with the same clarity of purpose that first drew her in, because this work matters to her. The Glass Hammer first met Schramm in 2009 as Founder and Chairman of the National Introducing Brokers Association (NIBA). Since then, Schramm has spent her career not only navigating the complexities of futures and options products, but also helping others understand their essential role in the global economy. Today, NIBA is focused on educating their members and advocating for the Introducing Broker (IB), Commodity Trading Advisors, accountants, lawyers and market participants that have joined the NIBA network. Schramm’s work also continues in a new and evolving context that includes emerging products like prediction markets and crypto assets, and an ongoing dialogue with regulators.

A Voice in a Changing Regulatory Landscape

While speaking with The Glass Hammer, Schramm is preparing a comment letter to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on behalf of Introducing Broker (IB) members of NIBA. The topic is prediction markets, which is an area drawing increased attention as regulators seek input on how these platforms should function within the broader derivatives ecosystem.

For Schramm, the issue comes back to first principles. Do these markets serve a legitimate economic purpose?

“Price discovery is critical,” she emphasizes. “But we also need to understand how that price is formed and disseminated in prediction markets, and whether it contributes meaningfully to the system.”

The response from the IB community so far has been measured. Many are taking a “wait and see” approach, not out of resistance, but out of a need for deeper understanding. Prediction markets represent a shift—one that requires education before adoption.

“There’s interest,” Schramm notes, “but also a recognition that we need to understand how to approach it responsibly.”

Her comment letter reflects that balance: openness to innovation, paired with a clear focus on purpose, transparency, and market integrity.

Understanding the Purpose of Derivatives

That focus on purpose has been a constant throughout Schramm’s career. While derivatives markets are often viewed as complex or opaque, she sees them as fundamentally practical.

From agricultural hedging to managing financial risk, these markets allow participants to navigate uncertainty. They enable businesses to make decisions with greater confidence and stability.

“Once you really understand the futures and options business,” she says, “you see how essential it is, not just to specific industries but to the broader economy.”

That perspective has shaped her leadership and her long-standing commitment to education. Early in her career, she recognized that many people, even those in finance, lacked a clear understanding of how derivatives function.

Building Knowledge in a Fast-Paced, Ever-Evolving Industry

When Schramm first entered the industry, trading floors served as informal classrooms. They were places where newcomers could observe, ask questions, and learn by immersion. Today, those entry points no longer exist.

In response, she has helped build more structured pathways into the industry through education and outreach. Working through NIBA, she collaborates with institutions like DePaul University and the Illinois Institute of Technology Stuart School of Business to introduce students to the realities of derivatives markets.

“These efforts go beyond trading,” she says. “There are a wide range of roles that support the industry, including legal, compliance, operations, and technology. Many students have never heard of key functions like Futures Commission Merchants (FCMs) or Introducing Brokers.”

But once they do, something shifts.

“They start to see how the whole system fits together,” she explains. “And then they begin to see where they might fit within it.”

Lifetime Lessons from the Markets

Schramm’s longevity in the industry has required constant adaptation. Markets evolve daily, shaped by new data, global events, and regulatory developments. The ability to adjust quickly is not optional but essential.

“I tend to overthink decisions,” she admits. “But this business doesn’t allow for that. You have to be able to change your focus on a dime.”

Equally important is the ability to listen. Whether working with clients or engaging in regulatory discussions, understanding what is truly being asked—and what is actually needed—requires careful attention.

Resilience is another defining trait. Mistakes happen, especially in a fast-moving environment. Schramm’s approach is straightforward: address the issue, fix it, and move forward.

“You can’t take everything personally,” she says. “It’s about learning and continuing.”

Navigating Change and Challenging Assumptions

Over the course of her 50 year career, Schramm has also witnessed shifts in workplace dynamics. When she first started, women were rare in the field and often met with mixed reactions—either dismissed or treated with a kind of over-cautiousness that limited their effectiveness.

While progress has been made, challenges remain. Even today, she occasionally finds herself in rooms where she feels underestimated, whether due to gender or age.

“There are moments where I feel like I have to raise my hand to be heard,” she reflects. “There aren’t many women at this stage of life sitting at those tables.”

Yet her continued presence, and influence, speaks for itself. With decades of experience, she remains deeply engaged with modern markets, from traditional commodities to emerging digital assets.

Looking Forward

As Schramm helps lead preparations for NIBA’s 35th anniversary gathering this July at DePaul University, her focus is both forward-looking and grounded in experience. The event will address emerging topics like prediction markets while also recognizing the individuals who have shaped the industry with the introduction of a NIBA Hall of Fame, sponsored by the CME Group.

However, for Schramm, the work is ongoing. Whether through education, advocacy, or direct engagement with regulators, her goal remains consistent: to ensure that derivatives markets continue to serve a meaningful purpose.

That purpose, rooted in price discovery, risk management, and economic stability is what has sustained her career.

And as new markets emerge and new questions arise, it is also what continues to guide her voice.

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Julia Hoggett: CEO, London Stock Exchange

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Julia Hoggett“My entire career has been motivated by answering exam questions that I’m passionate about,” says Julia Hoggett. “I’ve had the privilege of being able to answer them in each of the seats that I’ve been in, and I’ve learned to trust that those questions and opportunities will manifest over time.”

When the Glass Hammer first spoke with Hoggett in 2012 when she was the Head of Covered Bonds and FIG Flow Financing at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, she was already thinking about her career in exactly these terms. Now, as chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, Julia Hoggett sits at the center of UK capital markets, having also held senior roles across banking, regulation and market oversight. She frames her path as a succession of problems worth solving, each transition driven by curiosity and the conviction that the next challenge would reveal itself when the time was right.

Following the Exam Questions

Hoggett trained as a sociologist specializing in sub-Saharan East Africa and originally entered the City to answer what she calls her first big exam question: “How does Malawi operate in the global economy?” She expected to stay in finance for two years and then return to postgraduate research. Instead, the pursuit of one question led to another, and after seven years advising clients on multi-billion dollar bond issues, DEPFA offered her the opportunity to run a bank funding program – the exam question there was that she had talked the talk for those 7 years, could she walk the walk?

Thereafter, Bank of America Merrill Lynch offered Hoggett the opportunity to advise on bank liquidity structures after the GFC, and she thought: “That’s a good exam question.” From there she held senior roles at the Financial Conduct Authority, including designing the supervision of investment-bank conduct in the aftermath of major market scandals, and steering oversight of the UK securities markets through Brexit and MiFID II.

Then came a moment in the summer of 2020 that changed everything. Apple’s market capitalization exceeded the entire FTSE 100 for the first time. Hoggett, then Director of Market Oversight, sat down that evening and wrote out everything she thought she could influence from a policy perspective. The next afternoon, the phone rang.

“It was a headhunter and the first words out of her mouth were, Julia, why haven’t you applied for the LSE job?” she recalls. “And I knew the next exam question.”

Today Hoggett is working on two exam questions simultaneously: “It’s not just how we create the best possible environment in the UK for great companies to start, grow, scale, and stay here,” she explains. “But also, how we reshape our capital markets over the next decade to make the best use of tokenization and digitization.”

The Risk of a Plan

Hoggett’s philosophy of following fascination over something like five-year plans is something she absorbed without quite knowing it until the day she heard her mother articulate it in a speech when she was Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. When a female lawyer in the audience asked her mother how she had planned her way there, her answer was: ‘do what you’re doing to the utter best of your ability, trust that opportunities will come from that and don’t close yourself off to those opportunities however different they are from the path you’re on’.

“I almost started laughing,” Hoggett recalls. “I’d been asked a version of the same question the week before and given almost word for word the same answer. But my mother and I had never talked about it.”

When her mother graduated, there were six women and 94 men in her law cohort, one female judge, no female Law Lords, and the Supreme Court didn’t yet exist. Had she aimed at a visible target, she would have aimed too low.

“The risk of setting a plan is that what you think you’re capable of at the time is not what time proves you’re capable of,” Hoggett says.

Start With Where You Want to End Up

If Hoggett resists personal micro styled career planning, she is unambiguous about strategic direction. Her mantra is simply start with where you want to end up and work backwards.

“Don’t start with where you are and work forwards,” she says, “because the minute you do, you’ll be constrained by the first obstacle you hit. If you start with your vision and work backwards, you won’t constrain your ambition, and you’ll maximize the chance that you get there.”

Running an institution that has existed for over 300 years changes your relationship with time horizons. “Your job is not to be a day trader,” she says. “It’s to be there as this immutable piece of capability that others build their technology, their legal frameworks and their ambition to.”

Setbacks Are Data

Having navigated the Asian crisis, the Russian crisis, the global financial crisis, the sovereign debt crisis, the conduct crisis, Brexit, COVID and Ukraine, Hoggett treats each challenge as data whilst not underestimating the deeply human impact of so many of those crises.

“I assume I’m going to have one of those learning moments every day,” she says. “And usually you do.”

Her approach is twofold: brutal honesty about where things actually stand, combined with absolute confidence that with the right people in the room you can find a way through.

“Think of it like pushing off from the blocks as a sprinter. You need those blocks to be completely anchored into the ground, you need that solid foundation to push off from.
But you also have to create the space and the culture for that honesty to feel safe, rewarded and listened to.”

The Cloak of Post-It Notes

One of the most distinctive pieces of advice Hoggett shares came not from a mentor or a sponsor but from her ex-wife, a counselling psychologist.

Early in her banking career, Hoggett would write a to-do list on a Post-It note, scratch off items through the day, and then throw it in the bin when she left. Her ex-wife listened, then said: “Metaphorically, you’re throwing away all of your achievements at the end of every day.”

Hoggett started keeping a record instead, “thinking of each thing I struck off as one of life’s little victories, an accumulation of skills that I hadn’t necessarily had before I learned how to do it by doing that job. And then I started to think of it as a cloak made up of these metaphorical post-it notes. It was armor to take into the next thing that I did.”

The mental shift matters for navigating imposter syndrome, which she does not dismiss but reframes. “I think a certain amount of imposter syndrome is incredibly valuable. I get to do things in a day that most people don’t get to do. I’d never want to not recognize that that’s what they are.”

Mentors, Sponsors and Being Three-Up

Hoggett distinguishes between mentorship and sponsorship and emphasizes gathering the former from an unusually wide field.

“I don’t think of a mentor as having to have a particular shape,” she says. “Every day I am watching and observing all the people I work with whether they are male, female, more senior to me, more junior to me. I’m constantly observing how they do things and going, I like the way they did that, I would like to try and do it that way too.”

On sponsorship, she reflects on a colleague who moved teams and then approached her about a role elsewhere in the bank.

“She was three-to-‘more-than-one’ up on me. She knew me as an observer of the work I did. She knew the role she was sponsoring me into better than I did. And she knew the degree to which she was prepared to put her reputation on the line to sponsor me into that role.”

For Hoggett, the realization was when a sponsor approaches you, to recognise that they are operating with significantly more information than you are and to trust their willingness to place a step in your career in their hands.

Purpose Is Not a Buzzword

When asked about her why, Hoggett returns to where she started: an African development sociologist trying to understand how capital moves in the world.

“The capital markets are not there to make investment banks deal fees and league table position,” she says. “They are there as a convener, to bring together those who have capital, those who need capital, in service of an objective. Investment banks making deal fees is a byproduct of the purpose. It is not the object.”

That sense of fundamental purpose, Hoggett argues, is what allows strategy to flow and what allows thousands of people who may never be in the same room as a leader to feel connected to the work they do.

She has made repetition into a deliberate tool of culture, using phrases like 300-year-old fintech and convener of capital over and over again until they belong to everyone.

“The joke is it’s become Julia Bingo,” she says. “But there’s a pride in the fact that we all have that language, because that’s our shared articulation of our purpose. It’s not mine, it’s ours.”

It is, in the end, the same logic she applies to everything: not ownership, but direction. Not a plan, but a question worth answering, held lightly enough to let it evolve.

“I know that I am trying to do the thing I am doing right now to the utter best of my ability,” she says, “and I love it. What the next exam question is, and therefore what I do next, I don’t know yet and I don’t need to. I’ve learned to trust that the next exam question will manifest at some point, usually at the right moment.”

By Nicki Gilmour, founder and CEO of theglasshammer.com and Evolved People Coaching

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Powering the Future: Laura Magyar, Patomak Global Partners

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Laura Magyar

By Jessica Darmoni

“You should always ask,” says Laura Magyar, Partner at Patomak Global Partners, as she talked about her time at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). She asked and was subsequently approved to spend a year abroad working at the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) during her tenure. “You don’t lose anything by asking.”

In an era defined by rapid financial innovation and shifting regulatory landscapes, Magyar’s career stands as a testament to courage, adaptability, and vision. Her journey, from a young professional in Chicago to a global leader shaping the securities industry, offers more than an inspiring success story. It provides a blueprint for future generations navigating industries where change is the only constant.

Redirection, not Rejection

Magyar’s career began in Chicago at one of Merrill Lynch’s top-producing offices. As a Series 7 registered sales assistant, she gained early exposure to the inner workings of financial markets and developed a deep understanding of client relationships and revenue targets.

“During my time at Merril Lynch, the Financial Consultant that I worked with was considering moving to management, and we discussed having me take over his book of business. However, as time went on, it became clear that he was not going to transition to another role, and I needed to decide if I wanted to be on the financial advisor track or pivot.”

She chose to move in another direction. While working full-time, she attended law school at night. Her initial goal was to become a defense trial attorney, but financial realities reshaped that ambition. She recognized that her industry experience was not a detour, but an asset. Instead of abandoning finance, she deepened her expertise in it.

“Many of my professors worked at the SEC, and I was encouraged by them to apply for a role there,” she says. At the time that I was applying for a position, the SEC was receiving hundreds of resumes for positions, and unless you knew someone working there, the chances of someone reviewing your resume and calling you for an interview were slim.”

Many would have interpreted that as a closed door, but Magyar treated it as a delay.

She joined a Chicago law firm as an associate. While most of her work focused on securities litigation matters, she also handled CFTC-related matters. Looking back, she recalls that many of the engagements she worked on as a consultant after leaving the SEC were CFTC rules and regulation matters.

Protecting the Integrity of the System

Finally, on a frigid Valentine’s Day weekend, she flew to Washington, D.C. to interview for an attorney role in the SEC’s Office of Compliance, Inspections, and Examinations. She got the job, and that opportunity became a 15-year tenure that would define her leadership style and influence.

In Washington, she rose to Branch Manager, working on high-profile issues. Her work intersected with significant market events, including investigations related to the Flash Crash and the Knight Capital (KCG) trading incident. These were moments that tested the resilience of financial markets and demanded accountability. Through them and countless other market events and investigations, she saw firsthand how regulation is about protecting the integrity of the system. Working on these matters also evidenced the strong collaboration across SEC Divisions (e.g., enforcement, Trading and Markets, Exams).

While at the SEC, Magyar created a program to examine SEC-registered foreign-domiciled broker-dealers. She led her teams in examining firms outside the U.S. for compliance with SEC rules and regulations. It also sparked her desire to work internationally, and she boldly asked the Division Director if she could spend a year at the United Kingdom’s equivalent of the SEC, the FCA. There was no stipend. No housing support. No financial incentive. She had to fund the move herself and find a place to live when the exchange rate was nearly 2:1.

“In addition to the cultural differences, I was able to experience firsthand the differences in regulatory approaches.”

Magyar worked for six months in the Division of Supervision and six months in Enforcement, gaining a comparative lens that would later shape her strategic thinking.

A Proactive Pursuit of Opportunity

When she returned to Washington, leadership had changed. The Division Director who had approved her Secondment had left, and both new and existing leadership did not see the benefit of this opportunity or the knowledge she brought back.

“Not only did I feel I had to prove that my year abroad had been worthwhile, but I faced the reality of government career progression,” she explains. “Positions open only when someone leaves, and even then, advancement is uncertain.”

Rather than wait indefinitely, she made another bold move into the private sector, joining Promontory Financial Group (now owned by IBM). There, she learned the intensity of consulting, which included short deadlines, strong personalities, constant pressure to secure projects, and managing billable hours.

“Networking became essential,” she said. “It was up to me to build relationships so that I always had a pipeline of work. Significantly challenging, while my experience was in securities, I did a lot of work related to commodities/CFTC and banking. So, I learned a lot, and this further expanded my toolbox.”

When IBM acquired Promontory, she transitioned again, joining Patomak Global Partners, founded by SEC Chairman Paul Atkins. The firm’s securities focus aligned perfectly with her background. Ironically, her first major project centered on swap dealers regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which required her to get up to speed on the relevant rules, regulations, and best practices quickly.

While she now leads the firm’s Securities Compliance Practice, she learned to build complementary teams, bringing in specialists when necessary and eventually hiring in-house talent to preserve both expertise and revenue. Regulation, she realized, is never static. It demands continuous learning, humility, and the courage to admit when new voices are needed.

That philosophy is central to how her work will impact future generations.

“Adaptability is a leadership superpower. The next generation of financial leaders will not thrive by mastering one static domain,” she says. “They will need flexibility, openness to change, and the willingness to evolve alongside the markets.”

The Responsibility of Leadership

Though Magyar never formally had coaching, she recognizes the huge value in mentoring and finds opportunities to mentor junior staff and share feedback. She understands that experience has compounding value—and that the responsibility of leadership is not merely to perform, but to prepare others.

Magyar’s story is about one woman’s ascent in finance and law, but also about reshaping the relationship between innovation and regulation. It is also about proving that integrity and ambition are not opposing forces and showing future generations, especially young women in finance and law, that courage, curiosity, and conviction can open doors once thought closed.

Her legacy will not be measured solely by the cases she handled, the practices she built, or the revenue she generated. It will be measured by the relationships she builds, the young leaders she supports, and by the generations who learn that asking boldly and embracing change are not risks—they are necessities for shaping the future and a successful career.

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Powering the Future: Carey Ryan, Chief of Staff for Citi Technology & Business Enablement, Citi

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Carey RyanThe Glasshammer is running a “Where Are They Now?” series where we catch up with some of the professional women who we profiled ten or more years ago. We spoke with Carey Ryan, now Chief of Staff for Citi Technology & Business Enablement at Citi, about her career evolution and the role she plays in powering the future from both a technological and cultural perspective.

Nicki: Since we last spoke, where are you now?

Carey: We last spoke for the first time about 10 years ago, which seems like a long time but feels like the blink of an eye. I’ve held a number of roles since then, all within Citi’s Technology & Business Enablement group (though the name has changed a few times).

Now, I am the Chief of Staff for Citi Technology & Business Enablement. This entails working across both our technology organization and the wider bank to ensure we are effectively communicating and implementing new technologies, both with the goal of strengthening how we work and streamlining the time it takes to get work done.

Nicki: How did you get there?

Carey: In my 20 years at Citi, I have learned the best way to grow is to embrace every opportunity, especially if it allows you to learn more about how a company works. All of the roles I have had have allowed me the opportunity to support key areas of the business, including risk and control, data, and cybersecurity, each of which are vital to ensuring impactful technology can be developed or invested in and scaled to the full firm.

Nicki: Can you share a little about your current work?

Carey: Lately, much of my focus has been driving adoption and awareness for our Citi AI tools, helping us find the best places to practically and responsibly implement AI. This work includes leading our AI Champion and Accelerator programs, which are made up of approximately 4,000 volunteers around the firm who dedicate hours each week to serve as Citi AI advocates.

I also spend a lot of time working with our technology communication teams, each of whom covers a specific but global vertical within the larger technology business. No communication initiative is turnkey, and we always work to find new ways to impactfully reach colleagues with the information they need, be it in-person mediums like executive town halls or roundtable discussions, or through digital channels like email or lobby signage. Technology is the largest organization within Citi, so it’s key to focus on communication to enable change and drive execution while strengthening our culture.

Nicki: Have there been any unexpected or interesting twists in your career trajectory?

Carey: I have always worked in or adjacent to the technology space so, even before I recognized it, I was always headed for a career in enabling companies to leverage new technology to strengthen how they operated. That said, the world looks measurably different than it did when I entered the workforce, and Citi is no different. Some of these changes came quickly, such as the introduction and integration of AI, that has demanded the need to quickly shift priorities without much advance warning.

Nicki: Have any of them taught you a valuable lesson?

Carey: Citi is a large company, so I have had the opportunity to work on many projects with many people. Given this, the two key lessons I would share that always keep in mind is to always remember the end goal of every project and to stay flexible.

Nicki: What inspires you to be a leader and your leadership style?

Carey: My favorite part of my role is collaborating with dedicated and passionate colleagues. Whether it be the implementation of cutting-edge software, the voluntary work of a small team creating new patented technology tool, or an analyst successfully completing their first rotation with the bank – it is the passionate, innovative and solution-focused people that inspire me each day.

As I have risen in my career, I strive to be a good mentor and reliable leader for all members of my team, regardless of level. I’ve been lucky to have had several mentors whose advice I still hold on to, and it’s important to pay it forward. I also can’t help but think of my teenage daughter, I want to set a positive example for her as well as for my teams of what is possible in their careers and how leaders should treat their employees. An example that, hopefully, they will one day share with their own teams and mentees.

Nicki: Since we last spoke, can you share any challenging moments, setbacks, or self-doubt you’ve experienced as well as how you have navigated them?

Carey: I’m not sure I can pinpoint just one moment, but every new challenge I am presented with comes with a bit of imposter syndrome when I do not immediately have all the answers. Almost everyday features at least one conversation about something that where either I’m not the expert or the topic is completely new to me. It can be hard to ask questions when you think everyone except you has the answer, but the ability to step out of your comfort zone and know that you add value is a skill that will never go out of style. Self-doubt is something everyone faces, and the unknown is allowed to be scary. The key is being confident in your own ability to learn and adapt to problem-solve when navigating an unfamiliar situation.

Nicki: What skills do you think will matter most for future leaders?

Carey: When I was younger, I always assumed the fear and anxiety I felt about the unknown would go away. That one day I’d wake up and know everything there was to know about my job. But you quickly figure you’ll never know it all, because the world is always changing. Instead, I found the key is to always be ready by learning how to operate effectively with uncertainty and always be willing to learn.

Future leaders must be willing to be agile and adaptive, especially as the pace of change in the world continues to increase. AI is a great example of this. It is an unavoidable technology, and we should be willing to integrate it into how we work.

Nicki: Can you share an invaluable, specific piece of guidance a mentor or someone you admire has imparted on you?

Carey: I’ve had a number of tremendous mentors over the years. What I admired most in all of them was not any guidance they offered me, but the way they all led through their actions. Each of them led with kindness and empathy, listened carefully and accepted all forms of feedback, and were more than willing to change course if something was not working.

Nicki: Has coaching supported you in your journey, and if so, how?

Carey: Yes, I’ve been very fortunate to have had several coaches throughout my career. Coaches who were mentors, coaches whose job it was to support me, and coaches who were my peers. Career coaching offers an objective view of your decision-making. This often leads to introspective reflection on ways you can reframe your thinking, which is invaluable.

We can all sometimes be so goal-oriented, but it’s critical to take a step back and reflect on if we are taking the right steps to reach these goals. I often find myself going into my coaching session with one idea of what we will talk about and coming out with an entirely new perspective. Sometimes, the external guidance that a career coach offers is what one truly needs to help unlock those ‘aha’ moments.

Nicki: We are excited to see what you do next at Citi; we wish you continued success!

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