Area of work

Financial Sponsors Coverage Group, Global Structured Finance

Studied

MBA (Finance and Accounting), Stern School of Business, New York University
Liberal Arts, University of Pennsylvania

Joined

Intern Summer 2006, Joined 2007

Working in

New York

I first became interested in Structured Finance during a conference I attended while studying for my MBA. One of the women I met there was the head of Leveraged Finance at BNP Paribas and she really impressed me and also ended up being one of the people who interviewed me for my role here. I interviewed at a lot of the other large investment banks but I enjoyed the experience I had at BNP Paribas during my internship and also really liked the people who I met during my interviews for a full-time position.

I think one of the things that differentiates us from other big investment banks is the culture. BNP Paribas seems to be a little bit more open in terms of taking on new ideas and embracing the qualities someone can bring to the business. It's an organisation that is accepting of change. I feel that I truly have the opportunity to grow here, there aren't 50 other people who are doing the same role, so I feel like I can speak up and people will listen, that I can take my role and go beyond that and make it what I want it to be. I know that the more I take my own initiative and the more willing I am to take on new opportunities, then the more I'll be given.

What I love about my role here is learning about new companies and industries and seeing how they fit into the economy. Everything that happens, like the changing price of oil, the fluctuations in the stock market and current affairs affect each company in a different way. I'm not focused on one industry, or one company so I keep discovering companies and industries that I never really knew existed. For instance, right now I'm working on a deal with an oilfield services company that looks after the storage and transportation of fluids. So, obviously on a certain level you know that there must be companies that fill this niche, but you have no idea how their businesses actually operate.

I also like the fact that I work for a global group, we have client management on a global level so that we can monitor each company in every area they do business. The head of the group is in Paris and our main offices are in New York, Paris and London. We have meetings every now and then in each office and there's always people from London or Paris over here.

There's been a lot of change in the markets recently and in the US some people are concerned about the industry and their jobs. In this type of environment it's comforting that our strong risk management has meant that we have weathered the sub-prime mortgage crisis well, it means that you feel confident about your job and your future with the company. I'd love to travel and take up an opportunity in one of our international offices at some point in my career, but I think I'll probably stay in New York long term.