It’s not every day that a summer intern later becomes the lead on many of Bank of America’s largest prime financing and equity clients, but that’s how Rachel Scarry’s 12-year career with the $3.4 trillion-asset bank has progressed. 

Based in London, Scarry, 34, is head of prime brokerage sales origination for Bank of America, and has focused her attention on markets outside the bank’s Stateside headquarters—with the results to show for it. New client acquisition in Europe, the Middle East and Asia (EMEA) was standout in 2024 and continues year-to-date in 2025.

Julie Andress, managing director for institutional equity sales trading at KeyBanc Capital Markets, consistently ranks among the top producers on the trading desk. She even ranked among the top producers when she was on three-month maternity leaves in 2020 and 2024.

Since joining KeyBanc Capital Markets in 2011, Andress has regularly cultivated client relationships that have contributed to double-digit revenue growth.

In 2022, Webster Financial Corp. and Sterling Bancorp wrapped up their merger, with the Webster brand remaining. For folks at both companies, the all-stock deal — valued at $5.1 billion when it was announced — was cause for celebration.

But once Webster executive Katherine (Katie Lane) celebrated the deal, she had plenty of work ahead of her. It was Lane’s job to lead the integration of Webster Bank’s and Sterling National Bank’s SOX (Sarbanes Oxley) programs — an enormous undertaking at what now is a financial services company with more than $75 billion in assets.

When people told Sophia Kearney-Lederman early on in her role as senior economist for FHN Financial that they thought economists were dull, she wasn’t sure how she should take it. “When it first happened, I was like, ‘Oh, is this a compliment or a little bit of a judgment?'”

Now, five years into her job, she doesn’t take it personally. Breaking down complex economic data and news into digestible analysis for the employees and clients of First Horizon Bank, parent of FHN Financial, and explaining why it matters to them personally, is quite interesting, she said.

While her college peers were gravitating toward internships in investment banking, Annie Cheslin found herself drawn to the buzz of the trading floor.

She landed her first job trading municipal bonds for Wells Fargo in 2012, and the buzz continues to pull her in more than a decade later.

“You walk onto a trading floor, people are engaged in conversation everywhere around you,” said Cheslin, who is now a managing director on the bank’s high-grade institutional desk. “You have to be able to be in two conversations at once and have what they call ‘bond ears’ to be able to hear what’s going on around you.”

Don’t underestimate Tracy Rudolph’s specialized skill for organizing, structuring and planning initiatives, and seeing them quietly through. Starting as Synovus Financial’s head of receivables product management in 2021, she inherited a tech project wobbling from vendor issues that her methodical approach put back on track. A subsequent initiative she oversaw proceeded with so little hubbub—virtually unheard of with major tech conversions — that the bank’s head of treasury product strategy and innovation asked if something was secretly wrong.

“No, it’s going really well,” she told Seth Marlowe, who was Rudolph’s manager at the time.

Dominique Goss may not be armed with the financial resources of Yield Giving’s MacKenzie Scott, but the way in which she supervises the development, allocation and impact of a $50 million annual budget in charitable giving and sponsorships is no less worthy. Under her leadership as executive director, the M&T Charitable Foundation has given more than $142 million to organizations within M&T Bank and Wilmington Trust’s footprint. An additional $11.4 million has been distributed via community sponsorship, including the 2025 forecast.

In the aftermath of a financial crisis, two things are certain: more regulation will follow, and the smartest bankers will look for cracks of light and see the potential for innovation. Amegy Bank’s Melissa Moncrief, EVP of Private Banking, acted on the latter, rethinking mortgage lending since the industry—and the customer experience—was redefined by the Dodd-Frank Act.

As banks across the country overhauled their mortgage practices under Dodd-Frank, the process became increasingly onerous for borrowers, especially high-net-worth clients with complex financial situations.

Anne-Victoire Auriault recognized a shift occurring in the global ETF market some 18 months ago and decided Goldman Sachs’ offerings needed to change with the times as well.

Institutional investors have increasingly sought more complex products, from actively managed ETFs and buffer strategies to thematic funds tied to artificial intelligence, cryptocurrencies, and income generation. These products require more sophisticated trading infrastructure, particularly as firms like Goldman compete in a crowded field against the likes of Blackrock, State Street, and J.P. Morgan.

When Amy Harris learned in 2014 that UMB was hiring an in-house litigator, she leapt at the chance to work at the bank.

An associate at a law firm in Kansas City, Missouri, Harris enjoyed the courtroom. But she wanted a change from law-firm life. Plus, she added, “Those in-house litigation positions are kind of few and far between.”

She continued to bring cases to court after joining UMB, but the bank’s general counsel asked her to take on special projects alongside her litigation work. It culminated in a request to oversee how the bank’s legal team could incorporate new technologies.