North America M&A
Vanessa Dager is building the BNP Paribas U.S. M&A banking practice from scratch, which is practically unheard of. Every hire, strategy and process belongs to her.
“It’s very scary, and a lot of work,” Dager says, but she’s thrilled to take on the challenge. To "It's a lot of work," Dager says, but she's thrilled to take on the challenge.
Dager, head of North America M&A at BNP Paribas, joined the bank in the summer of 2023. At the time, BNP had no M&A or equity capital markets desk in the U.S., and Dager's remit was to build one.
"This is not an M&A job like in other places where you're part of a big group where everything works," Dager said. "It's been great, because in any other job, usually you're plugged into an M&A group that is already there, even if you're heading the group."