• Each year, Business Insider highlights Wall Street's rising stars.
• These are up-and-comers in investment banking, trading, and investing.
• All are 35 or younger. Check out our lists over the years.

For the past eight years, Business Insider's finance reporters have tapped their contacts to put together a list of who to watch on Wall Street.

We've received recommendations from bosses, colleagues, recruiters, and financial industry experts to create our annual feature. To be eligible, nominees must be based in the US, 35 or younger, and stand out among their peers. The editors make the final decisions.

Business Insider asked these rising stars from leading firms like Goldman, Blackstone, and Citadel to reflect on their successes, challenges, and best career advice.

2024

Meet our 2024 class

Our most recent set of young professionals reflect the future of finance. A number of them are shaping the trajectory of clean energy and artificial intelligence by financing the infrastructure that will underpin it. Some have seen their focus go from niche to hot asset. Others are influencing how Wall Street interacts with Main Street, using their skills and savvy to create new products and services for ordinary investors or giving employees at portfolio companies ownership stakes.

The rising stars also shared how they unwind and stay grounded in order to stay mentally sharp.

2023

Meet the 2023 class

2023's cohort included traders setting new playbooks for deals and trades and an investor building out burgeoning private markets businesses within the world's largest bank. These influencers also financed some of the biggest deals of the past few years and provided an edge to top investors with complex and innovative products.

They shared the lessons learned from their biggest career mistakes and how their Wall Street wardrobe had evolved from their COVID work-from-home days.

2022

Meet the class of 2022

As Wall Street navigated volatile markets, fewer deals, and plummeting company valuations, we found the players rising up despite the challenges.

One invested in space ventures, and another executed multibillion-dollar trades. Some up-and-comers pushed their teams to the top of industry rankings.

From books on the science of sleep to fantasy football strategy podcasts, here's what these bright leaders were reading and listening to. And here are some of their lessons and advice.

Here are the previous editions of our Wall Street rising stars list:

• 2021
• 2020
• 2019
• 2018
• 2017

• Donald Trump could introduce sweeping changes to Wall Street when he takes office on January 20.
• His policies are expected to boost core investment-banking businesses, like M&A and lending.
• He may also spur competition from financial technology startups and roll back consumer protections.

Donald Trump is already signaling his plans for Wall Street through his appointments to federal agencies like the Federal Trade Commission, which aims to promote commerce and protect consumers. He wants to replace Lina Khan, the agency's commissioner, with Andrew Ferguson, who is expected to be less aggressive in blocking large mergers.

According to data from the London Stock Exchange Group, 2024 saw more than $3 trillion in mergers and acquisitions volumes globally. While it was slightly up from the year prior, it was consistent with the malaise that has gripped Wall Street amid the high interest rates and dealmaking slowdown of the post-COVID years.

But, with the second Trump administration set to take effect come Inauguration Day on January 20, investment bankers and private-equity financiers are gearing up for what could be a friendlier dealmaking environment. In an interview following the election with CNBC in November, Jeffrey Solomon, the president of financial firm TD Cowen, said he predicted that the "regulatory environment will be much more conducive to economic growth."

"There will be lighter and targeted regulation," he told the business news outlet, expressing a view that many in the financial-services industry share, whether or not they express those views aloud.

With Trump's historically less hawkish approach to regulation and pronouncements to spur economic activity and tame inflation, here are five ways his policies could shape Wall Street in 2025 and in the years to come.

Bank lending

Trump is generally expected to reduce regulations for companies, including banks. One way he could do this is by rolling back the Biden administration's plans to enforce stricter capital requirements on banks, nicknamed "Basel III Endgame." Bank leaders, including JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, have vehemently opposed the latest proposed rules, saying they would require banks to hold on to far more capital than they needed to manage their risks. According to law firm Davis Polk, Trump could ease the capital restrictions, which could free up banks to put more of their capital to work via lending or other activities.

M&A

M&A is once again showing signs of life, thanks to the Fed's plans to lower the cost of borrowing.

A KPMG survey of 300 corporate and private-equity dealmakers released in December revealed a bullish outlook among those poised to engage in M&A transactions in the year ahead. In the online survey, 85% of respondents said they were eyeing more deals now than six months ago, and 79% said that the outcome of the presidential election would produce "an easier regulatory or anti-trust environment for M&A."

Trump is expected to turbocharge the dealmaking environment by replacing the current head of the Federal Trade Commission, Lina Khan, who has been aggressive in blocking big mergers, including a $24.6 billion tie-up of supermarket chains Kroger and Albertsons. Khan has also taken steps to break up tech giants Amazon and Meta.

Trump has selected Andrew Ferguson, one of the FTC's current commissioners, to replace Khan as the FTC's chair. Ferguson is expected to be more welcoming of large mergers, although he has vowed on Silicon Valley tech giants, especially those that stifle conservative voices. In a post on X, he said: "At the FTC, we will end Big Tech's vendetta against competition and free speech. We will make sure that America is the world's technological leader and the best place for innovators to bring new ideas to life."

Crypto and fintech

Trump embraced crypto on the campaign trail, becoming the first presidential candidate to accept campaign donations in cryptocurrency. Since being elected for a second term in the White House, he named venture capitalist David Sacks as the "AI & Crypto Czar." Sacks' job, according to Trump, will be to find ways to help crypto thrive, including by advising the White House on "a legal framework so the crypto industry has the clarity it has been asking for," according to a post on social media site Truth Social.

Trump's focus on crypto and AI has financial industry watchers betting a second Trump administration will prove a boon to fintechs, which could prove a mixed bag for established banks who have adopted new banking technologies to compete with the rise of payments and banking apps.

Davis Polk lawyers explained it this way in a December 19 report: "The focus on growth and innovation is likely to be centered around facilitating safe and sound fintech activities, making the path to achieving a bank charter for innovative firms more readily achievable and drawing clearer rules of the road for banking organizations to participate in a variety of crypto-asset-related and tokenization activities."

Consumer banking

Trump is expected to reduce regulations generally, including consumer protection efforts that have drawn opposition from Republican lawmakers. On December 12, the Biden administration finalized rules limiting what banks can charge consumers who spend more money than they have in their accounts, also known as overdraft fees. The rule drew a lawsuit from banking groups and the ire of Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, the incoming chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.

"Despite voters' clear message on Election Day, Director Chopra has advanced his agenda at a break-neck speed," Scott reportedly said at a December Senate Banking Committee hearing in reference to Rohit Chopra, head of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, or CFPB.

Some Trump supporters have called for sweeping changes to the CFPB, an Obama-era agency responsible for protecting consumers from unfair treatment by financial firms.

"Delete CFPB," Elon Musk wrote in November on X, his social media platform.

IPOs

Stock investors reacted enthusiastically to Trump's election, sending stocks to record levels until December when investors started harvesting gains. Continued stock-market optimism stands to boost IPO activity, which thawed out slightly in 2024 following several years of stagnation.

There were 214 IPOs filed in 2024, up 19% from the previous year, according to IPO tracker Renaissance Capital.

Whether the stock-market cheer continues, however, will depend on Trump's policies once he takes office on January 20. The president-elect is largely expected to take a pro-business stance, but he has also proposed taxing foreign imports at levels that threaten to slow the economy by raising the prices of consumer goods.

While tariffs don't automatically lead to rising prices, "adding tariffs at the scale being discussed would have inflation implications," said Rob Haworth, senior investment strategy director with US Bank Asset Management in a recent research report. Trump has proposed levying taxes of 10% on goods imported from China, and 25% tariffs on goods from neighbors Mexico and Canada.

• 10 Goldman Sachs partners shared the books, speeches, and plays that inspired them this year.
• President John Waldron recommended a book about Dwight Eisenhower that taught him about leadership.
• See what 9 other Goldman execs said made them better leaders, industry experts, and humans in 2024.

Goldman Sachs' top brass are revered as some of the sharpest minds on Wall Street — but staying on top of your game takes work.

As 2024 comes to a close, Business Insider asked 10 senior officials of the powerhouse global investment bank — a leader in M&A dealmaking and advice — to share at least one thing they read, watched, or listened to that made them smarter and better at their jobs over the last year.

One Goldman partner recommended a play that helped her think about the long-term impact of her actions. Another partner touted a lecture by a famous philosopher on the importance of organizational trust that can be streamed from Spotify.

As Carey Halio, Goldman's global treasurer, put it, learning is an "endless" pursuit for leaders of the bank, which ranked No. 1 in M&A volumes last year, according to deal tracker LSEG.

"The more you can expand your knowledge base, the better you will be at your core function, the more you will be able to connect the dots and the more effective you will be as a leader," Halio told BI.

Here's what top Goldman executives like President John Waldron, Vice Chair Rob Kaplan, and M&A cohead Stephan Feldgoise shared as their top recommendations from 2024. The responses all come from Goldman partners, the bank's highest rank outside the C-suite. They are in the partners' own words, edited only for length and clarity, and are organized alphabetically by last name.

Jared Cohen

Title: President of Global Affairs and cohead of the Goldman Sachs Global Institute

Recommendation: "The Guns of August" by Barbara Tuchman and "A Peace to End All Peace" by David Fromkin

Why: Earlier in my career, I found that you couldn't truly understand World War I without reading these books. Now, they help me make sense of the world we're living in. Tuchman offers a sobering reminder of how quickly things can fall apart. Many leaders took peace in Europe for granted in 1914, as they did in 2014 and even 2022, with devastating results. Fromkin is especially worth reading this year after the fall of the brutal Assad regime in Syria. That country's borders emerged in large part as a legacy World War I.

"A Peace to End All Peace" details the history behind the headlines, and it remains a key text for anyone trying to understand one of the world's most challenging but amazing regions.

Stephan Feldgoise

Title: Cohead of Global M&A

Recommendation: "The Confident Mind" by Dr. Nate Zinsser

Why: Dr. Zinsser teaches performance psychology at West Point, working with members of the military who need to perform and excel in high-stress situations.

I found the concepts around preparation and mental positivity to be useful for me personally but also highly valuable in mentoring and developing the next generation of Goldman Sachs leaders as they move into roles where they face performance challenges in high-stress environments.

Most valuable were the very specific and learnable techniques that can be taught to next-generation leaders to build confidence and improve performance.

Gizelle George-Joseph

Title: COO of Global Investment Research

Recommendation: "The Promise of Leadership," readings curated by the Aspen Institute's Finance Leaders Fellowship

Why: A selection of readings curated by the Aspen Institute's Finance Leaders Fellowship as part of the final week-long intensive seminar had the most significant impact on my leadership this year.

There were many aspects of the readings and the seminar that resonated, including a deep discussion on happiness and what makes for a good life: health, wealth, knowledge, friendship, good moral character – all of it? There was also a heart-wrenching reminder of both the courage and the depravity that can exist in the world through stories of survivors of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, as told by New Yorker writer Paul Gourevitch in the book "We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families."

From the readings, which included works by Frederick Douglas, Wendell Barry, and Mary Oliver, I took away multiple concepts that I continue to contemplate both as a leader and a citizen of the world and these have guided many of my endeavors and decisions this year. My takeaways included the importance of taking action to create change in big and small ways and enjoying the journey of life itself.

Carey Halio

Title: Global Treasurer

Recommendation: Speeches by the Federal Reserve Vice Chair Philip Jefferson

Why: This fall, I really enjoyed two speeches by Vice Chair Philip Jefferson from the Federal Reserve on the history of the discount window since it was initially created in 1913, and how it has provided liquidity to the US banking system and broader economy in different environments.

Despite being someone who has been a student of the banking industry for over 25 years, I learned new points that help me think about our approach to the discount window today. It was a good reminder to not only constantly seek out information but to look at history as a tool for understanding the path in front of you.

I am a firm believer that you can always learn more about your industry and your area of expertise – it is truly endless. The more you can expand your knowledge base, the better you will be at your core function, the more you will be able to connect the dots, and the more effective you will be as a leader. While this example is unique to my work, I think the theme applies more universally.

And, if you are interested in banking, I highly recommend this speech and this speech.

Rob Kaplan

Title: Vice Chairman

Recommendation: "War" by Bob Woodward

Why: I have always been interested in learning about how leaders operate under highly ambiguous and stressful conditions. Whether it is Woodward, William Manchester, or David Halberstam, authors who explore leadership actions in difficult situations that changed the course of history can provide compelling lessons on decision-making under pressure.

Making one decision versus another, having even a slight misunderstanding, or making a seemingly minor miscalculation can cause mistakes that may look innocuous at the time but can have a lasting impact.

Ericka Leslie

Title: COO of Global Banking & Markets

Recommendation: "Trust the Universe," a lecture by Alan Watts

Why: Throughout my career, I have found the philosopher Alan Watts to be particularly inspiring as I think about how to lead different organizations and functions. I regularly revisit his famous lecture "Trust the Universe" on Spotify and recommend it to my colleagues each year. He argues that most people fail to trust the organization they are in and try to control it, which eventually leads to failure.

If you trust the system, as long as you believe in it, then your ability to get the most out of other people to scale and grow your business is greatly enhanced. Through trust and delegated authority, businesses can grow, and organizations can scale. This idea is borrowed from the way the human body operates, and he presents it as a more natural way to create meaningful impact in an organization.

These lessons are both timeless and universal and something I try to integrate into my work every day.

Asahi Pompey

Title: Global Head of Corporate Engagement and Chair of the Urban Investment Group at Goldman Sachs

Recommendation: "Good Bones," a show by the playwright James Ijames

Why: I saw "Good Bones" at the Public Theater — not once, but twice — because it was that compelling. The play explores the complexities of urban renewal projects, asking essential questions like: Who belongs in a neighborhood, and who benefits from its evolution?

The work my team and I lead is centered on creating durable, lasting economic progress, with over $20 billion deployed in community development projects like affordable housing. "Good Bones" was a welcome reminder that as investors, we should never lose sight of the history and the voice of a community — to build long-term trust, and ultimately, to deliver sustainable impact.

When it comes to running a team and leading an organization, the same ideas are at play. Building and managing relationships with honesty and empathy, especially during times of change, creates a foundation of collective resilience, which is essential for the long-term success of an organization.

Padi Raphael

Title: Global head of Third Party Wealth Management in Goldman Sachs Asset Management

Recommendation: "The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution" by Gregory Zuckerman

Why: One book I read this year that stands out to me is "The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution" by Gregory Zuckerman, a compelling biography of a titan of the hedge fund industry. Jim's story underscores the value of being the very best at what you do by finding a niche in which your skills and perspective can uniquely position you to win.

Producing consistent alpha in investing can be a notoriously difficult undertaking, and the book narrates a masterclass in resilience, painting a picture of Jim's extraordinary successes following early hardships in launching his career.

Two themes that resonated with me as a leader were perseverance in the face of challenges and a lifelong love of learning. In his own immortal words: "work with the smartest people you can, hopefully smarter than you...be persistent, don't give up easily. Be guided by beauty...". The book is a highly engaging read, and I devoured it in one sitting!

John Waldron

Title: President & COO

Recommendation: "Eisenhower: The White House Years" by Jim Newton

Why: I spend a lot of time thinking about risk and how to steer our organization through today's geopolitical crosscurrents, so I went looking for inspiration and found it in Jim Newton's book, "Eisenhower: The White House Years."

Although Newton covers the entirety of Eisenhower's life, he focuses on Ike's two terms as president, which are largely remembered as eight torpid years of peace and prosperity, though, as Newton points out, there was nothing ho-hum about them. Eisenhower inherited not only a hot war on the Korean peninsula, but also a Cold War with the Soviet Union, whose tensions erupted in Iran, Vietnam, Guatemala, Taiwan, Hungary, the Suez Canal, Lebanon, Cuba, the Congo.

It is a sign of Eisenhower's success that those perilous years are now remembered as the days of "Leave It to Beaver," and yet he was still human. He wasn't immediately sympathetic to the cause of civil rights, though when push came to shove during the Little Rock crisis of 1957, he did send in the National Guard to enforce court-ordered desegregation. He also advocated for and oversaw the establishment of the Interstate Highway System, which laid the foundation for years of robust economic growth.

He was a man who wasn't afraid to compromise and who always took the long view. Not a bad example for other leaders to follow.

Tucker York

Title: Global Head of Wealth Management

Recommendation: "Leadership by the Good Book" by David L. Steward

Why: Each year, I keep a list of the books I've read, who recommended them to me, and any takeaways or lessons that I took from the reading. One that stood out this year was "Leadership by the Good Book" by David L. Steward. David gave me the book during his visit to Goldman Sachs this fall as he was the keynote speaker at our inaugural Garland Summit.

While the book suggests biblical lessons appropriate for the business world, the wisdom is non-denominational. David and his coauthor, Brandon Mann, delve into the themes of servant leadership, loving what you do, investing in your people, risking your reputation for what's right, growing through external challenges, and celebrating milestones on the journey. I saw clear parallels to our work in serving clients, risk management, and mentoring our people.

Regardless of one's religious affiliation, the applied learnings are relevant for the business world and the guidance applies to my work at Goldman Sachs.

• Wall Street banks are proving that generative AI is here to stay and the tech is not just a fad.
• Business Insider has reported on how some of finance's biggest banks are approaching generative AI.
• See how giants like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan are weaving the tech into the fabric of their firms.

Wall Street bank leaders say generative AI is here to stay, and they're weaving the technology throughout the fabric of their banks to make sure.

From trading to payments to marketing, it's hard to find a corner of the banking industry that isn't claiming to use AI.

In fact, the technology's impact, made mainstream by OpenAI's ChatGPT in late-2022, is becoming cultural. Generative AI is changing what it takes to be a software developer and how to stand out as a junior banker, especially as banks begin dispatching autonomous AI agents. The technology is even changing roles in the c-suite.

From supercharging productivity via AI-powered search engines to figuring out the best way banks can realize a return on their AI investments, here's what we know about how Wall Street banks are embracing AI.

JPMorgan Chase

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon is a "tremendous" user of the bank's generative AI suite. We have the story of how he and other execs use AI at the bank.

• JPMorgan's AI rollout: Jamie Dimon's a 'tremendous' user and it's caused some 'healthy competition' among teams
• JPMorgan is making a big bet on AI. Here's how its private bankers are using it.

Dimon also laid out his vision for how America's largest bank will win the AI battle against fintechs through data. Meet the leaders of that mission.

• Jamie Dimon says he's out to win the AI arms race. See who he's put in charge of this critical mission.
• JPMorgan's Lori Beer just added 2 new tech leaders to her ranks. Meet the team behind the bank's AI future.

Mary Erdoes, the boss of JPM's asset- and wealth-management business, used these slides to outline how she wants to get her people ready for the "AI of the future."

• Here's how JPM boss Mary Erdoes wants to use AI to eliminate "no joy" work

Manuela Veloso has been focused on AI for decades. The former head of machine learning at Carnegie Mellon University, Veloso has been JPMorgan's head of AI research since 2018. She broke down seven main challenges her team is trying to solve with AI for the bank.

• JPMorgan's head of AI research Manuela Veloso breaks down 7 areas she's looking to apply the cutting-edge tech

Goldman Sachs

Goldman's top partners and CEO David Solomon are eager to see AI rev up their businesses. From realizing internal productivity gains to capturing more business as clients look to raise money in anticipation of AI development and acquisitions, here's what the top echelon is expecting.

• How AI will shake up Goldman Sachs, according to top partners and CEO David Solomon
• Inside Goldman Sachs' plans for AI, from helping non-tech workers do more with software to streamlining how code is documented

There is no AI without data, and there is no data strategy at Goldman without its chief data officer, Neema Raphael. Raphael gave BI an inside look at how his roughly 500-person team melds with the rest of the bank to get the most out of its data.

• Meet Neema Raphael, the data whiz key to Goldman's AI ambitions who's overseeing the bank's army of engineers and scientists

AI's impact has ripple effects that go far beyond technology. Goldman's chief information officer, Marco Argenti, predicts that cultural change will be critical to getting the bank to 100% adoption.

• Goldman Sachs CIO Marco Argenti says Wall Street's 'next big wave' in AI will come down to culture, not just technology

Many dollars are being spent on Wall Street's AI ambitions. But how do you measure the return on the investment? Argenti offers some tips on the calculus that can help firms prioritize where to invest.

• As AI usage ramps up on Wall Street, Goldman Sachs CIO details how the bank analyzes return on investment for the tech

Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley wants to turn employees' AI ideas into a reality. Here's an exclusive look at that process.

• Morgan Stanley has 30 AI projects in the pipeline. Here's how the bank sources employees' ideas for inspiration.

Morgan Stanley's wealth division is getting an AI facelift. See how the technology is transforming the jobs of the bank's 16,000 financial advisors.

• Morgan Stanley is betting on AI to free up advisors' time to be 'more human.' Nearly 100% of advisor teams use it, and here's how.

Thanks to its partnership with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, Morgan Stanley has ramped up its AI efforts. The exec in charge of tech partnerships and firmwide innovation opened up about how it all started.

• Morgan Stanley's new innovation head lays out his plan for more OpenAI-type partnerships
• A Morgan Stanley exec breaks down how the bank courts tech partners like OpenAI

Citi

Citi's top tech executive, Shadman Zafar, outlined the bank's four-phased AI strategy and how it will "change how we work for decades to come."

• A top Citi tech exec breaks down the 4 phases of the bank's AI strategy that will impact everyone from operations to wealth and product

Bank of America

Bank of America's chief experience officer, Rob Pascal, details how the bank's internal-facing AI assistant helps bankers collect, record, and review client data. Here are all the ways it's helping employees be more effective and efficient.

How Bank of America is using an AI-powered tool to help its bankers prep for client meetings more efficiently

AI hits the investment bank

Investment bankers are hopeful that corporate America's obsession with AI could kick off a new era of mergers, acquisitions, and IPOs. From execs stepping into recently created roles to accommodate the sector to industry veterans launching their own AI-focused M&A-advisory firm, meet 11 investment bankers poised to lead Wall Street's AI revolution.

• Wall Street is gearing up for an AI shopping spree. Meet 11 bankers poised to come out on top.

We spoke with four of those AI bankers about why 2025 is going to be all about AI pickaxes and shovels rather than pure-play AI deals.

• The deals 4 tech bankers think the 'AI arms race' could drive in 2025

AI could save junior bankers time by automating tedious tasks known all too well by Wall Street's youngest ranks. But it can also make it harder to break into the industry by shifting the skills required for entry.

• How AI will change the job of the junior banker and raise the bar to entry

A former Goldman Sachs managing director built an AI-powered networking tool to spur dealmaking. The budding startup, Louisa AI, already has a few clients, including Goldman Sachs, Insight Partners, and a global exchange.

• See the pitch deck that helped a former Goldman Sachs exec raise $5 million for an AI-powered networking startup that feeds deal ideas to bankers.

Here's how former investment bankers left their Wall Street jobs to build an AI startup to solve junior bankers' woes.

• See the pitch deck that helped former investment bankers raise a $7 million seed round for their generative 'AI consigliere' to bankers and analysts

• 2025 is expected to be a robust year for mergers and acquisitions as well as IPOs.
• Consequently, some investment banks are bulking up on hiring, industry recruiters say.
• Here's a look at which firms are staffing up and what sectors are seeing the most action.

When John Weinberg, the chairman and CEO of the elite boutique investment bank Evercore, sat down for a fireside chat in December at an annual Goldman Sachs conference, he revealed that his firm had been ramping up hiring.

"Most of the time, you don't really do much recruiting in November or December," he told listeners — adding that this year had been different. "If you could see my schedule, you'd see that virtually every day I am speaking with and recruiting" new talent, he said. "You could probably anticipate that our recruiting efforts will increase, not decrease."

Weinberg isn't the only Wall Street dealmaker for whom recruiting is top of mind. According to industry headhunters, hiring across the Street has been gaining steam.

"We're probably up 60% to 70%," Kevin Mahoney, a managing partner in the global financial-services practice at Christoph Zeiss Partners, told Business Insider in December. "We haven't been this busy in a long time," he added, saying he expects 2025 to be "bonkers" in terms of hiring volumes.

After several years of lackluster deal activity, Wall Street is finally starting to see signs of a thaw in mergers and public offerings. A cocktail of lower interest rates, pent-up demand, and expectations for a friendlier landscape under a Trump presidency has left many dealmakers across the Street feeling bullish about the prospects for 2025. Robert Stowe, the head of Americas equity capital markets at Barclays, told BI that he predicted some $50 billion in initial public offering volumes in the US next year. That would be a roughly 20% increase from 2024's just over $41 billion worth of IPO volumes in the Americas, as recorded by the deal-tracking firm Dealogic.

BI got an update on the latest investment-banking hiring trends from three top Wall Street headhunters: Mahoney; Meridith Dennes, the managing partner of the firm Prospect Rock; and Brianne Sterling, the head of the investment-banking recruiting practice at Selby Jennings.

Dennes said the industry's "musical chairs" could start to spike in about January or February after bankers receive their bonuses. Many, she said, have gotten early hints about their bonus numbers this year and are privately grumbling.

"Bonuses are not coming out as strong as we expected them to be, and I think the reason is because there's been so much hiring at the senior level and at the MD level," she said. "A lot of that compensation pool may be spoken for."

So, with moves on the way, which sectors will see the most activity? Here are a few key trends the headhunters say are worth watching in 2025.

The hot sectors

Banks big and small are already dialing up recruiting for their technology, media, and telecommunications teams, known as TMT in Wall Street parlance.

One reason, Mahoney said, is that those sectors are popular acquisition targets for financial sponsors. Indeed, private-equity firms are itching to deploy the billions they've raised from limited partners — but have been waiting for interest rates to decline.

"Something that I think will be interesting within the tech space, as well, is how teams are looking at staffing and positioning" for AI deals, as well as deals for cryptocurrency and digital-assets companies that may consolidate over the next year, Sterling of Selby Jennings said.

Tech has been a major area for banker movement, said Dennes, who also named healthcare, restructuring, industrials, consumer retail, and financial institutions as hot. Among some of the early findings of Prospect Rock's annual compensation survey, bankers in tech and restructuring displayed the highest levels of dissatisfaction with pay.

"Now, if they're not really paid," Dennes said, "they're going to want to jump — and there's opportunity for those folks to jump."

Tech dealmakers on the move

Union Square Advisors, a boutique technology-focused investment bank in San Francisco, has onboarded a series of dealmakers recently, including tapping Terry Jackson — who previously worked at JPMorgan and Bank of America Securities — as a managing director. The firm also hired Todd Meadow to pitch in with sponsor coverage and brought on the banker Chris Appaneal to focus on software for governance, risk, and compliance.

Houlihan Lokey, a midsize firm long respected for its prowess in restructuring and distressed deals, has also been growing its wallet share in tech to win competitive M&A mandates.

In the spring, the bank appointed Ryan Lund as a cohead of US technology. It's been deepening the granularity of its software coverage with subsequent hires, as well — like Nana Kyei, a managing director who joined from Jefferies this fall and focuses on education tech. Geoff Rhizor joined the tech team in San Francisco in late summer; his coverage, in part, intersects with the fintech group.

Barclays has also emphasized hiring managing directors focused on tech and healthcare deals, a company spokesperson told BI. Rob Patterson, who serves as head of data and information platforms coverage within tech investment banking, came over from Morgan Stanley. And the bank appointed David King, a former top-level banker at Bank of America, as global head of technology mergers and acquisitions last summer.

Big banks are staffing up

Some banks have already initiated widespread recruiting plans for juniors.

JPMorgan Chase, for instance, was engaged in a vigorous off-cycle recruiting spree for junior investment bankers as deal flow picked up speed in the fall, according to industry sources and postings on its job board.

Goldman Sachs' careers portal recently displayed roughly a dozen openings for junior bankers in New York, San Francisco, and London. Vacancies included analyst and associate positions in coverage groups like financial institutions, entertainment banking, TMT, and industrials, as well as product-focused functions like equity capital markets.

Bankers need fresh blood: 'Send them our way'

The last time there was an M&A boom during the pandemic, in 2021, many banks were caught unprepared and understaffed, resulting in complaints from overworked junior bankers.

Wall Street employers now say they won't make the same mistake twice — and many are eyeing boosting their junior ranks in preparation, the recruiters said.

Dennes expects an emphasis on associates and midlevel vice presidents to help juggle the ins and outs of executing the manifold deals coming down the pike. "Experienced bankers are always in demand," she said. "Anyone who has closed a couple of deals and is able to train junior staff is very valuable."

Dennes' firm, Prospect Rock, is working on filling four analyst roles, six associate roles, and two VP roles, postings on its website showed. Still, she doesn't see 2025 hiring following the same frenetic pattern it did during the earlier pandemic-era M&A boom.

"In 2021, you just needed bodies — more horsepower. This is very different," she said. Now, banks are markedly more vigilant in emphasizing quality over quantity. "Nobody wants a 2021, 2022 redo," she added. "A lot of those hires were not strong."

Some senior dealmakers are already worried about short-staffing. A managing director at a Wall Street bank told BI he was confident that 2025 would deliver a volume of work comparable with 2021 levels, if perhaps not the same soaring valuations.

"Part of the conversation that we're going to have to think through is augmenting the team at the midlevel" to handle execution, he said. In this hiring market, though, "it's almost impossible" to find impressive associates or VPs, he cautioned. "Send them our way — because it's hard."

Are you an investment-banking insider, or do you have knowledge of industry moves on Wall Street? Get in touch with these reporters. Reed Alexander can be reached via email at [email protected] or via the encrypted messaging app Signal at 561-247-5758. Emmalyse Brownstein can be reached at [email protected] or via Signal at 305-857-5516.

Correction: December 20, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misstated Meridith Dennes' role at Prospect Rock. She's the firm's managing partner, not one of its managing directors.

• Citigroup appointed a new class of managing directors last week.
• Five new MDs share their best career advice and reflect on their rise at Citi.
• They also touched on how the bank's sweeping transformation has affected their jobs.

Last week, Citigroup announced a new class of managing directors, some of whom have been with the bank since it had a red umbrella logo — a byproduct of its merger with insurance giant Travelers in the late 1990s.

Anyone who has worked at Citi for a long time has seen plenty of changes. The global bank did away with the umbrella logo in 2007, just before a series of job cuts and other reorganization efforts took hold at the height of the financial crisis. In recent years, Citi has also exited many of its consumer banking operations, among other changes, as part of a transformation effort led by CEO Jane Fraser.

Since taking the top job in 2021, Fraser has vowed to modernize and simplify the bank, including by removing layers of bureaucracy and strengthening Citi's risk controls and technology systems. She has announced plans to cut 20,000 jobs over the next five years.

Managing directors, the bank's highest rank below the C-suite, are the people who will be tasked with helping bring Fraser's vision for the bank's future to life and navigating complex headwinds that arise along the way.

Business Insider interviewed five members of the 2024 MD class who have been at the bank for the majority of their careers. They spoke via email about a range of topics, from their first day at Citi to the changes they've seen at the bank over the decades, and how Fraser's transformation efforts have impacted their jobs. They also shared their advice to the next generation of talent in the industry.

Here are their words of wisdom, edited for length and clarity:

Bridget Griffin

• Chief Administrative Officer for Global Risk Review, New York
• Joined Citi in 2007

Describe your current role.

I am the chief administrative officer (CAO) of global risk review, responsible for leading the pillars of business management, regulatory & audit engagement, board reporting, controls & issue management, governance, and infrastructure & strategic projects.

What would you say is the biggest change at the bank/your field since you joined?

What stands out most is how much the bank — and the way we work — has evolved over time. When I joined, the iconic red umbrella stood out front and wood-paneled offices reflected a more traditional era. Today, modern, open workspaces reflect how much has changed. Through all of the change, it's the people who make it work – coming together, adapting and finding a way forward. That sense of community is what has kept me at the bank all these years.

What is one nugget of wisdom you'd give to the next generation of talent?

Stay confident in what you bring to the table, but humble enough to recognize areas where you can grow — and curious enough to turn them into opportunities. Early in my career, I pursued an internal transfer to Hong Kong with Citi to deepen my understanding of Asia, a region I realized I knew little about. That decision not only broadened my perspective but also led to incredible experiences that shaped both my career and personal growth.

What is the biggest impact the bank's transformation has had on your approach to your job?

The transformation has empowered me to question complexity and advocate for simplicity. I feel more confident challenging processes or decisions that seem overly complicated, focusing instead on practical solutions. This perspective has helped me contribute to a culture that values clarity and purposeful action.

Supriya Ramamurthy

• Head of Balcon and Rate Sales, US Personal Banking, New York
• Joined Citi in 2002

Describe your current role.

I am part of the USPB organization and work in the branded cards and lending team. I manage the on-card lending products.

Describe your very first day.

I joined Citi as a Management Associate in Sydney, Australia. It had been a super competitive, intense eight-round interview process before I finally made it to that first day. So, I was certainly excited but frankly also very relieved!

What is one nugget of wisdom you'd give to the next generation of talent?

Invest time and energy in establishing and building relationships within the firm and outside. Regardless of how fast the earth spins on its axis and how much AI and new inventions change our lives, ultimately it is people who will make all the difference.

What is the biggest impact the bank's transformation has had on your approach to your job?

I think the firm's overall transformation mantra has trickled down to every level in the organization and has led to a renewed commitment and focus on efficiencies and simplification. If I look at my own business, for example, over the past 18 months my team, my cross functional partners and I have been very focused on modernizing our legacy operating models.

John Hogue

• Head of Design and User Experience for Citi Wealth, Singapore
• Joined Citi in 1992

Describe your current role.

I recently took on a new role leading design & UX for Citi's services business. Our team is responsible for defining, creating, and implementing a simple and seamless user experience strategy for our large corporate clients.

What would you say is the biggest change at the bank/your field since you joined?

It's been said many times before that the 'C' in Citi stands for change, and that has been true throughout my career. One thing that has remained constant is a culture that promotes collaboration, innovation, and technology to improve the client experience.

What is one nugget of wisdom you'd give to the next generation of talent?

I've been fortunate to have a non-linear career at Citi, and I think it goes back to my feelings of being curious and wanting to learn how everything works. I always recommend to our new associates to know where you want to go, but have the courage to explore, experiment, and embrace unexpected opportunities in your Citi journey.

What is the biggest impact the bank's transformation has had on your approach to your job?

I see the impacts of our transformation as not one big thing, but an accumulation of improvements that you look back on and think, "We really have made a lot of progress." The organization is much leaner, which means that alignment and decision-making happen much faster.

Juan Francisco Orrego Echeverri

• Director, Operations, Know Your Customer Operations, Costa Rica
• Joined Citi in 1998

Describe your current role.

I am based in Costa Rica and lead our global services, markets & banking KYC operations team, responsible for serving over 50,000 client entities spanning 20 industries within these business lines to safeguard against money laundering risk.

Describe your very first day at Citi.

Wow, that was 26 years ago! I remember feeling a mix of excitement and anticipation. Joining such a large organization, I was filled with questions about what the future might hold — whether it would be a place where I could grow, develop, learn, and truly build a career.

What would you say is the biggest change at the bank/your field since then?

One of the most significant changes I have experienced was the decision to exit consumer banking in multiple geographies. It was a bold and highly strategic move with tremendous impact. Ultimately, it was made to ensure the best returns for our stakeholders, deliver greater value to our clients and create new opportunities for us as employees to grow.

What is one nugget of wisdom you'd give to the next generation of talent?

There are two pieces of advice I once received that I now share with anyone seeking advice or guidance. First: "To grow you need two basic things: Being fluent in English and having mobility." I had to embrace both — something I didn't know before — and I can now consider myself fluent in English (I am native Spanish speaker). I also had the chance to move to a different country. Both experiences undoubtedly contributed significantly to my development and growth at Citi.

Second, a simple yet powerful message: "People like you, people trust you." These two insights have been incredibly impactful in shaping my decisions and supporting my career growth at Citi.

Yoanna Darwin

• Asia South Treasury and Trade Solutions for Corporate, Commercial & Public Sector, Indonesia
• Joined Citi in 2001

Describe your current role.

I'm the country head of treasury & trade solutions (TTS); corporate, commercial & public sector sales for Indonesia, a business unit in Citi that offers integrated payment, liquidity management, trade, and working capital solutions to institutional clients across the globe.

Describe your very first day at Citi.

I arrived for my first official day at Citi as management associate back on July 17, 2001. I did not know what my day would look like. What will I be doing in the office? What is the working culture? Do I look professional enough? So many things crossed my mind at that time. And I remember feeling relief when I ended my first day just fine.

What is one nugget of wisdom you'd give to the next generation of talent?

There is no instant way to move up your career ladder. You have to earn it. Make a habit to create goals for each stage of your life. Put yourself in the driver's seat and drive in your own way towards the goals. Make a stop here and there, if you need to, so that you can look back, appreciate every step of the process, and find ways to improve and be better.

• Citigroup announced 344 new managing directors on Thursday, its largest class under CEO Jane Fraser.
• It boosted the number of new MDs in technology, a unit core to Fraser's transformation efforts.
• Here's the list of names the bank tapped to help steer the firm through its next phase.

Citigroup on Thursday named 344 employees to the bank's highest rank outside the C-suite, the most since Jane Fraser became CEO in 2021. The promotions were driven in part by its investments in technology amid a larger transformation effort.

Managing director promotions are an annual tradition across Wall Street and help to showcase the next generation of industry leaders. Citi's MD promotions come as Fraser continues a yearslong effort to modernize and simplify the bank, including by thinning out its management ranks. Earlier this year, the banks said it would cut 20,000 jobs, roughly 10% of headcount, over the next five years.

Citi's overhaul — known as the "Transformation" — includes efforts to upgrade the bank's risk controls and tech following a series of missteps that landed the firm in hot water with regulators, including an accidental payment of nearly $900 million to creditors of the beauty brand Revlon in 2020.

This year's MD class includes more leaders from its markets and technology groups, as well as the chief operating office, a Citi spokesperson told BI. The number of promotions in the services and banking units remained flat, the spokesperson said, adding that there was a slight decrease in US personal banking and legacy franchises, or businesses that the company is in the process of winding down.

Markets saw the largest number of promotions at 69, followed by 48 in its banking group (encompassing investment, commercial, and corporate banking), and 42 in wealth. Technology has 27 new MDs.

Citi officials, including Fraser and Viswas Raghavan, Citi's new head of banking who joined in February from JPMorgan, praised the new class for their "relentless" pursuit of performance in a Thursday memo, a copy of which was obtained by Business Insider.

"Our new MDs have been instrumental in ensuring we continue making progress on our Transformation and with our regulators," said the memo authored by members of Citi's executive management team. "They continue to build our credibility with key stakeholders and are relentless about driving stronger business performance."

The MDs were also honored Thursday morning with "roll call" gatherings within their respective business units — an annual tradition within some divisions that was expanded across the bank last year.

Here's the full list of new managing directors at Citigroup and some key demographic stats:

Banking (48 names)

• Aditya Agarwal
• Salomon Amkie
• Vicente Alejandro Arevalo Barrabes
• Lorenzo Beacco
• Chad Bergert
• Mike Berry
• Seok Hoon Chia
• KC Clark
• Blazej Dankowski
• Lucy Devlin
• Colm Donnelly
• Osama Naji El-Ali
• Casper Elnegaard
• Ben Exner
• Gustavo Fontes
• Andre Funari
• Mario Garcia
• Ricardo Garza
• Cecile Guilleminot
• Ferdinand Haindl
• Melissa Haw
• German Heberling
• Elia Hermida
• William Herrmann
• Eric Himmelberger
• Crystal Jin
• Gabe Juarez
• Abhishek Kaila
• Dai Kitatani
• Abhinav Lamba
• Billy Liu
• Param M
• Ula Malczewska
• Siena Malik
• Simon Marrison
• Gino Mbetse
• Andrew Miller-Jones
• Kevin O'Sullivan
• David Oji
• Mihail Polyakov
• Prateek Rastogi
• Partha Rathore
• Linlin Sun
• Alex Syhanath
• Atsushi Tauchi
• Saffet Tinaztepe
• Yeung Tsai
• Sunny Wang

Citibank, N.A. (2 names)

• Rajan Brotia
• Barry J White

Client (18 names)

• Fatima Boolani
• Ian Booth
• Laura Chia Yi Chen
• Andrew Gardiner
• Neary Guenin
• Shishir Prasad
• Kenny Pun
• Tyler Radke
• Jennifer Sariano
• Jamie Searle
• Chirag Shah
• Viral Shah
• Jack Shang
• Noorie Singh
• Albert Sutton
• Judy Yip
• Xiangrong Yu
• Cedric Zunino

Chief Operating Office (20 names)

• Abhishek Agarwal
• Rob Brodie
• Sean Burnham
• Geoffrey Capes
• Erika Federico
• Kimberlie Hardial-Choo
• Stuart Hill
• Kyle Hughes
• Ketan Khokhani
• Swati Kulkarni
• James McGuigan
• Adrian Murphy
• Juan Francisco Orrego
• Tim Palmer
• Chris Skarzinski
• Carolina Spalding
• Pamela St John
• Subha V
• Chris Winter
• Adam Wood

Enterprise Services and Public Affairs (3 names)

Graham Buck

• Anmol Chowdhry
• Davida Heller

• Finance (17 names)
• Bilal Akhtar
• Peter Battin
• Yun-ni Chen
• Peter Demoise
• Marcos Diaz
• Kimberly Egert
• Michael Fillius
• Janak Ghosh
• Kevin Hong
• Matt Jonason
• Dimba Kier
• Bertrand Louvard
• Cynthia Ng
• Sandeep Pati
• Rebecca Reeb
• Teresa Salvato
• Yun Wang

Global Legal Affairs & Compliance (22 names)

• Alberto Arenas, CSIS
• Kimberly Barnes, ICRM
• Michael Caravella, Legal
• Shirley Carter, Legal
• Sam Cory, ICRM
• Mark Eliades, Legal
• April Fredlund, Legal
• Steven Krause, ICRM
• Dora Kreymborg, Legal
• Angie Lockley, CSIS
• Dana Lukens, Legal
• Matthew MacIntyre, CSIS
• Piotr Matuszewski, ICRM
• Rosie McAnlis, Legal
• Geardine McCann, Legal
• Ciarán Murphy, ICRM
• Paul Patton, Legal
• Deborah Resch, Legal
• Jose Riera, CSIS
• Mark Steuer, ICRM
• Laura Toustau, ICRM
• Rosalie Yee, Legal

Human Resources (3 names)

• Shari Funk
• Shay Gonen
• Laura Zablah

Internal Audit (9 names)

• Neha Bhardwaj
• Callie Boyd
• Josh Goldsmith
• Gordon Hua
• Sophia Jingo
• Patrick Kielty
• Neil Kothare
• James Kouame
• Cindy Santoro

International (4 names)

• Fahad Aldeweesh
• Maria Paula Carvajal
• Jonathan Nix
• Kubilay Ozturk

• Legacy Franchises (6 names)
• Bill Burns
• Enrique Granillo
• Jesus Jauregui
• Gonzalo Palafox
• Erick Ramirez
• Jean Rocha Rodrigues

• Markets (69 names)
• Laurence Assip
• Robert Beatson
• Paul Berry
• Matthew Boyer
• Suninder Singh Chauhan
• Amish Chotai
• David Collis
• Ashish Kumar Daga
• Marc Damoiseaux
• Connor Dwyer
• Chuck Edmunds
• Richard Fairhall
• Carlos Ferrari
• Michael Fershtman
• Imelda Frayre
• Andre Grossi
• Roshni Gudka
• Aditya Gupta
• Natalia Gutierrez de la Peza
• Kentaro Hayashi
• Peter Nicholas Hext
• Sandy Hou
• Rocky Huang
• Rob Hughes
• Funmi Ibidunni
• Howard Ilderton
• Johan Kabla
• Neha Kapur
• Yana Keresteliev
• Subir Kumar
• Christopher Kuo
• Eirini Lerikou
• Ronan Liston
• Jorge Lonegro
• Steffen Lunde
• Roberto Massacci
• Maura McFadden
• Egor Miroshnikov
• Jim Monahan
• Chen Ni
• Fonzarelli Ong
• Warren Parker
• Vijay Parthasarathy
• Mihaela Penes
• Galvin Phua
• Jason Pillai
• Luke Pollock
• Jonathan Radke
• Rohit Rajgaria
• Richard Rosin
• Camila Rossetti
• David Rufino
• Colin Ryan
• Manish Saraf
• Angele Seriki
• Bollie Shiflett
• Marie Sho
• Esben Shoen
• Siris Singh
• Iqbal Sohal
• Kumar Subramanian
• Andrew Sufka
• Aruna Tatavarty
• Davy Tsang
• Miro Vucetic
• Rishi Watts
• Marcus Weickel
• Henry Wong
• Jeff Wu

Office of the CEO (1 name)

• Sigrid Nubla

Risk (16 names)

• Mikael Amar
• Gabby Banwait
• Om Barlinge
• Anindya Basu
• Bridget Griffin
• Nayantara Gupta
• Matthew Haigh
• Chuck Hou
• Ibo Longjam
• Shivi Punia
• Liza Ramsammy
• Navrup Rana
• Ravi Surana
• Logan Tamres
• Rodrigo Vargas
• Thomas Wood

Services (32 names)

• Saurabh Arora
• Kfeir Barkai
• Leandra Catton
• Amit Choudhary
• Chris Cook
• Yoanna Darwin
• Jane Dulson
• Carol Ferretti
• James Flugstad
• Elena Gomez
• Mandeep Heer
• Jonathan Jordan
• Ronan Kealy
• Lenny Leone
• Simon McConnell
• Ross McEwan
• Mary Messer
• Olivia Morgan
• Sergei Oganov
• Patrick O'Neill
• Nikhil Patankar
• Sonal Patel
• Leandro Quintal
• Rob Ranson
• Andy Ren
• Kirstin Renner
• Sean Ruby
• Yvonne Swainston
• Tomas Videla
• Heidi Willox
• Elias Xilas
• Melissa Ongleo Yambao

Technology (27 names)

• Catherine Ablott
• Mohamed Alsaloom
• Shante Avery
• Kashif Awan
• Nidhruv Bahree
• Mark Ballard
• Andre Batista
• Kathryn Beard
• Rachel Carpenter
• Noby George Cheruvathoor
• Gonzalo Cordova
• Nigel Deverteuil
• Ryan Evans
• Jeffrey Hazel
• Adam Hess
• John Shannon Hogue
• Hong Jiang
• Dave Jones
• Hitesh Kshatriya
• Greg Lurie
• Rajesh M K
• Deepak Nabera
• Steven Readett
• Jon Rosen
• Michael Todisco
• Nishanth Vontela
• Rajesh Wadhwa

U.S. Personal Banking (5 names)

• Jeff Chwast
• Timothy R Dougherty
• Tracy Goldman
• Sri K Lakamsani
• Supriya Ramamurthy

Wealth (42 names)

• Yogi Abhyankar
• Emile Abinader
• Rob Anderson
• Zeshan Azam
• Nicola Baker
• Christopher Barron
• Stewart Boag
• Olga Bogdanova
• Greg Byrne
• Winnie Choi
• Mendy Chung
• Juan Francisco Clemenza
• Sheethal Dalpathraj
• David C Darshan
• Beth Emswiler
• Matthew Ferrari-Wells
• Jenny Fung
• Carlos Garcia-Crespo
• Brad Goldberg
• Hollie Griego
• Danny Jones
• Eric Kraus
• Mark Chung Hei Lee
• Lena Siew Geok Lim
• Jason Liu
• Andrew Louw
• Alinne Majarian Fash
• Vlod Makar
• Alex Marks
• Kishore Indroo Motwani
• Luis Negrete
• Diego Parlaghy
• Claudia Penido
• Juan Guillermo Ramirez
• Gaston Rodriguez
• Jason Rosen
• Einat Sadka
• Masa Sekulic
• Kathy Stith
• Narayan Swamy
• Diego Szuldman
• Frederic Viaud

Here are some key stats about the group:

• 29% are women.
• 24% joined through Citi through an early-career program.
• 56% are multilingual and 30% have worked in two or more countries.
• The new MDs have a median of 20 years of experience in financial services.
• They are from 29 countries and comprise 35 nationalities.
• North America represents the largest number of new MDs, 174 or 50.6%. The United Kingdom is second with 68, or 19.8%, followed by Japan, Asian North & Australia at 35 (10.2%), Asia South: 28 (8.1%), Latin America: 19 (5.5%), Europe: 15 (4.4%), Middle East & Africa: 5 (1.5%).

• Among the 174 promotes who are based in the US, 44.8% are racially or ethnically diverse. While some identify with more than one racial or ethnic group, here's a breakdown:

  • 25.9% Asian (45)
  • 6.3% Black (11)
  • 12.6% Hispanic/Latino (22)

• Business Insider selected 25 young professionals, 35 and under, as its rising stars of Wall Street.
• We asked these up-and-comers what TV show, book, or movie best represents the finance industry.
• They shared some parallels and even pointed to works about nonfinancial subjects.

There's no shortage of colorful characters depicting Wall Street. There's the serial-killer investment banker, the corporate raider who declares that "greed is good," and the crooked, if charismatic, stockbroker, to name a few.

Two of those are fictional movie characters, and one was based on a real person, but they've all shaped the public's perception of what working on Wall Street could be like.

If you ask successful people at some of the biggest banks, asset managers, trading firms, or hedge funds whether they see their reality accurately perceived on the screen or in books, they'll tell you that working on Wall Street is a little less colorful than it's often painted to be.

"I don't know that there's a great movie or book depicting life on Wall Street," Mark Zhu, 34, a managing director at Blackstone, told Business Insider. "The day-to-day is a lot more boring than you think. It's a lot of calls and a lot of emails. There's not as much flamboyance or out-there behavior. It's almost not movie-worthy. Why would you pay money to watch somebody just sit in front of a computer doing Zooms?"

So maybe they think all that partying on HBO's show about twentysomething investment bankers, "Industry," is a little overdone, but there are still some elements the entertainment industry gets right occasionally.

We asked up-and-comers on Wall Street about the shows, movies, or books that best represent their daily lives. While no one representation was perfect, the young professionals talked about the parallels they saw. Some even shared some nonfinancial references that give a window into their world.

Here are the shows, movies, or books that give a flavor of what it's like to work on Wall Street.

Shows: "Industry"

The hit TV show "Industry" — full of sex, drugs, and spreadsheets — just wrapped up its third season.

"My friends in the last few years have nonstop bothered me about 'Industry,'" Justin Elliott, 29, a vice president of institutional rate sales at Bank of America, said.

"They see a crazy show about the industry and say, 'My God, I can't believe that happens in your world every day.' From what I've seen, there's definitely some thrills from getting a trade done that might mirror the show a bit, but it's a very exaggerated depiction of life on Wall Street."

"I don't know that any of them do a great job, but I am quite a fan of 'Industry,'" Erica Wilson, a vice president at the private credit firm Blue Owl, said. "I am still behind on the third season, but I think that show is fun."

"Succession"

Though the blockbuster show "Succession" isn't specifically about the banking industry, Daniela Cardona, a 29-year-old investment banker at RBC Capital Markets, watched it in its entirety and found some similarities in high-stress moments.

"In the last season, when they're trying to merge the two companies, there's one scene that always makes me giggle. I don't think this is fully accurate, but I do think it's funny — they're in a conference room, and Kendall says, 'Just make it up!' and they're all with their laptops sitting in the middle, and the consultants are looking at him like, what do you mean, make it up?" Cardona said.

"There have been instances where it sometimes feels that way — where you're in a time crunch and it's 3 o'clock in the morning."

"Scrubs"

Ben Carper, a 34-year-old managing director at Jefferies, pointed to the medical comedy sitcom "Scrubs" as a better representation than anything that features board rooms and trading floors.

He said the show had a "similar high-pressure environment where there are some opportunities for amusement and humor, but generally a pretty vigorous focus on doing a job well done."

Movies: "Margin Call"

The 2011 drama "Margin Call" follows the 24 hours after an analyst at an investment bank discovers it has taken on more debt than it can handle — illustrating the early stages of the 2008 financial crisis.

"I think it picks up the cadence of working at a big bank the best," said Austin Anton, 32, a principal at Apollo Global Management.

"The Wolf of Wall Street"

"The Wolf of Wall Street" follows the story of Jordan Belfort, who actually only worked at a Wall Street firm for a few months before the 1987 stock-market crash. He goes on to run his own brokerage, which ultimately scams several people, but the movie highlights the debauchery, opulence, and excess that ensued during his run.

"This almost sounds weird, but I'm going to say 'The Wolf of Wall Street,'" Matt Gilbert, a managing director at Thoma Bravo said. "The absurdity of that movie, to some extent, I do think, kind of incorporates some aspect of our job."

While finance is the backbone of the economy and certainly has global implications, what bankers and investors do on a day-to-day basis isn't saving lives, the 35-year-old added.

"I think the fact that you could have a comedy wrapped around the finance world is important, and it always makes me take a step back and think through, sure, I want to win every deal," he said. "Our fiduciary duty at Thoma Bravo is to produce the best returns for LPs, but this job is supposed to be fun. I'm supposed to work with great people. We're supposed to laugh together. I think if people take this job too seriously, that's when burnout and other things happen."

"The Big Short"

"The Big Short," the movie based on the financial journalist Michael Lewis' book, chronicles how Wall Street helped fuel the US housing crisis in 2008 and the investors who profited from it.

"It's not our day-to-day, but I think it is an OK representation of what happened at the time," said Chi Chen, 34, a portfolio manager at BlackRock. " Maybe it is not all factual, but it is a good one that is representative."

"The Internship"

Patrick Lenihan, a portfolio manager at JPMorgan Asset Management, said "The Internship," which features two old-school salesmen trying to restart their careers through an internship at Google, reminds him of the importance of having and supporting a diverse team.

"I feel like that team with Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, the rest of them, and how they come together at first, you see there's just a variety of different people that you're like, 'Oh, this is going to fail,'" he said. "But I think a large part of my success is going back to that teamwork, getting the right people in, and ensuring that diversity of opinions."

Books: "Market Wizards"

BlackRock's Chen, who focuses on fixed income, said that to really gain insight into the investing industry, it's best to read the "Market Wizards" book series, which features interviews with top traders.

"A lot of those investing stories for that book series are more from two, three decades ago, when market volatility was much higher. But we have seen a comeback of market volatility since 2020," she said. "So I have always enjoyed that whole series of books."

"Free Food for Millionaires"

Elliott, the Bank of America VP, recommends Min Jin Lee's novel "Free Food for Millionaires."

"It's about a Korean woman navigating life who ends up on Wall Street in an admin capacity. But really, it's a story about belonging and identity — about trying to make it in a world and industry you didn't initially know much about," he said.

"To me, it's a lot more humanistic. It gives me a bit more of a personal perspective when I think about my journey on Wall Street. When I think about the people — and understanding people is so much of this job — I go back to 'Free Food for Millionaires.'"

"The Man Who Solved the Market"

There's no fictional piece of media Bridgewater's Blake Cecil has found to reflect life in finance; he said shows and movies "feel quite distant" from his day-to-day.

A biography of the late hedge-fund billionaire Jim Simons, "The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution," reflects how the deputy chief investment officer and his colleagues approached challenges.

"It resonated with my experience of working with people who are using algorithms to solve problems that often hadn't been asked before," Cecil said.

"The Inner Game of Tennis"

Harrison DiGia, a vice president at General Atlantic, had another book recommendation: "The Inner Game of Tennis" by W. Timothy Gallwey.

"This book is all about the mental game and trusting your intuition and yourself. You use practice and your preparation before a competition so that when the time is right, or you have a big opportunity, you're ready, and your mental game is as strong as it can be," DiGia, 31, said.

"When I think about investing, a lot of it is setting yourself up to get that big opportunity and making sure you're prepared and can have a clear mind when that pressure situation comes. I'm a huge tennis fan, so I think about this when I'm on the tennis court, but I think about it in a professional setting as well."

"Unreasonable Hospitality"

In the book "Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect" by Will Guidara, the co-owner and general manager of Eleven Madison Park describes how he manages his business, his customer-service style, and the things he'd do at Eleven Madison Park to go above and beyond.

Craig Kolwicz, an investment banker at Moelis, said the "unreasonable hospitality" described in the book (such as having an employee run out to get a hot dog for a customer who you overheard saying they hadn't had one in New York yet) isn't dissimilar to the type of service that could differentiate an investment banker.

"It depicts a restaurant that's an extremely expensive restaurant where there's an extremely discerning clientele base. They could go to all these other really fancy, really nice three-Michelin-star restaurants in New York or in the world," the 35-year-old managing director said.

"How do you differentiate yourself? There's a lot of investment bankers out there and there's a lot of really smart clients and folks that we work with all the time — and how do we get them to stay with us? How do we get them to hire us on the next deal? It's some of the stuff that we do," he said. For example, he'd recently flown to Los Angeles for an 11:30 a.m. pitch meeting and flown back.

"It's like hospitality, but it's kind of an unreasonable client customer service to do something like that," Kolwicz said.

• Donald Trump has tapped Wall Street CEO Howard Lutnick for commerce secretary.
• Lutnick has spent over three decades running Cantor Fitzgerald, an investment bank in New York.
• See his career highlights and who could take over at Cantor Fitzgerald.

Howard Lutnick, the CEO of Wall Street investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald, has been named the next US secretary of commerce for Donald Trump.

As the head of the Commerce Department, Lutnick would have sway over the economy through tariffs and trade. If confirmed by the Senate, he would be integral to Trump's plan to raise tariffs on goods from China, a central promise of the president-elect's bid for a second White House term.

The Wall Street veteran has spent his career at financial-services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, where he has been president and CEO since 1991. In recent years, the billionaire banker has become a key advisor to and fundraiser for the 47th president. He is cochair of the Trump transition team.

Here's a look at Lutnick's rise from "middle-class Long Island" to Wall Street boss and what his new role could mean for the investment bank he heads.

Who is Howard Lutnick?

Lutnick was named president and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald in 1991 — at age 29 — and, by 1996, had been appointed chairman.

In an interview on a podcast hosted by the investor Anthony Pompliano, he said that he had a "classic middle-class Long Island" childhood, with his mother working as an art teacher and his father as a history professor. His mother passed away from breast cancer when Lutnick was in the 11th grade, and his father died from cancer shortly after he started college.

He was 18 and found himself caring for his younger brother, who was 15 at the time. He also had a 20-year-old sister. He recalled being unable to cook for his siblings, so they ate boxed macaroni and cheese night after night, he shared on the podcast.

Lutnick said in the podcast that he landed his first job at Cantor Fitzgerald with the help of a family connection. He took a semester off of his studies at Haverford College to start working but eventually earned his degree in economics.

What is Cantor Fitzgerald?

Cantor Fitzgerald offers a range of services, from investment banking to sales and trading to equity research.

The firm's website said it has raised more than $45 billion for clients through 700 deals since 2016 and that it has more than 1,150 active institutional and corporate clients. The New York City-based firm counts more than 245 professionals on its sales and trading team and cites its "core expertise" as healthcare and technology.

The firm's asset-management arm had some $13.2 billion in assets as of the end of 2023 with investments in real estate, private markets, infrastructure, equities, and fixed income, to name a few.

Cantor's biggest deals

According to data from the deal-tracking firm Dealogic, three of the largest and most recent transactions Cantor Fitzgerald has advised on include:

• Johnson & Johnson's $1.9 billion acquisition of Ambrx Biopharma, completed in January 2024
• Primavera Capital's $866 million acquisition of Fosun Fashion Group, completed in March 2022
• Inflection Point Acquisition Corp's $850 million acquisition of Intuitive Machines, completed in September 2022

Out of their top 20 deals by transaction size since 2022, the most represented sectors were tech, healthcare, and utilities and energy. Six of those deals were in technology, five in healthcare, three in utilities and energy, two in retail, two in mining, and one each in aerospace and transportation.

Who's next in line to lead the firm?

It's unclear what Cantor Fitzgerald's future looks like without Lutnick. A spokesperson for the firm did not immediately return a request for comment.

Bloomberg reported that Lutnick's top deputies have been in their respective roles for at least six years, including Stephen Merkel, an executive vice chairman and general counsel, who joined in 1993.

Other top executives, according to the firm's website, include Global chief operating officer Mark Kaplan; Global head of investment banking Sage Kelly; Global head of equities Pascal Bandelier; Global head of fixed income Christian Wall, and Chief Financial Officer Danny Salinas.

His relationship with Trump

Lutnick, a longtime supporter of Trump, became a visible member of the ex-president's inner circle in the 2024 election cycle.

In a statement to the Wall Street Journal, Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., said: "Howard's not a regular Wall Street guy — he's a real MAGA guy. Have you heard him talk about tariffs? Have you heard him talk about shredding the deep state bureaucracy? He's one of us," Trump Jr. said.

Leading up to the election, he was an active organizer and fundraiser for Trump, including appearing at Trump's rally in Madison Square Garden.

The impact of the 9/11 attacks on Lutnick's life

Cantor Fitzgerald was headquartered at 1 World Trade Center when terrorists flew planes into it and a neighboring lower Manhattan building in 2001. Two-thirds of Cantor's employees, or 658 people, died in the attacks, including Lutnick's brother.

Lutnick was named the Financial Times' Person of the Year after the attacks in 2001.

His new role

As commerce secretary, Lutnick will be in charge of carrying out Trump's aggressive tariff proposals, which have called for taxes in imports of between 10% and 60%. He will also be in charge of the Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis, which reports on gross domestic product.

Leading up to his appointment as commerce secretary, media reports suggested Lutnick was vying for a role as Treasury Secretary.

The New York Times reported this week that the behind-the-scenes jockeying between the two for the role had devolved into a "knife fight," according to a source familiar with their schism.