In the City of London, Without Forgetting Her Roots

“My career? I would describe it as hard won; every step has been the result of commitment and perseverance. I don’t really believe in coincidences, and my experience has shown that the best results are achieved through individual effort.” Kim Salvadori is now an Executive Director in Investment Banking at Goldman Sachs in London. In the Leveraged Finance team, she is responsible for structuring, underwriting, and placing primary debt issues for speculative-grade European health care companies. It’s a career she has built with steady perseverance, following a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration and Management and a specialization in Finance at Bocconi University. 

Salvadori also deserves credit for her approach to education: “For me, ‘university’ wasn’t just about the lessons. Already starting with my Bachelor's degree, I worked with professors on projects, and that gave me the opportunity to meet a number of professionals in finance. I remember that in the second year of my Bachelor, I went to the university’s careers service to ask for material on professional opportunities in corporate finance. They replied with another question: ‘Do you want materials on corporate careers or consulting careers such as investment banking?’ I had a vague notion about what corporate careers were available, but I didn’t know what an investment bank was, so I chose the second option and one thing led to another. But it’s funny to think that, in a parallel universe, my alter ego chose the first option and is now working in the company as a finance director or M&A manager.”

Instead, Salvadori took the plunge and did two internships, at Tamburi Investment Partners in Milan and Deutsche Bank in London, and later received a job offer. “Within a year of graduating, I had a contract. It was then that I discovered that some of my contacts at Goldman Sachs were looking for an analyst in London; after successfully interviewing, I decided to go for it.” So Salvadori joined the investment bank as an analyst in the leveraged finance team, the same division where she now works as an executive director with a passion. “What I like is the constant intellectual stimulation that comes from working with intelligent and motivated people, both colleagues and clients, and from dealing with different situations every day. In leveraged finance, where you are responsible for handling financing processes and raising capital, being able to problem-solve is crucial: every company has a different financial profile, every project has its own complexities, and the market itself is always in flux,” she adds. 

Salvadori cites independent women who are dedicated to their work, such as Rita Levi Montalcini or Queen Elizabeth, as her role models. But she also talks about the importance of her roots and her region, Veneto. “The entrepreneur is a dominant figure in the various cameos I saw growing up: the grocer (‘casoìn’) who has been getting up at six o’clock for thirty years to do home deliveries on his ancient bicycle; the grandfather with the coffee roasting company; the employee who takes over the company where he works and who, even if he’s struggling at first, pulls himself up by his bootstraps, proud to be his own boss. In their own ways, they taught me to be proud of my work and the fruits of my labor.” So much so that her advice to young women is: don’t be afraid to follow any career path. “There are countless professional contexts where gender equality is not yet fully engrained, but there are just as many signs of openness and progress, especially from large multinational groups. More opportunities for young women today will lead to a more balanced management class in the future, creating a virtuous circle.” Of course, working in finance also requires vertical skills and soft skills. For Salvadori, English and financial mathematics are fundamental, but without underestimating the importance of a sense of responsibility and the ability to work with your colleagues. “My corporate finance professor used to tell me: ‘Finance is made up of people, not numbers.’”