"When I Started, I Was One of Not Even Five Women in the Trading Room"
"At 18 I left my hometown of Trapani, Sicily – where I had graduated from high school – to come to Milan and attend Bocconi in part thanks to a scholarship promoted by an association of Bocconi alums. Thinking about it now, it was really a turning point for my life." The story of Sarah Catania, now Managing Director and J.P. Morgan Private Bank’s Market Manager for Italy and Greece, began at this crossroads.
Before becoming a professional in a leadership role in international finance, as a first-year student Catania was still undecided about what steps to take. "My time at university,” she says, “was very important for my growth. I enrolled in the Economics of Financial Markets program in 2000 because it seemed like a technical field that I could then apply to different areas." They were years for learning and growing, and not only through books. "I remember the environment at Bocconi University as challenging: having talented classmates around me was an incentive to always do better and to never stop. There was a positive sense of urgency."
The other aspect that impressed her about the university was the courses’ international approach. "Even then, it was a university that allowed you to participate in Exchange programs all over the world and especially in the US. So as soon as I had the chance I packed my bags." Destination: Austin, Texas. Here Catania attended the University of Texas where she settled in quickly because of her fluency in English. "This was thanks to the extra lessons with a native speaker I took starting at an early age, at my mother's suggestion," she adds. The experience on campus, in the classroom with older students, and the pragmatic approach to studies typical of American teaching was an additional motivation. She says: "It was a transformative six months for my career, because when I was there, I realized I wanted to get experience on the job market right away. And so I did, and had already started my first internship at J.P. Morgan when I completed my degree."
She graduated magna cum laude and then joined one of the most important banks in the world at a very young age. This is where she would build her entire career. In 2004, she was in the fixed income sales division of the corporate and investment bank of J.P. Morgan and focused on relations with Italian and Greek institutional investors. But this was not her point of arrival. "To grow professionally, I decided to move between lines of business, a way to get out of my comfort zone and get to know different areas." In 2010 she joined J.P. Morgan Private Bank as senior investment advisor and in 2017 she became head of investments in Italy for the bank, leading a team of professionals located in Milan, London and Luxembourg, until becoming head of strategy and growth of the private bank in Italy and Greece in 2021.
In the meantime, she says that she became a mother of a girl who is now 9 years old. And she says: "It’s true that there are still not many women in finance in general – when I started I was one of not even five in the trading room – but I can confirm that the context is changing rapidly even in Italy. In my case, I was lucky enough to immediately find an environment at J.P. Morgan that supports the issue of inclusion and parenthood, which I experienced in an absolutely positive way despite my work commitments."
Catania – who has been participating in events related to women’s leadership for several years and is also involved in training younger colleagues – also emphasizes the importance of managing talent in an organization. She explains that the goal must be "beyond gender", and "talent equity" must be sought after. And there is one piece of advice she often gives to the younger and new generations: "Never wait for someone above you to sponsor you, you need to constantly push yourself, be prepared and have a proactive and positive mindset. One that goes beyond gender."
