Scholarship Successes

Women’s Bond Club Bio – Jen Chen
Mentee – Juan (Jen) Chen
Mentor – Katrin Bruschi, JPMorgan
Hiring Manager – Giulia Fitzpatrick, Merrill Lynch

Mentee Comments
Jen applied to the WBC scholarship to help take financial pressure off her shoulders while she was pursuing higher education. While she was expecting to have access to networking opportunities and the mentoring program, she did not realize just how much impact these aspects of the program would have on her development.

Jen’s mentor, Katrin, came from a similar educational background and understood the type of opportunities Jen was seeking. Katrin guided Jen by introducing her to successful women in various business areas and helping her answer questions about possible career paths. Jen was able to learn about multiple career opportunities through networking with her mentor and other women.

In the summer of 2005, Jen was a project manager intern at Merrill Lynch in their Contingency & Recovery Services Team. She worked with the development team to manage the implementation process for a web application to be used by the team. Through this and other projects she developed time management, communication and teamwork skills as well as an appreciation for the importance of being held accountable for one’s work. Jen’s internship enabled her to come to a decision about continuing in the IT field on Wall Street at Merrill Lynch. On the other hand, Jen’s strong work ethic led to Merrill Lynch extending her an offer for a permanent position in their Global Infrastructure Technology division in Market Data Engineering.

Through the mentoring and internship process, Jen has built self confidence and has a better perspective on what she wishes to accomplish in life. Her mentor has influenced her short and long term career goals as well as instilled the idea that she can do anything regardless of cultural background or gender.

Hiring Manager Comments
Hiring manager Giula Fitzpatrick believes that the true benefit of partnering with the WBC is the access it provides to bright, enthusiastic young women. While Jen and other WBC scholarship recruits are much younger than other Merrill interns, Giula felt Jen was comparable in skills and knowledge as well as being incredibly mature. The WBC internships are often the first opportunities that WBC scholarship winners have had on Wall Street and allow for the possibility of full time opportunities if the candidates prove themselves by learning quickly and becoming part of the team. Merrill Lynch is happy to support the WBC scholarship winners in this capacity.

Women’s Bond Club Bio – Jisung Chun
Mentee – Jisung Chun
Mentor – Wendy Lowe, Tracey Coates, BearingPoint
Hiring Firm – BearingPoint

Mentee Comments
Through her Women’s Bond Club Scholarship, Jisung Chun discovered the right career path to launch her professional life. When Jisung applied to the WBC scholarship, she was looking forward to receiving financial support for her education. However, Jisung quickly took advantage of the mentoring program in order to create opportunities for her future.

Jisung’s mentor, Wendy Lowe, helped her refine her resume, sharpen her interviewing skills, and focus her interests on a consulting career. Through this relationship, Jisung began her career in consulting as an intern with BearingPoint. During her first summer, she consulted at Morgan Stanley, helping the client build a risk and control database. Upon her return the next summer, Jisung was exposed to another side of consulting, internal auditing. Both experiences helped shape her conviction that consulting was the best career for her.

Today, as a full time Consultant at BearingPoint, Jisung looks back favorably on the experience. She has maintained her relationship with her mentor and feels grateful for the support of the Women’s Bond Club.

Mentor Comments
Wendy Lowe, a Women’s Bond Club member, felt passionate about giving back to the community. As a result, she decided to take on a mentoring role for Jisung Chun, a WBC scholarship winner. This relationship has proven to be lasting and rewarding. Wendy has seen Jisung mature, gain confidence in herself and achieve her goal of becoming a consultant. Jisung’s mentoring focused on practical advice such as resume writing, interviewing skills, and negotiations as well as providing Jisung with confidence and support to pursue her dreams. Wendy has also benefited from the relationship. She feels the experience helped her develop her management and motivation skills, especially with junior team members.

Women’s Bond Club Bio – Tejwantie Niranjan
Mentee – Tejwantie Niranjan (“TJ”)
Mentor – Tracie Ahern, Freddie Mac
Hiring Firm – Vicki Morgenstein, Bank of America

Mentee Comments
As a high school student applying for the scholarship, TJ knew that the Women’s Bond Club would be providing financial support for her college education. However, she did not know that she would be receiving mentoring, coaching, advice, and support from successful women in the Finance industry as well. In TJ’s eyes, this turned out to be the real gift.

TJ benefited from forming relationships with multiple mentors, both from the WBC and from her internship. Through these relationships, TJ benefited from a wide range of helpful advice, including the business basics of working in a corporate environment, practical advice for her resume and interviewing skills, and understanding the long term benefits of networking. But most importantly, TJ gained tremendous support and confidence from these relationships. She grew to be a self-assured young professional, who now sees a world of opportunities available to her.

During the summers of her sophomore and junior years, TJ held internship positions with Global Markets Technology at Bank of America. She worked as a business analyst in the strategy team helping to define a communication model for a new, highly-visible initiative. During her second summer, she built on that experience by working directly with clients in defining requirements and testing plans. TJ even had the opportunity to meet Bank of America’s CEO at the WBC Merit Award Dinner in 2006. She parlayed this success into a full time position with Banc of America Securities’ Global Markets Sales & Trading Analytic program.

Looking back on her experience, TJ feels grateful for the advice given to her and the relationships formed with successful women in the industry. She feels ready to strive for success in her full time job.

Hiring Firm Comments
Bank of America has benefited from sponsoring Women’s Bond Club scholarship winners for internship positions. In addition to contributing to the overall diversity of the Bank, the scholarship winners have proven to be high-quality candidates who are extremely motivated and effective contributors.

Tejwantie Niranjan interned at Bank of America during her sophomore and junior summers, working for the Cash Securities Initiative (CSI) in Global Markets Technology under Vicki Morgenstein. During her first summer, she developed communication plans using Six Sigma templates for the highly visible initiative. Upon returning the following summer, she worked as a business analyst on the development of a fixed income cash securities trade capture application for the Sales organization. By leveraging on her networking and mentoring contacts in the Bank, TJ was able to secure a full time position in the Commercial & Investment Bank’s Sales & Trading Analytic program.

The benefits of this type of relationship are mutual. By the end of the internship, TJ gained experience and mentoring that will create a solid foundation for her career. She gained exposure to the industry which helped her refine her interests, learned the business basics of a corporate environment, and benefited from networking opportunities.

Bank of America looks forward to a continuing its relationship with the Women’s Bond Club Scholarship program.

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