About Jennifer Piepszak
Jennifer Piepszak, Chief Operating Officer at JPMorgan Chase, has spoken about leadership and career development in several public appearances. In a 2021 United Way of New York City event, she stated that a leader needs "humanity and humility, grit, be decisive and authentic, and a leader needs to never stop learning — but most importantly a leader needs to be trusted." She also discussed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying she had been "much more deliberate about communication" and "careful to be vulnerable and relatable." Piepszak named Condoleezza Rice as a woman who inspires her, citing Rice's accomplishments and ability to overcome obstacles.
In earlier interviews from 2018, Piepszak described her career trajectory at JPMorgan Chase, noting that she spent 17 years in the finance area of the investment bank before moving to retail financial services as controller, then becoming CFO for the mortgage business, running business banking, and later moving into the cards business. She attributed her career mobility to the company's willingness to take risks with talent. Piepszak offered advice to those starting their careers, emphasizing the importance of hard work, intellectual curiosity, and being a "great partner" and problem solver. She also quoted Thomas Jefferson's "believe you can and you're halfway there," adding that this is "particularly relevant for women."
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Jennifer Piepszak's recent appearances.
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Transcript (7 segments)
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Jennifer Piepszak0:11
25 years ago on day one, yeah, I certainly didn't envision being in this spot. 25 years ago I was in the finance area in actually within the investment bank for a very long time, about 17 years, and then I moved over to what was then retail financial services as the controller, and then ultimately became the CFO for the mortgage business, and then was asked if I was interested in doing something completely different, which is a testament to our company and the risks they're willing to take with talent. So I was asked to do something completely different and ran business banking for a few years, and then about a year and a half ago moved into cards. So definitely never saw it coming, but it's been a fantastic journey and I've never been happier truly.
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Interviewer1:10
So what advice?
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Jennifer Piepszak1:10
Curiosity, I think that's really, really important for people to always be learning, always anticipating the next question. And then I think being a great partner, being someone that's a great problem solver that people want in the room when they're working on a project or working to solve a problem. And that means not only having that intellectual curiosity and willingness to work hard, but it means having heart and humanity and being your authentic self. So I think all of that is really important for success.
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Interviewer1:36
And any big lessons, like biggest mistakes that you've made in your career or biggest successes?
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Jennifer Piepszak1:40
Well, I would say certainly if I could speak to my younger self, I would say first of all, Thomas Jefferson said it and he said it best, which is 'Believe you can and you're halfway there.' So particularly for women, I think it's so important that we remain super confident in what we're doing. And we got to keep moving on from that, surrounding yourself with great people, both personally and professionally. I'm a mom of three boys, and so if I didn't have the amazing husband I have, I could never do what I do at work, so that's critically important. And then life begins at the edge of your comfort zone. I mean, for the first four years of my career, I avoided being uncomfortable, and then when you realize you allow yourself to be uncomfortable, you grow through those experiences and it's incredibly rewarding.
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Interviewer2:39
And you've been at JPMorgan for all of Jamie Dimon's tenure as CEO. Any lessons that you've learned from him and what kind of boss is he?
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Jennifer Piepszak2:46
Well, he makes us all better. He is just a tremendous leader. I think he shows us the importance of investing and culture and how much culture matters. I would say we have a really smart, execution-oriented culture, but as Jamie says, sometimes it's a lot more about heart than it is mind. So we have a smart, execution-oriented culture that has a lot of heart and a lot of humanity. And it's not even just about Jamie. He has surrounded himself with the most talented operating committee I think on the planet, and each one of them is world-class. So it's really about the entire leadership team that he's created that makes us have such a strong culture.
