Rising stars ofCity fight off the downturn
ONE hundred of the City’s most precocious young stars have been honoured in a round-up of the hottest names to watch in the world of finance over the coming year.
The list of 100 Rising Stars, compiled by Financial News, includes Goldman Sachs emerging markets trader Jan Sramek, who at the tender age of 22 graduated just this summer from the London School of Economics and has already made his mark in the offices of the investment banking giant.
The rising stars, whose average age is 34, include 30 investment bankers, 25 asset managers, 10 wealth managers, seven venture capitalists and six hedge fund workers, alongside others working in the fields of law, stock exchanges and consultancy.
This year’s list, for the first time in its history, also features four young luminaries from the world of regulation, which has grown in importance over the past year as policymakers struggle to impose new restrictions on the industry to avoid a repeat of the recent global financial meltdown.
In contradiction of those who claim the recession has had a negative impact on the chances of young women striving to climb their way up the business ranks, 20 names on the roster are female, only one fewer than last year.
They include Allegra Berman, vice-chairman of global capital markets at UBS; Alison Bishop, vice-president of JP Morgan Private Bank; Kristen Eschak, head of commodity strategy at Blackstone Alternative Asset Management; Aurelia Lamorre Cargill, head of rates structuring at Barclays Capital; Kirsty MacArthur, a director at Heartwood Wealth; Cirine El Husseini, founder of investment banking boutique Chalkhill Partners; and Jane de Lozey, responsible for the City, corporate and public funds at the Serious Fraud Office.
JAN SRAMEK, 22
GOLDMAN SACHS
The youngest star on the list, Sramek graduated this year. At university, he founded a social network and a careers website and wrote a motivational book, Racing Towards Excellence.
KIRSTY MACARTHUR, 30
HEARTWOOD
MacArthur was at Children’s BBC before moving to Coutts. Having been headhunted by UBS in 2007 to run a sports and media client book, she is now joining Heartwood.
BEN BRUTON, 34
EVERSHEDS
Bruton, one of the youngest partners at Eversheds, works in financial services dispute resolution, one of the hottest and most in-demand areas of law in the wake of the financial crisis.
RACHNA UPADHYA, 36
HDG MANSUR DUBAI
Upadhya, the only female chief executive in Dubai, worked as a doctor and for Merrill Lynch and Collins Stewart before joining $2bn real estate asset manager HDG Mansur Dubai last year.
TIFFANY TROXEL, 33
MERRILL LYNCH
A senior financial adviser to Merrill Lynch’s wealth management arm, Troxel is one of the top relationship managers in Europe. She previously spent six years working at UBS.
JOHN HOURICAN, 39
ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND
Hourican took up the job of CEO of global banking and markets at RBS just over a year ago, and has since earned his spots presiding over the toughest period in the bank’s history.
ALLEGRA BERMAN, 37
UBS
Berman is vice-chairman of global capital markets at UBS, having joined the bank in 2001 to look after its frequent borrower coverage within the debt capital markets group.
CHARLIE AWDRY, 30
GARTMORE
Awdry joined Gartmore’s emerging markets desk as a graduate trainee in 2001, and five years later, took charge of the firm’s top-performing £717m China Opportunities fund.