Name: Nancy Nugent

Position: Chief of Staff – Financial Planning & Analysis Engineering

Company: JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Meet Nancy Nugent! Nancy graduated from Chapman University’s George L. Argyros School of Business and Economics in 2018 with a B.S. in Business Administration (Leadership emphasis) and currently serves as JP Morgan’s Chief of Staff in Financial Planning & Analysis Engineering while studying to receive an advanced degree from NYU’s Stern School of Business. The Argyros School is proud to spotlight Nancy as an incredible woman in leadership in celebration of Women’s History Month! Let’s get to know Nancy:

Did you have a favorite class or professor(s) at Chapman?

Though I transferred and only had two years at Chapman, it was an incredibly helpful and transformative experience that has helped me in my career now 5 years later! I really felt like I made the most out of my time at Chapman by joining the Chapman Investment Group, where I met one of my best friends to this day & now co-worker at JPMorgan!

Two of my favorite professors were Mario Leone & Dr. Jonathan Hersh. I had the opportunity to have Professor Leone for my capstone and Management Information Systems courses. Funny enough, the curriculum I learned stayed with me and ended up being part of my first job as an ERP Consultant at PwC post-grad. Dr. Hersh was an incredibly influential part of my Chapman career when I was able to do an independent study course supporting research in “Poverty from Space: Using High-Resolution Satellite Imagery for Estimating Economic Well-Being” by using programming in R to identify data trends in poverty indicators in Managua, Nicaragua.

How did your time at Chapman set you up for success in your current role?

Chapman set me up for success because of the focused coursework that I was able to apply to my career and of course the brilliant professors that I’ve stayed in touch with over the years! A memory of mine is that I used my knowledge from Professor Leone’s MIS course during my final interview with PwC for consulting to ask the interviewer what they think about the evolution of ERP systems in the future given the emergence of new enterprise solutions (cloud, blockchain, etc.). I’m pretty sure that’s what sealed the deal!

How would you describe your current role?

My current role is Chief of Staff in Financial Planning & Analysis. I manage strategic business planning for our CFO including headcount allocation of 500+ resources and a budget of $12M+ annually. The most rewarding part of the role is the incredibly intelligent yet very approachable people I get to work with every day.

What advice do you have for current students or recent graduates looking to enter the FinTech space?

FinTech being the intersection of financial services that are enabled by various technology stacks means that you have endless opportunities to find your place. For example, Stripe, one of the most renowned B2B/B2C payment platforms, is less than 20 years old, yet every day there are new projects/companies emerging with new ways of moving money, information, and assets. My advice is to research and read about as many companies, topics, and use cases as you can. Take that a step forward by networking with people in those companies. You’ll be surprised how willing senior-level executives are to give time to someone who has passion.

Final words from Nancy:

Chapman is an incredible community and I love to support it. If you’re interested in a role at JPMorgan or even want to get career advice, please connect and send me a message on LinkedIn!