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Women Mean Business - Gina Luna

Gina Luna

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WMB host Leisa Holland-Nelson, president of ContentActive, gives an extended interview with Gina Luna, CEO of commercial banking for JP Morgan Chase and another extraordinary woman doing extraordinary things.

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Leisa: Hello. I'm Leisa Holland-Nelson and welcome to another edition of Women Mean Business where we're going to take you up close and personal with extraordinary women doing extraordinary things. My guest today is Gina Luna, CEO of Commercial Banking, and Chairman of the Market for JPMorgan Chase here in Houston. Gina, that is a mouth-full.

Gina: Indeed it is.

Leisa: Can you tell us a little bit about how you got here?

Gina: Sure. I actually started at the bank; it was Texas Commerce Bank at the time, as a summer intern 17 years ago.

Leisa: Oh my gosh.

Gina: I know. It goes really fast. And I've had the great fortune to do a lot of different things within the organization. I started as a Training Analyst doing financial analysis and learning how we as a company think about risk and just what we do as a bank, always on the commercial side of the business. I was a Client Manager in the private bank, handling net worth individuals, have served in a Business Manager, kind of strategic capacity for several years.

And then immediately prior to the role that I'm in now, I was the Chief Marketing Officer for a commercial banking business across the country, which was a very interesting role in the middle of the financial crisis. So if you think about the responsibility of that person being communication with our clients, that was really what we were so focused on during that period. So I learned so much. It was obviously a trying and challenging time, but incredible on the scale of experience and just understanding our organization and what, frankly, makes it great, I think.

And then I've been in this role in running the Houston market for about two years. While it's been 17 years, it's flown by for me and I just love that I continue to have great opportunities doing interesting things.

Leisa: You know that is just incredible. I kind of want to ask you, did you know as a teenager that you wanted to be a banker? Tell me how you chose banking.

Gina: You know, I don't think I knew that I wanted to be a banker. I knew that I wanted to be in business and my dad's a banker so I probably knew that was a good career. He was always happy and loved what he did. But when I was at A&M, between my - I guess during my junior year - I had a professor that I respected and you know I said, "I think I'd like to try banking. Where should I go for an internship?" And he didn't think two seconds and he said, "Well the hardest internship to get is at Texas Commerce Bank. They only hire one person from A&M so you need to go get that."

So I said, "Okay." And off I went. That was such a great experience. After that I didn't really spend a lot of time thinking about other opportunities. I think banking is such a great place to start because you get exposure to so many things and really just a great education on business and how it works.

Leisa: I have a couple of questions that came out of what you just said. The first one's really about mentors. Did you find that they were important to you and your growth through your career? And did it matter if they were men or women?

Gina: You know I have found great mentors throughout my career. I can remember people who were so kind to take an interest in me when I was just starting at the organization. And some of those relationships continue today. Different mentors teaching you different kinds of things; so some of my mentors have been all business and others have been great women who I look at and say, "They've been able to manage this career and a family." So I asked them how they do that.

But you know, in addition to mentors, I think perhaps more importantly is a sponsor or two or ten. To me the difference is a sponsor is someone who's really in the position to make things happen for you whereas a mentor may or may not be. There may be a little bit more coaching you and behind the scenes, whereas a sponsor may be someone who actually has the authority in the organization to create opportunities. I think you cannot underestimate the power of that relationship and really having someone who believes in you and wants to see you succeed and therefore helps you find those opportunities and maybe pushes you into things that you wouldn't necessarily go on your own.

Leisa: I think that's one of the clearest, best pieces of advice we may have ever heard - find a sponsor.

Gina: I think it's a really - I think it's a big difference than a mentor.

Leisa: Yes, I agree with you. There you have it, another extraordinary woman doing extraordinary things. I'm Leisa Holland-Nelson, co-founder, President, and Chief Marketing Officer of Content Active, Houston's leading web and mobile technology company. You can find me at http://www.contentactive.com or follow me on Twitter at LHNelson. We'll be back again next week with another edition of Women Mean Business.

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