Mentor of the Year
Given to women who have shown dedication to the cause of mentoring other women in financial services.
Eva Walsh, senior trader, J.P. Morgan Asset Management
Family and faith were central to Eva Walsh’s desire to be a mentor.
It all started when she was a child and churchgoer, as her mother and parish emphasized a spirit of charity and helping others. Walsh recalled how she had been raised by her family to help others whenever and wherever possible.
“I’ve been brought up to help others,” Walsh said. “As a kid, we’d walk people home from church. My mom had us shop for those who couldn’t and carried groceries for others. It’s so rewarding.”
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Walsh recalled four mentors who have punctuated her lifelong career on Wall Street and at J.P. Morgan Asset Management. Each of them helped the onetime accountant transition from balance sheets and statements of reconciliation to the world of trading and finance. These people, she said, were essential to her, and it’s important for others to have similar guides.
“Younger talent these days can often step into a firm and potentially be lost,” Walsh said. “The best thing they can do is shadow someone, someone from whom they can learn firsthand about the business or firm.”
The first mentor who affected Walsh was Dee Serra, a former J.P. Morgan Asset Management employee who took accounting classes with her. Serra worked for a support group within the group and was gung ho about working for the bank and on Wall Street. Serra’s affinity for all things Wall Street rubbed off on Walsh and led her to leave Arthur Andersen after just a year and join the bank.
Once there, Walsh met portfolio manager George Gardella. A man not known for mentoring, he took Walsh under his wing and shared his breadth of knowledge in the investment process with the newbie. She learned how the process worked and was part of the broader asset management service the bank provided clients.
“I was only one who worked with him and his clients,” Walsh said.
After Gardella, Walsh began working with Lisa Waller, another portfolio manager who took a personal interest in her. As a woman making her mark in an industry dominated by men, Waller kept Walsh close and brought her to client and analyst meetings, giving her broader exposure within the firm.
“I was able to be with her from the start of an investment idea to actually putting it into a portfolio,” Walsh said.
Armed with full knowledge about how asset selection and allocation took place, Walsh set her sights on the trading floor. Enthralled with everything about trading-the sounds, the smells, the ticker tape, the energy-she set out to find someone who would help her. That person would be Ron Mawson, the senior small-cap trader who himself was an institution in the industry. The year was 1996.
“He was so impressive,” Walsh remembered. “He was prepared all the time and always willing to help others. The PMs looked to him for guidance; traders on the Street respected him. He had the respect of everyone.”
At Mawson’s side, Walsh learned trading and life lessons. One of the most important lessons she learned was that consistency and listening to portfolio manager’s wishes were key when executing orders.
“I emulated this consistency and the way he treated everyone with respect,” she said. “He was an amazing person and my big break.”
Mawson retired in 2002, but his legacy-as well as Gardella’s and Waller’s-live on in Walsh. When she isn’t trading, she’s helping co-workers via J.P. Morgan’s formal mentor program, or others externally, and shows no signs of stopping.
“I am mentoring three people informally now and two through the company program,” Walsh said.
