After the success of Meet the New Doctors, the New Journalists and the New Lawyers, last week the conference room of the Italian Consulate in Park Avenue welcomed again a crowd of young people. This time the meeting was dedicated to those whose childhood dream  was to undertake a career in the finance world. So Wall Street easily comes to mind—the heart of New York’s financial district.

The protagonists of eveining were Italian professionals in the financial world. They told their young fellow Italians about the difficulties they faced when they first arrived here, the challenges the city presented and how they eventually managed to make their way into the world’s most important stock exchange.

The panel was made of top level professionals: Monica Mandelli [2], Managing Director at KKR’s investment society, Marco Bianchi [3], Senior Director at Intercontinental Exchange, Alberto Cribiore [4], Vice Chairman of  Citi’s Institutional Clients Group, G, Andrea Danese [5], CEO and President of Athena Art Finance Group, Francesco Vanni d’Archirafi [6], Citi Holdings’ Chief Executive Officer, Federico Mennella [7], Managing Director of Lincoln International and Nicolò Della Casa [8], a consultant at McKinsey & Company who is now pursuing his MBA at Columbia Business School and is also member of Business School’s private Equity Fellowship Program.
 

The debate was kicked off by the new “master of the house”, Consul General Francesco Genuardi [9]. “It is our duty to make our experiences available to the new generation as well as to exercise our capacity to listen  and understand. And the curiosity of every single one of you and everyone of us through these meetings has grown,” Mr. Genuardi said.

Moderator of the panel discussion was Andrea Fiano [10], Editor of the Global Finance Magazine. “I have been working in this field for more than 30 years," Fiano said introducing the panelists, "and I can state that the personalities who are going to talk this evening are excellent represenatives of the field.” 

The keywords of the evening were "integrity" and "technological development." The first, intended as an unquestionable principle on both the working and the moral level; the second, as the biggest competitive asset in today's professional world.

“I've had fun doing this job for more than 30 years. It's about understanding what a client needs, making him interested in the products that we have, helping a company to expand and be more responsible towards its employees and suppliers”, Alberto Cribiore said in speaking about his job at Citi’s Institutional Clients Group. “Every profession has to be conducted with personal and professional integrity, otherwise nothing will be accomplished,” he continued.

The experience of Monica Mandelli—Managing director at the KKR investment society but also a wife and a mother—could not go unnoticed. “Maximizing the projects you do at work, your capacities and your knowledge is not enough: you have to be always at your best, as if you were on a stage 24 hours on 24. Every minute is important, you have to give 100% of yourself everyday, in particular in this specific context," she said, pointing at the additional difficulties a woman may encounter. "When I first arrived in New York several years ago, the finance world was still very closed towards women. Today is a lot better and there are many women with prestigious jobs in Wall Street."

Ms. Mandelli also emphasized that every career, and the financial one in particular, "is not something you can do on your own."  This kind of job needs "a valid team," she added, and this is her lesson: "identifying the people who help you along your way is very important. Having a relationship with the people that surround you is extremely important”.

The event ended with a long Q&A session during which the young  audience asked the panelists any kinds of advice on how to make their moves in New York, getting extensive answers and interesting advices.

The next session of this exciting initiative, created by consuls Isabella Periotto and Chiara Saulle, will be held in a few week and is entitled Meet the Job Fair.