Dorothee Blessing advances at J.P. Morgan
Dorothee Blessing has made a significant career advancement at J.P. Morgan. As recently revealed, the former Head of Investment Banking for Europe took on a global role in the investment banking division of the world's largest bank by market capitalization at the beginning of this month. This makes the 56-year-old one of the very few Germans to reach the top management of a Wall Street bank.
New unit established
According to an internal memo from J.P. Morgan obtained by Börsen-Zeitung, Blessing's career move was part of a strategic realignment aimed at integrating investment banking more closely with commercial and corporate banking.
After the former Chief of Investment Banking, Vis Raghavan, left to join Citigroup, the establishment of the new unit Global Banking ensued, with Filippo Gori and Doug Petno entrusted to lead it in February.
Co-Responsibility for coverage
Gori and Petno oversee not only the new unit but also the investment banking division. While Blessing, as Global Co-Head alongside Jay Horine, is responsible for global coverage, Kevin Foley heads the capital markets division, which is also part of the investment banking arm. Anu Aiyengar remains the head of global M&A.
As stated in the memo, John Simmons leads the Commercial Banking division, which includes Commercial Real Estate, Community Impact Banking, and Middle-Market Business. Bregje de Best and James Roddy lead the Global Corporate Banking division, incorporating the former Corporate Client Banking and Corporate Banking sectors.
Career in investment banking
Blessing, who studied at the University of St. Gallen and HEC, has had a long career in investment banking. She started as an analyst at Goldman Sachs in 1992, where she worked for over 20 years, ultimately serving as a partner and head of investment banking. She is associated with notable IPOs, including Infineon in 2006 and Bank Austria, which was acquired by Unicredit in 2003.
After a brief stint at Deutsche Bank, she joined J.P. Morgan in 2014. Until the end of 2020, she was responsible for the bank's operations in Germany before moving to London as Co-Head of the European business. She is married to former Commerzbank CEO Martin Blessing.
