Day: October 7, 2025

• Rising Stars of Wall Street are forging unique paths in finance.
• The group includes 25 individuals with diverse educational backgrounds and career starts.
• Take a look at our breakdown of this year’s class.

Business Insider’s 2025 Rising Stars of Wall Street represent some of the hottest careers in investing, trading, and dealmaking.

In an effort to show what the next generation of Wall Street looks like, we analyzed where this year’s class went to college, how they launched their careers, and other key trends that demonstrate what it takes to work in finance.

Here is your snapshot of 25 up-and-comers who are shaping the future of Wall Street.

Meet the class

• Nine work on the sell side at investment banks, while 16 are on the buy side.
• The average age is 33, and just three are under 30.

Where they went to school

• The class hails from a mix of 19 elite institutions for their undergraduate years, including large research universities, top business schools, and selective liberal-arts colleges.
• Five attended Ivy League schools for undergrad, with four graduates from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
• Five hold MBAs, including two from Harvard Business School, two from NYU Stern, and one from Cornell University.

• At least three participated in college-level athletics: Goldman Sachs trader Jake Woodson was a varsity football player at the University of British Columbia, Morgan Stanley’s Jackie Shepherd was a two-time captain of the women’s golf team at the University of Minnesota, and JPMorgan M&A banker Jack Levendoski was on the rowing team at Lehigh University.

Their path

• Thirteen began their careers in investment banking.

  • 4 at Citi
  • 2 each from Goldman and JPMorgan
  • Others cut their teeth at Rothschild, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Jefferies, and Moelis & Company
• Of those, eight are now working on the buy side — seven in private equity or credit.
• One moved from the buy side to the sell side.
• Seven transitioned into finance after starting their careers in other fields. For example, Lamar Cardinez, a principal at Blue Owl Capital, initially started in a rotational program at the National Football League, and JPMorgan M&A banker Jack Levendoski worked at Chevron for a few years before switching to banking.

Fun facts

• Natalie Lamberton, a GTCR director, and Mary-Grace Papatheodorou, a managing director at Morgan Stanley, became first-time mothers this year.
• Lamberton was a Radio Disney DJ in middle and high school.
• Bridgewater’s Nikunj Jain did graduate-level machine learning research after graduating undergrad in 2.5 years.
• Madelaine O’Connell, a managing director at HPS, taught fitness classes at 6 a.m. before heading to her investment banking job.
• Janus Henderson portfolio manager Jessica Shill’s dog is named after Minerva McGonagall from the “Harry Potter” series.

• Advent International’s Arting Chang is a proud collector of 50-plus statement blazers.

  Breakdown of titles

• 8 managing directors
• 5 principals
• 3 vice presidents
• 3 portfolio managers
• 2 executive directors
• 1 director

This data is drawn from reporting by: Alex Morrell, Alex Nicoll, Alice Tecotzky, Bradley Saacks, Daniel Geiger, Emmalyse Brownstein, Rebecca Torrence, and Reed Alexander

October’s full moon, also called the Hunter’s Moon or the Harvest Moon due to the timing of the autumnal equinox this year, will also be a supermoon.

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