If you’re listening to JPMorgan’s conference call today, you’ll note the dulcet English tones of Marianne Lake, the bank’s British CFO.
Low-key Lake is a bit of a mystery and tends to stay in the shadows behind the more ebullient Jamie Dimon until the time comes for her to deliver the numbers once a quarter. Who is she exactly? Here’s a primer:
- She’s a British physicist. Lake studied Physics at Britain’s Reading University. Reading University ranked 37th on the Complete University Guide’s league table for 2014.
- She’s an accountant. Lake started her career in PricewaterhouseCoopers, where she trained as a chartered accountant. She came into JPMorgan as an accountant in London and worked her way up. She’s spent 14 years at the bank. She’s a lifer.
- She’s 42.
- She’s a single mother. Lake gave an interview to Marie Claire last year and revealed that she was the single mother of a one and a half year old son. “I never worried about raising a kid on my own. I’m 42, not 20 with my eyes closed. The circumstances aren’t traditional, but I didn’t hesitate to do it,” she told the interviewer (Dealbreaker’s Bess Levin).