A Chat With The Boss: Students Meet Morgan Stanley’s Executive Director

Morgan Stanley’s Executive Director, Michael Georgis, spoke about hunger and ambition in finance as well as what the future holds, in an online discussion forum with IE Business School students.

Georgis, who works at the bank’s Zurich office, was invited by the Institutional Asset Management Club. Throughout the forum students asked questions ranging from the automatization of jobs within trading, to skills and traits that would help them stand out during internship application processes.

“After the first filters which generally look at GPA and overall diligence, the most important thing for me is to see you’re hungry, highly motivated, flexible and entrepreneurial,” said Georgis.

Regarding changes within the sector, Georgis talked about a near future where automation will impact jobs in areas like trading. He said more people will be needed in IT, building the algorithm as well as on the strategic side.

“Having previous sell-side internship experience in Debt Capital Markets myself, I’m passionate about fixed income,” said Ryo Albano, Master in Finance student and Officer of the IE Finance and Capital Markets Club.

“Thanks to this forum, I feel that I have gained greater knowledge on the trading (buy-side) of the fixed income world.”
Ryo Albano, Master in Finance student and Officer of the IE Finance and Capital Markets Club

Georgis highly recommended students apply to summer internship programs, seeing it as a sure way to get noticed by recruiters. He also talked about the importance of joining a corporate culture that adjusts to one’s preferences.

“Morgan Stanley is very entrepreneurial and the culture, which I really like, is very cooperative as opposed to other places I’ve worked where it can be a more competitive environment amongst co-workers,” Georgis said.

The discussion cleared doubts of language barriers as the executive said fluent English is sufficient. Georgis was emphatic that every complementary study or skill, even though not required, may help them stand out amongst candidates.

Georgis also gave a quick overview of his professional trajectory. He studied Business Administration and went straight into banking where he worked at UBS, Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs before moving to his current job.

The forum was co-hosted by the IE Finance and Capital Markets Club as well as the IE Finance club. It was organized and hosted by Maxime Raskin, 4th year Bachelor in Business Administration Student and Officer of the Institutional Asset Management Club.