From shopper to star

Just a few years ago, 24 year old James Goodfellow was a Biology and Management student at Royal Holloway College, earning a little money on the side as a personal shopper for Sainsburys.

But the City held more allure than a career in either biology or retail, so James secured a three month internship with Credit Suisse – a company he’d only come across on the recommendation of a family friend.

It seems that he made the right move as he’s been named Badenoch & Clark Rising Star 2008 – an award recognising the increasing importance of Back and Middle office staff supporting the financial Services Industry.

James’ internship led to a role in the Global Network Management team. “It was a great introduction to Credit Suisse as I was working on account openings and relationship building. As well as getting to interact with the other groups within Credit Suisse, I also gained a terrific introduction to our Custodians – the likes of Citigroup and HSBC. “

James’ potential was recognised by his managers and he spent a year on Credit Suisse’s Leadership Ladder programme, working on projects across the investment banking side of the business. However, his loyalty to operations drew him back into Asset servicing in January 2007 taking on a challenging role which led to him managing the deployment of staff from the bank’s London to Singapore operations.

“The award was a complete surprise,” he said.“Once I found out I’d been shortlisted, it started getting serious, but I still didn’t think I’d win. It was quite nerve-wracking on the night, but my brother and some friends were there to support me and it felt brilliant to win. I’m very grateful to everyone who has supported me so far – the recognition’s lovely. And while I’m enjoying every minute of my career with Credit Suisse and have no plans to move, the award will be very nice to have on my CV.”