JPMorgan Chase alumnus Ryan Enriquez deployed to Iraq in 2003 as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom alongside thousands of other U.S. Marines. During his eight months overseas at the start of the Iraq war, he learned discipline, important leadership skills, and how to adapt during what were often high-stakes and volatile situations.
Enriquez was one of firm’s first 100,000 Jobs Mission hires. After transitioning from the Military in the early 2000s, he spent nearly a decade at JPMC. His last role was with the Commercial Bank’s Technology and Disruptive Commerce team. Enriquez credits the firm with helping him to successfully transition from the Military and giving him the chance to grow a fulfilling career in finance.
Now, Enriquez is an Executive Director for CIBC Innovation Banking. He spends his days advising technology start-ups and helping them grow and scale. “It’s a great, purposeful feeling to be a part of these start-ups’ success journey,” says Enriquez, who’s also a husband, father, martial artist, and former endurance athlete and competitive all natural bodybuilder.
Transitioning to the business world
Enriquez knew he wanted to enlist in the Military in fifth grade when the Marines visited his New Jersey elementary school. He enlisted at age 17 in 2001, and then left for boot camp two days after his high school graduation. He served in the Military for six years, steadily working his way up to sergeant.
“In the Military, leadership is taught at the earliest levels,” he says, “Most important is mission-first and discipline. You learn how to be structured in your approach.”
At 22, he left active duty and enrolled in college. It was a tough transition living in a freshman dorm. “You go from this disciplined environment to one in which your roommate is leaning on his snooze button ten times every morning,” he says.
He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and a master’s in public administration. Then, in 2011, he attended a Chase hiring event in New York. JPMorgan Chase, along with 11 other companies, had just launched the 100,000 Jobs Mission that pledged to hire at least 100,000 Veterans by 2020. The initiative is now the Veteran Jobs Mission. Enriquez was hired as a project manager in Home Lending.
At the firm, he had to quickly get up to speed on financial services. His first manager was pivotal to his business world transition, helping him through his steep learning curve. His manager encouraged him to network across the firm, too, and supported his mobility, which led to Enriquez taking a relationship manager role in business banking.
Among his most memorable experiences was the high-exposure work on the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (OCC) Consent order. Enriquez volunteered to step in and help. “That’s what Military veterans do,” he says. “We will run towards the fire.”
In 2014, he left the firm for an outside opportunity in global commercial banking before returning a few years later to take the technology and disruptive commerce team role in the Commercial Bank. “J.P. Morgan really laid the foundation for me,” he says. “I was blessed with great managers.”
Skills that transfer
Lessons learned in the Military have been critical to Enriquez’s success across the course of his career. The intangible skills of a veteran are most definitely transferrable, he says. He’s continued to embrace the Military’s concept of servant leadership, or being a leader who collaborates, mentors and puts the team first.
Enriquez also treats every project and task as if it’s the most important mission in the world, whether it’s coordinating a team lunch or managing a large firmwide project. “In the Military, attention to details mattered, and we treated it with purpose,” Enriquez says.
At CIBC Innovation Banking, he is building a team of his own. He often reaches out to his former JPMC managers, who he now considers to be friends, for leadership advice. Enriquez gets excited when he comes across Military Veteran candidates like himself. He’s eager to bring more Veterans into financial services. “J.P. Morgan set the standard for how to do that,” he says.
Enriquez is still connected with the Military community. He mentors young service members who are transitioning into the working world, and he often volunteers to speak to Veterans who are studying in colleges and universities. He’s proud though, too, that today he stands on his own as a successful, reputable and well-respected banker.
“There was a point in my career when I said, I can’t just be branded as Military Veteran in the civilian sector, I have to be branded for my reputation and skills in my industry,” he says. “And I think I’m successfully transitioned now. I’ve found that healthy balance of letting go, but also keeping the core of who I am.”
