Anne-Victoire Auriault, 35, Goldman Sachs
Raising their daughter in Paris, Auriault's parents thought she might pursue a creative career. As architects, they had instilled in her an appreciation for the arts.
So when Auriault, now a partner in Goldman Sachs' trading division, showed proficiency in math and computer science, her parents were initially surprised.
"When I told my mom I wanted to do math, she looked at me like, 'What did we do wrong?'" Auriault said with a laugh, during an interview at Goldman's Manhattan headquarters.
Her family must be smiling now. After getting a degree in math and computer science at one of France's prestigious grandes écoles, and then a master of finance at Princeton University, Auriault joined Goldman in 2012.
After a stint on Goldman's hot commodities team, Auriault joined the equities trading team, and an internal program that encouraged those with a quantitative background to take a bigger role in Goldman's trading operation. She joined program trading, one of the bank's most lucrative desks, where algorithms are used to trade large baskets of stocks, particularly around index rebalancing events.
When she made partner in 2020, at the age of 32, Auriault became one of the youngest women ever to enter Goldman's elite circle. She now runs the team globally, and oversees the Americas ETF business.
Auriault attributes her success to learning coding skills that brought more technological heft and scale to the program trading desk, staying cool under pressure when handling large trades, and showing up day after day. Like any good trader, Auriault has also notched big trades during her career, but she declined to disclose them.
She described her job as akin to overseeing a big machine that needs tending. "Having a process and being extremely rigorous is a big part of success," she said.
Auriault hasn't entirely abandoned her upbringing. She's a huge film buff and credits theater and other cultural institutions with opening up her mind to the world. She serves on the board of Film at Lincoln Center and Film Forum, focuing on improving access for students.
"Culture," she said, "should be accessible to everyone."
- Dakin Campbell
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