Managing Director, Consumer & Community Banking;
Business Control Manager, Consumer Banking
JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.
Dallas, Texas
Pauline W. Saunders began her career as a bank consultant, fresh out of Bowling Green State University with a bachelor’s in business administration. Financial services was a natural fit: her mother was a banker; her father owned an insurance company. “Finance was in my blood. I was always around it,” she says.
Five years later, she was offered a position at JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A., which had just merged with Bank One. “I knew the organization, I knew the institution, and I was passionate about financial services across the board,” recalls Saunders, now a managing director in Consumer & Community Banking and the business control manager of Consumer Banking.
Her passion for finance is personal. “Born in Kenya, I came to the U.S. for college. Financial literacy is something that goes back to watching my mom and dad and remembering how we all had to support each other. It was a huge thing,” she says. “I often lecture loved ones about their savings and their budgets! It’s really about awareness.”
Saunders prides herself in being intuitive about JPMorgan’s “blind spots.” “We have a phenomenal management team that’s always doing the right thing, being strategic and thinking about the customer. In that regard, they hit the nail on the head every time. But I try to anticipate what we can’t see coming to avoid getting hit by something we weren’t aware of,” she explains.
Saunders has an M.B.A. from Franklin University. She is a member of several business resource groups, and is a mentor with The Fellowship Initiative (TFI). The mother of two boys, she advocates for the advancement of youth of color, especially males. “With TFI, we help young men navigate high school and gain admission to college,” she offers. “A five-digit zip code should not determine whether someone gets an opportunity.”
