Alumni Spotlight: Burik on Careers in International Banking
As an undergraduate at Boston University studying international relations and national security, Lindsey Burik (Pardee ’04) thought she wanted to pursue a career with the Central Intelligence Agency or study law following graduation.
After finishing her last courses at Boston University, Burik had two job offers on table — one with the CIA in Honduras and one with Bloomberg LP in New York.
“As a 21 year old, New York won,” Burik said. “I eventually made my way to the brokerage arm of Bloomberg, called Tradebook. I was a good salesperson who focused on electronic businesses in Options, Equity, Futures and FX. Electronic trading was new in 2004 and regulation was changing in the US, which would lead to one of the largest changes in the history of equity markets. I was about to be a part of it.”
Burik’s specialty was in international equities, which led Credit Suisse to hire her into their fast growing e-business on the non-US side. With algorithmic trading taking off in 2007, Burik grew to cover 43 different global markets and was able to witness the evolution of the equity markets change from voice to electronic.
Goldman Sachs recruited Burik in 2012 to grow their international algo business, which was about 10 times smaller than Credit Suisse, according to Burik.
“It was a great opportunity to run my own group, starting from the ground up, and I jumped at it,” Burik said. “While at Goldman I ran the international algo business for the US, Algo derivative sales, and eventually quant sales in the US. Helping to build these different lines of business were incredibly interesting and kept me in the forefront of where the equity market was shifting and how our clients were looking to interact with banks.”
Following her time at Goldman Sachs, Burik joined the Japanese bank Mizuho to build their entire algo platform in the Americas and Europe from scratch — an opportunity to build a platform with what she believed was the future of algorithms.
“By leveraging my educational and career experiences that have spanned across a global framework, this next step in my career was a great way to combine all experiences into one role,” Burik said.
Burik attributes her professional success to the global mindset that she developed as a result of the values her parents instilled in her as well as her Pardee School education.
“I have always said that one of the reasons I have been successful is because I have a global mind set. I attribute this to two things, my parents instilling a sense of adventure in me and to the Pardee School, for not only my education, but the diversity it offers,” Burik said. “It goes without saying that the curriculum is global and offers various perspectives on how to think about events, but also the various approaches to problem solving within cultural differences.”
As a Managing Director and Head of Electronic Trading for the Americas and EU at Mizuho at a large Japanese bank with 30,000 employees largely located in Asia, Burik is constantly working with colleagues overseas to ensure the bank offers a globally consistent product for a wide range of clients located all over the world.
“BU not only instilled ‘wide-range’ thinking and consensus through courses, but also people. I found the Pardee School to be one of the more diverse student bodies on campus, giving rise to interesting discussion and learning opportunities,” Burik said. “The mere fact that we are exposed to different ways of thinking early in our careers set us apart from other areas of study. When I look to hire, I always look for a global element to people’s resume, I generally get better problem solvers and big-picture thinkers. I will take this skill over a 4.0 any day.”
Burik says her Work for Distinction project — from developing an idea to researching the topic and defending it — was one of the most important things she worked on as a student at Boston University and helped her develop skills that remain relevant to the work she currently does for Mizuho.
“When I was a Junior Sales Person at Bloomberg, I would create presentations to pitch a product for a client. I was light years ahead my ‘just out of school’ peers because I knew to include facts and figures, to be punchy, and then really know the content so that you could answer any question,” Burik said. “As a senior manager, I am now using the same process to expand our electronic trading into another region of the globe, or add an asset class, or to partner with another company. The scale of applying these skills has increased, but the fundamental concepts have remained consistent.”
Offering advice to current Pardee School students who are about to enter the workforce, Burik emphasized the importance of developing soft skills like problem solving and critical thinking while in college.
“It doesn’t matter what you study, what is important is that while you are in college you hone your soft skills. It’s your most important asset. If you ask me what I do, I usually say, ‘I am a problem solver and I build businesses’,” Burik said. “If this is what you are good at, be self-aware, and apply that to every project or course you undertake. Be the one that comes up with the creative solutions and own being ‘that person that solves problems.’”
Burik also said that it’s important for current students and recent graduates to take networking beyond polishing a LinkedIn profile — making new connections is critical. According to Burik, the first goal for any networking meeting should be to have two or three talking points ready for your new connection.
“Your second goal in a networking meeting should be to give and take,” Burik said. “To give, make sure you have something to share that is valuable to the other person. This can be a thoughtful opinion on a news article, a bespoke idea on a project, or a connection you think you can make for that person. To take, always try to walk away with another person you can meet, a helpful bit of information that makes your business better, or another soundbite that you can credit to that person.”