'Outstanding at what she does': India-born rakes in billions for JPMorgan

Advising companies on M&A is one of the prestige roles in investment banking, generating both huge fees and headlines when a deal comes together

As JPMorgan Chase & Co. searches for its first major acquisition in more than a decade, Anu Aiyengar will have a hand in shaping the giant bank’s future. She’s the co-head of its global mergers and acquisitions business, and the only person of color and only woman to hold that position on Wall Street. It’s been a remarkable trajectory for an Indian immigrant who moved to the US as a teenager to study at Smith College, shivering through the bitter Massachusetts winter in a $5 coat.

“M&A was traditionally a male bastion-often cigar-smoking men in suspenders-and now she is at the