Julie Pully is the Chicago Managing Director and Regional Portfolio Manager Leader at U.S. Bank Private Wealth Management and the President of DePaul University’s Finance Advisory Board.
Pully grew up in a middle class home with both her parents working very hard to make ends meet. Her father was a first-generation DePaul student and Pully said she grew up knowing DePaul. After he returned from the Vietnam war, he worked full-time while going to night school at DePaul.
Pully didn’t always know she wanted to enter the commerce world but she knew she was good with mathematics. “When I was contemplating what career to pursue, my parents said that if you get a business degree and specifically an accounting degree, you can go anywhere and do anything,” Pully explained. She joined DePaul as an accounting major but switched to finance early on graduating in 1996. “Even though finance is not all that dissimilar from accounting, finance made a whole lot more intuitive sense to me,” she said.
At US Bank, Pully oversees the central region investment practice in private wealth management, which encompasses the Chicago, Madison and Milwaukee markets. “I also manage people and manage a book of my own clients. I’m involved in the investment strategy, the asset allocation, as well as the buying and selling of securities making sure my clients’ long-term and short-term objectives are being met,” Pully said. She also works with other professionals whose disciplines include financial planning, estate planning, tax planning, banking, and general trust work.
While an undergrad at DePaul, Pully worked part time at the career center to help fund her tuition. “I chose the career center because I knew that was where all the jobs were funneled through and it also provided me the opportunity to help to pay for my college education,” said Pully. During her junior year, Pully got an internship at an investment banking firm in the Sears Tower. “It was a great place to learn because they were patient with me. I was able to use Bloomberg and I was able to work on settling up trades,” Pully said.
Pully shared with us that some of the most important classes she took at DePaul were The Foundations of Investments and the Basics of Marketing. “I was blown away by the marketing class when I learned about the four Ps,” said Pully. As she went through her college career, Pully explained that the marketing class was so impactful because of the relevance it has to her career now. “Whether you like it or not, you have to be a salesperson. I resisted it for many years thinking that I’m a portfolio manager. I’m in finance. What I realized is that whether I wanted to or not, I needed to be selling myself. I needed to be selling the solutions I have. I need to be solving and bringing the solutions. I realized that selling is not a bad thing.”
Pully also shared some recommendations she has for students majoring in finance:
DM: Do you have any advice for someone studying finance right now?
JP: Patience is really important. The first few years of anyone’s career is going to be critical. Be patient because things take time. But while you’re being patient, do the best you absolutely can do. In every facet of your life, study the material that you’re learning. Study it, know it back and forth, be at the top of your game at all times. If you think the qualifications might be at a basic level, go above and beyond. That’s when industry professionals realize that you do know what you’re talking about, and that you can add value. Your patience will pay off over time. There will be many in line in front of you. Prove yourself to be a little bit better than the person in front of you. That’s going to go a long way at the end of the day.
DM: Do you have any good interview tips?
First and foremost, know the person you’re talking to. Know their background. A basic search on the internet can generate a wealth of information. As part of interview preparation, familiarize yourself with your interviewer and educate yourself about the company. You don’t have to scour through financials, we don’t need that, but show some interest. Know the culture of the company that you’re interviewing with. Ask questions and make sure you have a clear understanding of who you’re interviewing with and what is important to them as a company.
By Damita Menezes