Nancy Tchou, Morgan Stanley

Meet Nancy Tchou, Executive Director in the Investment Banking Division at Morgan Stanley, winner of the WiBF Award for Achievement in Institutional Banking and former figure skater!

Nancy Tchou currently leads the Australian Infrastructure and Superannuation Fund Coverage at Morgan Stanley. She has 16 years’ experience in investment banking and has worked across infrastructure mergers & acquisitions and capital raisings for government, corporate and fund clients. This extends from airports, ports, toll roads to digital infrastructure, such as registries and tower assets.

Nancy attended WiBF’s 2022 Award Celebrations at the Ivy Ballroom in Sydney, she notes that it “was a first-class celebration. Being in the same room by so many talented females was truly inspirational and empowered us all.” When asked about how did it felt to be a 2022 WiBF Award Winner Nancy shares “that being recognized in the industry is very rewarding” and she adds that she is “thankful for the support by WiBF in promoting diversity and inclusion.” She hopes that other women will “be inspired by the awards to continue to push the boundaries in their career and to support and empower other women.”

Nancy’s advice on how to grow a successful career is that “no one can or will control your career. It is up to you. This also means that no one, except yourself, can limit your ability to climb higher in your career. If you want to do it, you can. Don’t wait for someone to ask how your career is going, or to give you that next step (whether it’s a promotion or pay rise). Don’t be afraid to speak up, if you don’t, almost certain that someone else has.” A powerful and motivating message that comes from Nancy’s own journey of overcoming imposter syndrome. Nancy has worked on gaining her own confidence by “dressing the part” and telling herself she was “more senior” then she actually is. She shares that “it’s all individual and whatever you need to do to play the part helps.”

When it comes to being recognised for your talents and leadership skills, Nancy’s advice is to not “be ashamed to tell people what you’ve done.” She added that she always thought “it was too much and no one wants to hear about it, but in fact it is never too much!” Nancy also shares some great tips around ‘standing out from the crowd’ at work. Nancy tip is – “in meetings, turn up early and position yourself in a spot where you are seen, and be one of the first ones to speak up. From then, it becomes easier to contribute to the conversation as you’ve had the confidence to speak up already in the crowd. If you sit away from the crowd and don’t speak up early then it becomes all too easy to just blend in.”

Besides her impressive career journey, Nancy shares some jaw-dropping and intriguing facts about herself. Nancy is a lover of travelling and has had many travelling adventures but you may be fascinated to learn that she loves the water! She loves to scuba dive, snorkel and also learnt how to free dive! We are curious to discover where her favourite dive spot was. To top it all off you may be surprised to learn that Nancy competed in figure skating when she was younger. Wow – we just want to see a video right away! To us this showcases that, you can do it all – in and out of the office!

With a 2022 WiBF Award in hand, Nancy leaves us with the message “no one can or will control your career. It is up to you. Own it girl!” Watch Nancy Tchou’s acceptance speech – here.