From teller to banking exec:

Graduating from business school in 2008, in the throes of the most severe financial crisis since the Great Depression, would seem a rocky start to any career—especially one in the financial services industry.

But that wasn’t the case for Heather Bronson (BS Finance ’08), who unknowingly began laying the groundwork for a successful career in banking during her senior year of high school when she applied for a full-time teller job at a Bank of America Financial Center in the Phoenix metro area.

“I really enjoyed that job,” says Bronson, senior vice president of credit services at Bank of America. “We were a fairly large center, so we had more than personal banker-type roles; we had small business and investment banking, and they sat on this premier section of the center.”

Going into college, Bronson had been considering pursuing either finance or engineering, the field her father worked in while she was growing up. However, the more time she spent at the Bank of America branch and learning the ropes from an experienced mentor, the more she realized finance was the right path for her.

“I was so fascinated by my mentor’s career,” Bronson recalls. “It was very fast-paced, helping clients maximize and diversify their portfolios, buying and selling investments. The more time I spent learning about financial services with her, the more I knew what I wanted to do.”

Now nearing her 20th anniversary with the global banking giant, Bronson is grateful for the opportunities she had to explore the many facets of her industry, which began when she was a student at the W. P. Carey School of Business.

At an ASU career fair, Bronson discovered Bank of America’s Operation Management Associate Program. This two-year rotational program exposes recruits to different areas of the bank through various assignments around the country. She was selected for the program and began with a cohort of 12 peers from across the United States.

“It was a unique program in which I could try different roles and get some experience,” she explains. “It felt like an extension of school and a nice transition into the workforce.”

Bronson was attracted to ASU because she’d set her sights on attending a large public university, seeking a change from the rural Arizona town she grew up in. So when Bronson received a full scholarship offer, she decided quickly.

However, she was surprised when she received the assignment for the first part of her rotation: It would take her to San Antonio. While Bronson knew she needed to be “geographically flexible,” she had put Phoenix as her first city of choice in the program to stay close to her family.

“At the time, I thought, ‘I can’t move away,’ ” she says. “Some kids couldn’t wait to leave, and this was their ticket out of Phoenix. But for me, I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t even know the bank had a footprint in San Antonio—I thought it was a typo!”

Despite her initial hesitation, the relocation was a perfect stepping stone to what would come further down the pike in Bronson’s career. In a small pilot office near the city’s famous River Walk, she and her colleagues implemented a revolutionary development in their industry: digitizing the check-cashing process.

“I’ll never forget the work: It was the cutting edge of the shift to digital,” she says. “I remember thinking, ‘OK, I’m in the right spot. I can do anything for two years.’ ”

One year later, Bronson headed to Dallas, where she has served Bank of America ever since in positions of increasing responsibility—as a vice president and business control specialist, senior vice president and group operations manager, and senior vice president and business control executive.

In late 2020, Bronson’s promotion to her current role allowed her to oversee a team of 300 in syndicated and corporate lending operations and provide wholesale fulfillment, service, and operations lending support. In a nutshell, Bank of America partners with other lenders to extend credit to multinational corporations. It’s fast-paced and high risk, and there’s zero room for error. Bronson said the job represents a culmination of her past experiences from a process, risk, and automation standpoint.

“We’re constantly looking for ways to optimize and digitize,” she says. “Given the complexities, it’s easy to automate the simple stuff, but it’s much more bespoke when you reach the high end of the market. Finding creative ways to make things simpler for our clients and our employees is something that I enjoy and embrace.”

Bronson says one of the most rewarding aspects of her career has been the opportunity to travel internationally and lead teams worldwide. Her first experience abroad was when she spent three months on a work assignment in London. Since then, she has made countless trips to the far reaches of the globe, including the Asia-Pacific region, adding stamps to her passport, getting “out of her comfort zone,” and broadening her cultural intelligence.

Traveling is one of the ways Bronson prefers to spend her time off as well. Her favorite excursion was a trek to the Swiss Alps, in which she visited France, Switzerland, and Italy, enjoying the scenery, culture, and cuisine. She spent three weeks in June exploring Spain, and Australia is next on her itinerary. Bronson is a certified scuba diver, a fitness buff, and a lover of animals and the outdoors who treasures time with her friends and family. “I like to slow down and spend good quality time with the people I love,” she says.

Bronson is grateful for the education she received at W. P. Carey, noting the personal attention she received from professors and their real-world approach to teaching.

“Many of my professors threw the textbooks out and said, ‘Look, we are living in the biggest financial crisis we’ve had in decades.’ So our textbook became the Financial Times. It was so practical and real, and I came into the workforce able to speak the language of what was going on in the industry.”

Bronson advises today’s students to seek out potential employers early on in college through internships, job shadowing, and mentors. “It puts you in a better place to make an informed decision and to get to know a company’s culture,” she explains. “Culture is so critical as you navigate long-term careers. It’s a game-changer.”

The culture at Bank of America is what has kept Bronson at the company for nearly two decades. As a woman in an industry where women are traditionally underrepresented, she said that the bank has been ahead of the curve in offering women leadership opportunities and has embraced its corporate responsibility to diversity across the board.

“It’s been incredible to see the amount of investment we’ve made in awareness and development programs, and it’s made such a difference,” she says. “I am proud to work for a company that truly embraces the importance of diversity, cross-cultural leadership, and creating an inclusive workplace.”

Bronson also emphasized the support from many valuable mentors over the years and the impact that has had on her professionally—something she’s equally committed to paying forward.

“Earning these opportunities to be part of and influence a global operation and having enough confidence and experience to do that has been my most significant personal achievement,” she says.

What lies ahead? Bronson is expecting her first child in December and will be taking parental leave to spend this important time with her growing family. “I’m grateful for the overwhelming support and generous leave benefits offered at Bank of America as I start this next life chapter.”