Leading and Learning by Trusting Others, A Career at Morgan Stanley

When Allison Lucchese ’08 began her career at Morgan Stanley over 14 years ago, she put her trust in others to find her way forward. Now in a leadership role, Lucchese is paying it forward and leading others on their journey.

As a Managing Director and Head of Americas Equity Swaps Marketing at Morgan Stanley, Lucchese oversees a team of ten employees whose collective goal is to provide investment solutions for Morgan Stanley’s Institutional client base, servicing existing and prospective users of the Equity Swap product. After stepping into the co-head role in 2020 and then taking on sole responsibility more recently, Lucchese says she’s learned more about herself and what it means to be a leader.

“When you go from being an individual contributor to being responsible for other people’s careers and the growth of the business, there’s so much that you learn from that transition,” says Lucchese. “There’s no way you can necessarily prepare for that, a lot of it comes down to good organization, time management and trusting the people around you.”

Lucchese’s journey at Morgan Stanley began as a summer analyst during her undergraduate career at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. Graduating a year later and maintaining her job offer even in the midst of the financial crisis, Lucchese says she felt lucky and appreciative to have been employed at the company.

She spent her first year-and-a-half at the company serving as a Cash Sales Trader and later moved into the Commission Management business, a new business born out of the financial crisis, for the subsequent six years. Following those opportunities, Lucchese moved into the marketing side of the Equity Swaps business in 2015 where she has since continued her upward trajectory at the company. And the journey from where she began to where she finds herself now, she says, is a combination of love and a lot of hard work.

“When Morgan Stanley presented me with that opportunity, it was a no-brainer because I viewed it as a chance to be a part of building something new, which I think is really exciting,” Lucchese says. “I think people should try to embrace those opportunities, because the chance to build out a team, a business, or suite of products within a well-established integrated investment bank like MS is unique.”

The willingness to take risks in pursuit of her passions was something Lucchese says she also experienced as a student at Maryland Smith. The decision to attend UMD was an easy one, she says, given that it checked her boxes for the diversity of thought, culture and experiences.

“UMD was just a great place for me to grow and mature academically and socially through different types of coursework and extracurriculars,” Lucchese says. “I appreciated the opportunity to take so many incredible business courses, obtain a minor in Spanish and pursue my love of ballet throughout. I really wanted to use my brain in different ways. It was important to me to be able to do all of those things.”

Reflecting on her career at Morgan Stanley, Lucchese says she’s grateful to have spent her entire career at a company that has enabled her to serve in many capacities and prioritized facilitating upward mobility among its employees.

Harkening back all the way to her internship, Lucchese says it was her mentors at Morgan Stanley who knew better than she did what she might be good at and what she might be great at. And in her current position, she’s hoping to play the same role for others.

“That’s probably the biggest takeaway: Putting your trust in people who have been in the business for a long time and have seen and done everything. Maybe they see themselves in you or know someone similar that has been successful in ways you never considered,” Lucchese says. “That’s a big part of why I’ve had such a great career and it was a major jumping-off point for me to move to where I am now.”