Title: Assistant Vice President-Public Finance Legal
Firm: Build America Mutual
Age: 36
Her career in New York City is a long way from the small Caribbean island where Raquel Wilson grew up, but she is thriving in an industry she loves at a firm where she has grown by leaps and bound in a short time.
“I’ve always had an interest in anything finance,” admitted the 36-year-old assistant vice president and paralegal at Build America Mutual.
She graduated with a bachelor of science degree in business management and finance from Brooklyn College - City University of New York.
“I eventually fell in love with legal work, but finance never left my heart,” Raquel added. “When the opportunity arose where I could have both, I jumped at the chance.”
She delved into the unfamiliar municipal finance industry with enthusiasm.
“After researching muni finance and realizing that it is a core part of municipality or county debt security, I wanted to be a part of that industry,” Raquel said.
“Being able to go through the life cycle of a deal as well as working with different parties throughout that cycle is fulfilling,” she said.
Jeffrey Fried, general counsel at BAM said Raquel’s contributions to the firm and its clients across the industry since her arrival five years ago have been substantial.
“She joined the team just as secondary market insurance volumes were on the upswing, and her innovative approach allowed BAM to keep pace and continue to deliver the level of service that was expected,” Fried, who nominated his colleague, said.
Since starting at BAM, Raquel has been promoted twice — from analyst, regulatory legal assistant/secondary markets deal coordinator to an associate and then most recently to assistant vice president and paralegal.
“I’m beyond grateful for the opportunities I’ve received so far, and I’m especially grateful for management seeing the potential that I see in myself,” she said.
She arrived at BAM from UMA Education, Inc./Conversion Partners, LLC where she worked for five years as a specialist in the Legal/Regulatory Affairs department.
She said if she wasn’t a paralegal, she would be a novelist or a food connoisseur since writing poems and short stories, as well as traveling, reading, and experiencing different cultures, art, music and rare cuisines are some of her hobbies.
