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Jacqueline Keller walks up Park Avenue each morning after her Metro-North train arrives at Grand Central Terminal. The rhythm of New York City, with the hum of yellow taxis, the hurried steps of thousands of commuters, and the towering glass facades, helps her reset for the day.
By the time she turns the corner at 53rd and Madison, she is fully in the high-stakes mindset her role demands. As General Counsel and Vice President of Crédit Industriel et Commercial( CIC), New York Branch, Jacqueline does more than manage legal risk; she builds the legal function from the ground up for a premier Paris-based financial institution.
She joined CIC in August 2025 as its firstever General Counsel in New York. The mandate requires more than a deep knowledge of the law; it demands structure, sharp judgment, and a seamless partnership with the bank’ s business side. It is a career peak that reflects a path Jacqueline shaped through intentional study, calculated risk, and professional grit.
In-house architecture
Jacqueline’ s professional story began in the trenches of litigation rather than a corporate boardroom. She spent her early years at various law firms on the defense side, representing companies and institutions in complex disputes. The early roles taught her the art of assessment: weighing a settlement against the uncertainty of a trial and translating dense legal arguments into actionable business terms. She learned early on that executives do not want a recitation of the law; they want a path forward.
However, a parallel interest always hummed in the background.“ When I graduated from law school, I started and enjoy reading a lot of finance books. It was one of my fun activities,” she explains. Instead of spending weekends away from legal texts, Jacqueline managed her own investment portfolio and read financial news voraciously. She realized that to excel in the sector she admired, she needed to understand how the products she would one day defend actually worked. Jacqueline saw the law not as an isolated discipline, but as a framework that brings order to global markets.
She enrolled in intensive courses on derivatives and hedge funds at NYU to bridge the gap between legal theory and financial reality.“ I always had a growth mindset,” she explains. The proactive education led her to Morgan Stanley’ s prime brokerage division in 2007. She stepped into the role just as the global financial system began to tremble.
Eye of the storm
At Morgan Stanley, Jacqueline negotiated derivatives contracts and prime brokerage documents with hedge fund counterparties. The work was exhilarating, but the timing was perilous. As the 2008 financial crisis took hold, the landscape shifted beneath her feet.
The instability pushed her to temporarily return to law firm practice, yet the experience cemented her desire to work within the heartbeat of the banking industry. She saw the system at its most vulnerable, and that perspective gave her a unique advantage in risk mitigation.