How a series of calculated risks led a BNY executive to the C-suite of America’s oldest bank

In the high-stakes theater of global financial services, leaving a 26-year run at a blue-chip firm for the uncertainty of a pandemic-era IPO would strike most executives as reckless. For Cathinka Wahlstrom, it was instinct.

Now chief commercial officer at Bank of New York (BNY), Wahlstrom’s leap from Accenture partner to the C-suite of the oldest bank in the United States offers a study in modern leadership that blends vision and comfort with uncertainty and growth.

Her career is defined by inflection points.