Sofya Shuster

Accelerating in international finance while giving back to community

Alumna Sofya Shuster has a fast, impressive career in banking, having become a vice-president at ING at the age of 26. She worked in Amsterdam and London, and is now based in New York. She showed leadership and community spirit when still at RSM, co-organising a student case competi-tion in Hong Kong as part of RSM STAR, and she continues to demonstrate these qualities.

Fast, international career progression

Upon graduation in 2011, Sofya joined ING in Amsterdam as an analyst of structured finance loan syndications. Her career progression went fast. She was promoted to an associate in 2013, and in 2014 moved to London. A year later, she became a vice-president responsible for commercial real estate (CRE) loan syndications. In this role, Sofya supported origination teams in seven European countries, managing relationships with investors, clients and internal stakeholders, and managing analyst and associates. Last year, the team distributed over €2 billion of loans, and won the Euro-pean Syndication Team of the Year award from a leading news and intelligence service Real Estate Capital. This year, Sofya moved to New York to join ING’s CRE loan originations team.

Sofya is a Chartered Financial Analyst ® (CFA) charter holder, having passed all three levels in her first attempt. In 2015, she was nominated for the ING Women in Banking and Finance award.

Community building and sustainability

Within ING, Sofya has volunteered on various committees, and she founded ING’s young professional network in London. Most recently, Sofya was elected one of three Sustainability Champions for ING Americas, responsible for raising awareness on sustainability topics, and supporting teams in pursuing sustainability-related business opportunities.

While in the UK, Sofya ran RSM’s Local Chapter London. She continues to be involved in RSM community building, and helps out students through RSM MentorMe.

Sofya ran the London Marathon 2016 to raise funds for children’s hospice Haven House, and joined the ING team in the Cateran Yomp 2015 fundraising for a veterans’ charity Alliance Trust.

“I want to be the best I can be professionally and personally, for family and friends, for communities, and for society,” Sofya says, adding that she aims to keep learning and developing her career. “And I want to increase my ability to positively impact the world.”