“I will know I’m failing before you will, and I will tell you.” That was the extraordinary promise Kristin Lemkau made to her bosses at JPMorgan Chase when they promoted her from Chief Marketing Officer to CEO of J.P. Morgan Wealth Management in late 2019. She told them she respected them too much to do anything else.
The kicker? She now adds: “I knew I was going to kill it, and I did kill it.”
The numbers prove Kristin Lemkau right. Under her leadership, the wealth management business has grown from $500 billion in assets to more than $1 trillion, while the number of advisors has nearly doubled from 3,600 to over 6,000. Her next goal: reach $2 trillion in assets by 2030.
The Decision To Make the Leap
Six years ago, Kristin Lemkau was so content working as the Chief Marketing Officer at JPMorgan Chase that she thought it would be her last job.
Her bosses, including Jamie Dimon and Mary Erdoes, had a different plan. As CMO, they asked her to examine how to grow the underperforming wealth management business. “Either they were testing me, or it clicked,” she recalls, and they asked her to run it.
Initially, Lemkau was torn. “I loved that (CMO) job, and I thought… I can’t leave my team.”
Lemkau recalled JPMorgan COO Jennifer Piepszak providing her with some clarity, via a critical question: “‘How are you going to feel if they announced some other guy in that job?’ and I’m like, ‘well, I’m going to throw up.’ She said, ‘Well, then you know your answer.”
While it was a slightly unconventional move, Lemkau sees the connection between the two jobs. “It’s all about growth. It’s how you do marketing. My job was to grow the business,” she said. “And if you know how to grow things, then you’d be a great CEO.”
Leading Through Unimaginable Loss
In 2022, Kristin Lemkau experienced a tectonic shift in her personal life. Her husband passed away, and she became a single mother to their teenagers, aged 15 and 13.
“It’s impossible to put into words how brutal that experience is,” she says. Her grief was compounded by the fact that her husband had been the one who stayed at home with the kids and ran the household. “I knew the passwords to nothing. I had not been inside Costco. I hadn’t paid a bill in 17 years,” Lemkau recalls.
“Logistically, my life was in shambles,” she said. “You figure out a way to move forward because you have to.” She took two months off from work, noting that her bosses at JPMorgan Chase were “extraordinarily supportive.”
“I was really clear that my children were going to come first,” she says, adding that she told her son and daughter repeatedly that she would stop working if that’s what they wanted.
“Both of them were pretty clear, like, no, no,” she recounted, amused at their insistence. But she understood where it came from.
“My kids knew… I loved what I did,” she said, adding they likely needed their own space to process their grief.
These days, her eldest is in college, her youngest has his driver’s license, and she is happy with her decision to return to work. She regularly puts in 10 hours at the office each day and is super intentional about her schedule.
“People know, don’t waste my time or God help you, because if… I need to get home for my kids’ basketball game or volleyball game, and they come to me with something frivolous…,” she says, shaking her head no.
Kristin Lemkau’s Best Leadership Advice
The experience of becoming a single mom also influenced how she manages her team. “I think I’m much more focused on people as a whole human being, because what happens outside of work is going to affect your performance at work much more so than the markets or interest rates or anything else,” she said.
She also acknowledged, “It’s not really till the s–t hits the fan in your life that I think you really learn empathy for an entire human.”
When asked for the best career advice she’s received, Lemkau said, “If you want a bigger job, make your own job bigger.”
“It stuck with me because I think people wait for the tap on the shoulder. Just make your own job bigger and good things will happen, and by the time you get promoted, people will be surprised you didn’t have it already,” she explained.
But perhaps the most powerful lesson is the example Lemkau has set for others.
“I sort of feel unstoppable at this point. I also have kids and a life, but I love what I do. I love this company,” Lemkau said, adding, “What I’ve done over the past six years was really hard. I genuinely believe a lot of people couldn’t have done it… And, I’ve been through challenges in my personal life that just kind of make me feel unbreakable.”
MORE ON HERMONEY:
- Kecia Steelman: From an $8 Per Hour Job to CEO of ULTA Beauty
- How to Invest in 2026: Karen Finerman’s Real-World Advice for Women
- How to Start Investing If You Only Have $1,000 (Or Less)
