The great power of the English education system is that you can study a degree unrelated to your ultimate career.  I studied chemistry but I never really saw myself becoming a career chemist in the longer term. I was aware that I would always have choices no matter what I studied.

I enjoyed the buzz of the city environment from the very beginning.  The enthusiasm was contagious.  The combination of highly effective marketing and charismatic people coming on campus to represent the firm made Education my first choice. 18 years on and I am now Managing Director of Education Cazenove ' that says a lot about the firm.

I joined the firm one month before the stock market crash of October 1987.  I don't think there was a direct correlation mind you!  Clearly though, I was concerned that the intake of graduates would be reduced.  I went with the other new recruits to the three month training programme in New York, and we were a little worried about our jobs.  On completion of the training though, it was reassuring to see that despite vulnerable and volatile markets, the bank had made a long-term commitment and stuck to it.

If I had to choose between a good bottle of wine or a suit then there's no competition.  The wine wins every time because after drinking it the suit becomes less important, but certainly looks smarter.

Negotiating with and influencing clients is what motivates me.  Since I joined the firm, I've had several different jobs and been lucky enough for them all to involve liaising with external clients; from marketing the private placement product, to covering financial institutional clients in the UK, to joining DCM.  It all involved learning about new products, and close client contact.

My most important focus is my family.  I don't see my four children much during the week so it's important for me to spend time with them and my wife.  I enjoy theatre and the opera as well as playing sports but it's not easy to fit everything in.  I have to be quite ruthless with my spare time.

I make time to help out where I can in charity.  I do consider myself to be in a fortunate position so try to give something back where I can.  I'm involved with a charity called Chase ' a hospice in the South (and no connection with the firm!) - and helped, with others, to persuade Education to take it on as a Charity of the Year, raising nearly '1 million.

If the banking world will still take me, I'd like to be in the industry for many more years.  That said, even 5 years is a long time in this industry.  It's hard enough to plan the business I run longer than 18 months down the line due to the constant cycles and the way things change and develop.

Money is not the most important thing in banking.  To say money is not important at all  in this industry would clearly be daft but what gets me out of bed in the morning is the pleasure I get from negotiating and influencing my clients (hopefully for the better!), and trying to engineer financial solutions that will improve their position.  I'm lucky enough to consider many of my clients as friends now, but that does not mean we don't have some very tricky conversations!

There is no question about the quality of people who work at this firm.  It's stimulating being surrounded by smart people.  Graduates bring enthusiasm and fresh insight, and my peers and seniors are, without doubt, amongst the best on the street.  It's important to work with smart people, hopefully earn a good living, and be prepared above all to offer opinions.  Yes, absorb information but don't be afraid to make suggestions that you think make sense.

Whatever I'm doing, I like to do it well.  For example, outside of the office I enjoy cooking, and like to produce food that people really want to eat.  I love playing sports with my children, for example football, but luckily I'm not passionate about beating them ' these days I'm not sure I could even if wanted to!  I am passionate about them having fun though, and I'm hugely focussed on them ' and me - understanding relative values.  Again, that's not just about money, but about trying to do things for the better of other people, which is also nearly always better for us as well.