Kristian Skovmand hadn't set foot in the Danish financial sector when his career kicked off at the US-based investment bank Morgan Stanley. More than 17 years would go by before he got his first job in Denmark.

Before he finished his economics degree at Aarhus University in the Western part of Denmark, Kristian Skovmand had been offered a summer internship at Morgan Stanley in London. The internship made him so excited about the intensity of investment banking that he is still an investment banker today – 20 years later. His first serious position at the bank came a year after his internship, and he was thrown headlong into business deals, IPOs and huge loan cases around the world.