Katherine Copas
Katherine Copas ’15 has been working as an Internal Audit Analyst at JPMorgan Chase since soon after graduating from the College of Arts and Sciences at Ohio University with her double major in Economics and Sociology.
She enjoys getting a new project every couple of months because it makes her work very dynamic. She also gets to travel to New York and other places regularly for audits and for training. In her line of work, she is constantly interacting with other people, both on her team and with the people that she audits.
- Meet Copas on the Sociology and Criminology Career and Networking Alumni Panel, on Friday, Feb. 3, from 2 to 2:50 p.m. in the Amanda J. Cunningham Leadership Center, Baker 366 – part of the College of Arts & Sciences Career and Networking Week.
- Connect with her on LinkedIn.
Relationships
“I build relationships with people at my level and I also get to know people who are much more experienced and further in their careers,” she says.
Copas audits banking operations within Chase’s credit card, banking, and retail branch functions to ensure that customer facing processes are fair, within regulations, and efficient.
A few examples of audits she has worked on are reviewing call center quality and customer fraud dispute handling. Additionally, any “back office” type of operation processing falls under her audit area. She reviews the processes that occur at branches, over the phone, or online after the customer has completed a request. She ensures everything is accurate and correct on the bank’s end.
Biggest Challenge?
Her biggest challenge so far has been overcoming shyness. She has many outgoing co-workers and felt she needed to gain more confidence so that she could work more effectively.
“As my confidence grew, my work improved, and also my relationship with my coworkers,” she explains, “My employer teaches the hard skills I need, but the soft skills are the ones that I have to attain myself.”
Communication Is Key
In doing what she does, Copas says that communication is everything and her role has greatly enhanced her communication skills, in ways that are generally more difficult to develop.
“With audit, I have to deliver negative feedback when there are issues found in the bank, and I’ve had to learn how to deliver bad news in an effective way. Strong communication skills help foster a more constructive environment, so we can work together to solve problems.”
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