Essya Hanachi (B’91) To Graduates: Say Yes, Take the Risk, and Rise Anyway

That is the message Essya Hanachi (B’91), a senior finance executive and former chief financial officer of the U.S. Personal Banking at Citigroup, shared with 995 graduate business students during her commencement address to the Georgetown University McDonough School of Business Class of 2026.

Hanachi understands keenly that careers rarely unfold the way you plan them. She has been a passionate advocate for building community through diversity, creating pathways for advancement in the finance industry, as well as shaping and advancing transformative strategies that enhance growth and profitability at top-tier international financial institutions like JPMorganChase and Goldman Sachs. As a result, she’s built high-impact teams and finance organizations that leverage a growth mindset, enabling leaders to be confident in dynamic environments.

She acknowledged, however, that in her own life there were two moments when she almost didn’t take the risk, but by doing so, she changed her whole career trajectory.

“Neither was part of the plan,” said Hanachi. “Both required the same thing: the willingness to say yes before I felt ready.”

Say Yes to Possibilities

Hanachi shared that the first time she said yes to a role was shortly after her own graduation. It was a role she was sure was at the top of her “absolutely not” list – internal audit.

Even though a former manager encouraged her to take the leap, she felt it was antithetical to the kind of dynamic and strategic path she envisioned for herself. Reluctantly, she took the calls to learn more about it. “That decision – one I almost didn’t make – became one of the most formative experiences of my career,” she shared. “I was exposed to ways of thinking and processes I never would have encountered otherwise – things at the very foundation of my chosen industry.”

This resulted in subsequent promotions before being tapped to become the global program manager at Goldman Sachs for the firm’s efforts to prepare for Y2K. “I found myself in rooms with the most senior leaders of the firm. Not because I had planned it that way, but because I had said yes to something I initially didn’t want.”

“Sometimes the opportunities that shape you most are the ones you are most certain you don’t want,” she told the graduates. “Have ambition. Have standards. Have a sense of what matters to you. But don’t become so fixed in your plan that you close yourself off to possibilities. When you do – you limit your growth.”

Take the Risk – Even If It’s Uncomfortable

A second lesson Hanachi shared with the Class of 2026 was that when opportunity comes knocking – take the risk. In the early 2010s, she had been in the same role for several years and things were going well. One day, her manager called and shared that her name had come up for a new opportunity within JPMorganChase.

“My first reaction? This must be a mistake,” she quipped. “A firmwide role felt far bigger than anything I was ready for.” But building off her early exposure to saying yes meant that she instead leaned into the discomfort and replied with, “I’m excited to be considered – and I’d love to learn more.”

During the interview process, she researched what she didn’t know and came to realize this would be a critical role for her career. As she met with the head of regulatory capital, the chief financial officer, and then the chief operating officer, the weight of this role and the importance of it to the firm – in the largest bank in the United States – were too enormous to ignore.

Hanachi told the Class of 2026 that it was, for her, “a moment where you can step back… or step up.” She admits it was a role that was bigger, harder, and more visible than any she’d ever taken on. “But it also accelerated my growth in ways I never could have planned.”

“I want you all to remember,” she paused, “you don’t need to be fully ready to take on something big. You need to be willing.”

Be Willing to Rise

Evoking the Jesuit value of contemplation in action to the graduating class in front of her, Hanachi’s final message was that in both personal and professional pursuits, they should be willing to take the risk and to not measure their path against anyone else.

“Growth doesn’t happen when you are comfortable. It happens when you are just a little bit in over your head, and you decide to rise anyway,” she said. “The detours, the pivots, the unexpected chapters — those aren’t setbacks. They’re the story.”

As the Class of 2026 steps into the next chapter of their journey, Hanachi concluded with four points to encourage them to carry Georgetown forward with them in their work ethic: “One: stay open to opportunities. Two: listen to the people you trust. Three: when the moment comes to take a risk, take it. And four: as you build your career, don’t spend time measuring yourself against anyone else. Your path will not look like the person’s next to you – and it shouldn’t. Do it your way. That’s exactly how it’s meant to be done.”

In addition to delivering Georgetown McDonough’s graduate commencement address, Georgetown University Interim President Robert Groves awarded Hanachi an honorary doctorate at the ceremony.

Honoring the Class of 2026

For the Class of 2026, Commencement is the culmination of their time at Georgetown and a celebration of how far they have come. Graduates from the Full-time, Flex, and Flex Online MBA; Executive MBA programs in D.C. and Dubai; M.S. in Business Analytics; M.S. in Finance, M.S. in Global Real Assets; M.A. in International Business and Policy; and M.S. in Management programs all came together to reflect on their academic achievements and look ahead to the next chapter of their lives. In addition to the 995 in attendance, Georgetown McDonough looks forward to celebrating the 33 graduates in the inaugural M.A. in International Business and Policy in Dubai class, who will celebrate their graduation next month. The M.S. in Environment and Sustainability Management graduates also celebrated their commencement exercises with the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences.

To Henry Manna (GRA’26), a M.S. in Global Real Assets graduate, commencement “represents the resilience earned through discipline, creativity, and focus – principles I look to build on for the rest of my life.” He also shared that “my time as a Georgetown McDonough student has been a deeply valuable opportunity to grow both as a thinker and professional.”

For the graduates of the Flex MBA Online program, this is a personal accomplishment as well as a milestone for the program. The inaugural online class came together on the Hilltop to celebrate the completion of their MBA degree in Washington, D.C.

Watch the recording of the ceremony on the university’s Commencement website.