JPMorgan executives sometimes receive emails from a colleague who signs in all caps: JACK.

JACK, however, is not a single person. It’s the shared identity of John China and Andrew Kresse, who co-lead the bank’s Innovation Economy team for founders and venture capital firms.

The nickname started as a practical solution, Kresse told Business Insider. “People kept writing emails like ‘Dear John and Andrew,'” he said. “And I said, let’s not waste time. Let’s give them something easy.”

However, the acronym of their initials (John, Andrew, China, Kresse) also reflects the united leadership of two very different bankers. A Silicon Valley veteran recruited to SVB and a JPMorgan executive for nearly two decades, he spent the past year figuring out how to co-lead a fast-growing business.

Since Silicon Valley Bank collapsed and JPMorgan bought First Republic Bank, the company has aggressively grown its Innovation Economy team. They are competing with companies like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Citi to fund startups from their earliest stage.

China became team leader in 2023 after 27 years at Silicon Valley Bank, and Kresse became co-head in 2025.

Together, they oversee more than 550 people advising more than 11,000 companies and are fully focused on executing long-term strategy and expanding the team. Part of that means undermining the narrative that JPMorgan is better for established companies looking to go public.

“We want founders to understand that we’re here to help them from the beginning, and that’s probably something the industry doesn’t fully understand yet,” China said.

Grow JPMorgan’s startup business together

Although started in 2016, the Innovation Economy business expanded rapidly from 2023 to last year, quadrupling its client base and hiring more than 200 bankers and leaders. The corporate banking team pre-seeds through $2 billion in proceeds or an IPO, as they transition to JPMorgan’s corporate banking team.

The two have built the business on opposite sides of the country. China is on the west coast and brings decades of experience building relationships in the venture community. Kresse is on the East Coast and knows JPMorgan from his years expanding commercial banking internationally and his time as CEO of Chase Business Banking.

“You have to divide and conquer, and you have to delegate,” Kresse said, especially on such a large, global team.

The leaders don’t have a very structured way of communicating, but they are always available by phone or email on days when they are not physically together, Kresse said. Their conversations range from guiding the team and making hiring decisions, to brainstorming solutions for clients and tackling internal projects.

“We’re like a couple of coaches doing audibles as the game goes on,” he said.

They often travel separately, and who goes where is dictated by their different strengths, but they always reference JACK, China added. When they’re not traveling, living on opposite coasts extends their joint workday.

As China sees it, the key to making joint leadership work, especially in such a fast-paced business, is to “always presume innocence.”

“Maybe someone misses out on an email or a team doesn’t come together quickly enough, and we assume positive intent,” he said.

In an email, he added that people “often think co-leadership means competition or confusion, but it’s actually about collaboration.”

“Having two of us with different perspectives helps us solve problems, motivate our team and spend more time with them and with customers,” he said.

Before officially becoming co-directors, the duo met in part through creating client advisory boards abroad in Europe and Asia.

“I knew John was a good guy before we were co-directors, which is always best: having a casual relationship and partnership over something formal,” Kresse said.

Their relationship extends beyond work. When they’re not talking business, Kresse said, they swap stories about their kids (“John’s are a little older, so I can hear some of their lessons learned”) and exchange friendly remarks about football. China supports the Raiders; Kresse is a lifelong Bills fan.

An “athletic stance” for AI startups

No area of ​​your business is advancing faster than AI.

Although the Innovation Economy team features companies from eight sectors (applied technology, health technology and life sciences, to name a few), China and Kresse said they have never seen anything like the pace of the AI ​​rise. There can be up to 10 AI startups in a week, Kresse said.

Their team is not responsible for picking winners and losers: they will work with companies opening their first checking account and with companies preparing to go public. China said the next generation of AI companies to watch out for are those construction agents that will sit on top of models.

It is those founders who, if all goes well, will develop relationships with China and the Kresse team and, by extension, with JPMorgan.

‘We take an athletic stance,’ China said of AI companies. Their team is ready to support companies hoping to become the next OpenAI through their “accelerated growth.”