Antonio Mason is a Senior Vice President and Corporate Banking Sales Leader at PNC in the Seattle area, where he leads teams and builds financial relationships with major companies. He built his career over nearly two decades by steadily moving up through roles at Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank before reaching executive leadership, proving that consistent growth and hard work open real doors in finance. A DEI advocate and University of Washington graduate, Antonio is passionate about creating space for others in an industry that has not always reflected the full range of communities it serves.
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Corporate Banking- "I want to do what he's doin!"
16 min
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Key quotes
“I promise you they're going to remember you. And what you say, you know why? Because you're going to be the only black person that enters that room.”
Antonio Mason (quoting a mentor)
“I don't really have much to fall back on. I don't have anything to lose because when I came here, I didn't have much. So that gives me confidence that I could do it again.”
Antonio Mason
“If I stay where I am, then I'm not doing anything to help anybody else that looks like me in the future. And I feel a responsibility, right, wrong or indifferent, to make a path or make a path easier for somebody else.”
Antonio Mason
“My first job out of school as an analyst, I made $50,000. That was the world to me. At that point, I was almost making more than my dad, who had worked 25, 30 years at his company.”
Antonio Mason
“You want to be curious and ask the right questions of bankers like myself so you can experience it before you go into it. Because there are good days and bad days.”
Antonio Mason
Career highlights
Start as an analyst — it's the standard entry point into banking and teaches you the fundamentals.
Antonio explains that analysts do financial statement analysis and due diligence, and that's how most people break into the industry.
A bachelor's in business is the floor, but don't sleep on a master's if you want to move into leadership.
Antonio says a bachelor's gives you the base — accounting, finance, time management — while a master's prepares you for leading teams and having higher-level conversations.
Being a minority in a room can feel like a disadvantage, but reframe it — you will be remembered.
A mentor told Antonio that as the only Black banker walking into a pitch meeting, he would stand out in a way that worked in his favor. That advice gave him the confidence to move into relationship management.
Build your network intentionally and consistently — it is the lifeline of banking.
Antonio moved to Seattle knowing no one and had to build his entire professional network from the ground up through phone calls, drop-in visits, and networking events.
Don't let fear stop you from making a career pivot when you know you've outgrown your current role.
Antonio was scared to move from underwriting to relationship management because of sales goals and being a minority in the space, but he says it was the best move he ever made.
Representation is a responsibility — getting to leadership creates a path for others who look like you.
Antonio says he feels a genuine obligation to climb the corporate ladder so that future minority bankers — Black, Asian, Latine, women, LGBTQ — can see someone in leadership who looks like them.