The 25 Most Powerful Women in Finance

Mary Callahan Erdoes is not as much of a household name as Warren Buffett or Jamie Dimon, but as J.P. Morgan Asset Management's chief executive, she has undeniable influence on Wall Street.

That was particularly evident earlier this year when Erdoes was among a who's who of leaders in business and finance — including Berkshire Hathaway's Buffett, General Electric's Jeff Immelt, General Motors' Mary Barra, and Dimon, her boss — to sign on to an open letter outlining a series of measures America's public companies could take to build prosperity.

Their recommendations included encouraging more diversity and independent thinking on boards of directors and, controversially, doing away with quarterly earnings guidance because of how it can get in the way of pursuing long-term goals.

"This all started with the heightened debate around short-termism, and short-termism really goes against the grain of what all Americans are looking for when they think about investing" for their retirement, Erdoes told Fox Business Network in July.

The group also is encouraging companies to appoint strong, independent directors who are not beholden to the CEO, Erdoes said.

Erdoes' influence stems from her success running the asset management unit of JPMorgan Chase. She has been its CEO for seven years, and in 2015 the unit reported its sixth consecutive year of record revenue, hitting $12.1 billion. Since the start of 2010, assets under management have increased an average of 6% a year, to $1.7 trillion at the end of 2015.

Reached by phone in Aspen, Colo. — the latest stop on an August cross-country trek she and her family were making in their RV — Erdoes reflected on another banner year that helped her retain the top ranking as the Most Powerful Woman in Finance yet again. The most important factor in the success of her business are the client relationships, she said, noting that about 260 clients have been working with the company for 75 years or more.

She also attributed her group's success to investments being made in talent and technology and to a "vigilant focus on investment performance." Last year, the staff completed more than 850,000 hours of training in a wide range of topics, including global financial markets and the economy, product innovation, cybersecurity and developments in regulation and compliance. On the tech side, her group's largest unit, global wealth management, is developing a digital strategy that will let clients engage with the company on demand, and via any method they choose.

Erdoes reports to Dimon and is widely rumored to be on the shortlist of his potential successors. She is one of three women on the company's operating committee and like the others — Chief Financial Officer Marianne Lake and General Counsel Stacey Friedman — she has made advancing the careers of women a top priority. A few years ago Erdoes and Lake established a program called Women on the Move. This program, which sends female executives to meet with their colleagues in other countries, is designed to both inspire and encourage women throughout the global bank to "take charge of their own careers," she said. Erdoes noted with pride that 37 of the top 100 positions at JPMorgan Chase are held by women.

After the U.K. vote in June to leave the European Union, Barbara Byrne had one message for her employees at Barclays: Pay close attention to how it plays out.

She advised them to step away from the frenzy and think about the future impact of Brexit on everything from capital markets to the U.S. presidential campaign.

"From where I sit, it's just another interesting moment," she said.

Byrne, whose four decades of industry experience has given her a sense of perspective, said she does not consider Brexit to be a crisis.

She said the "real crisis" in the world is the long stretch of sluggish economic growth that's helping fuel the rise of populist frustrations.

Byrne got her start in banking at Lehman Brothers in the 1980s. She worked there until its collapse during the financial crisis and subsequent acquisition by Barclays.

Now she has arrived at her own personal interesting moment and has started to think about the next steps in her career. One thing she knows is that she wants to continue to make a difference — similar to the experience she had this year as a producer on the movie "Equity."

How that inclination will play out she isn't sure, but she has given some thought to the idea of possibly running for public office someday.

"I love having an impact in a pretty real way," she said.

Abigail Johnson does not often speak publicly, but one of the topics she tends to bring up when she does is gender equality.

In an interview with the recruiting site Glassdoor in March, the president and chief executive of Fidelity Investments said that companies looking to develop more female leaders need to create training and mentoring programs specifically for women. She also encouraged women with ambition to seek out new opportunities, even those outside their comfort zone.

"As women, we need to remind ourselves to have an 'opt-in' attitude," said Johnson. "Career downturns happen to everyone and we must remember to treat them as opportunities to change how we work or try something new. That is what shows our true mettle."

Johnson has headed the Boston-based mutual fund giant, America's 20th-largest private company, since October 2014, when she replaced her father, Edward "Ned" Johnson 3rd. In her first full year on the job, Fidelity took in record revenue but reported lower profits as it spent more on technology and staffing. Revenue for 2015 climbed 6% to $15.9 billion, as operating income fell 6% to $3.2 billion. Companywide employment rose to 45,000 people, from 42,000 a year earlier, and overall expenses totaled $12.7 billion — 10% more than in 2014. Total assets under management grew 1%, to just over $2 trillion.

The technology upgrades and other changes come as Fidelity tries to meet the needs of increasingly cost-conscious investors. "At Fidelity, we are in the business of doing nonstop innovation," Johnson told an economic outlook luncheon in Providence, R.I., in June. "We've had to work to do new things, and we've had to work to do everything we already do in new ways."

In a letter to shareholders, Johnson said customers sought more help than ever, and the company handled it without disruption — "a testament to the investments we have made in systems and technology."

Another of Johnson's priorities is closing the wealth gap between men and women. Women are not only paid less than men, generally they also are less comfortable talking about money with a financial adviser than men are, according to Fidelity's research. To that end, the company has created an array of programs, seminars and online tools specifically for women to educate them about investing and saving for retirement.