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The Most Powerful Women in Banking 2023

The Most Powerful Women in Banking 2023

ByEditorial Staff
September 27, 2023 8:10 AM
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This year's edition of the Most Powerful Women in Banking – the 21st annual list – features Jane Fraser of Citi once again, in her third year on the list and in the #1 spot. Although banks continue to trumpet their hiring and promotion of women, Fraser remains the only female CEO among the largest banks. The ranking also includes C-suite executives and group heads from banks big and small, from the very biggest (JPMorgan Chase, the country's largest bank, has four leaders on the Banking list: Marianne Lake, Jennifer Piepszak, Stacey Friedman and Lori Beer to much smaller institutions: Priscilla Sims Brown of Amalgamated Savings Bank and Jill Castilla of Citizens Bank of Edmond.

Scroll through to learn more about the winners. 

Also be sure to check out:

The Most Powerful Women in Finance
The Most Powerful Women to Watch
Top Teams
The Most Powerful Women in Banking: Next

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Jane Fraser

CEO
Citigroup

Jane Fraser, who runs one of the world's most complex banks, isn't afraid to make changes.

Since her promotion to chief executive officer of $2.4 trillion-asset Citigroup in March 2021, she has taken several decisive steps to simplify and modernize the sprawling megabank, all with an eye toward reaching the ultimate goal: closing Citi's long-standing stock valuation gap with peers.


Read her full profile.
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Marianne Lake

Co-CEO of Consumer and Community Banking
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
The collapse of First Republic in the spring of 2023 may have been the second-largest bank bust in U.S. history, but it also provided an opportunity for JPMorgan Chase, which acquired the majority of the failed bank's assets in a $10.6 billion deal.This allowed JPMorgan to expand its financial advisor count — close to 5,000 before the deal — by over 200. The acquisition also allowed the bank to grow its $4.3 trillion in client assets in its asset and wealth management division by approximately $200 billion.  

Read her full profile.
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Jennifer Piepszak

Co-CEO of Consumer & Community Banking
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
When Jennifer Piepszak got her start at JPMorgan Chase & Co., the bank was called Chemical Banking Corp. and was years away from the storm of acquisitions that would vault it to being America's biggest bank.

Read her full profile.
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Holly O’Neill

President, Retail Banking
Bank of America
Customers want to do their banking digitally and online as much as possible. Bank of America, which has about 57 million verified digital banking users, has them covered.

But simple transactions are not the only things customers look for from the $3.1 trillion-asset institution, said Holly O'Neill, president of retail banking for BofA. "They also want to know we're committed to the market. We're in the community. We're hiring local folks."

Read her full profile.
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Wendy Stewart

President, Global Commercial Banking
Bank of America
As president of Bank of America's global commercial banking division since September 2021, Wendy Stewart has helped the bank turn a year full of uncertainty into one of opportunity.

"At the beginning of 2023, there was a lot of uncertainty facing the banking industry," Stewart said. "We could never have expected all the market disruption." 

Read her full profile.
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Stacey Friedman

EVP, General Counsel
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
JPMorgan Chase General Counsel Stacey Friedman doesn't like to sit around without something to do.

"The thing that makes me most nervous is an empty to-do list," she said. 

That wasn't much of a problem for Friedman this year. As executive vice president and general counsel at JPMorgan, she was plenty busy. 

Read her full profile.
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Diane Morais

President, Consumer and Commercial Banking
Ally Bank
Now entering her seventh year as president of Ally's consumer and commercial banking, Diane Morais oversees more than $182 billion in client assets across six lines of business.

In 2022, Ally achieved its 14th consecutive year of growth in retail deposit customers, reaching  $137.7 billion in deposits from 2.7 million retail depositors.

Read her full profile.
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Kelly Coffey

CEO
City National Bank
Kelly Coffey almost ended up working for the Central Intelligence Agency after graduating from Georgetown University with a master of science degree in foreign service. But instead Coffey opted for a riskier career — in banking.

Read her full profile.
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Kate Danella

Head of Consumer Banking Group
Regions Bank
Rising interest rates and a dearth of available homes for sale have pushed the dream of homeownership out of reach for many Americans. But under the leadership of Kate Danella, Regions Bank has been helping to make it a reality, particularly for low- and moderate-income households.

Read her full profile.
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Lori Beer

Global Chief Information Officer
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
As JPMorgan Chase accelerates modernization efforts and develops its artificial intelligence  plan, Global Chief Information Officer Lori Beer is focused on the interconnectedness of technologies across the country's largest bank.

Read her full profile.
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Amy Brady

Chief Information Officer and Executive Vice President of Key Technology, Operations and Services
KeyBank
In 2019, KeyBank embarked on a multiyear strategy to improve its contact center, the Cleveland-based bank's primary client assistance hub. 

"We had a great three-year strategy," said Amy Brady, chief information officer and head of the bank's technology, operations and services. "And then the pandemic hit."

Read her full profile.
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Erminia "Ernie" Johannson

Group Head, North American Personal and Business Banking
BMO
When BMO closed its long-planned acquisition of Bank of the West from BNP Paribas this year, Erminia "Ernie" Johannson, group head for North American personal and business banking at the Montreal-based bank, saw her remit go up significantly, to 23,000 employees. The unit she oversees doubled its branch network to 1,000 locations and nearly doubled its customer base; retail deposits went up by 50%, she said during the company's second-quarter earnings call in May.

Read her full profile.
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Titi Cole

Head of Legacy Franchises
Citigroup
Last year, Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser put Titi Cole in charge of a formidable mission: to help streamline Citi by winding down or selling its consumer banking operations in 14 countries, affecting the jobs of 65,000 employees.

Read her full profile.
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Deborah Guild

Head of Enterprise Technology and Security
PNC Bank
In today's age of digital markets, secure transactional systems are synonymous with a bank's perceived safety and reliability. Deborah Guild, the head of enterprise technology and security for PNC Financial Services Group, leads a team of 3,500 who are charged with protecting customers' and clients' data.                                

Read her full profile.
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Stephanie Novosel

Head of Commercial Banking
PNC Bank
Stephanie Novosel, who leads PNC Financial Services's commercial bank, spent a lot more time talking to clients about PNC's financial footing when the banking crisis hit this spring.

The conversations were fairly easy to have, since the super-regional bank's balance sheet was far different than those at other banks who either failed or came under stress. But Novosel and her team of bankers still learned plenty from the introspection and careful studying of PNC's financials.

Read her full profile.
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Beth Johnson

Vice Chair, Chief Experience Officer, and Head of ESG
Citizens Financial Group
Beth Johnson has worn many hats in the 10 years she has worked at Citizens Financial Group, including leading the bank's direct marketing efforts, orchestrating home and small-business loan programs and expanding into new markets, including New York City. Last year, Johnson took on another major role as head of the bank's environmental, social and governance initiatives (ESG).

Read her full profile.
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Jennifer Smith

EVP, Chief Technology and Operations Officer
Zions Bancorp.
Over the past year, Jennifer Smith, chief technology and operations officer at Zions Bancorp., spearheaded the largest technology transformation in the company's history, a monumental endeavor that modernized the bank's core systems.

Read her full profile.
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Jill Castilla

CEO, President, Vice Chairman
Citizens Bank of Edmond
Jill Castilla knows all too well the financial hurdles military members face. Not only has she served in the U.S. Army and the Oklahoma Army National Guard as a construction and civil engineer, but almost every member of her immediate family is a veteran or is currently serving in the armed forces.

Read her full profile.
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Florence Pourchet

CEO of CIB Latin America and Head of Corporate Social Responsibility — Americas
BNP Paribas
Florence Pourchet, the CEO of CIB Latin America and head of CSR — Americas at BNP Paribas, is the highest ranking female executive in the Americas at the bank.

As the head of BNP Paribas' Latin American operations, the bank's corporate and institutional banking franchise had a remarkable year in Latin America in 2022, solidifying its position as a key player in the region.

Read her full profile.
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Sandy Pierce

Private Banking & Regional Banking Director and Chairman, Huntington Michigan
Huntington National Bank
Sandy Pierce is a seasoned veteran not just of banking, but bank mergers as well.

She was CEO of Detroit-based First Merit when Huntington Bancshares acquired the lender in 2016. Following that merger, Pierce settled into a largely wealth management role at Columbus, Ohio-based Huntington, running the private bank while also overseeing the bank's operations in Michigan.

Then, in June 2021, Huntington made another splashy move, snapping up Detroit-based TCF Financial Corp. in an all-stock transaction valued at $7.2 billion. 

Read her full profile.
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Nandita Bakhshi

Special Advisor and Board Member
BMO Financial Group
After seven years of leading Bank of the West, Nandita Bakhshi took on a new role this year.

She is now special advisor to BMO Financial Group, the Montreal-based bank that bought Bank of the West from its former parent, Paris-based BNP Paribas, in February. The merger dramatically expanded BMO's footprint in the U.S. The bank now has more than 1,000 branches in 32 states.

Read her full profile.
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Tracy Kerrins

Head of Technology
Wells Fargo
Female CIOs are still rare among the largest U.S. banks. When Tracy Kerrins became head of technology, the equivalent of the CIO role, at Wells Fargo in April, she joined a small group that includes Lori Beer at JPMorgan Chase and Judy Dinn at TD Bank. Kerrins reports to CEO Charlie Scharf and oversees 40,000 technologists.

Read her full profile.
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Bridgit Chayt

Executive Vice President, Head of Wholesale Payments
Fifth Third Bank
In just one week last May, Fifth Third Bank acquired Rize Money and Big Data Healthcare, greatly expanding Bridgit Chayt's role and responsibilities.
"That was quite a week," said Chayt, who heads Fifth Third's treasury management and commercial payments division. "We closed Rize on Monday and Big Data Healthcare on Friday." The bank did not disclose the terms of the deals and declined to say how many employees it will be retaining from the acquired companies.

Read her full profile.
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Melissa Stevens

Executive Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer
Fifth Third Bank
As chief marketing officer for Fifth Third Bank, Melissa Stevens has had fun with her bank's unusual name, greenlighting commercials in which Fifth Third vows to "put 166.7% into everything we do." (Five-thirds is the mathematical equivalent of 166.7%, the ad notes).

Read her full profile.
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Priscilla Sims Brown

President and CEO
Amalgamated Bank
In March, when Visa, Mastercard and American Express reneged on their earlier agreement in September 2022 to use a merchant category code that would help to identify gun purchases, Priscilla Sims Brown, the CEO of Amalgamated Bank, took the companies to task.

Read her full profile.
Editorial Staff
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