Vice Chairman, Bank of America
Anne Finucane is in charge of positioning Bank of America for future success and a big part of that job is figuring out how to reach millennials.
She is not alone in trying to crack the code — nearly every industry is trying to understand those born roughly between the early 1980s and mid-1990s, a generation now outnumbering baby boomers.
One way the bank has found to connect with the cool kids is through a new partnership with VICE News, a trendy and sometimes irreverent online news site that attracts that demographic. The move was inspired by the bank's successful collaboration with Khan Academy to provide online financial education resources.
In the spring of 2015, the news site launched an online series called "The Business of Life" that featured a panel discussing a different topic each episode that is relevant to young people, such as how the U.S. workforce is changing. While the partnership may seem unlikely for the conservative bank, the first season exceeded expectations by garnering more views than anticipated. It also gave Bank of America an authentic way to hear directly from millennials about what's important to them and connect them to resources. Season two is in the works.
When she is not finding ways to connect with millennials, she is engaging with some of the most powerful people in the world. As the first female vice chairman in the company's history, Finucane directs the company's interactions with important U.S. and global organizations, such as the World Economic Forum, the United Nations and the White House. She even serves on a 22-member foreign affairs policy board that provides advice to Secretary of State John Kerry.
Finucane also oversees Bank of America's environmental sustainability efforts. Last year alone the bank provided $14.5 billion in financing for renewable energy and other sustainable projects.
