The Most Powerful Women in Banking: No. 4, Gunjan Kedia, U.S. Bancorp

For days following Gunjan Kedia's promotion in early May to president of U.S. Bancorp , a steady stream of congratulatory notes and well wishes poured in from the different facets of her life.

The emails and LinkedIn notes, as well as some handwritten letters, came from both current employees and former colleagues, including folks who worked with Kedia during the years she spent at State Street, Bank of New York and the consulting firm McKinsey. They came from schools she attended, boards she sits on, industry associations and partners of U.S. Bancorp. They came from family, friends and other connections she's made over 30 years.

Kedia, who joined the Minneapolis superregional bank in 2016, was overcome by what she read.

"It took me two or three days of reading through the notes to understand what this had meant to people," Kedia said in an interview. "They were very emotional notes. It was hope for my success, hope for themselves and encouragement to take on things that need to be taken on."

Industry observers have said that Kedia's new job as president positions her to become CEO of U.S. Bancorp, the fifth-largest bank in the country with $680 billion of assets. Chairman and CEO Andy Cecere hasn't announced any impending retirement plans, but U.S. Bancorp's two most recent CEOs, including Cecere, were promoted from the president role.

Kedia's rise to the top leadership ranks of U.S. Bancorp has been years in the making. An engineer by training who grew up in India, she earned a master's degree in business administration in 1994. Roles at PwC, McKinsey and BNY led to the job at State Street, where Kedia spent nearly eight years as head of investment servicing. She then was hired by U.S. Bancorp as vice chair of wealth management and investment services. At the time, it was one of the firm's four business lines.

The early years were about "getting used to the company and making sure it was a good cultural fit," Kedia said. She took on more duties and grew "meaningfully attached" to the job, she said.

In the spring of 2023, her role expanded when she began leading corporate and commercial banking in addition to wealth management and investment services. She was vice chair of wealth, corporate, commercial and institutional banking for about a year, during which she managed the combination of those businesses into a single division.

In the midst of bringing those entities together, U.S. Bancorp was digesting its 2022 acquisition of MUFG Union Bank, and the U.S. banking industry, including U.S. Bancorp, was dealing with heavy fallout from the failures of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic Bank.

The combination of the two businesses "came together beautifully in all the right ways," which was a plus given the industry crisis and the work to integrate Union Bank, she said.

The Union Bank acquisition closed in December 2022, about six months later than executives had anticipated. The conversion involved about 1.3 million consumer, business banking and wealth accounts and the rebranding of about 300 retail branches along the West Coast.

And like many banks, U.S. Bancorp spent several weeks trying to assure customers about the safety and soundness of the company and avert any fears that would drive deposit runs.

"I will never underestimate the need to build trust with your clients and safeguard your reputation, because look at how quickly it can disappear," Kedia said. "I remember saying 'Wow! I can't believe our clients are nervous about the stability and soundness of big banks,' but it happened."

In her new role, Kedia oversees all three of U.S. Bancorp's core businesses — wealth, corporate, commercial and institutional banking; consumer and business banking; and payment services. Combined, the businesses employ 38,000 people in the U.S., Canada and Europe.

Kedia said she spent the first three months as president focusing on three areas: stabilizing the workforce and organizing the structure to keep serving clients seamlessly; understanding management processes; and establishing a vision and strategy for the U.S. Bancorp of the future, which was expected to be shared at the company's investor day in September.

As her job has expanded, Kedia has remained active in the community. She sits on the boards of PBS, Junior Achievement USA and the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University, where she earned her master's degree.

Although some high-ranking women in banking have left their jobs in the past year, in part because of acquisitions and planned retirements, Kedia said she's optimistic about women holding top executive roles. Progress is being made, even if it doesn't always feel that way.

Currently, Citigroup's Jane Fraser is the only female CEO among the nation's 50 largest banks.

"I know it feels like fits and starts, but those women CEOs did well," Kedia said. "There was a time when there was only one woman on the board and only one woman on the managing committee and only one woman in Congress. And then we stopped being just one."