The Most Powerful Women in Banking: No. 10, Lori Beer, JPMorgan Chase

Lori Beer is known for more than her work in tech at the world's largest bank, JPMorgan Chase . She is also a champion of diversity and inclusion, particularly for women and people of color.

As global chief information officer, Beer is responsible for the bank's global technology systems and infrastructure and manages a $17 billion budget. She oversees more than 63,000 technologists and has 18 direct reports.

During her seven years in the role, JPMorgan has experienced "the largest technology transformation in its history, a journey of modernizing our tech stacks from the layers that interact with our clients to all of the deeper layers for processing," Beer said.

Her involvement includes building and managing artificial intelligence technology and exploring the potential of generative AI. She's also led notable progress by moving some applications to the cloud and others to the firm's new data centers while creating a new tool to help developers work more efficiently. Under her guidance, JPMorgan now has more than 400 AI use cases in production in areas such as marketing, fraud and risk.

"The productivity of this organization today is by far higher than it was several years ago, optimizing the infrastructure that we use and reducing costs," Beer said.

But as JPMorgan's first female CIO, and the first female technology leader on Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon's operating committee, Beer feels a calling to advocate for women and diversity in the workplace.

Women aspiring to be leaders in industries such as financial services continue to face obstacles including gender bias, lack of mentorship, slower promotion rates and pay disparities.

"We have made progress over the years, but … there's still work to be done," Beer said. "Women also continue to disproportionately manage family responsibilities and caregiving roles in addition to work."

Among the commitments to combat these issues, companies must conduct regular pay audits, create programs to foster inclusive cultures and provide pathways for women and minorities to receive promotions.

"Providing opportunities and infrastructure to grow women in C-suites, in financial services as well as across other industries, will help to build the pipeline of role models and networks for women in the future," Beer said.

Under her leadership, JPMorgan launched Autism at Work, a hiring program to recruit neurodiverse talent from around the world.

Beer is the operating committee sponsor for the firm's Women on the Move and Access Ability business resource groups. She increased the firm's investment in STEM programs for girls and women, such as Girls Who Code, and helped expand JPMorgan's Work Prep Initiative introducing college-aged women to tech career opportunities.

Beer is also involved in JPMorgan's Tech for Social Good campaign, which has clocked more than 700,000 volunteer hours to date in hackathons through Code for Good, youth coding and mentorship programs and other initiatives.

Outside the firm, Beer is on the Teach for America Advisory Board. She's a University of Cincinnati Foundation Board of Trustees member and has endowed numerous STEM scholarships to students there and at the University of Dayton.