The Most Powerful Women to Watch: No. 13, Christina Mohr, Citigroup

Christina Mohr is confident that her team can excel at a restructured Citigroup .

"What they're calling simplification at Citi is really about putting clients at the center of what we do," said Mohr, the New York company's vice chair of M&A and investment banking. In other words, Citi is focused on what has always guided her career: to serve clients intensively.

Last year, Citi CEO Jane Fraser announced a plan to reduce the bank's management layers from 13 to eight. By 2026, firmwide reductions are supposed to save Citi $1 billion annually, though it will result in 15,000 layoffs.

Mohr, who helms a staff of 150 people, believes that measuring a firm's value, or an executive's worth, by staff size is faulty.

"When people think of importance, they tend to think about how many people you manage," she said.

"It's frankly an old, male industrial paradigm," she added. "It's not necessarily how many people who take orders from you, but how many people you touch and influence."

Mohr cited instances where other company CEOs have called to share that her advice profoundly changed their prospects. She recalled joining clients and their families at the ringing of the New York Stock Exchange bell at events that have galvanized her 46 years in banking, including 27 at Citi.

Dealmaking hit snags during and immediately after the pandemic, Mohr said. Amid Citi's restructuring, she is advising more companies with valuations of greater than $10 billion. Some of these companies that are in newer industries hit a saturation point in their growth, she said, and are looking to sell parts of their business.

Citi's investment banking revenue increased by 60% in the first half of 2024 compared to a year earlier, to $853 million, after posting year-over-year declines in 2022 and 2023. Citi said that more debt issuance and an increase in IPO activity drove the recent revenue spike.

In a challenging time, Mohr advises employees to build commitments with clients, which may not immediately lead to a fat investment fee. Results are measured "not on market share alone," she said, but events like a client sharing their investment anxieties. It is a cause for celebration when communication lines are open.

"The analytics I can teach, but you need that ability to reach out and understand what another person or company is going through," Mohr said.

"The key is continuing to focus on why you are here," she added. "You're here because you want to work with the client."

Mohr also chairs Citi's fairness committee, which approves every opinion Citi provides on whether a deal is in a client's financial interest. Mohr said that she enjoys the intellectual task of holding meetings and working through these reports. In 2023, the fairness committee reviewed over 60 opinions globally, and is on a similar pace this year.

"It does expand the day," Mohr said. "But this isn't a nine-to-five job."