2024 Most Powerful Women in Finance

With the November acquisition of Adenza, a risk management and regulatory reporting software provider, Nasdaq continued the fintech expansion that Friedman has championed since she took the CEO job in 2017.

Hung joined State Street Global Advisors in December 2022, following a 12 year stint at New York Life Investments, including 7 1/2 years as its CEO.

Merrill Wealth Management added a record 37,500 net new clients in 2023, up nearly 50% from 2022, and added $38 billion AUM from clients in 2023, nearly five times its AUM increase in 2022.

Portney leads the bank's largest business unit, asset servicing. The group's assets under custody and administration neared $50 trillion in the second quarter, setting a record for BNY and the financial industry.

In her daily duties at BNY, Smits, who is originally from the Netherlands and now based in Britain, leads the bank's seven investment firms which have a combined $2 trillion in assets.

Milrod has led the bank's foray into digital finance and its efforts to become more product-driven.

Martin manages NYSE's five equity exchanges — NYSE, NYSE Arca, NYSE American, NYSE National and NYSE Chicago — plus its two options exchanges, NYSE Arca Options and NYSE American Options. 

As managing partner at Edward Jones, Pennington's in charge of 8 million clients, more than 19,500 financial advisors and $2.1 trillion assets under management.

Knox leads more than 4,500 professionals at Bank of America Private Bank, which generates $3.6 billion in annual revenue and has $640 billion in client balances from high-net-worth individuals, families and institutions. 

Yeshaya leads a team of 3,600 employees managing the financial resources of a firm that has swelled to $1.2 trillion in assets following landmark growth in wealth management.