Ida Liu became head of Citi's North American private bank in 2019 and then went on to beat her projections by 12% in 2020 despite the pandemic. That helped her get a promotion last year to global head, running 50 offices across the globe and overseeing more than $500 billion in client business.

Kara McShane took over as head of the commercial real estate team at Wells Fargo at an inauspicious time: February 2020, when COVID-19 was heading toward pandemic status and offices were starting to empty out.

One of the basic assumptions of the wealth management industry is that investing professionals should be based in the same cities as their clients. Gunjan Kedia asked her team at U.S. Bancorp to challenge that belief.

Like its peers, PNC Bank has stepped up investments in technology over the last few years. But Charlotte McLaughlin feels the bank can move faster in the capital markets group she leads.

From the outside, Teresa Heitsenrether's career is a straight-line path of success. After earning a master's degree in finance at New York University, she began work at JPMorgan Chase in 1987.

For Elif Zapparoli, the pandemic-era shift from in-person to remote work is similar to the trend she has seen in the financial services industry over the last 20 years.

The team at JPMorgan Chase's asset and wealth management division crunched the numbers on diversity at the end of 2021 and found that portfolio managers who are women and/or people of color manage 60% of the unit's assets.

Helga Houston's corporate risk team played a critical role in Huntington completing its acquisition of Twin Cities-based TCF Financial.

Stephanie Novosel, head of commercial banking at PNC Bank, faced one particularly significant challenge last year — helping with the acquisition of BBVA's American banking business.

As head of new product development at U.S. Bank, Vanessa Angeles leads a team that creates cash management solutions for corporate and commercial clients.

At the end of 2020, when Melissa Stevens began running both digital and marketing for Fifth Third Bank, fewer than 10% of new customer checking accounts came through the digital channel. Now the bank is on track to end 2022 with more than 25% of sales originating online or on mobile. 

Tara Latini, country head of wealth and personal banking for HSBC USA, has been a key decision-maker as the bank has shifted away from the mass-market retail business in the U.S., focusing instead on "globally connected affluent and high-net-worth clients."

Olga Hoff's proudest accomplishment in the past year? She created a small-business diversity banking program at Zions.

Not only does the banking industry have a problem developing more female senior leaders, it also struggles with ethnic diversity. Kimberly Moore-Wright is working to change that.

Nancy Pinckney, chief human resources office, has overseen a string of new policies meant to bolster employee retention and create a positive work environment at Fifth Third.

As chief audit officer at BNY Mellon, Paulette Mullings Bradnock was charged with keeping tabs on the whereabouts, utilization and movement of almost $500 billion in assets.

As part of American Banker's Most Powerful Women in Banking and Finance program, we have selected five Top Teams for 2022.

For Marianne Lake, innovation is not a straight line. "You can zig, you can zag, you can bob, you can weave, you can iterate and that's how you get to the right place," Lake said during a moderated discussion held on JPMorgan Chase's "Women on the Move" leadership day in October 2021.

The consumer and community banking division at JPMorgan Chase surpassed $1 trillion in deposits in 2021, up 51% from 2019. But while the New York-based bank is the biggest in the U.S., serving more than 66 million households, customers should feel the bank is unique for them, Jennifer Piepszak, co-CEO of consumer and community banking, said during the bank's "Women on the Move" leadership day in October 2021.

Making banking easier for every customer is the mission of Mary Mack, who leads 67,000 employees in Wells Fargo's consumer and small-business banking division. Last year, Mack led the app's relaunch, making it easier to use and more secure for Wells customers. "There are alerts and speed bumps along the way to prevent fraud," she says.