The Most Powerful Women in Banking's Women to Watch

Published October 1, 2026 7:04 AM

2 Min Read

The most adept leaders in the financial industry recognize this is not the time to defend traditional business models, infrastructure, and growth plans. Instead, they must decide what new business opportunities can preserve economic value and deepen customer relationships.

Throughout 2025 and into this year, The Most Powerful Women in Banking's Women to Watch understood this. In on-chain finance, for example, executives knew the opportunity was larger than digital assets. It was about owning the infrastructure, liquidity and trust layers through which the next generation of programmable money and assets will move.

Similarly, payments executives had to sharpen their strategy— targeting orchestration, data, fraud prevention, liquidity and working capital—as real-time networks, stablecoins, embedded payments and agentic commerce began to erode the distinction between payment rails.

On the business banking front, leaders shifted their strategic focus from deposits and loans to become full financial operating systems for businesses, offering them payments, treasury, cash-flow management, embedded finance and AI-enabled credit.

In consumer banking, digital adoption and AI created opportunities to radically lower servicing costs while using personalization, predictive insights, and integrated banking capabilities to deepen relationships. The mandate was to lean into intelligence to capture more of the customer's financial life across products and channels.

Among this year's notable executives whose performances are defining the future: Santander U.S.'s Christiana Riley, president and CEO, who captured the top spot, followed by Bank of America's Sharon Miller, president of business banking (#2), Fidelity Investments' Cynthia Lo Bessette, head of digital asset management (#3), Ally Financial's Lindsay Sacknoff, president of consumer banking (#4), Franklin Templeton's Sandy Kaul, EVP and head of digital assets and innovation (#5) and 20 of their peers, who understood the dramatic forces of innovation and transformation—and their resulting effects—cut across the enterprise.

In this new era, growth for their companies is migrating toward businesses that control customer relationships, intelligence, liquidity and transaction flows. It's as much about deciding what their institution must own and with whom it can partner as it is about making the right technology and product development investments.

Read the other rankings:

The Most Powerful Women in Banking

The Most Powerful Women in Finance

The Most Powerful Women in Banking Top Teams

The Most Powerful Women in Banking NEXT

Christiana Riley, Santander U.S.

President and CEO

Many major bank CEOs leave product development to their sprawling IT and innovation departments. Christiana Riley, president and CEO of Santander US, however, has taken matters into her own hands.

The former literature and Romance languages major, who calls herself an "accidental banker" and an even more accidental technologist, is using AI to "vibe code" a custom CRM tool to help smooth Santander's $12.3 billion acquisition of Webster Bank.

"You used to put things into the technology development funnel, and they would call you 12 months later — the actual technology production is now right there," Riley said. Building the tool herself means she is maintaining the "same level of curiosity and transformation that I am hopeful our entire organization is focused on," she added.

Sharon Miller, Bank of America

President, Business Banking

At the start of 2026, Bank of America's bankers got a new AI tool: a curated list of prompts meant to help them use artificial intelligence in their daily work. But it turned out that the bankers were already experimenting and teaching themselves faster than the prompt inventory could keep up. Within months, the prompts tool was canceled.

"We shelved that plan in favor of expanding our existing AI fluency training, a more flexible approach that allows us to grow and learn as the capabilities change over time," said Sharon Miller, president of business banking at Bank of America.

Learn more about Miller's leadership.

Cynthia Lo Bessette, Fidelity Investments

Head of Digital Asset Management

A simple, though compelling paradigm guides Fidelity Investments, the third-largest asset manager in the world with $7.1 trillion AUM, when it comes to introducing its customers to crypto—hold, use, build.

That's the formula Fidelity's Cynthia Lo Bessette, head of digital asset management, described as the road map for creating trust in a new asset and asset class represented by cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ether and Solana. Starting from such a large customer base has allowed Fidelity to rank as the second-most popular in the highly competitive market for Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, behind only industry leader BlackRock, according to Blockworks data.

Lindsay Sacknoff, Ally Financial

President, Consumer Banking

Lindsay Sacknoff, president of consumer banking at Ally, has been honing her leadership skills since childhood.

"The way I think about performance is related to where I've come from," she explained. "I always tell people that I was born on a team — one with five brothers and sisters. Being a part of that family team was the foundation for my leadership philosophy."

And she's been putting that philosophy to work at Ally — the largest all-digital bank in the U.S., with $144 billion in deposits and $21 billion across retail banking and investing — since she joined in January 2025. Sacknoff oversees strategy and design for Ally's digital financial solutions, and also manages bank operations including fraud and financial crimes, consumer insights, and the customer care and experience group, which supports more than 3.5 million customers.

Sandy Kaul, Franklin Templeton

EVP, Head of Digital Assets & Innovation

Crypto investors could be forgiven for feeling besieged as markets are down more than 50% from record highs reached in the fall of 2025. For Wall Street veteran Sandy Kaul, however, the historic parallels to the birth of the hedge fund industry in the wake of the dot.com crash offers hope — and opportunity.

When that "second wave" of hedge fund investors emerged in 2002, it gave rise to the multi-strategy and fund-of-funds hedge fund offerings that saw assets balloon from about $600 billion that year to $1.9 trillion by 2007.

"I feel like we are at the exact same point in that cycle with crypto," Kaul, head of digital assets and innovation at $1.7 trillion-asset Franklin Templeton, said in an interview. "We've had the big bull market with a lot of retail interest, we've kind of seen retail move on a bit, just like they did after the dot-com boom. We are now seeing a turnover of positions into more institutional hands."

Jo Jagadish, TD Bank

Head of Digital Banking, Payments & Contact Centers

Jo Jagadish's portfolio at TD Bank is expanding at an extraordinary pace.

Jagadish held the title head of digital banking, payments and contact centers for two years, before adding consumer deposits, the bank's largest business line, to her remit early this summer.

In July, she added TD's enterprise payments portfolio to her lineup, which the bank describes as an "expanded interim mandate." And her title had changed again, to head of U.S. digital and payments and consumer deposits.

Debopama Sen, Citi

Head of Payments, Services

Debopama Sen

Citigroup

Debopama Sen's team at Citi uses AI to draft client responses, flag anomalies and recommend optimizations. There is one decision, however, she won't let a model anywhere near: whether a payment actually goes through.

"I don't see the relevance of an [AI] model to tell us to authorize payments," said Sen, Citi's head of payments for its services business. "Our approach is about applying the right technology to the right challenge. Standard payment authorization is a process perfect for automation. We strategically deploy AI in more dynamic areas, like identifying new fraud patterns and interpreting payment documentation."

It's a small example of a much bigger instinct at a business that moves $6 trillion a day across 140 currencies in 95 countries for thousands of corporates, Sen said. The real question is always "where do you draw the balance between creativity and individual brilliance, and systems and processes and methodology."

Learn more about Sen's work.

Ryan Rugg, Citi

Global Head of Digital Assets, TTS

For some of the most influential executives in finance, their career paths didn't happen in a linear fashion. Such is the case for Ryan Rugg, global head of digital assets for Citi's treasury and trade solutions group. (Citi has since renamed the TTS group and Rugg's title is now global head of digital assets, services.) A decade ago, while working at blockchain startup R3, Rugg was given a challenge — to create the future of networks. It's taken some time, but that goal is now within her sight at Citi.

After leaving R3 as its global head of industry in 2020, Rugg became head of IBM's America's blockchain team before joining Citi four years ago, where she manages 11 employees at the $2.65 trillion-asset bank, including nine direct reports. Rugg reports to Biswarup Chatterjee, global head of partnerships and innovation for Citi Services.

Stephanie Richard, Ally Financial

Chief Risk Officer

Stephanie Richard has spent nearly three decades helping guide Ally Financial through some of its most defining moments: from the financial crisis to the company's transition from GMAC into a digital bank to today's era of evolving risk.

Now, as chief risk officer since November 2024, she wants to redefine how the role is perceived.

"It's thinking about how to bring clarity to big, ambiguous problems," she said. "It's helping connect dots across the organization."

Learn more about Richard's leadership at Ally.

Tammy LoCascio, First Horizon

Senior EVP and COO

When Tammy LoCascio wanted employees to embrace AI into their workflow in 2025, the COO of First Horizon didn't hand down a mandate. Instead, she started a contest.

More than 100 employees—from tellers to operations staff—submitted their own ideas for structuring AI into their workflow. The winning entry launched an automated documentation platform for CRE loan origination, eventually to cover the Memphis-based bank's entire commercial line of business.

"It was a way for us to get a little bit of pull from the organization rather than just everything being a push," said LoCascio. "It gave us a really good insight into a list of 100 initiatives that matter to our people."

Kara McShane, Wells Fargo

Global Head of Commercial Real Estate, Executive Vice President and Managing Director

Kara McShane doesn't believe banks exist to sell products. Banks exist to solve problems — and she wants to be certain her team is ready to deliver.

"Our performance reflects the team's expertise, the breadth of our platform, and the depth of our client relationships," said McShane, the global head of commercial real estate at Wells Fargo, whose team originated approximately $83 billion across balance sheet and capital markets in FY 2025. "We are focused on what the client ultimately needs, not a product list. We think about what the client is solving for and the best solution. We show up as one firm, even if a project crosses disciplines."

Ericka Leslie, Goldman Sachs

COO of Global Banking & Markets and Global Head of GBM Operations and Engineering

Ericka Leslie has a demonstrated track record of combining technical expertise with the ability to drive major organizational change and lead teams through complex and changing environments to advance her units' impact.

One such recent example: the creation of the capital solutions group, or CSG, which Leslie designed and established in Q1 2026 to more effectively integrate financing, origination, structuring and risk management activities operating within Goldman's global banking & markets, or GBM, division. As part of this, the COO of GBM oversaw the movement of teams, risk functions and technology assets critical to the success of the effort.

Jeane Vidoni, Penn Community Bank

CEO

Billy Joel once sang it was "getting very hard to stay" in Allentown, as the dying steel industry cratered economic opportunity for post boomers in eastern Pennsylvania.

Four decades later, Jeane Vidoni is watching a very different Lehigh Valley take shape—one where it's getting harder to leave amid a booming local economy.

"I just am so impressed with Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton," says the CEO of Penn Community Bank. "I think it might be the only market in Pennsylvania where they have more young people moving in than leaving."

Zewditu "Tizu" Menelik, Huntington National Bank

Executive Managing Director, Corporate, Specialty and Government Banking

In an industry historically known for a sea of conventional leaders, it's easy to spot the standouts, particularly when their strategy is grounded in contrarian thinking—but with the credibility to back it up.

Such is the case with Zewditu "Tizu" Menelik, executive managing director of corporate, specialty and government banking (CSG), with $53 billion in commitments and $26 billion in earning assets, at $284 billion-asset Huntington National Bank.

Nearly four years into her role leading the CSG group, Menelik took a rather unconventional position in 2025 when she argued the bank should fully re-engage the energy market in its portfolio—six years after its significant retreat in the wake of energy-related credit defaults that began in 2019 and came to a head the following year. (Of the $713 million in nonperforming assets across the bank in 2020, 40% fell within its energy portfolio, according to American Banker.)

Liz Wolverton, Pinnacle Financial Partners

Chief Digital and Product Solutions Officer

Sometime in mid-March 2027, more than 200,000 Pinnacle Financial Partners customers will be moved onto a new banking app, whether they're ready or not. Liz Wolverton is the executive responsible for making sure it all works.

People may not know her name right now, she said. "But when [that date in] March happens, if things don't work, they will know it in a bad way afterwards." March 2027 is coming fast, she added.

Wolverton is Pinnacle's chief digital and product solutions officer, a role created in August 2025 as part of the leadership structure formed when Synovus Financial Corp. and Pinnacle Financial Partners closed their merger of equals on Jan. 2, 2026. A 23-year veteran of Synovus, Wolverton most recently ran its consumer banking division, and now reports to Pinnacle CEO Kevin Blair.

Christina Minnis, Goldman Sachs

Global Head of Credit and Asset Finance and Head of Global Acquisition Finance, Capital Solutions Group

One of the hottest areas in finance in recent years has been the market for private debt, both for the elevated earnings potential on offer and the more recent concerns of weakening creditworthiness. And as with much of Wall Street, Goldman Sachs was there at the beginning.

While Christina Minnis wasn't at Goldman for the birth of private credit, she's helped it grow into a market valued at $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion as of 2024. That's up from $357 billion in 2016, or about a five-fold increase. As the bank's global head of credit and asset finance and head of global acquisition finance, Minnis has had a front row seat as mid-market companies have increasingly taken to borrowing from non-bank lenders. (In January 2026, Minnis was named the global head of the alternatives origination group.)

Krista Snelling, West Coast Community Bank

Chair and CEO

Don't mess with the locals.

Following the merger of California's Santa Cruz County Bank and First Capital Bank, the organization rebranded in April 2025, reintroducing itself to customers as West Coast Community Bank. For Chairman and CEO Krista Snelling, one message had to be loud and clear: We are still a community bank.

"Santa Cruz has historically had a very hippy-dippy vibe, and proudly," Snelling said. "There's a very big culture here of doing things local: bank local, shop local, local local local. And that's wonderful. But there was a fair amount of trepidation about changing the name away from Santa Cruz County Bank."

The merger, however, which closed in October of 2024, grew the bank's size by 55% to $2.8 billion in assets. It expanded its geographic presence from three counties to four, with 10 branches spanning 200 miles of California coast — leaving the legacy name "Santa Cruz County Bank" inaccurate.

Leigh-Ann Russell, BNY

CIO and Global Head of Engineering

Global banks rarely hire their CIOs from outside of banking, much less the energy industry. Both industries, however, rely heavily on technology and data and are highly regulated, noted Leigh-Ann Russell, who previously was energy giant BP's CTO.

In addition to the new challenge, she was drawn by CEO Robin Vince's description of his own tech interests and BNY's efforts to unify bank silos and employees in a more horizontal management structure.

"As a technologist, working with someone who loves technology and wants to build a culture united around company success—that was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me," she said.

Josephine Moran, Ledyard Bank

President and CEO

When Josephine Moran became president and CEO of Ledyard Bank three years ago, she had a plan to propel growth by reshaping the community bank into a New Hampshire-based lending powerhouse. It was a plan with some risk given the uncertain lending environment at the time. But it paid off handsomely.

In 2025, net income for the $1 billion-asset bank grew $6 million—an 85% jump over 2024. Gross loans grew 15.1% to $670.8 million, and client deposits increased $60.1 million year over year. Meanwhile, assets under management in the wealth unit, the bank's historical strength, grew another 6.6% to $2.29 billion.

Cristin Read, Capitol National Bank

Chair and CEO

Cristin Reid can't compete with the big banks on rates. A 4.5% CD from a national player, she said, "would destroy our margin." But she has other levers that she can pull to retain her loyal customers.

Reid is chair and CEO of privately held Capitol National Bank, a $212 million community bank in Lansing, Michigan, with about 30 employees and a customer base that ranges from mom-and-pop ice cream shops to some of the state's largest developers.

Where a bigger bank could run a client's numbers and walk away, Reid can make a judgment call and choose to stick with a borrower who is struggling.

Meghan Shue, Wilmington Trust

EVP and Chief Investment Strategist

Meghan Shue, Wilmington Trust's EVP and chief investment strategist, spent much of 2025 explaining a market that often felt more threatening than its returns suggested.

Utilizing tools honed from her nearly two decades in investment research, Shue guided her ultra-high-net-worth investor clientele through the volatility around tariffs, geopolitics, inflation and fears of AI-related economic disruption. She urged them to stay the course, a strategy vindicated as the S&P 500 recovered quickly from the April market shock.

"It was a bit of an unloved market," Shue said of 2025. "The constant challenge is taking the emotional reactions that our clients might have and helping them see the bigger picture—the value more than anything else of staying invested."

Courtney Kelso, U.S. Bank

Senior EVP and Head of Payments: Consumer and Small Business

When Courtney Kelso left American Express to become head of payments at U.S. Bank, she knew plenty about credit cards and what it took to make them appealing.

But Kelso described it as "exhilarating" to work on cards in the context of a full-service bank offering a menu of other products. And, she said, she was attracted by the growth plan laid out by Gunjan Kedia, who had been promoted to CEO and envisioned a significant role for the cards business at U.S. Bank

"I could see the potential, and I could see the intention of the entire bank behind it," said Kelso, who spent 18 years at Amex before joining Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank in February 2025.

Learn more about Kelso's work at the bank.

Catherine Owen, Eagle Bank and State Holding Company

Executive Chair and Chair of the Board, Eagle Bank, and Chair, President, & CEO, State Holding Company

As chair of the American Bankers Association over the next year, Catherine Owen's experience leading Arkansas's Eagle Bank & Trust Co.—for nearly half a century—will strengthen her bank advocacy just as it has her standing among her employees and community.

Bankers at community institutions often feel their voices go unheard, said Owen, executive chair of the $503 million-asset bank and president, CEO and chair of its holding company. Nevertheless, bankers must stay well informed and be willing to testify at state and federal capitals when occasions arise, said Owens, who has held numerous positions at the ABA.

Some, for example, may see little need to track the legislative progress of the Clarity Act, which aims to provide a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies and digital assets. Owen calls it a top issue, since smaller banks have commercial customers who may want to explore the technology for payments and other uses, "And I don't want to lose those deposits." (In September, the Senate voted to block the Clarity Act.)

Learn more about Owen's leadership.

Ann Marie Darling, Barclays

Group Co-COO and Co-CEO Barclays Execution Services

Anne Marie Darling had the kind of 25-year career at Goldman Sachs that young associates dream of: A partner for a dozen years, she watched markets transform electronically while holding down titles like head of global multi-asset platform sales, head of global FICC execution services and COO of global securities client strategy.

When she felt she was done at Goldman last year, she didn't retire or take on a slew of director positions, but instead decided to join Barclays, where she's now responsible for half of the bank's 120,000 employees. Appointed group co-chief operating officer and co-CEO of Barclays execution services in July 2025, Darling said she was brought in to drive change at the U.K. investment bank.

Brittany Scott, CIBC U.S.

SVP and CIO, U.S. Technology, Data and AI

Since doubling CIBC's U.S. tech workforce to 500 people over 2 ½ years, Brittany Scott has focused on developing internal talent and opening pathways into the bank.

It's starting to pay off, as the U.S. technology, data and AI CIO has cut costs by $15 million over three years and Canada's fifth-largest bank keeps pace with its even larger rivals. In the past year, CIBC has moved about 90% of its applications to the cloud by dropping its legacy data centers and has created a new digital banking platform in the last 18 months.