The Most Powerful Women to Watch

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This year’s Most Powerful Women to Watch has one of the more pressure-filled jobs in banking.

The Most Powerful Women in Banking is back with its online conference, gathering the 2021 honorees and other influential leaders to share insights covering key topics, including the economy, social change, business innovation and so much more. Register today and join hundreds of industry leaders on November 3-5!

Ellen Patterson is the general counsel at Wells Fargo, part of a leadership team whose primary focus is restoring credibility with regulators following a slew of scandals and getting out from under a 2018 enforcement order that essentially prohibits the company from growing.

Patterson, who was general counsel at TD Bank before joining Wells Fargo in March 2020, has appeared in the Most Powerful Women rankings for at least half a decade. But this is her first appearance in the top spot of this list.

Joining her on the list this year are six newcomers, including Wells Fargo’s Kristy Fercho, Citi’s Titi Cole, Zions Bancorp.’s Olga Hoff, HSBC’s Tara Latini, Synovus Financial's Katherine Weislogel and UMB Financial's Shannon Johnson.

HSBC and Citigroup have the most representatives on the Watch list, with three each.

Scroll through to see the full list of our Most Powerful Women to Watch for 2021.

Also be sure to check out:

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Ellen Patterson

General Counsel
Wells Fargo

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Deborah Guild

Chief Security Officer
PNC Financial Services Group

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CSX exec team

Ellen Fitzsimmons

Chief Legal Officer and Head of Public Affairs
Truist Financial

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Mary McNiff

Chief Compliance Officer
Citigroup

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Kristy Fercho

Head of Home Lending
Wells Fargo

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Michele Trolli

Head of Corporate Operations and Enterprise Initiatives
M&T Bank

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Kavita Mahtani

Chief Financial Officer for North America
HSBC

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Angela Mago

President, Key Commercial Bank and KeyBank Real Estate Capital
KeyCorp

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Titi Cole

Head of Global Operations and Fraud Prevention, and Chief Client Officer, Global Consumer Banking
Citigroup

Read her full profile.
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Jennifer Strybel

Chief Operating Officer
HSBC USA

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Melissa Stevens

Chief Digital Officer
Fifth Third Bancorp

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Liz Wolverton

Chief Strategy and Customer Experience Officer
Synovus Financial

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Cassandra McKinney

Executive Director of the Retail Bank
Comerica Bank

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Sharon Miller

President of Small Business
Bank of America

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Julieann Thurlow

President and CEO
Reading Cooperative Bank

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Kate Danella

Chief Strategy and Client Experience Officer
Regions Financial

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Marla Willner

Head of Commercial Credit Management and Strategic Initiatives
TD Bank

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Gonca Latif-Schmitt

Global Head of Commercial Cards
Citigroup

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Stephanie Novosel

Head of Commercial Banking
PNC Financial Services Group

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Michelle Di Gangi

Group Head of Small and Medium Enterprise Banking
Bank of the West

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Paulette Mullings Bradnock

Chief Audit Executive
BNY Mellon

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Olga Hoff

Director of Enterprise Retail Banking
Zions Bancorp.

Read her full profile.
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Tara Latini

Country Head for Wealth and Personal Banking
HSBC USA

Read her full profile.
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Katherine Weislogel

Head of Treasury and Payment Solutions
Synovus Financial

Read her full profile.
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Shannon Johnson

Chief Administrative Officer
UMB Financial

Read her full profile.
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