The Most Powerful Women to Watch 2022

October 5, 2022 6:00 AM

Enjoy complimentary access to top ideas and insights — selected by our editors.

Kristy Fercho, CEO of home lending at Wells Fargo, tops the list of this year's Most Powerful Women in Banking: Watch list. Fercho was appointed to the position in July 2020, and has delivered strong returns for the bank while also building one of the most diverse teams at Wells.

As in years past, the 25 women on the Watch list are CEOs and CFOs, heads of human resources, marketing and customer experience, among other job functions. The banks are equally represented this year — no bank has more than one honoree.

Scroll through to see our list of the Most Powerful Women to Watch 2022.

Also be sure to read:

Kristy Fercho

Executive Vice President, CEO of Home Lending
Wells Fargo

Few lenders capitalized on 2021's mortgage market like Wells Fargo. The bank issued $205 billion in mortgage loans, generating $8.1 billion in revenue., and helping more than 585,000 customers refinance or purchase a new home. The bank is also the nation's leading mortgage servicer, boasting a loan portfolio of almost $1 billion in unpaid principal balances.

Read her full profile.

Michal Katz

Head of Investment and Corporate Banking
Mizuho Americas

Michal Katz helped orchestrate two of the largest acquisitions of early 2022.

In January, affiliates of activist investor Elliott Management, along with Vista Equity Partners, announced the purchase of the software company Citrix Systems for $16.5 billion. Mizuho Americas financed the move. In April, Mizuho financed a private equity consortium including Elliott Management and Brookfield Asset Management that acquired the venerable television ratings groups Nielsen for $16 billion, one of the largest leveraged buyouts ever in the media industry.

Read her full profile.

Anu Aiyengar

Global Co-head of Mergers and Acquisitions
JP Morgan Chase

JPMorgan's global mergers and acquisitions practice hammered out 637 deals in 2021, according to the financial giant. And the nearly 250 M&A professionals that Anu Aiyengar supervises racked up $4.1 billion in fees last year. That's a 97% year-over-year leap.

Read her full profile.

Christina Mohr

Vice Chair of Global M&A
Citigroup

Looking back on her 44 years in finance, Christina Mohr is pleased by the ways the industry has changed for women investment bankers.

"Everything has changed. Everything has changed. Everything has changed," Mohr repeated.

Read her full profile.

Glenda Pedroso

East Region President
Northern Trust

Glenda Pedroso has spent her entire 35-year banking career in Miami. But her new position at Northern Trust has her now doing a lot more traveling.

Read her full profile.

Florence Pourchet

CEO of CIB Latin America and Head of Corporate Responsibility Americas
BNP Paribas

Florence Pourchet has been with BNP Paribas for 30 years, and is the bank's most senior female executive in the Americas. She has been the regional head of the bank's ESG initiatives since 2011.

Read her full profile.

Liz Wolverton

Executive Vice President, Head of Consumer Banking and Brand Experience
Synovus Financial Corp.

Liz Wolverton has been with Columbus, Georgia-based Synovus since 2003, starting at the bank as director of accounting and financial analysis. In December 2021, after filling various roles including chief strategy officer and executive vice president, Wolverton was tapped to lead the consumer bank.

Read her full profile.

Kavita Mahtani

Chief Financial Officer, Americas
HSBC North America Holdings

Last year, HSBC USA — as part of a three-year transformation to cut costs and streamline processes — made the decision to exit its U.S. mass market retail banking business. This ultimately meant selling 80 East Coast branches to Citizens Bank, and another 10 branches on the West Coast to Cathay Bank. Kavita Mahtani, CFO of the Americas for HSBC, played a crucial role in making these sales happen.

Read her full profile.

Helga Houston

Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Risk Officer
Huntington National Bank

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

Read her full profile.

Stephanie Novosel

Head of Commercial Banking
PNC Bank

Stephanie Novosel, head of commercial banking at PNC Bank, faced one particularly significant challenge in 2021. PNC completed an acquisition of BBVA's American banking business in June.

Read her full profile.

Vanessa Angeles

SVP, Head of New Product Development, Global Treasury Management
U.S. Bank

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.

Read her full profile.

Melissa Stevens

Executive Vice President, Chief Digital Officer and Head of Digital and Marketing
Fifth Third Bank

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.

Read her full profile.

Tara Latini

Country Head, Wealth and Personal Banking, HSBC USA
HSBC

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."

Read her full profile.

Olga Hoff

Director of Enterprise Retail Banking
Zions Bancorp.

Olga Hoff's proudest accomplishment in the past year?

She created a small-business diversity banking program at Zions Bancorp. Hoff kicked off the program last spring, and by late July, Zions had made $250 million in loans to about 900 small businesses that are owned by minority, women, veterans and LGBTQ entrepreneurs.

Read her full profile.

Aarthi Murali

Chief Customer Experience Officer
M&T Bank

Aarthi Murali - Wilmington DE

LUIGI CIUFFETELLI

How can empathy and understanding translate into banking? In about 600 ways, according to M&T Bank's Aarthi Murali.

Read her full profile.

Priscilla Sims Brown

President and CEO
Amalgamated Bank

When Priscilla Sims Brown took over as head of Amalgamated Bank, she made her goals clear. The company would increase profits and market share. Accomplishing those aims would, in turn, expand the bank's voice on social issues.

Read her full profile.

Laura Lee Stewart

President and CEO
Sound Community Bank

For years, Sound Community Bank in Seattle organized its workforce around bank branches and specialists for retail lending, commercial banking and home mortgage. But in the last year, "we threw all that out the window," said Laura Lee Stewart, the bank's president and CEO since 1989.

Read her full profile.

Paulette Mullings Bradnock

Chief Audit Executive
BNY Mellon

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.

Read her full profile.

Julieann Thurlow

President and CEO
Reading Cooperative Bank

Julieann Thurlow is working to ensure that smaller institutions don't get left behind as the megabanks make better use of new technology.

Read her full profile.

Kimberly Moore-Wright

Chief Teammate Officer and Head of Enterprise Diversity
Truist

Justin Smith

Not only does the banking industry have a problem developing more female senior leaders, it also struggles with ethnic diversity.

Read her full profile.

Nancy Pinckney

Chief Human Resources Officer
Fifth Third Bank

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Amy Elisabeth Spasoff

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.

Read her full profile.

Patricia Husic

President and CEO
Centric Financial

Patricia Husic co-founded Centric Financial in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in 2007. Then came the Great Recession.

"It wasn't perfect timing," said Husic of the bank's founding. "We didn't have a crystal ball."

Read her full profile.

Cathy Owen

Chair
Eagle Bank & Trust Co.

Cathy Owen has been in the banking industry for almost 50 years, so she well remembers the days when she was the lone woman among her peers.

Read her full profile.

Wendy Cai-Lee

Founder and CEO
Piermont Bank

Wendy Cai-Lee launched Piermont bank in 2019 with a goal of helping entrepreneurs access financial services through a digital platform.

Read her full profile.

Irene Oh

Chief Financial Officer
East West Bank

Irene Oh has been the executive vice president and chief financial officer of East West Bank in Pasadena, California, since 2010. She is one of the few Asian American women, as well as one of the youngest women, to be the CFO of a publicly traded American bank.

Read her full profile.