Special Program Root Tag

After FirstMerit bought Citizens Republic Bancorp last year, adding branches in Michigan and Wisconsin and nearly doubling the bank's headcount to over 5,000, Sandy Pierce helped lead an effort to hold sit-down meetings with employees across the entire region.

Beth Mooney cares more about her legacy than she does about being the first female CEO at a top 20 U.S.-based bank. One of her primary goals is to make sure KeyCorp always does right by its customers.

• The 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking

"Most powerful" and "low profile" are descriptors that rarely go together, but both describe Abigail Johnson well.

Long known as one of the most powerful women on Wall Street, Ruth Porat has shown leadership lately on issues facing women in corporate America.

Barbara Byrne is giving the term "portfolio diversification" a whole new meaning.

Though she generally avoids public attention, Isabelle Ealet gets more than a fair share anyway.

Maliz Beams has found something many employers have been searching for: an effective way to nudge workers to save.

During her 16 years working at Discover Financial Services, Diane Offereins has seen many dramatic shifts in the financial industry.

Lisa Pollina is a banker's banker. She oversees relationships with RBC Capital Markets' largest financial institution clients, entities like Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and State Street that are also counterparties and competitors.

Environmental conservation and finance tend to attract two very different kinds of people. But Marie Chandoha, the president and CEO of Charles Schwab Investment Management, is bridging the divide.

This summer Margaret Keane went from business line head to CEO of a publicly traded company, the culmination of a decade's work.

Thinking like clients yields the best solutions for them, says Charlotte McLaughlin.

This past year, Candace Browning and colleagues from various parts of Bank of America Merrill Lynch participated in a "Thought Leadership Steering Committee" whose findings sound more philosophical than financial.

Rebecca Patterson worked as a journalist before starting a career in finance, and her communication skills have contributed mightily to her success.

When talking about the business she's been building for the last decade, Katia Bouazza sounds like a proud parent.

This is a big year for Joyce Chang. At J.P. Morgan's corporate and investment bank, she's gone from overseeing about 280 employees as global head of fixed income research to supervising about 950 employees as the global head of research.

Julie Caperton, Wells Fargo's securitization chief, has taken on a lot of new responsibilities.

When Diane Schumaker-Krieg speaks about advancing women in the business world — as she frequently does — she often mentions her 10 practical career tips. No. 5 on the list is "be confident."

A Yale music major who trained at Julliard, Elinor Hoover once dreamed she would "set the world on fire with my piano playing." Instead, she's rocking boardrooms.

In an uneven year for JPMorgan Chase, Liz Myers shined. Her global equity capital markets unit completed 469 deals in 2013 and generated $1.5 billion in fees — an increase of 46% over 2012.