Special Program Root Tag

In her formative years, Suni Harford wanted to teach high school physics. She still occasionally mulls a second career in the classroom.

British taxpayers — and anyone who finds bank bailouts distasteful — should probably thank Caroline Silver for her work last year.

After a 20-year career at the World Bank, Beschloss is now president and CEO of the Rock Creek Group, a global advisory and asset manager, previously called Carlyle Asset Management Group.

"Diversity" has become a buzzword as companies position themselves to take advantage of an increasingly disparate clientele. But Kelly Williams can stake a solid claim to having led the charge, not just having responded to the call.

Since taking the helm at the nation's third-largest retail brokerage in January, Mack has split the financial services group she once ran into three distinct units, reshuffled management and strengthened collaboration between the brokerage and banking units to boost cross-sales and referrals.

With her daughter heading off to college, Julie Goodridge has more time to give back to the community. And she recently acquired a much better space to do it in.

Mary Callahan Erdoes is spearheading a program at JPMorgan Chase to help women get back into the banking industry after extended time off. And she really hopes you'll steal this idea.

• The 25 Most Powerful Women in Finance

It's been a fast ascent for Barbara Desoer, who just joined Citibank as its chief operating officer in October 2013 and moved up to the CEO role in April.

SunTrust Banks wants to drive nearly all customer transactions to its digital channels, and it is Rilla Delorier's job to make sure it succeeds.

Jana Schreuder has long been one of Northern Trust's highest-ranking women and now she appears to be on the short list of potential successors to CEO Frederick Waddell.

Mary Tuuk's role at Fifth Third might best be described as chief regulatory officer.

Amy Brady's influence at KeyCorp goes well beyond the technology duties that her title implies.

Patti Husic runs a community bank with just $305 million of assets, but she has outsized influence in Pennsylvania.

To that end, one of Debby Hopkins' major tasks over the past year was revamping the research and development process at Citigroup.

Diana Reid has built PNC Real Estate into one of the nation's largest commercial real estate lenders.

Huntington Bancshares' CEO Stephen Steinour makes few decisions without first consulting his chief risk officer, Helga Houston.

After leading turnarounds at two underperforming banks and selling them at nice premiums, Mary Lynn Lenz questioned whether she wanted to continue working in the industry.

Michele Trolli has built a reputation throughout her career as an integrations specialist.

The Japanese-owned MUFG Union Bank has made no secret of its ambitions to become a top-10 lender in the United States, so it only made sense to put Bita Ardalan in charge of commercial lending in one of its most important regions.

Those looking to boost sales of banking products to wealth management clients could pick up some pointers from Rosemary Berkery.