Special Program Root Tag

It's not easy to distract Carrie Tolstedt. The senior executive vice president of community banking at Wells Fargo not only faced the same economic storm that hit all bankers this past year, but she also had to manage the massive integration of Wachovia.

If capital is king these days, then Peyton Patterson, the chairman and chief executive at NewAlliance Bank, should be wearing a crown.

Sometimes, the key to achieving results is knowing when not to sprint.Case in point: When a UK branch employee recently asked Barclays UK Retail Banking chief executive officer Deanna Oppenheimer if she'd be willing to participate in 31-story climb to benefit a children's charity, she agreed immediately.

Responding to the economic crisis has meant lots of meetings and not much sleep for Mary Callahan Erdoes, the chief executive officer of global wealth management for JPMorgan Chase & Co.

When Diane Thormodsgard began working in the wealth management business, she admits she didn't even know what corporate trust was.

Julie Monaco made our 2008 Women to Watch list for the impressive growth strategies she implemented at Citigroup's North American global transaction services business. Turns out she plays defense just as well as she plays offense.

It didn't take Lynn Pike long to make an impact at Capital One Financial Corp. Six months after becoming the president of Capital One's bank, Pike said she would like to see the company make another acquisition to start bridging "the white space" between far-flung operations along the Gulf Coast and Northeast.

Industry leaders are still finding the time to coach up-and-coming female executives, despite the turbulent market.

Whether she's hosting a mid-year conference call with 5,000 employees or broadcasting live to 11,000 real estate agents, Heiden thrives on trying to engage thousands of employees in a common pursuit.

While other bankers fretted about foreclosures and defaults this year, Avid Modjtabai spent her days (and a few nights) worrying about ATMs. Twelve thousand of them, to be exact.

At least one winner emerged from the mortgage crisis. Donna DeMaio, chief executive officer of MetLife Bank, took advantage of rock-bottom prices to buy two mortgage companies last summer.

For Sunflower Bank, 2009 was a time for looking inward. The company operates in markets that are slow-growth even in good times, and the past year was not among banking's better times. So the company, under the leadership of Mollie Hale Carter, undertook a new initiative called Execution 2009.

Diane D'Erasmo can't type. Her mom didn't want her to learn when she was growing up. "She felt that if somebody knew you knew how to type that they would make you sit at a typewriter and type and be a secretary," she says.

The British government's rescue of The Royal Bank of Scotland last year has thrust Ellen Alemany, the head of its U.S. operations, into an unfamiliar role: turnaround specialist.

Anne Arvia, who has been named to US Banker's rankings of "The 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking" four times, came to Nationwide after 15 years at ShoreBank in Chicago.

Anne Finucane, BofA's global chief strategy and marketing officer, has an outsized role at the company. Whether its brand positioning, marketing, or communications across all lines of business, Finucane is the go-to voice of the banking giant.

Ellen Costello, president and chief executive of Harris Bankcorp in Chicago, refuses to let the economic downturn get her or her 4,000 employees down.

Colleen Johnston is taking swimming lessons this fall, as she works toward her goal of completing a sprint triathlon. Mind you, she has a fear of swimming.

The top retail-banking executive at BBVA Compass was a little frustrated a week after the Alabama bank took over Guaranty Bank of Austin, Tex., in an FDIC-arranged match.

For Diane Reyes, winning a client comes down to establishing trust. In one instance last year, Reyes was trying to secure a contract with Kuwait's national oil company.