Special Program Root Tag

Kay Hoveland never intended to become a banker. But in 1973 she applied for a loan at a credit union to buy flooring and appliances for the home she was building with her family.

It's been tough being a banker over the past year, when "bank" has often been considered "a four-letter word," says LeeAnne Linderman of Zions First National Bank. "This has been the most challenging ... "

Few women in banking draw as much attention as Sallie Krawcheck. A mainstay on lists of powerful women, Krawcheck joined Bank of America in August to take over its brokerage and wealth management operations.

In November of last year, Morgan Stanley appointed Cece Sutton president of the new retail banking group. Bank deposits grew to $46.8B by the end of the first quarter of 2009.

Among her peers, Citigroup's Jane Fraser may stand out just for the sheer number of air miles she logged last year while leading the troubled company's re-engineering effort.

Long days are the norm now for Pat Callahan, the executive vice president in charge of integrating the former Wachovia into the now nearly $1.3 trillion-asset Wells Fargo.

Earlier this year, as many bankers moved cautiously through chaos, Bank of America's Cathy Bessant forged ahead, focused on making a deal. The result: A joint venture agreement with First Data.

The recession has not made president Nancy Wolcott's life easy. The group's enterprise investor services business ranks as the No. 1 sub-accounting provider in the U.S. and No. 2 full-service mutual fund transfer agent in the U.S.

Diana Starcher says tackling the task of combining Wells Fargo & Co.'s customer service channel with Wachovia's is a lot like learning to downhill ski. "You're trained when you first begin skiing not to look down to the bottom of the mountain."

Recessions have been surprisingly good to Beth Mooney, and she's doing all she can to make sure this one works out well, too. Mooney got into banking in the mid-1970s downturn, scoring the only job she could find out of college: as a secretary at a Texas bank.

Just one woman leads risk management among the 15 largest banks. It is Mary Tuuk. And Tuuk, who reports to CEO Kevin Kabat, is bullish on the broad role risk managers play.

It would seem almost impossible for Terri Dial to look bad as CEO of Citigroup's North American banking operations. If she manages to turn around the business, Dial will be a hero. And if she doesn't, who would blame her, given that Citigroup must offload $600 billion in so-called "noncore" assets, many of which are troubled?

While many policymakers were still describing the housing crisis as "contained," Molly Sheehan knew better. The JPMorgan Chase executive saw the payment shock brewing as a wave of hybrid adjustable mortgages were due to reset at higher rates, and she was determined to get ahead of it.

Since joining U.S. Bancorp three years ago after 25 years with The Bank of New York, Godridge and her team have been working tirelessly to build the Midwest bank's reputation and its account base among businesses in and around the country's largest city.

When she reflects on the banking crisis, one thing is clear to Scotiabank's Alberta Cefis: It has been a good time to work for a Canadian bank.

In her 29 years at Northern Trust, Jana Schreuder has been part of a global expansion that turned the Chicago-based family trust-asset and custodial institution into a global wealth-management and institutional lending powerhouse.

For Coppermark Bank in Oklahoma City, as for many U.S. banks, 2009 has been a rebuilding year, and it has fallen on senior executive vice president and chief operating officer Jacque Fiegel to lead efforts to grow deposits, improve IT systems, and generally boost customer confidence.

Elizabeth Mays does not stop thinking about risk management when she leaves her office at JPMorgan Chase & Co. each day. Her most recent book, Credit Scoring for Risk Managers, was largely written from a booth at Chuck E. Cheese.

As a veteran of political campaigns and the Clinton White House, Lisa Caputo is a battle-tested strategist and tactician - useful experience for handling global marketing and corporate affairs at Citigroup Inc.

The cult leader of customer service at TD Bank has an office in the middle of one of its call centers for a reason. "It keeps me close to employees and it keeps me close to customers and feedback," says Linda Verba, executive vice president and head of retail banking at the $134 billion-asset bank.