Special Program Root Tag

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.

Lynn Heitman remembers the days when direct mail response rates were 20 percent. Now 2 percent is considered high. "It was a very different time," she says. "It was much easier to succeed."

After leaving Seattle to return to the Midwest to help care for an ill family member, Grossi received a call from FirstMerit asking if she'd be interested in joining the Akron, Ohio, bank as its head of retail banking.

Maureen Miskovic started out at the London Metal Exchange as the silver crisis was cresting. She was at the London Stock Exchange for the Mexican peso crisis and Barings Bank's implosion. And she became the chief risk officer at Lehman Brothers just in time for the run on its stock in 1998.

The chief executive of JPMorgan's Treasury Services business pushed through with a $1 billion investment to broaden the group's global service capabilities.

Betsy Cohen never stops innovating. When she was 32 she founded JeffBanks, and built it into the largest bank headquartered in Philadelphia. She sold it in 2000 for $350 million, or 2.75 times book, and founded The Bancorp in nearby Wilmington, Del.

For Dorothy Savarese, the financial crisis has in some ways amounted to a restoration of the principals that guide her institution, Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank.

Dorothy Bridges is as prepared for downturns as they come. But the head of the Washington, D.C.-based community development lender City First Bank, and one of a few black women to run a U.S. bank, faces a difficult test.

Sure it was painful, but the tumult of the last 12 months hasn't slowed down these 25 women. Whether in new positions or old ones, they are poised to play leading roles in the industry's recovery.

The stimulus bill thrust the Small Business Administration back into the spotlight and its new administrator is determined to make sure it stays there.

Their titles may be different, but these investment bankers, card executives, fund managers and private-equity investors are under the same pressures as their banking counterparts — and are meeting the challenges head on.

Nicole Arnaboldi, vice chairman of alternative investments of Credit Suisse, has long hewed to a belief that bear markets often present the best opportunities to generate profits.

At a time when Wall Street firms have had few success stories either in relative or absolute terms, the accomplishments of Goldman Sachs' fixed-income sales unit stood out in terms both qualitative and quantitative. "I can say publicly that the business I represent has had a record year," Goldman partner and managing director Stacy Bash-Polley says.

Western Union has long been synonymous with consumer money transfers, but Christina Gold, its president and chief executive officer, is determined to expand the company's repertoire deeper into the global payments space.