Special Program Root Tag

In the eight years that Leslie Godridge has led the National Corporate and Institutional Banking unit at U.S. Bancorp, she has broadened its scope from regional to national and grown its loan portfolio significantly.

Karen Larrimer is making sure all PNC employees — even those in the back office — understand how their jobs connect to the customer.

Patti Husic — who runs a community bank where 75% of the executive team is female — has emerged as a leading advocate in her home state of Pennsylvania of getting more women into banking's executive ranks.

Andrea Smith handled so many disparate assignments as global head of human resources at Bank of America that CEO Brian Moynihan finally had to create an entirely new job title for her: chief administrative officer.

The No. 2 executive at RBC is leading its integration of Los Angeles-based City National Bank.

Anne Clarke Wolff, Bank of America's head of global corporate banking since 2011, has broadened the company's reach with multinational clients in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Karen Parkhill is creating a culture of continuous improvement at Comerica.

When Sandy Pierce broke into banking in the early 1980s, her street smarts gave her a decided advantage over other young loan officers. She just didn't know it at the time.

Ranjana Clark's aggressive — but safe — pursuit of deposits has allowed MUFG Union Bank to beef up its commercial lending.

Despite years of diversity initiatives, senior management teams remain overwhelmingly male. Now a growing number of women are coming around to the idea that real change starts in the boardroom.

Our top woman in finance for the third straight year, Mary Callahan Erdoes, is overseeing record growth at JPMorgan Chase's asset-management arm.

Fidelity is America's second-largest mutual fund company, behind Vanguard Group, with nearly $2 trillion in assets under management, and Abigail Johnson is now in charge of it.

In recent years Barclays' Barbara Byrne has found some atypical ways to support the careers of women. The latest is her investment in the film "Equity," which is about Wall Street and features women in the starring roles as well as behind the camera.

As it seeks to gain more market share in the fiercely competitive payments world, Discover Financial counts heavily on Diane Offereins to cultivate relationships with merchants, financial institutions and emerging players, like Apple and Samsung.

Marie Chandoha has guided Charles Schwab Investment Management to record growth by focusing on lowering fees and improving investor education.

By staying laser-focused on customer and employee retention, Margaret Keane has made sure that Synchrony Financial's split from General has gone off without a hitch.

Under Mary Mack, the nation's third-largest retail brokerage is suddenly winning high marks for customer satisfaction.

Innovation is often slow going at large financial institutions, but PNC's Charlotte McLaughlin has a knack for pushing new products through the gauntlet of project managers and committees quickly.

Candace Browning is using insight gained from her position as head of global research to help improve operations in Bank of America's largest business lines.

As one of Bessemer Trust's most senior leaders — and the highest-ranking woman in the firm's 108-year history — Rebecca Patterson does it all, from developing new products to directing marketing initiatives to setting corporate strategy to commenting on market trends for CNBC.