An analytical mind; a drive to improve; a sense of humility; a leadership gene. Nandita Bakhshi identified these four traits as key in her move up to CEO.

Ellen Alemany came out of retirement in the past year to continue a turnaround effort underway at the $66.7 billion-asset CIT Group. She's got her work cut out for her.

Of all that Mary Mack accomplished running Wells Fargo's brokerage operations — adding teams of new advisers in key markets, substantially improving her unit's customer satisfaction ratings — perhaps what stood out most was her group's success in attracting new business from the banking side of the house.

It took just eight months for Cate Luzio to earn her first promotion at HSBC. Luzio joined the global bank in December 2014 as head of multinational coverage for the Americas. Her group produced results so quickly that in August 2015, HSBC assigned Luzio the same role globally.

Andrea Smith has been a member of Bank of America's executive leadership team since 2010, first serving as global head of human resources before transitioning last year to chief administrative officer.

Banks just keep creating new roles for Heather Cox, who is making another job switch this fall: USAA announced that it had lured Cox away from Citi and appointed her chief technology and digital officer.

One big job apparently isn't enough for Deutsche Bank's Susan Skerritt. Since the start of this year, the German banking giant has named Skerritt to not one but two new leadership posts to go along with her role as head of global transaction banking for the Americas.

U.S. Bancorp wouldn't have much of a wholesale banking business without Leslie Godridge. The wholesale unit's two main business lines are national corporate banking and global treasury management and Godridge, who joined U.S. Bancorp in 2007, has been the driving force in the growth of both.

To understand what drives Bita Ardalan, you have to go back to the Iranian revolution of 1979.

Inspiring others is what motivates Thasunda Duckett to keep taking on challenging new assignments.

Even before it closed its acquisition of FirstMerit, Huntington Bancshares made sure it locked up FirstMerit Vice Chairman and Michigan market Chief Executive Sandy Pierce.

The last two years have been transformative ones for Howard Bank in Ellicott City, Md., and much of the credit goes to Mary Ann Scully, its chairman, president and chief executive.

The highest-ranking female at Fifth Third Bancorp is actually a relative newcomer to banking.

U.S. Bancorp is one of the largest, most respected financial institutions in the country, so it seems almost hard to believe that until Kate Quinn was hired in 2013, it didn't have a consistent branding strategy.

Rosilyn Houston insists that her new job as BBVA Compass' head of human resources is not all that different from her previous one running consumer and commercial banking for the bank's north Texas region.

One secret to Begonya Klumb's success is that she is constantly challenging herself.

For years, MUFG's Wendy Breuder kept taped to her computer a message she found in a fortune cookie that read, "None of the secrets of success will work unless you do." It was a reminder to Breuder that there are no shortcuts to success.

Under Jill Castilla, who became president and chief executive in early 2014, Citizens Bank of Edmond has won scores of fans — and customers — by creating and sponsoring a monthly street festival that has breathed new life into downtown Edmond.

"I would always rather have the most determined, encouraging, find-a-way person on my team than the smartest person in the room," said Liz Dukes Wolverton, Synovus Financial's chief strategy officer.

Last year, Yvette Hollingsworth Clark spearheaded an industrywide initiative to develop a so-called "Compliance Officer Bill of Rights."