Noticing that clients were placing more emphasis on planning for specific goals than on simple returns and performance benchmarks, JPM's Kelly Coffey oversaw the development of a new wealth management platform to help project wealth, monitor and adjust their portfolios, and deploy surplus assets.

Attacking a problem — whether it's structuring an acquisition or merger for a Citigroup client or mastering the crescendo of a complicated piece — is about approaching it with creativity for Elinor Hoover.

To help facilitate collaboration for employees spread throughout the world, Elizabeth "Liz" Myers convened a two-day gathering of her managing directors so they could discuss clients' needs. The event is now in its second year and is expected to be annual.

People who are used to doing something a certain way — and succeeding — often balk at being asked to do it differently. Without a deft touch from management, morale can suffer. That was the challenge facing Kathie Andrade when TIAA promoted her to CEO of its retail financial services business.

For Tracey Brophy Warson, there's little difference between building relationships and building her business.

You learn a lot about how Paula Polito got to where she is — overseeing four businesses with $160 billion of assets — by asking how she landed her first job.

Amy Carlson had to make a tough call last year about a business she had spent the three previous years building: whether to scale it back, hold steady or keep investing.

Dawn Fitzpatrick understands the importance of bench strength. When asked to name a significant management decision in the past year, she cited hiring her successor after being promoted.

Fiona Bassett moved to New York with a mandate of making Deutsche Bank one of the top exchange-traded fund issuers in the United States. Since her arrival in 2014, she's done just that.

In 2012, BNP Paribas was the largest global custodian without a presence in North America and it wanted to change that. It found its leader in Claudine Gallagher, then the global head of depositary receipts at J.P. Morgan. Four years later, le succés.

Karen Peetz has myriad responsibilities as president of the world's largest custody bank, not the least of which is managing relationships with Bank of New York Mellon's 500 largest clients.

During American Banker's Most Powerful Women in Banking gala last year, Marianne Lake laid out the "30-5-1" challenge: each week, spend 30 minutes having coffee with a talented junior woman, five minutes congratulating a woman on a recent success and one minute talking up that woman to another senior peer.

A lot of what Cathy Bessant knows about directing a team can be traced back to her days as patrol leader of her Girl Scouts troop.

Avid Modjtabai's big job at Wells Fargo got even bigger this year when she took on responsibility for the company's operations group and added its 10,000 employees to the 55,000 she already oversaw.

Innovation — whether nurturing it internally or keeping up with it externally — is of the highest priority for Diane Reyes. In keeping with that objective, she oversaw the launch of a fintech innovation lab in Singapore last fall.

Sandie O'Connor is at the forefront of high-level policy discussions currently shaping the banking industry.

As chief operating officer at Northern Trust, Jana Schreuder is ensuring that the Chicago custody bank stays on the cutting edge of innovation.

When a female employee is about to squander a big break for fear of being out of her depth, Barbara Desoer gladly butts in. In such situations, she pushes the employee to realize that she is indeed ready for the next challenge of her career.

Since taking the helm of Citigroup's Latin American business in June 2015, Jane Fraser has been working to make it a simpler, stronger and more transparent institution in the region.

Anne Finucane is in charge of positioning Bank of America for future success and a big part of that job is figuring out how to reach millennials.