The Latest from Women in Banking

Columbia Banking System's acquisition of the $2.4 billion-asset West Coast Bancorp is the latest of several deals Melanie Dressel has orchestrated over the past few years to fuel growth, as her community bank steadily progresses toward its goal of being more of a regional player in the Northwest.

She's only been CEO of Chase Card Services since last summer, but Eileen Serra started writing the playbook for the job years ago.

BB&T has gotten a good return on its investment in Donna Goodrich, who began her career in the bank's leadership development program in 1985.

In a little over two years, Nancy Shanik has completely upended RBS Citizens' risk organization — just as outgoing CEO Ellen Alemany hoped she would.

In 2012, Barb Godin went beyond the scope of the average chief credit officer to spearhead implementation of one of Regions Financial's most significant technology investments to date, and her focus on improving credit quality helped Regions clear several important hurdles.

Last January, Discover and Facebook became friends. In a partnership put together by Diane Offereins' team in payment services, Discover teamed up with the social media network to roll out the Facebook Card, a prepaid product that can be used to send gifts to friends via their Facebook profile.

Since taking over in 2010 as chief of Charles Schwab's investment management division, Marie Chandoha has overseen an ETF business that has grown from $2.7 billion in assets under management to $12 billion as of this May.

Much of the concern over controversial Dodd-Frank rule "1073" has been allayed by the work of wholesale service providers like Citi's Institutional Clients Group and its head of public sector and bank services, Julie Monaco.

In 1994 Jennifer Steans and her father co-founded Financial Investments Corp. to handle the family's substantial fortune and to explore bank investment opportunities that led to ownership stakes in both USAmeriBank in Florida and Cole Taylor Bank in Chicago.

One of Carrie Tolstedt's many challenges these days is making sure customers who interact with Wells Fargo have a more positive and more personalized experience. It's no small feat, but so far, so good.