The Latest from Women in Banking

When Catherine Smith took the reins of ING's U.S. Retirement Services last December, it was an especially jittery time for investors. So one of her first orders of business was to personally call or visit many of ING's largest clients, backing up the efforts of field representatives.

Bank of America's Global Research division, led by Merrill veteran Candace Browning, was the first Merrill unit integrated after the acquisition closed on Jan. 1. "On day one, we were hard at work," Browning says.

When Ranjana Clark joined Western Union this past spring, she said goodbye to Wells Fargo. But not to banking.

Carla Brooks isn't a banker, but the managing director and deputy portfolio manager at Commerce Street Capital LLC, has been on the front lines of the banking crisis.

As chief marketing officer and chief innovation officer at AXA Equitable, Barbara Goodstein is responsible for all of AXA Equitable's digital efforts, corporate communications and advertising. In this time of shaky investor confidence, Goodstein and her team have focused on conveying a consistent message across multiple channels.

Goldman Sachs pushed away the rumors and calmed the frayed nerves concerning its own health, and Liz Beshel played an essential role in that effort as the firm's treasurer.

During 19 years at MasterCard, Joan Kelly has helped lead the development of systems that now process more than 21 billion payment transactions and settle $2.5 trillion between financial institutions.

When she was chief information officer for Discover Financial Services, Diane Offereins created a network designed to put the 23-year-old company on technological par with its older and larger rivals. Now, as head of Discover's Payment Services, Offereins puts that infrastructure to work.

At first glance, it seems as though the credit crisis would hit a retailer's account base hard. But Susan Ehrlich has managed to keep Sears Holdings Corp.'s customer count steady with a few old-fashioned tricks.

Take away everything Carla Harris has accomplished in her career at Morgan Stanley and you would still have an extraordinary resume: gospel singer, much sought-after lecturer, newly-minted author, and director on the boards of eight non-profit organizations.