Christina Minnis is addressing one of the most important trends taking place in finance today: the emergence and growth of private credit as a powerful tool for clients. 

Earlier this year, Christina Minnis was named the first Global Head of Credit & Asset Finance and head of Global Acquisition Finance within the newly created Capital Solutions Group at Goldman Sachs. Her unit is responsible for a significant portion of the new group’s business. “I’m most proud of having been asked to lead that effort, working with many of my partners to execute the mission that David [Solomon, CEO] and John [Waldron, president and COO] laid out,” she said.

“That mission is to bring together the best structuring capabilities of the firm with the best distribution capabilities in order to create global, very bespoke solutions to our clients on the issuing side. And, on the investing side, to continue to have a very strong relationship and sourcing engine for our asset and wealth management division, ” she explained.

Acquisitions can change the essential shape, dynamics and performance of any company. No one knows this better than Martina Cheung. Appointed as president and CEO of S&P Global in November 2024, Cheung’s experience with the global firm began in 2010.  Prior to moving into her current role, she was president of S&P’s Global Ratings business. (American Banker’s methodology requires that a woman be in her role for at least one year, so Cheung is ranked based on her performance leading S&P Global Ratings, not her current position as CEO of S&P Global.) To her, one of the defining moments of that journey was leading the due diligence for S&P Global’s $44-billion acquisition of rival IHS Markit in 2020.  

Now 15 years in at S&P, she helms a company worth about $150 billion. Even more significant are the levers S&P can move with its pronouncements on the creditworthiness of the world’s leading companies and governments. In such an environment, the impact of acquisitions takes on even greater weight. S&P has executed some high-profile acquisitions during 2024 and in the beginning of 2025, including Visible Alpha, World Hydrogen, Proton LP. Clearly M&A activity will continue to drive growth and transformation for S&P. 

Banks and payment companies have been fighting to capture small business banking customers, and for American Express’ Group President of Global Merchant Network Services

Anna Marrs, much of last year was spent working on that goal. 

2024 was a year marked with economic and political uncertainty, and that provided Amex an opportunity to more deeply engage with its small business clients, said Marrs, who until earlier this year was Group President of Amex’s Global Commercial Services and Credit & Fraud Risk (Marrs was ranked on her 2024 title for this year’s list.) Her division is the company’s second largest business by revenue and card member spending, and  accounted for approximately 25% of American Express’s total revenue in 2023.

Anu Aiyengar can measure the change in her role over the last year by the miles she has traveled.

As global head of advisory and M&A for J.P. Morgan, Aiyengar circled the planet in May. Her journey, which included a mix of internal and external meetings and conferences, began in southern California and touched down in London, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney and Melbourne. At every stop, she met with employees in town halls, small groups and one-on-ones.

Aiyengar has been global head of M&A at J.P. Morgan since 2023, and she still spends time advising clients on deals. But her role expanded in 2024 as part of an internal merger of the bank’s investment, corporate and commercial banks. She is one of four investment banking executives on the combined bank’s executive and operating committee, which also has representatives from the other business lines.

Kara McShane, managing director and head of commercial real estate (CRE) at Wells Fargo, leads with a hands-on approach and builds teams that are ready to roll up their sleeves.

Through leading by example, she has created a culture where she expects people to work “side-by-side”, and through which CRE has grown to be a powerhouse inside Wells Fargo’s corporate and investment bank. 

That growth has netted out over a rash of deals, including a $10 billion take-private of real estate investment trust AIR Communities for Blackstone in June 2024, a deal McShane said was emblematic of the agile, collaborative approach she wants to drive.

After a summer internship in 2000 at Morgan Stanley, Sharon Yeshaya joined the financial services giant as an investment banking analyst the following year. Since then, she’s climbed the corporate ranks in eight different roles. She’s held her current position — executive vice president and chief financial officer — since 2021.

Her career trajectory, however, hasn’t been a smooth climb. As a female executive and the daughter of immigrant parents, Yeshaya openly acknowledges the challenges she has faced. But rather than let those challenges knock her down, she embraces them as “opportunities to grow.” These challenges “teach me to ground myself in preparation, remain focused on the long term, and make decisions with intention,” said Yeshaya.

It’s that preparation, long-term focus and intentional decision-making that have helped her gain a seat in the C-suite at the $7.9 trillion-asset Morgan Stanley. Today, she sits on the firm’s operating and management committees. 

Having amassed 39 years of experience in financial services, Katy Knox is one of the longest-tenured female leaders in the U.S. private banking sector. Knox, president of Bank of America’s Private Bank since 2018 and a member of BoA’s executive management team, views her visibility as both a responsibility and an opportunity.

“As Marian Wright Edelman said, ‘You can’t be what you can’t see.’ For many associates at Bank of America, especially those early in their careers, it’s powerful to see leaders who reflect the communities we serve,” said Knox. “Our industry has a unique opportunity to engage emerging sources of wealth with fresh perspectives and talent, and we’re committed to developing that talent internally.”

Pennington is moving Edward Jones from its traditional role as a stock brokerage firm into a new orientation as a financial-planning company. 

Of her 20,000 financial advisors, a record for the firm, she now has 5,000 Certified Financial Planners. This ramp-up will help Edward Jones “meet a growing and urgent need for trusted, personal financial advice,” in a world where 52% of affluent households want financial planning, compared to 29% who sought this type of advice in 2018, she said. This year, Edward Jones also launched its Generations private client service, its first foray into high-end wealth management. 

“We’re meeting this moment by expanding how we serve, moving toward a client-segmented model and aligning our compensation with the value we deliver to clients and their families,” she said in an email.

For the fifth consecutive year, Donna Milrod, executive vice chair and chief product officer of Boston-based State Street Corporation, is a Most Powerful Women in Finance honoree.

At State Street, Milrod is responsible for leading the product development strategy, value propositions, and growth of the Investment servicing business. She leads a team of 600 and has  eight direct reports. Additionally, she serves on the executive committee and reports to Joerg Ambrosius, State Street’s head of investment services.

Milrod is also responsible for leading strategy, value propositions and growth of the company’s asset servicing business, which represents  more than 80 % of State Street’s overall business.

Emily Portney is the Global Head of BNY’s Asset Servicing business, which provides custody, fund services, private market support and data solutions to asset owners, traditional and alternative investment managers, insurance companies, banks and broker-dealers. She is a member of BNY’s Executive Committee.

Previously, Emily was BNY’s Chief Financial Officer, responsible for the company’s global financial strategy, accounting functions, the business-aligned CFO teams, treasury, capital management, tax, corporate development, investor relations, procurement and real estate. Prior to becoming CFO, she led the global client relationship, sales and service teams for Asset Servicing and oversaw the business in the Americas.

Before joining BNY, Emily was CFO for Barclays International, where she led a global organization spanning the Corporate and Investment Bank, the Private Bank, and the Cards and Payments businesses. She began her career with J.P. Morgan and held various leadership roles in her more than 20 years with the company. 

Emily is a member of the board of directors for MarketAxess, a publicly traded corporation. She holds a Master of Business Administration from Columbia Business School and a bachelor’s degree from Duke University.