FI Tip Sheet: The Top Women in Banking?

Clearly, there aren’t many female CEOs of major corporations.  According to Spencer Stuart, an executive search firm, the number of women serving as the CEO of an S&P 500 company increased to 22 in 2013. Nonetheless, this represents a mere 4.5% of the companies that comprise the index.  I share this statistic as a preface to this morning’s post, one that asks for your help and feedback on “the best” female CEOs in banking today.

Background

Last month, inspired by a piece that ran on Yahoo Finance (“the Best CEOs of 2013“), I reached out to a number of colleagues that work for professional services firms to ask their thoughts on the top CEOs at financial institutions — along with why they hold them in such regard.  I subsequently shared their thoughts (along with mine) on some of the best CEOs in the business today — broken down into three categories: the “biggest banks” with $50Bn+ in assets, those with more than $5Bn but less than $50Bn and finally, those in the $1Bn to $5Bn size range.

A request for help

While the CEOs I wrote about certainly deserved the recognition, noticeably absent on each list: women.  Yes, I realize the vast majority of CEOs in banking today are male; however, I am keen to identify those female executives at financial institutions that are truly the best in banking.  So here’s the deal.  I’d like your thoughts on the top female CEOs — regardless of their financial institution’s size — and a sentence or two that provides color and context as to why you think so. This can be shared publicly with a comment below or tweet to me at @aldominick. It can be shared directly via email adominick@bankdirector.com or with a message thru LinkedIn.

What will come of this

Next week, I’ll post a piece on the top female CEOs on this site. FWIW, I am happy to attribute comments to an individual or keep things anonymous.

Thanks, and Aloha Friday!