7 Influential Women in Finance
Quantum celebrates women every day of the year. Women's History Month provides us with the opportunity to revere women at an even higher level for the entire month of March. All women attain remarkable, daily victories in their roles as friends, mothers, daughters, sisters, and aunts. In honor of Women's History Month, please enjoy learning about seven notable women who, as pioneers in their professional fields, realized unique accomplishments, some never before achieved by another woman or man.
Janet Yellen - Secretary of the Treasury, U.S. Treasury Department
As the first woman to head the American Federal Reserve, the only woman to head the US Treasury Department, and the previous Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, Janet Yellen is the first person ever to hold the high three economic titles in US government. Her accomplishments will be difficult for anyone to emulate.
Amy Hood - Chief Financial Officer, Microsoft
Amy Hood left a mark on corporate America that a young business entrepreneur could only dream of achieving. Before taking the helm as the first female CFO of Microsoft, Amy Hood led Microsoft’s business division and, prior to that, worked at Goldman Sachs. Amy is credited with much of Microsoft’s recent boom; in the first five years after she became CFO, the company’s stock surged nearly 300%. Additionally, she helped engineer over 57 deals while at Microsoft, including the $78 billion acquisition of software development platform GitHub in 2018.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala - Director-General, World Trade Organization
An international phenomenon, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was the first woman and the first African to serve as Director-General of the WTO. She served two terms as Nigeria's Finance Minister and briefly acted as its Foreign Minister. For her achievements, she was recognized as one of the 50 Greatest World Leaders (Fortune, 2015), the Top 100 Most Influential People in the World (TIME, 2014), and the Top 100 Global Thinkers (Foreign Policy, 2011 and 2012). Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s successes are an inspiration worldwide.
Ruth Porat - Chief Financial Officer, Alphabet (Google)
The former CFO of Morgan Stanley, Roth Porat created the European debt financing that saved Amazon from collapse during the dot-com melt down in 2000. In addition to her role as Alphabet’s CFO, Porat also oversees Business Operations, People Operations (Google's human resources function), Real Estate and Work Place Services. Ruth Porat’s versatility is second to none.
Lina Khan - Chair, Federal Trade Commission
Lina Khan is the first Asian-American woman to serve on the FTC and previously held the position of legal director at the Open Markets Institute. An academic superstar, she was an academic fellow focusing on antitrust law at Columbia Law School after joining the school’s faculty as an Associate Professor of Law in 2020.
Sallie Krawcheck - Founder and CEO Ellevest
Prior to founding Ellevest where she is CEO and promotes women through Ellevest's mission to close the gender investing gap in the U.S. by "redefining investing for women,” Sallie Krawcheck left her mark on many premier financial institutions. The former CEO of Citigroup’s Smith Barney and wealth management units and CFO of Citigroup, she was also the former CEO of Merrill Lynch where she grew profits to $3.1 billion during her two years as president of the wealth management unit.
Adena Friedman - President, CEO, Nasdaq
Adena Friedman joined the Board of the New York Federal Reserve in 2018. She made history not only as the first woman CEO to lead a global stock exchange but also when she, as the CEO of Nasdaq, asked the SEC to require companies listed on its exchange to publish diversity data of its board in an effort to advance corporate diversity.
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