Barron’s has named U.S. Bank vice chair Gunjan Kedia to its 100 Most Influential Women in U.S. Finance list for 2021.
The list, selected by writers and editors at the publication, “honors women who are helping to shape the modern financial-services industry and leading it confidently into the future.” It includes leaders from public and private sector organizations including the U.S. Treasury, Federal Reserve, The Wharton School, Alphabet and more.
Kedia is a member of our 14-person Managing Committee at U.S. Bank and in her role oversees $239 billion in assets under management, more than $7 trillion in assets under custody and administration, and 7,500 employees.
Since joining our company in 2016, Kedia has championed efforts to improve diversity, equity and inclusion in the wealth management industry. As part of an ongoing initiative to bring on more women as clients and hire more women as financial advisors, Kedia commissioned our extensive U.S. Bank Women and Wealth Insights Study, which sought to understand gender and generational differences in relationships with money. (Keep an eye out in the coming weeks for similar research as part of our recently announced U.S. Bank Access Commitment, through which we are redefining our approach to building wealth in and broadly serving diverse communities.)
“U.S. Bank would like to be an advocate for women throughout their financial lives,” Kedia explained. “Women today have unprecedented power to use money to influence our society, and by taking a few simple steps to engage more and earlier with money, we can get there.”
The study helped shape our first-ever U.S. Bank Women and Wealth Summit, which took place last fall. And in a broad companywide effort to support young women in their future careers, we have also established new or expanded partnerships with nonprofit organizations such as Girls With Impact, Gen.G, Girls Who Code and more.
At U.S. Bank, women hold 31.5% of senior leadership positions, a figure that is higher than the financial services industry average of 21.9% but also one that we know needs improvement – which is why we are among approximately 70 companies signed on to the Catalyst CEO Champions for Change pledge.
In addition to Kedia, other U.S. Bank senior leaders have been recognized leading up to International Women’s Day on March 8. Crain’s New York Business named Felicia La Forgia, Beth Lawlor and Christine Waldron to its Notable Women on Wall Street list for 2021. And late last year, American Banker named Kedia and Kate Quinn, who is vice chair and chief administrative officer, and our team of women leaders to its Most Powerful Women in Banking and Finance lists for 2020.