One of the few women at the top of the Wall Street food chain, Krawcheck is the former president of Bank of America's global wealth and investment-management unit and senior executive at Citigroup. These days, she spends her time working the media circuit and advising start-ups.

Raised in South Carolina, Krawcheck attended the University of North Carolina and earned an MBA from Columbia before starting her career. Krawcheck took several years off after the birth of her first child and returned to the Street in the early '90s as a research analyst at Sanford Bernstein, where she developed a reputation for her contrarian calls. She eventually rose to become CEO of the boutique research house. But in 2002 she jumped ship when Sandy Weill lured her to Citigroup to serve as CEO of Salomon Smith Barney. Touted as "Mrs. Clean," it took the brainy analyst just two years to graduate to Citigroup CFO in November 2004.

In early 2007, Chuck Prince reshuffled management and placed Krawcheck in charge of the company's wealth management division, a position previously occupied by Todd Thomson, who was kicked to the curb amid controversy and reports of an "inappropriate" relationship with CNBC's Maria Bartiromo. The switch struck many as a demotion. But Citi strenuously denied that the move was a step down, and Krawcheck claimed she'd never been particularly happy as the company's CFO. Although she was pushed out at Citi in 2008, Krawcheck ended up landing at Bank of America nearly a year later, where she headed up the banking giant's global wealth and investment management division for two years, when the role was nixed in 2011. Now, Krawcheck holds the vague title of " Thought Leader," where she pops up on CNBC and writes columns for the Huffington Post and Reuters.

This image was lost some time after publication.