Ana Patricia Botín

Ana Botín has been the executive chair of Banco Santander, Europe’s most valuable bank, for over a decade. The Spaniard started her banking career in New York before being tasked with expanding Santander’s Latin America operations. Her leadership of the bank has been marked by growth globally, particularly in the U.S. Botín has also homed in on the company’s technology focus within consumer banking. The Spanish lender recently achieved record earnings, delivering a 2024 profit of €12.5 billion, up 14% year over year. Santander now has over 170 million customers, surpassing banks like JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America by that measure. The 64-year-old Botín sits on the board of the Coca-Cola Co. and the advisory board of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Read more: Ana Botín runs a bank with more customers than JPMorgan Chase or Bank of America—and says her job takes the discipline of an Olympic athlete