Rakefet Russak-Aminoach

Rakefet Russak-Aminoach has been leaning in since 1992, when she started her career as the personal assistant to Bank Leumi’s then-deputy CEO Galia Maor (later known as Israel’s Iron Lady of banking). The two developed a close professional relationship—so much that Russak-Aminoach’s personal style hews very closely to Maor’s signature look of short tucked-behind-the-ears hair and dark red nails. Though the Israeli left her mentor’s tutelage and later became general manager of a major accounting firm, she eventually returned to Bank Leumi to work under then-CEO Maor. Russak-Aminoach took over the top job in 2012 and endured a rough first few years, marked by sinking profits and a U.S. tax evasion investigation. But 2015 is looking up. In the first half of the year, Bank Leumi raked in profits of $451 million, up 107% since the same period last year. —Claire Groden