Shemara Wikramanayake

Having taken over as CEO of Macquarie late last year, Wikramanayake is officially the first woman to sit atop the roughly $28 billion investment bank. This year, the Australian executive turned her eye to climate change, becoming one of only three global CEOs to be named a commissioner of the World Bank’s Global Commission on Adaptation. Leveraging Macquarie’s roughly $82 billion infrastructure funds, Wikramanayake is pushing for more investment in environmentally-friendly and resilient development. To boot, the CEO spearheaded the move to raise an additional $680 million for investment in renewables and technology, which was completed in August.

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