Title: Chair, Santander Group
Born: October 4, 1960, Santander, Spain
Education: BA in economics, Bryn Mawr
Early Marker: Joined board of Santander in 1989, putting her in line eventually to become the fourth generation of her family to lead the Spanish banking giant and arguably the third-most-powerful woman in global banking.
Big Idea: Stepping up from being executive chair of Santander's U.K. unit on the death of her late father, who turned a family-owned regional bank into one of the 20 biggest banks in the world, she will need to consolidate her father's post-2008 acquisitions in Europe, Latin America and the U.S.
Wave of the Future: Banking consolidation; think local, act global multinationals; emerging economies, family dynasties
