The Last Boys' Club

A decade ago, a cadre of women seemed poised to claim the title as the first female CEO of a Wall Street bank. It never happened. Why not? And more important, will it ever?

- Claire Zillman

THINGS DID NOT LOOK RIGHT to Rep. Al Green (D-Texas).

It was April of this year, three hours into a grilling of the CEOs of seven of the largest U.S. banks before the House Financial Services Committee. The hearing was to focus on the accountability of the banks, 10 years after the financial crisis.

But Green, an eight-term congressman representing parts of Houston, had decided to discard his prepared questions and pursue a different line entirely. Looking across the row of CEOs—Michael Corbat of Citigroup, Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, James Gorman of Morgan Stanley, Brian Moynihan of Bank of America, Ronald O’Hanley of State Street Corp., Charles Scharf of Bank of New York Mellon, and David Solomon of Goldman Sachs—he put it bluntly.

“The eye would perceive that the seven of you have something in common,” Green said, slouching over his microphone. “You appear to be white men. You’ve all sermonized to a certain extent about diversity,” he continued. “If you believe that your likely successor will be a woman or a person of color, would you kindly extend a hand into the air.” Taking a physical tally is a common exercise for Green—he likes the optics of it.

No CEO raised his hand; in fact, the panelists flinched a little, like schoolboys caught misbehaving. “I know it’s hard to go on the record sometimes,” Green said. “But the record has to be made. All white men and not one of you appears to believe your successor will be a female or person of color.”