All the buzz on Wall Street today is surrounding a new study that indicates, to the shock of approximately no one, that Wall Street is kindest to the wallets of white men. Financial firms have been making an increasing effort in recent years to diversify their hires to include more women and races, but the paychecks with the greatest number of zeroes continue to go to white men.

The study, performed by the City University of New York’s Center for Urban Research indicated that a white man in the finance industry between 2005 and 2009 was making an average of 55 percent more than the female equivalent. While women may not receive paychecks equivalent to their male counterparts, we can celebrate that their role on Wall Street is growing. In 2000, only a fourth of older workers were women while between 2005 and 2009, women made up a third of the youngest workers. Women on Wall Street are becoming more prominent and can be predicted to continue to yield more power in the coming years.

Below are some of the top women on Wall Street based on achievements and acclaimed recognition in their field.

Stacy Bash-Polley

Firm: Goldman Sachs (GS)
Role:
Partner, Co-Head, Fixed Income Sales in the Americas
Brief Bio:
After receiving undergraduate and graduate degrees in business as well as a masters in information science, Bash-Polley began her financial career at Ernst & Young where she served briefly as an information specialist. From there, she was off to Goldman Sachs where she began as an associate in 1994. Since then she has climbed the ranks of the company to become a partner.

Joanna Fields

Firm:  Deutsche Bank (DB)
Role:
Director and Head of Market Structure for the Americas
Brief Bio:
  A former ballerina, Fields must have learned about the sort of discipline it takes you get to you to the top of your field. Since her days in toe shoes, Fields ascended through the ranks in structure and regulation at the International Securities Exchange. From there she went on to Credit Suisse (CS) and Deutsche, where she remains today. Fields received a Masters Degree in Business and Technology from New York University after attending Columbia University for undergrad.

Kelly Mathieson

Firm: J.P. Morgan Worldwide Securities Services (JPM)
Role:
Managing Director Global Custody and Clearance
Brief Bio:
Mathieson received her undergrad degree in international business management at SUNY Binghamton before going on to NYU’s Stern School of Business for her MBA. Upon completion Mathieson spent three years as an analyst at Goldman Sachs in their money markets securities division before heading to Chase Bank, where she has stayed for 21 years through the merger with J.P. Morgan.  In a recent interview, Mathieson said her proudest professional achievement was her leading role in the reforms mandated by the Fed for the tri-party repo market movement.

Christina Kelerchian

Firm: Goldman Sachs (GS)
Role
: Head of U.S. equity fundamental trading at Goldman Sachs Asset Management
Brief Bio
: Kelerchian has been in the industry for over 27 years. Originally hired at Deutsche Asset Management, formerly Scudder Investments in 1986, Kelerchian was thrown onto a traders desk with little previous experience. She took well to trading, and under the tutelage of the company’s asset domestic head of trading, came into her own. She moved to Chancellor Asset Management before arriving at Goldman where she still works today. In a profile in Trader’s Magazine she said “young professionals need at least three qualities: commitment, integrity and patience.”

Mary Callahan Erdoes

Firm: J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM)
Role
:
Chief Executive of J.P. Morgan Asset Management
Brief Bio
:
The 44-year-old Erdoes was the only female math major in her year at Georgetown University before going on to receive her MBA from Harvard. In 1996 she left her job at Banker’s Trust for J.P. Morgan where she has worked her way up to her current position. At J.P. Morgan, Erdoes oversees $1.3 trillion, operating the fifth-largest asset management company in the world.  During her first year in her current position, profits increased by 20 percent to $1.7 billion on revenue of $ 9 billion. She is reportedly on the short-list to replace current JPM Chief Executive Jamie Dimon, should he decide to leave the firm. It’s probably safe to say that Erdoes is doing her part to buck the trend of a pay disparity between women and men on Wall Street.