Announcing Our 2026 Private Sector Woman of the Year

September 21, 2026


The FWA is pleased to share that Stephanie Ruhle will be honored as the 2026 Private Sector Woman of the Year at the FWA's 70th Anniversary Gala on October 8, 2026. 



Stephanie Ruhle is the host of MS NOW’s Money Power Politics with Stephanie Ruhle and serves as MS NOW’s Senior Business Analyst, appearing across all linear, digital, and social platforms. Ruhle is known for her business acumen, hard-hitting style, original reporting, and for bringing humanity to her news coverage. She is also the co-host of the live, weekly Q&A show, “Velshi & Ruhle: Full Disclosure,” part of the MS NOW Membership.


Ruhle has interviewed leaders in politics, business, entertainment, and sports ranging from President Biden to Stephen Curry, from Jamie Dimon to Jamie Lee Curtis. As a Wall Street veteran, she is known for bringing her business acumen and hard-hitting style to high-profile interviews, for her original reporting, and for bringing humanity into her news coverage.

Previously, Ruhle was host of MSNBC's “The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle” and served as NBC News’ Senior Business Correspondent and Senior Business Analyst, appearing across all NBC News and MSNBC platforms including “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt,” “TODAY”, NBCNews.com, and TODAY.com’s “On The Money with Stephanie Ruhle.”


Ruhle was the consulting producer of the documentary “Diamond Hands: The Legend of WallStreetBets.” She also hosted the podcast, “Modern Ruhles: Compelling Conversations During Culturally Complicated Times” with iHeartMedia. 


Ruhle was anchor and managing editor for Bloomberg Television and editor-at-large for Bloomberg News, where she co-hosted Bloomberg "GO", Bloomberg TV’s flagship morning show featuring global thought leaders across business, tech and media.


Prior to Bloomberg, Ruhle worked at Deutsche Bank, serving as a Managing Director in Global Markets Senior Relationship Management. Ruhle began her career at Credit Suisse, where she was the highest-producing credit derivatives salesperson in the US. 



Ruhle plays an active role in women’s leadership development, having founded the Corporate Investment Bank Women’s Network and co-chaired Women on Wall Street. Ruhle is a member of the board of trustees for Girls Inc. NYC and in 2016 was honored as one of their Women of the Year. She is also on the Leadership Council at Robin Hood, NYC’s largest poverty-fighting organization. 


Ruhle received a bachelor’s degree in international business from Lehigh University, living abroad in Guatemala, Kenya, and Italy.

Introducing Our Gala Emcee

September 17, 2026
We are pleased to announce Steve Liesman, CNBC’s senior economics reporter, as emcee of the FWA's 70th Anniversary Gala on October 8, 2026. As CNBC’s senior economics reporter, Steve Liesman reports on all aspects of the economy, including the Federal Reserve and major economic indicators. He appears on “ Squawk Box ” (M-F, 6 AM-9 AM ET), as well as other CNBC programs throughout the business day. Liesman joined CNBC from The Wall Street Journal , where he served as a senior economics reporter covering monetary policy, international economics, academic research, and productivity. At the Journal , Liesman previously worked as an energy reporter and Moscow bureau chief. He won an Emmy for his coverage of the financial crisis and was a member of the reporting team recognized with a Pulitzer Prize for stories chronicling the crash of the Russian financial markets.

Announcing Our 2026 Male Ally of the Year

September 15, 2026
 The FWA is pleased to share that Jonathan Dambrot will be honored as the 2026 Male Ally of the Year at the FWA's 70th Anniversary Gala on October 8, 2026. Jonathan Dambrot is CEO and Co-Founder of Cranium AI, the independent end-to-end platform for enterprise AI security and governance. He has built a category leader once before — and is doing it again for the AI era. Before Cranium, Jonathan grew Prevalent from a startup into a Gartner- and Forrester-recognized leader in third-party risk management, through its 2016 sale to Insight Partners. As a Partner at KPMG, he led third-party security globally, launched the firm's AI security services, and incubated Cranium inside KPMG Studio — spinning it out of stealth in April 2023 on a simple thesis: every SaaS application is now an AI application, so every SaaS risk is now an AI risk.

Announcing Our 2026 Lifetime Public Service Honoree

September 10, 2026
The FWA is pleased to share that Carolyn Maloney will be honored with the 2026 Lifetime Public Service award at the FWA's 70th Anniversary Gala on October 8, 2026. We look forward to introducing additional honorees in the weeks ahead.

Celebrating the Wall Street Exchange Class of 2026

September 8, 2026
The Financial Women's Association celebrated the graduation of 39 students from the 2026 Wall Street Exchange (WSE) Program , closing a milestone year as the program marks 50 years of connecting students with industry leaders. This year's cohort interned at 18 firms and represented 28 colleges. On Tuesday, July 28, FWA President Albana Theka opened the virtual celebration with words of wisdom to the interns on their entry into their first career positions and advice about how to apply their program learnings. She invited them to join the FWA as students, so they can continue to take advantage of FWA’s rich resources and vast network of financial services professionals. Co-Chair Gerri Bostick then introduced Chen Rao, Vice President, Global Markets ALM Treasury at BNP Paribas, the keynote speaker. Chen is a former Wall Street Exchange intern and a former member of the program committee, and she shared the value of these experiences to her career. She also spoke about the characteristics needed to succeed and offered practical advice on how to excel early in one's career. The interns met in breakouts to share their summer experiences along with key WSE program takeaways they plan to carry forward into their careers. They then participated in a fun Wall Street Exchange quiz game where they tested their knowledge from the sessions they attended and earned prizes. The high level of engagement throughout the summer was evident in their ability to answer all the prompts accurately. Wrapping up the celebration, Co-Chair Laura Smith Dunaief announced the graduates followed by special recognition of those who attended all seven sessions. Twenty students will receive free CFA Society student memberships. Throughout the program, the Wall Street Exchange cohort met with industry professionals, asked sharp questions about AI and the future of work, and built relationships that will extend well beyond graduation. They came curious. They're leaving connected. Congratulations, 2026 WSE cohort​! We're looking forward to staying connected as you build what's next. The WSE Co-Chairs, ​Gerri Feemster Bostick and ​Laura Smith Dunaief, and the WSE Committee extend their sincere appreciation to FWA President Albana Theka, ​Chen Rao, BNP Paribas, and the CFA Society New York for their support in making the​ closing session a success. We also thank FWA’s leadership and WSE’s volunteers, sponsoring firms, and participating employers for their continued commitment to providing this valuable experience to the next generation of financial professionals.
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