Holly Sraeel
SVP, Brand Management
SourceMedia and
President/Founder
25 Most Powerful Women in Banking
One word describes Holly Sraeel’s success during her business publishing career: instinct. As group editorial director of SourceMedia’s Banking Magazine Group—composed of U.S. Banker and Bank Technology News—Holly is responsible for developing editorial models and best practices that expose readers to a more aggressive and comprehensive style of business reporting and magazine publishing, as well as creating brand extensions that add significant value for bank readers.
Since joining SourceMedia in 1996, Holly has spearheaded the launch of two new magazines (FutureBanker and Financial Services Marketing) and four major editorial relaunches (U.S. Banker, Bank Technology News, Financial IT Security and Bank Investment Marketing). Three of these publications were honored with industry awards for excellence.
Her 2003 launch of The 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking, an annual performance-based influence ranking and series of live events centered on professional development and achievement, has become a powerful community for women executives who want to develop stronger professional ties with other women in banking and financial services, hone their business management skills, advance their careers and be recognized for their top performances.
Among those honored in the past five years are Sallie Krawcheck, chairman and CEO of Citi Global Wealth Management; Marion Sandler, co-CEO of Golden West Financial; Amy Brinkley, chief risk executive of Bank of America; Ellen Alemany, CEO of RBS America; and Marjorie Magner, managing partner of Brysam Global Partners.
In 2007, she deepened SourceMedia’s commitment to CIOs in the financial industry by adding a thought leadership program (The CIO Summit) and a gala reception to The Innovators, an annual ranking that she founded five years earlier. Much like The 25 MPWIB, The Innovators community is committed to advancing the professional development and recognition of top-perfoming CIOs and bleeding-edge technology company CEOs.
During her editorial tenure at SourceMedia, the Banking Magazine Group has received 8 American Society of Business Publication Editors awards (gold and silver) for editorial and design excellence; recognition of U.S. Banker for producing some of the “Best Business Crime Writing of 2002” in a book published by Anchor, a division of Random House; winner of one Ozzie award (U.S. Banker); and winner of an APEX award for Most Improved Magazine (U.S. Banker).
In 2008, U.S. Banker was named a finalist in American Business Media’s Jesse H. Neal Awards for its 5th annual ranking of The 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking (Best Single Theme Issue).
Prior to joining SourceMedia, Holly served as editor in chief of the award-winning Bank Systems + Technology, owned by Miller Freeman Inc., as well as other business and consumer publications.
Holly is an honors graduate of Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY, where she majored in Communication Arts with a concentration in journalism.