Who: Barbara Desoer, President of Bank of America Home Loans and Insurance

How she fiercely influenced finance:  The BofA veteran has been feted as the executive tasked with cleaning up the bank's foreclosure mess, noted FierceFinance.

As President of Bank of America Home Loans and Insurance, she oversees 50,000 employees--17 percent of the bank's workforce--as well as one in every five U.S. mortgages, notes Forbes. According to the magazine, which ranked her as No. 19 on its list of the 50 most powerful women in business, Desoer has the hardest job at the largest bank holding company in the nation.

Desoer was responsible for making the critical decision on Oct. 1 to suspend foreclosures in 23 states, which she later expanded to all 50 states, notes FierceFinance. Shortly after on Oct. 18, she decided Bank of America would resume foreclosures in the 23 "judicial" states.

Desoer was named to her present post in July 2008, when she was asked to oversee the large-scale integration of Countrywide, and has become one of the most powerful women in finance, notes Bloomberg. In fact, she was a leading candidate to replace Ken Lewis as CEO when he resigned back in December 2009.

Since her appointment as president, the unit has developed "a new default management capability, new processes and technology, and increased staff by 60 percent," she told KTNV.

A former CFO at Bank of America noted that Desoer is the only executive left from the former BankAmerica firm, "reflecting both her loyalty and her survivor instinct," notes Bloomberg.

What's next:
Desoer says her main concern for now is to make sure Bank of American's Home Loans unit lives up to Brian Moynihan's goal of becoming the most trusted brand in the financial services industry, according to Bloomberg.

If her management of the foreclosure mess fares well, talk of Desoer heading a major bank may soon resurface, notes FierceFinance.