Jennifer Biry has been at the right place for a long time. The 36-year-old joined SBC in 1999 after graduating from Texas Lutheran University and jumped to some big jobs before and since the telecommunications company merged with AT&T. As executive director for executive operations at SBC, she was responsible for the planning and integration of its 2005 acquisition of AT&T, and she took on the same responsibility when SBC, by then renamed AT&T, acquired BellSouth in 2006. She was also involved in the company's initial implementation of Sarbanes-Oxley.

Biry is now responsible for financial management, planning and reporting for the $21 billion consumer wireline business of $123 billion AT&T.

How did you come to working in finance? I've always had a knack for numbers. I was going for a bachelor's degree in business administration and a professor of mine suggested I sit for the CPA exam. Understanding the financials, he felt, was a great way to get your foot in the door of any company and build a career. So I took his advice. I came to AT&T and started off in the accounting department and didn't stay there for very long.