The world is preoccupied with sustaining the economic recovery, preventing countries from defaulting in Europe and proceeding with post-financial-crisis regulation in the United States. Those themes are evident in Treasury & Risk's 100 Most Influential People in Finance roster for 2011, which includes government officials wrestling over how to regulate derivatives, policymakers worldwide dealing with slow growth and inflationary pressures, and CEOs driving the revival of M&A activity. On the list are many finance executives who came up with creative responses to the challenges of the last few years, including the volcanic ash cloud in Iceland, triple disasters in Japan and political unrest in the Middle East. The executives, officials, regulators and bankers named the 100 Most Influential People in Finance have led business and the global economy to a better place, but much work still needs to be done.

Check out online exclusive interviews with 10 who made the list.

See what these finance pros and C-suiters have to say.