Adrienne D. Hughes
Adrienne D. Hughes specializes in building and leading global financial teams. She has been recognized for bringing people together across functions, geographies, and generations and for leveraging her teams’ diversities to achieve success in her roles based in the US, UK, and UAE. Hughes currently serves as the National Client Experience Executive at Merrill Lynch where she is responsible for developing and driving the organization’s Client Experience strategy and focused on creating a “consistently exceptional client standard of care” for every client of the firm. She has received several awards and acknowledgements over her career including the Chairman’s Circle Award, “Emerging Leader” Award, and Chicago United Business Leader of Color recipient. In addition, Hughes is the Chair of Merrill’s Black/African-American Leadership Council empowering Black Advisors and Trainees by arming them with strategic programing and resources to achieve career success. As she simultaneously chairs the Black Executive Leadership Team, Racial Equity committee, and “Multicultural Women Ready to Lead” providing mentorship and career coaching to 75+ women of color annually, Adrienne has made significant impact in diversity and inclusion in the financial arena.
Hughes previously led the Chicago West and Central Florida Merrill markets as Market Executive to realize responsible growth. Prior to that, she managed Global Financial Institutions and Global Government Sales Strategy segment at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Having led teams in US, Europe and Middle East, Hughes has become a leading knowledge-broker for global expansion, sales, performance optimization, and product development where her clients included Apple, EBay, JPMorgan, and all Embassies and Consulates of governments doing business in the United States.
Hughes joined Bank of America Merrill Lynch in 2015 upon repatriating to the United States after six years on backto-back expatriate assignments in London and Dubai with JPMorgan Chase & Co. There, she focused on bringing new banking products and services to the UK, Europe and the Emerging Markets with a specific focus on MENA, SubSaharan Africa, and China, earning her the prestigious Chairman’s Circle Award. Prior to her time abroad, Hughes held roles in Corporate Sales and Product Management and spent time in Consumer Banking, Private Banking, Commercial Card and Marketing.
Hughes is a regular contributor to Financial Institution thought leadership and industry standards including an appointment to the BAFT Future Leader Board where she specifically focused Next Generation talent development and “FinTech” innovation including Blockchain and Bitcoin.
Adrienne Hughes is dedicated to empowering businesses, families, and communities. She has worked on numerous initiatives focused on women and children, people of color, and Millennials/Gen Z’s. She was awarded Bank of America’s Global Diversity and Inclusion Award and is currently serving as the Intergenerational Employee Network Chicago Chair as well as a member of the National Black African-American Leadership Council.
Additionally, Hughes has dedicated time serving her community by consulting for Big Brothers Big Sisters, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, New Life Covenant’s Strategic Planning Board, and the After School Matters Board of Directors. She has consulted for Hult International and London Business Schools, and she has been featured in print
and media publications in countries around the world.
Adrienne Hughes holds an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Business at Northwestern University with a triple concentration in Management Strategy, Organizational Development, and Marketing and a Bachelor of Science at Northwestern University, graduating with Honors. She lives with her husband and three sons in Chicago, Illinois.