Mergers & Acquisitions Names Its 10th Annual Most Influential Women in Mid-Market M&A

Mergers & Acquisitions has recognized 14 women as honorees for its 2025 Most Influential Women in Mid-Market M&A. This year signifies our 10^th annual initiative that highlights outstanding women who play key roles in dealmaking, making it the longest-running awards of its kind in the industry.

The 2025 class of honorees all acknowledge that, although there has been progress in achieving gender parity in senior M&A roles over the past decade, significant work remains to be done.

“There have been noticeable improvements in gender parity in dealmaking over the last decade but significant deficiencies still remain,” says Marilyn Adler, managing partner of Mizzen Capital. “Preqin reported that from 2016 to 2023, the percentage of women in senior private equity roles rose from nine percent to 14 percent globally. This change reflects increased efforts from firms to improve diversity through targeted recruitment and DEI policies.

“While this is noticeable progress, the overall slow pace of change highlights persistent challenges within the industry, such as structural biases. The encouraging facts are that women are now approximately 50 percent of the incoming and graduating classes from MBA programs, which will provide a strong pipeline of smart talented women for the future,” she adds.

“I wish I could say that I have seen significant change over the past decade, but progress has only been incremental and in the margins,” says Beatrice Mitchell, co-founder of Sperry Mitchell & Co. “Though many more women are entering the field, notable discrepancies in promotion and retention persist, and too few women elevate to the officer/partner role.

“What I find particularly unnerving is that many other “adjacent” fields are markedly better at recruiting, retaining and promoting women. For example, in law, almost 30 percent of all partners today are women.  In the accounting profession, that figure nears 40 percent.  Yet, in investment banking and private equity, less than 10 percent of partners are women. Change requires intentionality. We in the field need to be more deliberate about promoting gender parity,” she explains.  

All honorees play a significant role in advancing gender parity at their firms and the industry as whole.

“I have long understood the challenges of gender parity and am now in a position to use my influence positively to focus on identifying and fostering female talent,” says Kimberly Smith, partner and global chair of the corporate department at Katten. “As partners in the senior ranks, we can mentor and inspire future generations by showing them a path to success. Despite women constituting more than half of law students and dominating summer associate positions, the transition to equity partner roles remains slow.

“Even in the private equity space, we see the same thing: more women are in entry-level positions but underrepresented in leadership. Visibility of women in such influential roles is crucial, and so is a commitment to fostering career ambition and implementing initiatives and programming that help empower women to break through historical barriers, address systemic inequalities, and reduce attrition levels,” she adds.

Honorees are not only recognized for their dealmaking achievements. Key is their ability to foster innovation and make an impact within the larger M&A landscape. Nominees were also asked to share how they contribute to the advancement of women in private equity and act as advocates for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

In the following Q&As you’ll hear in their own words how this year’s Most Influential Women in Mid-Market M&A are making a significant impact in the industry and their firms as well as their major achievements in the last year.  An additional 16 women received honorable mentions. See both charts below.