Nu, one of the largest digital financial services platforms in the world, today announced that co-founder Cristina Junqueira, who is also CEO of Nu’s emerging U.S. business, has been named to the CNBC Changemakers: Women Transforming Business list for 2026.
Each year, CNBC recognizes 50 women whose accomplishments have shaped the public and private sectors and paved a path for others to follow.
Cristina Junqueira co-founded Nu in Brazil in 2013. After years in management consulting and traditional banking, she had seen firsthand how a handful of institutions dominated the market with high fees and poor customer experiences. Since then, she has helped Nu grow into one of the world’s leading fintechs, serving more than 127 million customers across Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia. She now leads Nu’s expansion into the United States, where Nubank secured conditional approval for a federal bank charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) 121 days after its September 2025 application. Cris holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering and a master’s degree from the Universidade de São Paulo (USP), and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.
CNBC curated the list using a data-driven approach that analyzes the impact of each nominee’s contribution to their industry over the past year. Criteria include financial milestones, significant business results, new approaches to old problems, and identifying untapped opportunities.
Honorees will be recognized at the CNBC Changemakers Summit on April 16, 2026, in New York.
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