Former Flagstar CEO Alessandro DiNello will leave the bank’s board in June, according to a filing last week.

"I'm enjoying retirement and exiting all my board positions as my terms expire," DiNello, 71, told American Banker in an email. “I've seen too many board members stay on much too long and I prefer to leave on my terms and before others think I should be leaving."

DiNello’s departure did not stem from any disagreement with Flagstar, the bank noted in its filing.

"I have full confidence in [CEO] Joseph [Otting] and the management team he has built,” DiNello said in his email.

Flagstar, meanwhile, appointed Eli Miller to its board of directors, effective April 1, according to the filing. Miller is a senior managing director at Liberty Strategic Capital, the lead investor in a $1.05 billion cash infusion that likely saved Flagstar from failure in 2024.

Miller fills a board seat once occupied by Liberty’s former general counsel, Brian Callanan. Callanan resigned from the board in November and left Liberty to take a job as U.S. general counsel for TD.

For his board role, Miller will receive an annual cash retainer of $97,500, a $130,000 annual equity award, and annual cash retainers for each of the two board committees on which he’ll serve, Flagstar said. Miller will sit on Flagstar’s risk assessment and technology and operations committees, the bank said.

At Liberty, Miller helps to set strategic direction, lead fundraising efforts, and make high-level investment decisions, Flagstar said in its filing. Miller previously served as managing director of government relations at Blackstone and as chief of staff at the Treasury Department while Liberty’s future founder, Steven Mnuchin, was Treasury secretary.

A nearly five-decade journey

DiNello’s departure caps a 47-year journey at Flagstar and its predecessors. DiNello joined Security Savings Bank in 1979 and climbed the ranks both before and after Flagstar bought the Jackson, Michigan-based lender in 1996.

DiNello eventually was named CEO in 2013 and held that post for nearly a decade, until Flagstar itself was acquired by New York Community Bank. DiNello became nonexecutive chair as part of the deal but was tapped back into service in February 2024 – first as executive chair, then as CEO – after a surprise $252 million loss at NYCB widened into a $2.4 billion impairment charge.

The bank’s woes were rooted in both an overreliance on commercial real estate and rapid growth from two deals within six months: the acquisition of Flagstar and the purchase of assets from the failed Signature Bank. NYCB’s stock lost most of its value around that time.

DiNello’s second CEO stint was short but proved somewhat rocky. Liberty – and by extension, Otting – rescued NYCB about a month after DiNello took the helm and later rebranded it Flagstar.

DiNello was sued in August 2025 by a compliance executive at the bank, Ross Marrazzo, who said he was terminated before he could conclude an investigation related to money laundering and insider trading allegations.

In February 2024, the bank’s anti-money laundering system flagged a client for illegal “structuring” of deposits. After Marrazzo’s investigation confirmed at least three instances of the activity, he informed DiNello that the account needed to be closed. DiNello urged Marrazzo to keep the account open and suggested informing the client about the investigation.

Marrazzo closed the account, but later found DiNello had personally contacted the client about their “gambling problem,” according to the lawsuit.

When Marrazzo defended his actions, DiNello explicitly threatened, “I would fire you if you did [it again],” according to the complaint. Following this incident, Marrazzo was excluded from executive meetings, the complaint indicated.

Also included in Marrazzo’s suit was a whistleblower complaint from another executive who reported that in early 2024, during a video meeting with a law firm, DiNello had “a clearly-visible junior NYCB employee sitting on his lap and rubbing his head.”

DiNello’s board term ends June 9 at Flagstar’s annual meeting, where he will not stand for reelection.