Fifth Third Bank’s financial chief will become its operations chief, and its treasurer will become its financial chief in a C-suite reshuffling slated for Jan. 2.
Current CFO Jamie Leonard will move roles to oversee the bank’s largest customer-facing employee groups, including those in retail banking, consumer lending, operations, business controls, strategy and marketing. No stranger to change, he’s held several leadership roles — including chief risk officer — in his more than two decades at the bank.
Current Treasurer Bryan Preston will succeed Leonard. Elevated to treasurer in 2020, he previously served as CFO of the bank’s consumer and payments businesses, and was assistant treasurer from 2015 to 2017.
Brennen Willingham, the bank’s managing director of capital, liquidity and corporate development, will succeed Preston as treasurer. He’s held various treasury roles since joining Fifth Third in 2007.
"These changes are designed to best position Fifth Third for the future," said CEO Tim Spence, who also nabbed a new title in the revamp: chairman.
“I’m thrilled to elevate Jamie to the newly created position of chief operating officer. His leadership, combined with a streamlined reporting structure, gives us the opportunity to continue delivering on our priorities of stability, profitability and growth. I’m also excited to elevate Bryan and Brennen,” Spence said. “Their appointments demonstrate the deep bench of talent across our organization.”
Although Spence called COO a “newly created position,” company materials show that former executive vice president and vice chairman Lars Anderson, who retired in May according to his LinkedIn, was chief operating officer starting in 2015. It appears he wasn't replaced as COO following his retirement in May, leaving the position empty (or eliminated).
A spokesperson explained that what's new about the role is the scope.
Spence succeeds Nick Akins as chairman after a board vote. Akins had been elected lead independent director.
“The appointment recognizes Tim’s leadership and the Board’s confidence in his ability to guide our organization,” Akins said. “He has a thoughtful vision for the future of our company.”
Spence’s predecessor as CEO of Fifth Third, Greg Carmichael, announced his retirement as chair in March, then nearly immediately was named by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as chief executive of Signature’s bridge bank. Carmichael joined Los Angeles-based City National Bank as executive chair in October and has brought at least two other Fifth Third alums to the Royal Bank of Canada subsidiary.
