Truist warned last month that changes were afoot — that roughly one-third of the $750 million it anticipates to save over the next 18 months would stem from a restructuring that includes consolidated business lines, fewer layers of management and a scaled-back branch footprint.
Here are seven personnel moves that could help define Truist’s restructuring:
1. The bank’s chief marketing officer is out.
Vinoo Vijay, who has served as Truist’s CMO since 2020, will leave the bank this week and relocate to California, he wrote in a LinkedIn post Thursday.
"Terribly bittersweet. Over the last three years we've built up a truly special marketing team, and I will miss them,” Vijay wrote. “But I'm also excited about engaging in the new paths ahead. And oddly, the little bit of uncertainty around what exactly I'll do next feels quite freeing. Here's to just being.”
Truist has tapped Sherry Graziano, previously the Charlotte, North Carolina-based lender’s head of digital banking, to lead the bank’s marketing efforts. Her new title will be head of digital, client experience and marketing, according to a memo issued Oct. 3 by Dontá Wilson, Truist’s chief retail and small business banking officer, and seen by Business North Carolina.
Longtime observers of the banking space may be well-aware of the sector’s hot-and-cold relationship with dedicating a position solely to the oversight of marketing. Wells Fargo and Bank of America, for example, both retired their CMO positions in 2021, but BofA — two weeks after making that announcement — hired away the CMO of Citi’s consumer-banking unit to serve as its head of consumer and small-business products.
2. Speaking of Wells Fargo …
Ken Meyer, Truist’s chief information and experience officer for enterprise technology delivery, is leaving the bank to join Wells Fargo on Oct. 23 as CIO of enterprise functions technology, according to the Triad Business Journal.
“I have always believed that you pick your employer because of the opportunity they present for you and your family. However, you stay at the employer because of the people you work with,” Meyer wrote in a LinkedIn post last week. “The relationships we have built go well beyond any badge we happen to wear at any given time. Please know that you have a Teammate for life in me.”
Steve Hagerman, Wells Fargo’s CIO of consumer technology, told Bank Automation News he is “thrilled” to welcome Meyer.
“Amidst Wells Fargo’s digital transformation, the work led by the [Enterprise Functions Technology team] is critical to our progress,” Hagerman told the outlet. “Ken’s strong background in leading exceptional teams and driving innovation at a large organization like ours is well suited to the task at hand.”
3. Truist has folded its Foundry unit into a broader innovation initiative.
Lindsay Holden, a co-founder and CEO of the gamified finance app Long Game — which Truist bought in May 2022 — is no longer working at Truist, Bank Automation News reported last week.
The bank had tapped Holden to lead the Foundry when it launched in October 2022. The Foundry launched Truist’s first gamified finance app in May.
Truist, for its part, declined to comment to Triad Business Journal regarding recent departures. A spokesperson for the bank emphasized a focus on efficiency.
"As we recently shared at the Barclays investor conference, we continue to transform Truist to focus on our strengths to drive long-term growth and profitability," the spokesperson said in an email. "We’re hiring in some areas and rightsizing in others through natural attrition and planned staffing reductions. We’re committed to supporting affected teammates as they seek to find employment opportunities — with Truist or elsewhere."
4. Truist’s branch and premier banking units are combining.
Allison Robinson, who had been the bank’s head of community branch banking and emerging markets, is adding premier banking — Truist’s terminology for services to affluent clients — to her responsibilities, according to Wilson’s memo.
5. Truist’s top mortgage banker is assuming all of consumer lending.
David Smith joined Truist in July as head of mortgage. Now the bank is combining real estate lending, direct and partnership lending, consumer capital markets and consumer finance companies into “a single consumer loan portfolio leadership structure to optimize growth and returns more effectively,” Wilson said in his memo.
6. Wells isn’t the only competitor getting a talent windfall.
Chris Brogden, who until this month was Truist’s head of corporate real estate for security and aviation, is joining U.S. Bank as head of corporate real estate, according to his LinkedIn profile.
7. Truist’s deposits unit gets a boost.
Jon Ambler will lead the deposits team overseeing consumer and small business deposits, according to Wilson’s memo. The unit takes an elevated role in Truist’s consumer and small business banking division, reflecting “the strategic core value of deposits,” Wilson said.
