Provident Bank creates new role to drive customer experience

April 4, 2025 3:42 PM

In this week's banking news roundup: Provident Bank's Tara Brady was promoted to chief experience officer; the Federal Reserve ended its enforcement action against Nano Banc; Jim Nussle announced plans to retire as CEO of America's Credit Unions; and more.

Tara Brady

Rich Schaub

Provident Bank refocuses on customer experience

Provident Bank has promoted Tara Brady to chief experience officer, creating a new role to drive customer experience and brand growth.

Brady, who has worked for the New Jersey bank since May 2022, was previously Provident's director of customer experience.

In her new job, Brady will lead the marketing and customer experience teams and be responsible for developing and implementing strategies, the $24.05 billion-asset bank said in a press release Wednesday.

Brady reports to Tim Matteson, chief administrative officer, and is now part of the bank's executive leadership team, a company spokesperson said in an email. —Mary de Wet

Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg

Fed ends enforcement action against Nano Banc

The Federal Reserve has terminated a cease-and-desist order with a Southern California bank whose co-founder was banned from the industry last year.

Irvine, California-based Nano Banc had been operating under the enforcement action, which focused partly on improving the bank's oversight of loans to senior executives, since January 2022.

Last November, the Fed barred Anthony R. Gressak III, who co-founded Nano Banc and had a stint as the company's interim CEO, from working in the banking industry. Gressak allegedly obtained COVID-19 pandemic relief funds fraudulently.

Gressak resigned as Nano Banc's interim CEO in 2022. Last summer, the bank named a new president and CEO, Mary Lynn Lenz, and a new board chair, Lynn McKenzie-Tallerico.

"Over the last several years, Nano Banc has transitioned leadership, creating a talented team of integrity, accountability and transparency," Lenz said in a written statement last year. —Kevin Wack

Jim Remington

Nussle to retire as CEO of America’s Credit Unions

On Friday, Jim Nussle announced plans to retire as CEO of America's Credit Unions, one of the largest and most prestigious national trade associations in the country. Rather than specify an exact date for retirement, Nussel expressed his intention to provide the board time to conduct a thorough national search, UBS said in a press release.

Pat Pierce, president and CEO of City and County Credit Union and chair of America's Credit Unions board of directors, praised Nussle's leadership and flexible succession timeline. "I believe strong candidates will emerge for consideration for this vital leadership role," Pierce said in the release.

America's Credit Unions board of directors has selected Vice Chair Karen Harbin, president and CEO of Commonwealth Credit Union, to lead a search committee and selection process and has selected Korn Ferry to assist the committee in conducting the National search. –Traci Parks

Truist hires HSBC leader to oversee small-business banking

Claudia Davis Adamson, a longtime executive at HSBC, will join Truist Financial this summer as head of small-business banking, Truist announced in a press release. Davis Adamson will report to Dontá Wilson, Truist's chief consumer and small-business banking officer, and join the company's executive management team, according to the release.

Davis Adamson will succeed Eric Lewis, who has been serving as interim head of small-business banking, a spokesperson said in an email.

In her new role, Davis Adamson will oversee all areas of small-business banking including deposits, lending and payment solutions; data and analytics; operations and governance; and client experience for more than 1.2 million small-business clients through Small Business Direct, Business Connect and SBA lending solutions.

Davis Adamson has held several jobs at HSBC, including interim global head of business banking and U.S. head of business banking, according to her LinkedIn profile. —Allissa Kline

PNC’s new head of retail lending comes from Wells, JPMorgan

PNC Bank, the banking arm of PNC Financial Services Group in Pittsburgh, recently hired Jeff Hofmann to lead retail lending, according to a press release. Hofmann, who has previously worked at Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase, will oversee consumer and business credit cards, direct and indirect auto lending, student lending and personal loans.

He reports to Alex Overstrom, head of PNC's retail bank since 2022.

At Wells, Hofmann was most recently head of the co-brand and business credit card divisions, according to the release. He worked there for about three years, following a 16-year career at JPMorgan Chase and more than nine years at MBNA America, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Hofmann will be based in Philadelphia, the release said. —Allissa Kline

Adobe Stock

Webster risk officer to step down

Daniel Bley is retiring as chief risk officer of Webster Financial, the holding company for Webster Bank has announced.

Bley has been Webster's CRO and executive vice president for 14 years. The Stamford, Connecticut-based bank has not yet named his successor, and Bley will continue to serve as CRO until one is appointed.

"Dan has been instrumental in driving a strong risk culture at Webster and significantly advancing the risk management programs and capabilities across the company," Webster CEO John Ciulla said in a statement.

Webster Bank has $79 billion in assets and manages 196 branches in Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

"It has been my privilege to work with the Webster Board and executive management team," Bley said. —Nathan Place

First Bank of the Lake hires McLeod as CFO

Osage Beach, Missouri-based First Bank of the Lake has hired Martha McLeod, a former bank executive with expertise in fintech partnerships, as its chief financial officer.

McLeod previously served as CFO at MVB Bank for nearly two years. "Before that, she held the role of technical accounting senior manager at MVB Financial, overseeing complex transactions for regulatory and financial reporting," First Bank of the Lake said in a press release Wednesday.

"Martha brings a deep level of expertise in financial planning and analysis and accounting leadership, particularly with the areas of Private Label Banking (BaaS) and fintech partnerships," President and CEO Jim Larrick said in the release.

Cheri Walz was First Bank of the Lake's previous CFO. Her LinkedIn profile shows she held the title from January 2023 and is now "open to work." —Mary de Wet

Bank tellers’ wages rise

The average annual pay for bank tellers rose 5.4% in May 2024 from a year ago, even as the number of jobs edged lower.

The mean annual wage for tellers was $40,940, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics report released Wednesday. That's up 91% over the past 20 years.

The number of bank teller jobs in the U.S. totaled 339,340 in May 2024, down 0.4% from a year ago and 44% off its peak in 2007.

The trend of shrinking jobs and higher wages reflects the closing of bank branches and the need for tellers to handle more complicated banking tasks. There's also a question of how much artificial intelligence can replace humans. —Mary de Wet

Owners Bank partners with OneTeam Capital

Owners Bank, a unit of Liberty Bank, has formed a partnership with OneTeam Capital to provide small businesses with fast and flexible financing.

"As business owners juggle multiple responsibilities, we aim to simplify the loan process and offer competitive rates and lending products to fuel their growth," Erik Nilsen, SVP digital strategic partnerships of Owners Bank, said in a press release on Wednesday.

Owners Bank already offers a range of business-focused financial products including term loans, lines of credit, credit cards featuring a rewards program, and business-specific tools like electronic invoicing and expense itemization.

The collaboration will allow Owners Bank to provide financing to OneTeam Capital's customers, Nilsen said.

OneTeam Capital President Matthew Sapnar said Owners' product suite will be particularly suited for equipment financing and is "a welcome alternative to the Merchant Cash Advance (MCA) lending." —Mary de Wet

JPMorgan Chase

Fiserv appoints new COO

Fiserv has appointed Takis Georgakopoulos as its chief financial officer, the company said in a Tuesday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The move was effective Wednesday.

Georgakopoulos will be responsible for the fintech's technology operations and merchant solutions business. He succeeds Guy Chiarello, who will transition to the role of vice chairman, supporting enterprise technology solutions. Jennifer LeClair will continue to serve as the company's head of merchant solutions, reporting to Georgakopoulos.

Georgakopoulos has been with Fiserv since September. Prior to joining the company, he served as global head of payments for JPMorgan's corporate and investment bank. —Joey Pizzolato

Stefan Wermuth/Bloomberg

Solita Marcelli will succeed Bruno Marxer at UBS

UBS' Head of Global Investment for GWM Bruno Marxer said he plans to retire. Solita Marcelli, currently Americas chief investment officer, will take over his role, which will be expanded to cover the Americas, APAC, Switzerland and EMEA, effective July 1.

In her new position, Marcelli will look to further harness innovation and ensure clients benefit from the greater scale and capabilities that a globally managed IM platform provides, UBS said in a press release this week.

To ensure a seamless transition, Marxer will continue in his role through June, "then turn his focus to the continued CS integration for Global IM and managing S&I Wealth Planning & Life Insurance through Q1 2026," UBS said in the release.

Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi will assume the role of chief investment officer Americas for GWM, in addition to her existing role as CIO Global Equities. —Traci Parks

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Local groups oppose credit union-bank merger in California

The first credit union-bank merger deal of the year is meeting fierce opposition.

San Diego's Frontwave Credit Union reached a deal in January to acquire Community Valley Bank, which has five branches in southern California. Now 35 community organizations have signed a letter to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. saying the purchase must not go forward.

The signatories said the acquisition would exempt Community Valley from the Community Reinvestment Act, which currently obligates it to invest in the area. Even worse, they alleged, the bank acquiring it has a "heavy reliance" on overdraft fees.

"It is one thing to lose a rare, responsive financial institution to merger or combination," they wrote. "It is worse still to have such an institution be acquired by another that is harmful to its communities."

The organizations asked for an extension of the period for public hearings and said the merger "cannot be approved as proposed." —Nathan Place