Bank of America has consolidated its consumer units and, following the departure of a top executive, given one of its most senior female leaders a promotion.
Holly O'Neill, BofA's president of retail banking, is taking on a new role as head of the bank's consumer, retail and preferred lines of business, CEO Brian Moynihan said Monday in a company memo. The change is effective immediately, BofA told American Banker.
O'Neil, who's been working at the bank for almost 30 years, has been head of BofA's retail unit since 2021. She has repeatedly landed on American Banker's list of the Most Powerful Women in Banking, including at No. 5 last year.
In her new role, O'Neill takes the reins from the bank's previous president of preferred and consumer banking, Aron Levine. Levine is leaving BofA to pursue other opportunities, Moynihan said in his memo. The bank did not provide further information.
Levine had been with Bank of America for nearly 32 years and was a member of the bank's executive management team, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Organizationally, the move combines two of BofA's departments: retail, which focuses on the basic banking needs of 69 million consumers, and preferred, which serves mass affluent clients and small business owners.
"Operational excellence is critical to our progress, including our ongoing work to simplify and streamline the organization, making it easier for teammates to deliver for our clients and our investors," Moynihan wrote. "Today, we are announcing leadership changes that are consistent with these goals."
Holly O'Neill, president of consumer, retail and preferred banking at Bank of America.
Bank of America
In the same memo, Moynihan said David Tyrie, BofA's chief officer of digital and marketing, would also lead a new consumer client solutions group. The new department will combine Merrill Edge, employee banking and investments, and consumer lending.
A BofA spokesperson said the expansions of O'Neill's and Tyrie's roles were both part of an effort to simplify and streamline the organization.
O'Neill joined BofA in 1996 as a credit analyst trainee. Over the years, she worked her way up the ladder of BofA's corporate and investment bank. In 2018, she was offered the role of chief client care officer — a job that she wasn't sure yet she knew how to do.
In a leap of faith in herself, she took the job anyway, and today she considers it "one of the best career moves" she ever made.
"I really challenged myself to say: 'You know what, Holly? You can do this,'" O'Neill told American Banker last year. "'You can figure it out; you can get the right team. Take the leap; take the risk and give it a try.'"
Three years later, O'Neill was promoted to head of retail banking, the position she continues to hold in its expanded form today. In that role, she said last year, she has focused on how to put clients on a path to financial health, deliver "a great experience" and use technology in support of those objectives.
Through her 29-year career in banking, O'Neill said she has learned not to avoid challenges.
"Don't shy away from the unpopular assignments," she said. "Those tend to be the assignments that you learn the most from."
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