Carver Bancorp, the holding company of one of the nation's largest Black banks, has hired Donald Felix, an outsider with big-bank experience, to be its president and CEO.
Felix, 50, will join the $748.9 million-asset parent of Carver Federal Savings Bank on Nov. 1, according to a press release. He will succeed Craig MacKay, a member of Carver's board of directors who has been serving as the interim president and CEO since last October.
Felix will join Carver's board, and MacKay will continue to serve as a director, according to the release. MacKay took over as chief executive after former Carver CEO
His hiring comes about a year after Carver, the only Black bank in New York City, first
In the release Monday, Felix said he will be focused on "advancing Carver's growth, creating value for [the company's ] stakeholders and promoting greater financial inclusion and economic mobility."
"Carver has been a driving force in economic empowerment in Greater New York City for more than seven decades, doing some of the most impact-driven work in banking," Felix said in the release. "We will continue to play a central role in ensuring we meet the evolving needs of consumers and helping our communities thrive … I know Carver's best days lie ahead."
Felix comes to Carver with more than 25 years of experience in banking. A graduate of Howard University, he started his career at Citigroup in 1996. He held several roles there, including in corporate banking and as the chief of staff to Citi's former board chair, Richard Parsons, during the aftermath of the financial crisis, according to his LinkedIn profile.
He moved on to JPMorgan Chase in 2016, where he was the chief of staff in the office of the CEO of consumer banking and wealth management, his LinkedIn profile shows. From there, he became head of consumer financial health in the same division. In 2021, Felix joined Citizens Financial Group as its head of national banking and expansion. He left that job in 2023, his profile shows.
"Don Felix has an outstanding record of executive experience and achievement in the banking industry," Lewis Jones III, Carver's board chair, said in the release. "His expertise will help Carver achieve its strategic objective to create new revenue streams and further enhance shareholder value."
Founded 76 years ago in New York City's Harlem neighborhood, Carver is designated as both a community development financial institution and a minority depository institution. It is one of 23 Black-owned or -operated banks in the U.S. and one of five such banks whose board is majority-Black, according to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data.
Carver has been facing earnings challenges. For the three months ended June 30, it reported a net loss of $2.2 million, according to its most recent quarterly report.
During its most recent fiscal year, which ended in March, the company reported a net loss of $3 million, another filing shows. Still, that's a 32% improvement from the prior fiscal year, MacKay said in a July press release. For fiscal year 2023, the loss was $4.4 million.
Dream Chasers continues to criticize Carver's profitability and its ability to retain deposits. In July, the group, which owns about 5% of the bank, nominated two people to Carver's board, according to a regulatory filing.
The two nominees, retired JPMorgan executive Jeff Anderson and Jeffrey John Bailey, a Carver shareholder, "will execute a new strategic plan for growth which will lead to profitability, enrich the community and deliver significant shareholder value," Dream Chasers said in a press release at the time.
