Sandy Pierce was in the midst of transforming how Huntington Bank delivered advisory services when her counterpart in the company's community banking unit left for a new job.
They had been working together on unifying service delivery, which required extensive coordination between community banking and the private banking division, where Pierce is the director.
"For a minute I was like, 'OK. Will this slip a little bit?' And, in fact, it did not," said Pierce, who also is director of regional banking at Huntington and chairman of Huntington Michigan.
One meeting with her new counterpart, recruited from Truist, was enough to wash away her concern, Pierce said. "It was a conversation around our purpose and our values. That's what we started with, not a strategic priority."
Not that the business case for the initiative wasn't compelling, Pierce said. It is expected to drive growth in assets under management for Columbus, Ohio-based Huntington. Launched at the start of 2022, the initiative combines delivery of financial advice from both the private bank and the community bank arms of Huntington, eliminating internal competition for customers.
It also includes new digital tools, such as one allowing customers to find an advisor who matches their specifications.
"We're really optimistic about what this is going to do for our business and, therefore, for our organization," said Pierce, who is based in Detroit. She had been chairman and CEO of FirstMerit Michigan before it was purchased in 2016 by Huntington.
Under her leadership, private banking, vehicle finance and insurance delivered their best performance yet in 2021, bringing in revenue of more than $850 million and pretax, pre-provision income of $600 million.
Pierce also played a role in building on Huntington's acquisition of TCF Financial in June 2021. Following the merger, for example, she oversaw expansion of the private bank in the Minneapolis-St. Paul market and a doubling of Huntington's five-year, $20 billion commitment to community initiatives.
The now-$40 billion initiative includes expanding access to credit for underserved businesses, including those owned by women, veterans and minorities. As of early August, the initiative had lent or invested more $10.8 billion.
"We know that won't close the gap," Pierce acknowledged. "But we want to do as much as we can to start lessening the burden on the most under-resourced communities in our footprint."
