Head of Commercial Banking
Under Stephanie Novosel, the commercial banking unit at PNC Financial Services Group is poised to become a national player.
The Pittsburgh-based bank is absorbing BBVA USA, whose operations were largely concentrated in the Southwest and California, and Novosel was named to lead the integrations of the companies’ corporate and institutional banking units. Her 100-person integration team is identifying leaders for new regions and new markets across the Southwest and developing strategies to onboard 1,600 new employees.
The work has been complicated by the pandemic, said Novosel, who heads commercial banking at the $554 billion-asset PNC. “But we’ve adapted and it hasn’t changed our commitment to the extensive work of integration, including collaborating with each other on culture and our customer-centric focus.”
She is looking forward to what comes next for her unit, which is now 33% bigger after the merger, which closed in June. “The opportunity to grow is vast, as we expand all of our products and services coast to coast and take what we do to many of the country’s highest-growth markets,” she said.
Inside PNC, Novosel has set out to ensure leaders possess digital skills equal to those of the people they lead, given the growing reliance on digital tools, even in commercial banking.
“The pandemic gave us the opportunity to discover more about our clients and ourselves in terms of how efficiently and successfully we can do business using technology,” she said.
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Novosel also is among a group of PNC leaders collaborating on a new program designed to close the gap in pay between men and women. It is called Project 257, a number that reflects how many years it will take to close the gender pay gap at the current rate.
“Project 257 will create change by talking with women about high-growth industries, extending credit to female consumers and businesses, being a great workplace for women, and supporting children/child care through our Grow Up Great program,” Novosel said.
