Kelly Coffey almost ended up working for the Central Intelligence Agency after graduating from Georgetown University with a master of science degree in foreign service. But instead Coffey opted for a riskier career — in banking.
The Pennsylvania native is proficient in languages, so she "went pretty far down an interview with the CIA right out of college." When she was told in the CIA interview that she might have to "disappear for a while," she dropped out of the running.
"I have a big Italian family and realized this wouldn't work for me," Coffey joked in a recent interview. "I never really looked back."
In the five years since Coffey was named CEO of Los Angeles-based City National Bank, the bank's assets have doubled to $95 billion, from $50 billion in 2019. City National was acquired by Royal Bank of Canada in 2015, and has more than 70 branches in roughly a dozen states. Coffey said she is looking to grow the bank to its next $100 billion in assets by continuing to focus on relationship banking.
Still, City National has struggled in the aftermath of the March liquidity crisis. Deposits dipped 5% to $74.5 billion in the second quarter ended in July. RBC also reported an 18% drop in net income at its wealth management unit in the quarter due, in part, to investments City National has made in its operational infrastructure.
"I think you have to be ready for anything from a deposit standpoint," Coffey said. "I do think there's gonna be a lot of business that goes outside the banking sector, which will continue."
In September, City National brought in new leadership by naming Greg Carmichael, the former CEO of Fifth Third Bancorp, as executive chair of its board of directors. Carmichael, who led the bridge bank created by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. after the collapse of Signature Bank, in New York, will report directly to RBC's CEO Dave McKay. Coffey will report to Carmichael.
Coffey spent most of her career at JPMorgan Chase, most recently as CEO of its U.S. private bank before joining City National. Early in her career, she spent six years working mergers and acquisitions in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has held a variety of leadership roles including as head of diversified industrials investment bank, head of equity, FX & interest rate derivatives marketing, and head of corporate finance advisory in North America.
"I did a lot of sideways moves sometimes and people thought I was crazy. But if you do want to potentially run a bigger organization, you need to get different experiences, so you have to take risks," she said. "I took some risks because I get bored quickly if something gets too repetitive."
Women make up more than 50% of employees at most banks. But as they rise the corporate ladder, the path up the corporate ladder narrows dramatically. Coffey has plenty of advice for women trying to climb the corporate ladder, in part because early in her career she was offered a job and instead suggested that her boss be given the role instead. She said it was "the dumbest thing" she'd ever done.
"I think there's a confidence gap and I don't know why that is, but I do find I have to push women who are fully qualified a little more," she said. "You have to be ambitious and be able to promote yourself in some way, shape or form. And I don't think women are that great at it. It's your job to make sure people know what you're doing."
Leading 6,000 employees has plenty of challenges and risks. Coffey said one of her strengths is in knowing when to drill down and ask probing questions. The CEO of a large company can't possibly know everything that is going on in the business.
"You can't run a big organization without knowing how to make decisions without being the expert. So there's definitely an element of risk in that," she said. "You can sense when somebody's answering you and they're not confident. So you have to ask that next question, and the next. And if you ask three or four questions, if they don't really know what they're talking about, it unravels. But if you let it go at the first question, it might not unravel."
When Coffey first joined City National, the leadership team of more than 20 executives was roughly 80% male. Now it's 50% female. The board of directors also has turned over and now is roughly 50% female.
"I always pride myself in any business that I run, I want to leave it better than when I started," she said.
