As many regional banks retrench, Huntington Bancshares , the holding company for Huntington Bank, has bet on new markets and verticals. Propelling this expansion are six women in the commercial bank.

"It has not been an easy time in banking," said Karen Davies, executive managing director of specialty banking at Columbus, Ohio-based Huntington. "But we are not shrinking. Huntington is intentionally growing."

Through June 30, $68.9 billion of the bank's $194.6 billion in average assets were from the commercial bank, an 8% jump in the commercial bank's average assets from the end of 2022. Commercial bank net income also climbed 8% in 2023 to $1.2 billion. (Net income was $526 million in the first six months of 2024.)

Like many banks, Huntington's senior ranks are still largely dominated by men. The company has a male CEO, Stephen Steinour, who has held the position since 2009. In 2020, Steinour appointed Scott Kleinman to lead the commercial bank. According to Huntington, 58% of its 20,000 full-time employees are women, but only 2% of its 1,100 senior-level employees are female.

But the numbers are different in the upper echelons of commercial banking at Huntington, where women comprise half of the 12-person leadership team that reports to Kleinman. And $600 million in second-quarter loan growth followed initiatives that have been led by Zewditu Tizu Menelik, who joined Huntington in 2022 to head corporate, specialty and government banking.

Menelik's divisions have incorporated a mortgage solutions team from Flagstar Bank, added financial services focused on federally recognized Native American tribes and started a national deposits group.

Perhaps the biggest moves under Menelik's watch were Huntington hiring away a fund finance team from Signature Bank, a group based in Menelik's home city of Charlotte, and expanding into Dallas to serve corporate clients with between $500 million to $1 billion in annual revenue.

Sunbelt expansion is a major initiative, as Huntington's traditional focus is physical branches and clients in Ohio and Michigan. Also, the bank is mobilizing resources for new verticals including power and utilities as well as metal and chemicals, Menelik said.

Menelik said that she has been able to make these additions, because she works with a team that "does not operate in silos and can move very swiftly."

Each team member brought up a communication style that is transparent about what gaps need to be filled.

Shelli Wuerth, the commercial administration director, noted "clarity and communication" among the six team leaders, and an understanding about, "What are we trying to achieve and why."

There is "healthy debate," Davies said, adding that the team will "Get together in person and on calls" where people feel comfortable presenting their point of view. In order to make a decision, Davies added, there needs to be trust that each team member's voice is heard.

The team's leader is Davies, who does credit portfolio management across the commercial bank, determining revenue strategy with Menelik and Renee Csuhran, who leads commercial real estate.

"My job is to work with all lines of business to focus on core credit quality and safety," Davies said.

For risk management, Davies has partnered with Kathy Walther, segment risk officer for the commercial bank since 2011. Walther set the "guardrails" to do acquisitions "within a risk framework," she said.

And on operations, the team leaders are Shelli Wuerth and Mamta Wingham, digital experience director.

Wuerth has been with Huntington since 1994. She runs a team of over 2,000 employees in charge of duties from colleague onboarding to client servicing support. Davies credited Wuerth with creating "the playbook" that can integrate Huntington's new acquisitions "rather rapidly."

Wingham joined Huntington from JPMorgan in 2021. After helping to build Huntington's consumer-facing mobile app, Wingham now heads a "commercial digital transformation," she said, including automating internal business processes.

Though the commercial bank is growing, it has had to pivot amid challenging market conditions.

Huntington's commercial real estate portfolio totaled $11.9 billion as of June 30, a decrease of 4% from the end of last year. Commercial real estate has reported these modest but consistent declines the past two years, while assets and income in other commercial sectors — for example, lease financing — have continually grown.

"There has been a really muted demand in commercial real estate because of higher costs and because of the uncertainty around interest rates," said Csuhran, who took over commercial real estate last year after a decade at Huntington. The banker added that the office loan and lease sector faces a sustained, post-Covid decline.

Csuhran is "focused on clients who have been with us for years" and revising transactions made during lower interest rates in 2021 so "they work in today's market."

In strategizing commercial real estate, Csuhran is in constant contact with the other women team leaders.

"People are willing to express different ideas and respect each other's point of view," the commercial real estate leader said. "We listen and then as we make decisions, we lock arms and bring that to the broader team."

Team members

Karen Davies, Executive Managing Director of Specialty Banking

Zewditu Tizu Menelik, Executive Managing Director, Corporate, Specialty & Government Banking

Renee Csuhran, Executive Managing Director Commercial Real Estate and Community Development Lending and Investment

Shelli Wuerth, Commercial Administration Director

Mamta Wingham, Digital Experience Director

Kathy Walther, Commercial Segment Risk Officer