U.S. Bancorp splits new president's former duties between two executives

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One month after U.S. Bancorp promoted Gunjan Kedia to the role of company president, the Minneapolis-based firm has split her former day-to-day responsibilities between two longtime executives.

Stephen Philipson is now leading all of the product businesses within U.S. Bancorp's wealth, corporate, commercial and institutional banking division, the company said in a press release. Meanwhile, Felicia La Forgia will oversee a newly created unit within the same division called the Institutional Client Group, which will focus on distributing resources to institutional clients.

Kedia had been running the wealth, corporate, commercial and institutional banking division for a little more than a year when she was promoted last month to president, a role that potentially sets her up to succeed CEO Andy Cecere. While Cecere has given no indication that he's ready to retire, both he and his most immediate predecessor held the role of president before they became CEO.

Philipson, who joined U.S. Bancorp 15 years ago, most recently oversaw the global markets and specialized finance segment within the wealth, corporate, commercial and institutional banking unit. He joined the bank in 2009 as the deputy head of high grade fixed income after having worked at Wells Fargo, Wachovia Securities and Morgan Stanley, according to his LinkedIn profile.

He will continue to sit on U.S. Bancorp's 16-member managing committee, the company said.

La Forgia, who has been with U.S. Bancorp since 2008, was most recently the head of corporate banking at U.S. Bank, the banking subsidiary of U.S. Bancorp. She was also group head of the bank's oil and gas, retail and apparel and utilities businesses, the company said.

La Forgia previously worked at WestLB, the German bank that was broken up in 2012, and Bank of New York Mellon, her LinkedIn profile shows. In 2020, she was part of a group of U.S. Bancorp women executives that was named one of American Banker's Most Powerful Women in Banking teams.

In a profile published by U.S. Bancorp in 2021, La Forgia called banking "a people business."

"We want to be the go-to bank, the one clients know they can rely on to solve problems they didn't even know they had and help them reach goals they couldn't have imagined possible," she said in the article.

Succession planning

Gunjan Kedia appears positioned to become U.S. Bank's next CEO

The Minneapolis-based company has promoted Kedia to president, a role that CEO Andy Cecere and his predecessor both held before being named to the top job.

By Allissa Kline

May 6

Both Philipson and La Forgia will continue to report directly to Kedia. As president, in addition to overseeing wealth, corporate, commercial and institutional banking, Kedia also oversees U.S. Bancorp's other two business lines: payment services and consumer and business banking.

Philipson is "known for his deep product knowledge and offering innovative solutions," and in his new role will elevate "relationship channels into a stronger and more cohesive unit," Kedia said.

And La Forgia "will drive consistency and excellence in regional and sector coverage across all our corporate, commercial and institutional clients," Kedia said.

The wealth, corporate, commercial and institutional banking division contributes 37% of U.S. Bancorp's total net revenue, the same percentage as consumer and business banking, according to a presentation that U.S. Bancorp prepared for a conference last month.

The division covers a broad list of segments, including wealth management, asset management, capital markets, global fund services, corporate banking, commercial banking and commercial real estate.