Bruce Van Saun is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Citizens Financial Group, Inc, a large regional bank with a significant presence in New England, the Mid-Atlantic and the Midwest that serves more than five million consumer and business customers.
Van Saun joined CFG in October 2013 from the Royal Bank of Scotland. He led Citizens to a successful initial public offering in September 2014, and full independence from RBS in October 2015. Citizens continues to focus on delivering well for its stakeholders, including customers, colleagues, communities and shareowners.
At RBS, Van Saun served as Group Finance Director and as an executive director on the RBS Board from 2009 to 2013. He led efforts critical to re-establishing safety and soundness at RBS after the financial crisis, including improvements in the capital, liquidity and funding position, reduction in risk concentrations, and several significant divestitures such as Direct Line Group – the company’s insurance subsidiary – through an IPO and sell-down.
Prior to that, Van Saun held a number of senior positions with Bank of New York and later Bank of New York Mellon over an 11-year period. As Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer he was actively involved in the strategic transformation of BNY from a diversified regional bank into a focused global securities servicer and asset manager. This included over 80 transactions, including notable ones such as the merger with Mellon, a swap of businesses with JP Morgan and the acquisition of Pershing. He had also served as head of Bank of New York’s asset management and market-related businesses.
Van Saun was selected as the 2019 “Banker of the Year” by American Banker magazine. He previously had been rated one of the industry’s top CFOs at both RBS and Bank of New York.
Earlier in his more than 30-year financial services career, he held senior positions with Deutsche Bank, Wasserstein Perella Group and Kidder Peabody & Co.
Van Saun has served on a number of boards in both the U.S. and the U.K. He is currently a director of Moody’s Corporation, sits on the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston board, and is a board member for the Bank Policy Institute and The Clearing House Supervisory Board. He is also a board member of the Partnership for Rhode Island and Jobs for Massachusetts.
He graduated summa cum laude with a degree in business administration from Bucknell University, and earned an MBA in finance and general management from the University of North Carolina.
Ted Bililies is an internationally recognized expert on leadership and organization development and the Chief Talent Officer of AlixPartners. Ted launched the first commercial practice in leadership and human capital at AlixPartners which advises investors, CEOs, and boards on the selection and development of leaders and the alignment of culture for maximum and sustainable value creation. Ted’s career spans three decades as a psychologist, human resources executive, management consultant, and executive coach.
He holds academic degrees from Loyola University of Chicago and Harvard University. Ted taught at Harvard University for many years, is currently on the Executive Education faculty of the Harvard Business School and is a board member of the Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis. Ted has helped leaders around the world achieve enduring change in their organizations, their teams, and themselves by expanding their psychological, behavioral and organizational insights into leadership.
Frank Bisignano is the President, Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors of Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV), a global leader in financial services and payments technology solutions for financial institutions, businesses and consumers. The company serves clients in more than 100 countries, and in 2020 was recognized among FORTUNE® World’s Most Admired Companies for a seventh consecutive year.
Bisignano joined Fiserv in 2019 as part of the company’s transformative combination with First Data, steering the company’s day-to-day operations as President and Chief Operating Officer before assuming the role of Chief Executive Officer in July 2020.
Bisignano previously served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of First Data Corporation. During his tenure at First Data, Bisignano transformed the 48-year-old company from the world’s largest traditional payment processor into a technology innovator, industry collaborator, and commerce enabler for the 21st century. He also led its $2.6 billion initial public offering in 2015, the largest U.S. IPO of the year.
Before joining First Data, Bisignano served as Co-Chief Operating Officer and Chief Executive Officer of Mortgage Banking at JPMorgan Chase & Co. With more than 30 years of executive leadership experience in banks and global financial institutions, Bisignano also served in multiple leadership positions at Citigroup, including Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Executive Officer of the company’s Global Transaction Services unit.
Among a number of non-profit commitments, he serves on the boards of the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, the Mount Sinai Health System, and The Battery Conservancy. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Humana Inc.
Susan has over 25 years’ experience advising Boards and management on all aspects of executive and board compensation and governance. Susan helps develop total compensation programs that support each client’s business strategy and desired philosophy while balancing market, shareholder and regulatory perspectives. Specific areas of focus today include annual and long-term incentive plan design with appropriate risk features, pay-for-performance alignment, executive reward and retention strategies, board compensation, committee governance, succession planning and shareholder/proxy disclosure. Susan has also served as an expert witness for executive compensation matters.
Susan has spent the last 15 years dedicated to serving the financial services industry and leads Meridian’s Financial Services/Banking Team. She advises clients on the many continued compensation regulations and practices affecting the industry.
Susan is an experienced speaker and writer on the topics of executive, director, corporate governance, pay for performance and succession planning. She is an active speaker at national and industry conferences (e.g. American Banker, Bank Director, Equilar, NACD) and has published numerous articles and white papers on the topics related to best practices, regulations and emerging trends. She has also provided comment letters to regulators related to Dodd Frank. Susan has been a Certified Compensation Professional (CCP) with WorldatWork for over 25 years.
Susan earned her BA degree from Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts and an MBA from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts.
J. Scott Petty is a Partner in the Dallas office of Chartwell Partners and leads the firm’s Financial Services Practice serving bank, mortgage, wealth management and real estate clients across the country. Scott has established a successful track record as an executive search consultant recruiting senior executives and board directors for small- and mid-cap public and closely-held private companies.
Prior to joining Chartwell in 2009, Scott spent over a decade between his tenures with Heidrick & Struggles and Spencer Stuart. Over the course of his time with each firm, he led search practices in banking, real estate and broad financial services.
Scott frequently presents on board and executive leadership topics through various association forums. In addition, Scott has published talent related articles over the years and has been quoted in Bank Director, Bloomberg News, American Banker, The Wall Street Journal and Builder Online.
Scott is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and minor in business management. He serves on the advisory board for the University of Texas McCombs MSF Council, is a board member for Friends of Sky Ranch and is a long-time advisory director for the West Dallas Community School.
Outside of work, Scott enjoys spending time with his wife and family, fixing up old Toyota FJ40 Land Cruisers, shooting sports, outdoor adventures, and volunteering with Boy Scouts of America.
Patrick Sells, an award-winning entrepreneur recognized for digital innovation in banking, is on a mission to transform financial services through the fusion of Bitcoin and banking. A deeply held belief of Patrick’s is that the two should be symbiotic in order to create maximum financial security for all. As the Head of NYDIG’s Bank Solutions business, Patrick will build upon the momentum from NYDIG’s efforts to bring the needed technological infrastructure for banks to be able to offer Bitcoin products and services such as custody, rewards programs and l ending opportunities.
Prior to joining NYDIG, Patrick served as Chief Innovation Officer at Quontic Bank, where he evolved the firm into a leading adaptive digital bank in the U.S. through a focus on technology and innovation. Prior to Quontic, he built and ran several technology, data and digital marketing companies, and has advised banks and fintech companies on regulatory compliance.
In 2020, Patrick was recognized as American Banker’s “Digital Banker of the Year” and one of Independent Community Bankers of America’s “40 under 40 Emerging Community Bank Leaders.”
Nirupama is a Principal in PwC’s Financial Crime Unit Technology practice with over 14 years of experience in compliance, risk management and analytics. She has worked with clients in financial institutions, fintech, and asset and wealth management clients, assisting them with their remediations and compliance transformation strategy leveraging machine learning and advanced analytics. Prior to joining PwC, Niru has assisted financial institutions with their pricing strategy and leverage analytics and technology to define product strategy.
Niru has advised clients on their compliance operating models and target state to ensure they manage customer and client experience and achieve business goals while meeting the regulatory obligations. She has also led multiple engagements at large global financial and fintechs to improve efficiency of compliance program, developing advanced technology solutions and improving the efficiency of their operations processes by leveraging machine learning and advanced analytics. She has also assisted clients with the regulatory review and remediations of their financial crime, and model development and governance programs.
Nirupama has a Masters in Information Systems and Management with a concentration in Data Analytics and Finance from Carnegie Mellon University. Her prior experience in modelling and statistical analysis also includes developing credit risk and loan pricing models.
Ken joins the COE Industry Solutions Team from Larson Financial where he was VP of IT. At Larson, Ken led the design and implementation of numerous financial services cloud applications such Salesforce Financial Services and Orion. Prior to that, Ken held leadership roles in IT and Risk Management at Synchrony Financial (formerly GE Capital), USG and Deloitte. Ken also served as an officer in the United States Air Force and is a graduate of the University of Illinois (BS Math/CS) and Northwestern University – Kellogg School of Management (MBA).
Outside of work, Ken enjoys exercising, golf, attending live sports events (pre-COVID) and community service, especially through his church (including working with Boy Scouts) and Affinity networks (former communications lead for the General Electric Veteran’s Network).
Chief Executive Group exists to improve the performance of U.S. CEOs, senior executives and public-company directors, helping you grow your companies, build your communities and strengthen society. Learn more at chiefexecutivegroup.com.
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1:00 - 5:00 pm
Over 70% of Executives Surveyed Agree: Many Strategic Planning Efforts Lack Systematic Approach Tips for Enhancing Your Strategic Planning Process
Executives expressed frustration with their current strategic planning process. Issues include:
Steve Rutan and Denise Harrison have put together an afternoon workshop that will provide the tools you need to address these concerns. They have worked with hundreds of executives to develop a systematic approach that will enable your team to make better decisions during strategic planning. Steve and Denise will walk you through exercises for prioritizing your lists and steps that will reset and reinvigorate your process. This will be a hands-on workshop that will enable you to think about your business as you use the tools that are being presented. If you are ready for a Strategic Planning tune-up, select this workshop in your registration form. The additional fee of $695 will be added to your total.
2:00 - 5:00 pm
Female leaders face the same issues all leaders do, but they often face additional challenges too. In this peer session, we will facilitate a discussion of best practices and how to overcome common barriers to help women leaders be more effective within and outside their organizations.
Limited space available.
10:30 - 5:00 pm
General’s Retreat at Hermitage Golf Course
Sponsored by UBS
General’s Retreat, built in 1986 with architect Gary Roger Baird, has been voted the “Best Golf Course in Nashville” and is a “must play” when visiting the Nashville, Tennessee area. With the beautiful setting along the Cumberland River, golfers of all capabilities will thoroughly enjoy the golf, scenery and hospitality.
The golf outing fee includes transportation to and from the hotel, greens/cart fees, use of practice facilities, and boxed lunch. The bus will leave the hotel at 10:30 am for a noon shotgun start and return to the hotel after the cocktail reception following the completion of the round.
