How Truist promotions, new hires aim to boost Charlotte bank’s restructuring
Truist is ramping up plans for nationwide expansion and to grow in the businesses the bank serves by investing more in recruitment and shuffling leadership roles.
It’s part of the company’s strategic initiatives to accelerate growth by adding new clients and deepening existing client relationships in areas like payments, wealth and premier banking, CEO and chairman Bill Rogers said during Friday’s second-quarter earnings call.
“These leaders are already making meaningful impact, strengthening our presence in key growth markets and... driving new business and positioning Truist for the long-term sustainable growth,” Rogers said.
Truist is expanding its commercial and corporate banking sectors with several new hires and employee appointments.
Charles Alston is one of the new hires in a new role at Truist.
As head of Truist’s nonprofit hospitals, higher education and government banking team, the position was created to drive growth and deepen relationships with the bank’s more than 1,000 clients.
“That was the big draw, because we are building something out that is special for our clients and communities,” Alston told The Charlotte Observer in a recent interview after starting last month.
His position brings Truist’s bankers specializing in hospitals, higher education, universities, municipal entities and governments under one national business umbrella.
“That’s the exciting part for me, unify them together so that they have the power of working with each other, bouncing ideas off of each other in an easier way,” said Alston, who is based in Jacksonville, Florida.
Alston has more than three decades of financial services experience, with 20 years leading specialty-focused coverage of hospitals, higher education and nonprofits.
His new role at Truist emphasizes the importance of community connectivity with a deeper level of expertise, advisory services and insight, he said. It also means streamlining the financial process, such as automated posting of receivables collections for hospitals.
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“Oftentimes, these clients are some of the largest employers in their communities with a large community connection,” Alston said. “It enables us to be more agile and sharp about the investment we need to make in our product offerings to give to our clients.”
He reports to Jason Cagle, who was named head of specialized industries at Truist earlier this year.
After job cuts, Truist steps up recruiting
Two years ago, Truist made “sizable” job cuts as part of a $750 million companywide cost-cutting plan.
Those cuts were expected to result in about $300 million in savings, the bank said at the time. Additional savings would come from $200 million in technology modernization and optimization, and $250 million from consolidating business operations over the next 12 to 18 months.
A year ago, the bank made more job cuts in its technology department as part of the bank’s restructuring.
Now, people in Truist’s newly hired roles are expected to serve more clients and capture more market share, Kerry Jessani, head of commercial and corporate banking at Truist, said in a statement.
“Building our bench of leaders and seasoned bankers allows us to extend our capabilities and industry-specific experience to clients across the U.S.,” Jim Pirouz, head of corporate banking at Truist said.
Pirouz himself was named to his new role in January after previously serving as head of capital markets for Truist Securities.
Truist is recruiting to expand coverage in key areas, including consumer and retail, energy and infrastructure, financial institutions, healthcare, industrials and services, media and telecom, and technology.
Other new Truist hires and appointments
In addition to Alston, recent new hires and senior leader appointments at Truist include:
▪ Rob Chesley and Evelyn Kudelski co-heads of the financial institutions group. Chesley and Kudelski were senior leaders at Truist Securities and have combined over 50 years of experience.
▪ Tom Crowley has been hired as managing director in the financial institutions.
▪ Andrew Turnbull has been hired as managing director in the healthcare groups.
▪ Yash Gandhi has been hired as director in the energy and infrastructure group.
▪ Samuel Gaze has been hired as director of financial institutions groups.
▪ Benjamin Wright joins Truist this month as head of industrials and services. Wright has more than 20 years of industry and team development experience. Wright comes from Wells Fargo, where he was head of industrials.
▪ Laura Chittick will join Truist in August as head of healthcare. Chittick has more than 25 years of experience in capital markets advisory, including the last five years focused on pharma, biotech, medtech and healthcare services clients. She comes from J.P. Morgan.
About Truist
Truist was formed six years ago with the $66 billion merger of BB&T based in Winston-Salem and SunTrust Banks in Atlanta.
The bank is headquartered at 214 N. Tryon St. in uptown, with more than 3,000 workers in the Charlotte area and about 40,000 employees companywide.
Truist has bank branches in 15 states, primarily in the Southeast as well as in Indiana, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
It is the eighth-largest bank in the country by consolidated assets with 1,928 branches, according to theFederal Reserve. Truist had $544 billion in total assets as of June 30, according to the bank’s second-quarter earnings report.
Truist 2Q results
Truist reported total revenue of $5 billion for the second quarter ending June 30, up from revenue loss of $1.68 billion the same time last year, marking a strong turnaround.
During the second quarter last year, revenue was down $6.5 billion due primarily to securities losses as part of Truist’s balance sheet repositioning at the time.
“Our performance reflects the value of our client-centric business model and momentum in our strategy, as we see tangible results from investments we have made in talent and technology across our platforms,” Rogers said on Friday.
