EDMONTON, AB, April 1,
2022 /CNW/ - Canadian Western Bank (CWB) today
announced four new appointments to its executive leadership team.
This follows the planned retirements of Carolyn Graham, Executive Vice President and
Chief Risk Officer, Glen Eastwood,
Executive Vice President, Business Transformation, and Darrell Jones, Executive Vice President and
Chief Information Officer, who will support the transition until
their respective retirement dates throughout 2022.
Carolina Parra, CWB's Chief Risk
Officer, joined CWB in November 2021.
She previously held senior leadership roles with oversight for
corporate and commercial risk during her 13-year tenure at a large
Canadian bank with an international presence.
"Carolina brings a deep appreciation and understanding of the
role that enterprise risk management can play in driving proactive
portfolio management, speed, growth and profitability," said Mr.
Fowler. "We're thrilled to have Carolina lead CWB's group-wide risk
management, including credit, market and operational risk, and
oversee our transition to the Advanced Internal Rating Based
approach (AIRB) for capital and risk management."
Jeff Wright and John Steeves move into two new executive
positions that bolster the voice of our clients at the most senior
ranks. Jeff, who has been a senior leader at CWB since 2018, is
promoted to Group Head, Client Solutions and Specialized
Businesses, where he will continue to oversee CWB's product, client
experience and brand strategy, digital transformation, and
equipment businesses. Jeff also takes on leadership of CWB's
project management office, as well as CWB Optimum Mortgage and CWB
Trust Services.
"Jeff has been absolutely critical to the development of our
client experience strategy which continues to pay off in terms of
the loyalty we enjoy amongst our business clients," said Mr.
Fowler. "His enthusiastic, collaborative leadership style coupled
with a very strong foundation of industry knowledge and experience
makes Jeff the right person to oversee our digital transformation
and ensure we're well-positioned to meet the evolving needs of our
clients."
John, who previously led CWB's banking centres across
Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, is appointed to Executive Vice
President, Banking. He now provides leadership for CWB's banking
centre network cross Canada with a
focus on delivering a proactive and differentiated level of banking
service, expertise and insight to meet the unique needs of business
owners and their families.
"John's commitment to growing CWB's market share is incredibly
strong," said Mr. Fowler. "With more than 30 years of experience at
several large financial institutions, John brings a tremendous
knowledge of the Canadian banking landscape to our leadership team,
and will continue to support our banking centre teams and ensure
our clients benefit from the unrivaled client experience we know
they want and need."
Azfar Karimuddin, who joined CWB
in 2014 and has since held progressive senior information services
leadership roles, is appointed to Chief Information Officer.
"Azfar knows how to mobilize technology to enable business
growth," said Mr. Fowler. "During his tenure with CWB, Azfar has
demonstrated a deep commitment to client-centric decision-making,
and a proactive approach to ensuring CWB has the technology to
deliver on our strategic priorities."
"We've made significant progress on our journey to become the
best bank for business owners in Canada, and I would like to thank Carolyn,
Glen and Darrell for their incredible contributions, leadership and
expertise," added Mr. Fowler. "We have very strong succession in
place, and I am confident that Carolina, Jeff, John and Azfar are
the right leaders to continue to build our differentiated client
experience and award-winning workplace culture. I enthusiastically
welcome them to our Executive Committee alongside Stephen Murphy, Group Head, Commercial, Personal
and Wealth, Matt Rudd, Chief
Financial Officer, and Kelly
Blackett, Chief People and Culture Officer."
For detailed information about CWB's executive team visit
cwb.com/executive-team.
About Canadian Western
Bank
CWB Financial Group (CWB) is the only full-service financial
institution in Canada with a strategic focus to meet the
unique financial needs of businesses and their owners. We provide
nation-wide full-service business and personal banking, specialized
financing, comprehensive wealth management offerings, and trust
services. Our teams deliver a uniquely proactive and differentiated
level of service to clients in targeted industries where we have
deep expertise. Clients choose CWB for our highly personalized
service, specialized expertise, customized solutions and faster
response times.
As a public company on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), CWB
trades under the symbols "CWB" (common shares), "CWB.PR.B" (Series
5 preferred shares) and "CWB.PR.D" (Series 9 preferred shares). We
are firmly committed to the responsible creation of value for all
our stakeholders and our approach to sustainability will support
our continued success. Learn more at cwb.com.
SOURCE CWB Financial Group