Leadership Team

Bruce Van Saun – Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Bruce Van Saun is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Citizens Financial Group, Inc.

Van Saun joined CFG in October 2013 – after serving as Group Finance Director and as an executive director on the RBS Board from 2009 to 2013 – and led Citizens to a successful initial public offering in September 2014, and full independence from RBS in October 2015. He has more than 30 years of financial services experience.

From 1997 to 2008, Van Saun held a number of senior positions with Bank of New York and later Bank of New York Mellon, including Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer. Earlier in his 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. He is also a board member of the Partnership for Rhode Island and Jobs for Massachusetts.

March 2019

John F. Woods – Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer

John F. Woods joined Citizens Financial Group, Inc. in February 2017 and assumed the position of Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in March 2017. He was named a Vice Chairman of the bank in February 2019. As Chief Financial Officer, he has responsibility for our Financial Planning and Analysis, Controller, Investor Relations, Strategy, Treasury, Tax and Capital Management functions as well as for the business line finance groups.

Woods joined Citizens from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. (MUFG), where he served as Chief Financial Officer of the MUFG Americas Holdings Corporation, which operates MUFG Union Bank, since 2013. He previously served as Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer for the predecessor company of MUFG Union Bank since December 2009. Prior to that, Woods was Chief Financial Officer of the Home Lending business at JPMorgan Chase and at Washington Mutual, a predecessor entity. Before that, he held senior financial positions at the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), including Chief Financial Officer of the Funding & Investment Division and Corporate Controller. Woods began his career in 1986 with Arthur Andersen where he rose to partner in the financial and risk consulting group during his 16 years with the firm.

Woods holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Commerce from the University of Virginia at Charlottesville.

Brendan Coughlin – Head of Consumer Banking

Brendan Coughlin is head of the Consumer Banking division for Citizens Financial Group, Inc. Named to this role on January 27, 2020, Coughlin is responsible for both national and regional banking. Included is Retail Banking & Distribution, Deposits, Credit & Debit card, Consumer Lending, Mortgage, Business Banking, Wealth Management, and Citizens Access. Citizens has over 1,200 branches and $192.1 billion in deposits as of March 31, 2022.

Brendan was previously president of Consumer Deposits and Lending with responsibility for consumer deposits, payments and lending businesses. Over the years, Coughlin has developed and launched several of the bank’s most innovative offerings, including merchant point-of-sale financing partnerships with Apple, Microsoft and other partners, as well as its education refinance products. His focus on growth, driving innovation and improving the customer experience has directly contributed to the strong performance and market share gains of the consumer business.

Coughlin has been with Citizens for more than 15 years and has held numerous positions in Consumer Banking product management and consumer finance. He has led the student lending team since 2011 and auto finance since 2013, and was named president of Consumer Lending in June 2015. Previously, he was the head of marketing for Consumer Finance.

Prior to joining Citizens, Coughlin worked at Bank of America and FleetBoston Financial in a variety of business areas, including corporate strategy, mortgage product management and retail distribution / M&A.

Coughlin is active in the community and serves on the board of directors of the Consumer Banking Association. He has previously served on the board of directors of both uAspire, a national nonprofit aimed at increasing access to higher education among inner-city youth, and Operation HOPE, a Boston financial literacy nonprofit for inner city youth. He was recognized with the “Wall Street Top 50” award in 2017 by Irish American Magazine. He was also recently recognized as “40 Under 40” by the Boston Business Journal.

Coughlin received his bachelor’s degree from Boston College in finance and marketing and an M.B.A from Babson College.

Eric J. Schuppenhauer – Head of Consumer Lending and National Banking

Eric J. Schuppenhauer is Head of Consumer Lending and National Banking for Citizens Financial Group where he leads all aspects of Citizens’ consumer lending product groups including mortgage, home equity, auto, student, credit card, unsecured products, Citizens Pay, Citizens Access and the Bank’s expansion of its consumer platform into National markets. He has more than 25 years of finance and financial services experience.

Schuppenhauer joined Citizens from Capital One where he was a member of the financial services leadership team, leading its mortgage originations and innovation. Prior to Capital One, Schuppenhauer served in senior leadership roles at JP Morgan Chase where he led its mortgage origination and mortgage servicing businesses and was CFO of the overall mortgage business.

Schuppenhauer served in senior roles at Fannie Mae prior to joining JP Morgan Chase, including as CFO of Fannie Mae’s Single-Family Business and as head of the National Servicing Organization. During his time at Fannie Mae, Schuppenhauer also served as the first program administrator of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Making Home Affordable program, a TARP initiative that helped millions of Americans following the housing crisis through the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) and the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP).

Earlier in his career, Schuppenhauer held positions at Credit Suisse, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and KPMG.

Schuppenhauer has served on the Mortgage Bankers’ Association’s Residential Board of Governors and is currently vice chairman of the Housing Policy Council. Schuppenhauer has also been a past president and board member of Habitat for Humanity – South Collin County Texas.

Schuppenhauer holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Commerce from the University of Virginia at Charlottesville.

Malcolm Griggs – Chief Risk Officer

Malcolm Griggs is the Chief Risk Officer of Citizens. He joined Citizens in 2014 as Executive Vice President and Chief Credit Officer.

Griggs serves on the Executive Committee and as CRO is responsible for defining and overseeing how we manage credit, market, operational, regulatory and reputational risk at Citizens and for leading the 2nd line of defense risk function including corporate security, cybersecurity, and resiliency.

Griggs has over 30 years of risk and business line experience. He joined Citizens from Citigroup where he was head of business risk and controls for the U.S. commercial and consumer banking businesses. Prior to this, he held senior risk management and business line roles at firms such as Morgan Stanley and Wachovia. He was also the first CRO at Fifth Third Bank.

Griggs is active in industry organizations and is a past chairman of the board of the Risk Management Association (RMA). He currently serves as the President of the board of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra and Music School. He earned both his undergraduate and J.D. degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Beth Johnson – Chief Experience Officer

Beth Johnson is Chief Experience Officer (CXO) of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. Named to this role on Jan. 27, 2020, Johnson leads an organization focused on improving the customer experience by advancing the bank’s overall capabilities in customer analytics and digital. Specific areas of responsibility include digital experience design, enterprise customer analytics, customer experience, organizational transformation, brand and advertising, communications, and payment strategy.

Johnson previously served as chief marketing officer and head of virtual channels, responsible for corporate-wide marketing activities and for advancing Consumer Banking growth and profitability by leading and aligning the businesses’ strategy, brand, customer experience and data analytics efforts. She joined Citizens in October 2013 as head of Corporate Strategy.

Prior to joining Citizens in 2013, Johnson was a senior leader at Bain and Company. She served as a partner and leader of its customer strategy and marketing practice, specializing in financial services. She regularly co-authored Bain’s annual Customer Loyalty in Banking study.

Johnson also held roles at J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs, where she focused on fixed income and derivatives products for commercial banking clients as well as risk management. She earned a bachelor's degree in economics from Northwestern University and an MBA from Stanford University.

Polly Klane – Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel

Polly Klane is the Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel of Citizens. She joined Citizens in this role in April of 2022 and serves on the Executive Committee. She is responsible for leading the Legal Department, which includes corporate governance, litigation, client advisory services, regulatory relations and government relations. Klane has over 25 years of experience in the legal profession. She has managed legal teams responsible for areas including corporate transactions, corporate governance, securities, commercial banking, capital markets, intellectual property, treasury, cyber security, technology, and data privacy.

Klane joined Citizens from Capital One, where she served as Deputy General Counsel. Klane previously spent time in private practice and served as Deputy General Counsel at Fannie Mae.

Klane is a graduate of Duke University and Harvard Law School.

Susan LaMonica – Chief Human Resources Officer..

Susan LaMonica is the Chief Human Resources Officer and Head of Corporate Social Responsibility for Citizens Bank and a member of the bank’s executive committee. She is responsible for developing and driving people strategies to support Citizens’ business plan, while working to enact sustainable and systemic change leading the company’s ESG efforts. She oversees a team of professionals responsible for recruiting, leadership and talent development, learning, diversity, compensation and benefits, employee relations and the human resource service center and payroll. She leads the deployment of programs such as TalentUp which focuses on talent acquisition, reskilling/upskilling, and expanding the talent pipeline and the development of initiatives aimed at increasing accountability in Citizens’ hiring process. She is responsible for corporate affairs and the company’s overall commitment to the communities it serves. In 2020, her team directed nearly $18 million in funding to programming in the areas of food insecurity, financial literacy, and strengthening communities through workforce development efforts.

Prior to joining Citizens in 2011, LaMonica held senior leadership roles at JP Morgan Chase. She served as the head of Human Resources for the investment banking and markets division globally, and before that served as the head of human resources for the consumer and commercial banking division. LaMonica also served as global head of development for the bank, leading the firm’s efforts around talent, leadership, learning, diversity, culture, and organizational change. During her tenure she played a key role for human resources in a number of bank mergers. Before moving into human resources, LaMonica began her career with Chase Manhattan Bank, holding several roles in operations, risk, and retail banking.

LaMonica sits on the St. Joseph University Board of Trustees, and the boards of the Boston Children’s Museum and the Oasis organization and is a member of the Council of Women of Boston College. She also sits on the Bank Administration Institute (BAI) board of directors, as well as BAI’s Human Resource Committee. As the Executive Sponsor of Citizens’ Business Resource Group, Women’s Impact Network, she advocates for efforts to attract, retain, and support women inside and outside of Citizens. Susan is also responsible for internal communications.

LaMonica earned a B.S. in finance from Boston College and an MBA in finance from New York University.

Donald H. McCree – Vice Chairman and Head of Commercial Banking

Donald H. McCree is Vice Chairman and Head of Commercial Banking at Citizens Financial Group, Inc. He is responsible for all aspects of Commercial Banking, which includes Corporate Banking, Commercial Real Estate, Corporate Finance and Capital Markets, Mergers & Acquisitions, Treasury Solutions, Underwriting and Portfolio Management, and Community Development (CRA activities).

McCree also oversees Risk Management, Loan Operations and Strategy and Development within Commercial Banking, as well as the company’s network of State Presidents and Region Heads who represent Citizens Bank in multiple states that make up its footprint. McCree is a member of the CFG Executive Committee.

McCree joined Citizens in September 2015 from JPMorgan Chase, where he held a number of senior leadership roles over 31 years, including Head of Corporate Banking and CEO of Global Treasury Services. In that role, he was responsible for providing relationship banking services to commercial clients, as well as innovative Treasury and Trade Finance solutions to small businesses, multinational corporations, financial services’ firms, and government entities worldwide. Prior to that, McCree led and transformed a variety of large, complex businesses and functions in roles that included Head of Global Credit Markets, North American Co-Head of Fixed Income, and Head of Wholesale Risk Management.

Active in the community, McCree serves on several charitable boards. He is a graduate of the University of Vermont and sits on the UVM Board of Trustees and on the UVM Foundation Board of Directors. He and his wife have three grown children.

Michael Ruttledge – Chief Information Officer

Michael Ruttledge is Chief Information Officer for Citizens Financial Group, Inc. He oversees all aspects of the bank’s technology environment, from customer- and client-facing applications to the people, processes and infrastructure supporting Citizens’ day-to-day business operations.

Before joining Citizens in 2019, Ruttledge served as a group chief information officer at American Express. He has more than 20 years of experience in infrastructure and engineering roles within the financial services industry including payments, merchant services, customer service, risk, fraud, banking and finance. He has been recognized for developing the vision, strategy and innovative culture to execute new digital capabilities, big data, payments, and next generation analytics platforms that advance business strategies.

Ruttledge has a Master of Science degree in Information Systems from Brighton University in the United Kingdom.

Ted Swimmer – Head of Corporate Finance and Capital Markets

Ted Swimmer is Executive Vice President and Head of Corporate Finance and Capital Markets for Citizens Financial Group. A member of the bank’s Executive Committee, his responsibilities include capital markets debt distribution, sales and trading activities, leasing, asset based origination, and structured finance. He is also responsible for all sponsor and leveraged finance origination and the strategic client acquisition group as well as the bank’s Global Markets business, encompassing interest-rate products and foreign exchange. Today, Citizens’ capital markets platform is a consistent top 10 lead arranger of middle market loans and a top 5 lead arranger of sponsor transactions.

Swimmer serves on the bank’s Loan Underwriting and the Commercial Banking Executive Management Committees. Before being promoted into his current position, he had been the head of the Capital Markets Group since 2010. He assumed responsibility for the Sponsor and Corporate Finance Groups in 2014.

Prior to joining Citizens in 2010, Swimmer managed Wachovia Securities’ Leveraged Finance origination activities.

He is Series 7, 63, 79 and 24 certified and holds an M.B.A. in finance from Columbia University and a B.A. in economics and history from Lafayette College.

Leadership Team

Executive Committee

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