RBS Americas Leadership Team

Bruce Van Saun is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. and head of RBS Americas. He is a member of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group executive committee.

Van Saun became CEO of CFG in October 2013 after serving since 2009 as RBS Group Finance Director and as an executive director of the RBS Board. 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 is currently a director of Lloyd’s of London, and he previously served on a number of boards in both the United States and the U.K. He is a member of the Financial Services Roundtable and The Clearing House supervisory board. Van Saun is active in several community organizations.

David Bowerman is Vice Chairman, Head of Citizens Business Services with responsibility for Operations, Technology, Property, Procurement and Security. Bowerman oversees strategic investments in technology and new ways of working that will drive value and efficiency, resulting in a better customer experience and improved collaboration across Citizens Financial Group.

Previously, Bowerman was Managing Director, U.K. and European Operations, with responsibility for eight Business Services operations and a staff of 21,000 supporting RBS's income-generating divisions.

Bowerman joined NatWest Bank in 1982. During his years with RBS and CFG, he has undertaken a range of retail and corporate roles. He gained extensive experience and built a wide portfolio of successes in leading and implementing significant cultural change and organizational strategies.

Bowerman is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland. He was educated in England and attended Harvard Business School's Advanced Management Program. Bowerman currently serves on the board of the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence, in Providence, R.I.

Brad Conner is Vice Chairman of the Consumer Banking Division at Citizens Financial Group, Inc. He is responsible for Retail Banking, Business Banking, Wealth Management, Home Lending, Auto Finance and Education Finance, as well as the Consumer Phone Bank and online channels.

Conner is a member of CFG’s Executive Committee and the RBS Americas Management Committee.

Before joining CFG in 2008, Conner was President of JP Morgan Chase & Co.’s Home Equity and Mortgage Home Loan Direct business. He previously oversaw the combined home equity business of Chase and Bank One after the companies merged in 2004, and served as CEO of Chase’s Education Finance businesses. In his 12 years at Bank One/Chase, Conner played a key leadership role in the growth and evolution of the company’s mortgage and home equity businesses.

Conner serves as a director for the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council. He is treasurer of the board of trustees of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption and serves on its audit committee and its Committee for Institutional Advancement. He is also a member of the Consumer Bankers Association board of directors.

A native of St. Louis, Conner has a B.A. and M.B.A. from the University of Arkansas.

John Fawcett is Chief Financial Officer for RBS Americas and Citizens Financial Group, Inc. He is responsible for creating the financial framework and functional organization to support the development and expansion of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group's businesses in North America and Latin America. Fawcett's functional responsibilities include financial planning and analysis, financial reporting, accounting policy, tax, treasury and the establishment of a capital resource allocation model.

He also has an administrative oversight role for internal audit activities in RBS Americas. He works with senior colleagues to provide financial leadership in determining strategic business direction as well as financial strategies and synergies for the entire RBS Americas footprint.

Fawcett joined RBS Americas from Citigroup, where he most recently served as Chief Financial Officer for the Global Transaction Services business. Fawcett has a B.S. in accounting and an M.B.A. in finance from St. John's University. He also is a CPA.

Sheldon Goldfarb is the RBS Americas General Counsel, managing an integrated legal function of 70 lawyers. He serves as the chief legal advisor for Citizens Financial Group and its Markets and International Banking businesses in the Americas. He counsels the company’s executives and provides strategic leadership to the management of legal risk.

Prior to assuming his current position, Goldfarb was Managing Director and General Counsel of RBS Greenwich Capital, a position he had held since 1994. There he built Legal, Compliance, Government Relations and Corporate Communications functions. As a member of senior management, he led the firm through two acquisitions and a period of tremendous growth and diversification.

Goldfarb earned his B.A. from Binghamton University and a J.D. cum laude from Syracuse University College of Law.

Susan LaMonica is Director of Human Resources for RBS Americas and Citizens Financial Group, Inc. She and her team provide HR support to RBS's businesses in the United States, including the Retail and Commercial Division, Business Services, M&IB and Group Central Functions.

Prior to joining CFG in 2011, LaMonica held senior leadership roles at JP Morgan Chase. As managing director and HR executive of the Investment Banking and Global Markets Division of JP Morgan, she led a team of 200 that served 22,000 employees globally. Prior to that, as Retail and Commercial Banking HR executive at Chase Manhattan, LaMonica supported 45,000 employees with a team of 500. As head of Development globally, she had responsibility for talent and performance management, leadership development, training, diversity and work life, and organizational change.

Prior to joining Human Resources, LaMonica held a variety of positions in the business, including roles in branch banking and FX operations and technology. She serves as councilwoman in Allendale, N.J., and is active in a number of not-for-profit boards as well as at her alma mater, Boston College.

Michael Lyublinsky is the Co-Head of GBM Americas. He is also Head of Fixed Income Trading for the Americas, where he is responsible for overseeing trading activities within Rates, Credit, Mortgage, FX and Local Markets. In 2004 Michael joined RBS Greenwich Capital as Head of Interest Rate Derivative Trading. In 2007, he became the Head of Global Dollar Rates Trading. Prior to the completion of his M.B.A., Michael worked for two years as a computer programmer specializing in image processing. In 1995 he joined Credit Suisse Financial Products as an associate, trading various interest-rate derivative products. During his nine-year tenure at Credit Suisse Financial Products Michael progressed to Managing Director and Head of Interest-Rate Option Trading. Michael has a B.S. in applied math from the University of Moldova and an M.B.A. in finance from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Bob McKillip is Co-Head of GBM Americas and the Head of North America Corporate Coverage and Advisory. He also serves on the board of directors of RBS Greenwich Capital. Prior to joining RBS, Bob spent 23 years in the banking industry at Bank of America, Barclays Capital and Bank One. His background includes broad experience in a range of industries and products including Loan Syndications, Debt Capital Markets, Asset-Backed Securities, Derivatives, FX, Commodities, High Yield, Private Placements and Project Finance. Bob has a B.A. in Finance from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

Robert Matthews is Vice Chairman of Citizens Financial Group, Inc., with responsibility for the firm's Commercial Banking business lines. These include relationship groups focused on small business, middle market and mid-cap commercial and industrial customers, and not-for-profits and government entities. Additionally, he has responsibility for specialized areas including Commercial Real Estate, Franchise Finance, Capital Markets and Debt Syndication, Interest Rate Derivatives and Foreign Exchange, Treasury Solutions and Citizens Bank's equipment finance and leasing business.

He oversees the state presidents who represent the CFG franchise in its 12 states under the Citizens, Citizens Bank and Charter One brands, and he has responsibility for the firm's CRA activities.

Matthews is a member of CFG's Board of Directors and serves as Vice Chairman of the Citizens Charitable Foundation Board.

Prior to assuming his current position, Matthews was responsible for Commercial Enterprise Banking, Middle Market and Mid-Corporate coverage groups. He joined RBS Americas' leadership team in 2007 from Citigroup, where he had been Executive Vice President and Head of U.S. Commercial and Middle Market Banking. He has worked internationally for 17 years, holding a number of senior leadership positions in Asia and Latin America.

Matthews received a bachelor's degree in economics from Harvard College.

Ken Phelan is Chief Risk Officer of RBS Americas. Prior to joining RBS, Ken spent two years as the EVP and Chief Risk Officer of Fannie Mae, post conservatorship. Prior to joining Fannie Mae, Ken served as the Chief Risk Officer of Wachovia Corporation with executive leadership responsibility for Wachovia's global credit risk management, market risk management and operational risk management. Ken has a Juris Doctorate from Villanova University School of Law, a Masters of Science in Economics from Trinity College in Dublin, and a Bachelor of Science from Old Dominion University.