Bank of America has hired away the chief marketing officer of Citi’s consumer-banking unit, Mary Hines Droesch, to serve as head of consumer and small-business products, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank announced Wednesday.
Droesch now leads the strategy, design, development and management of all lending and deposit products across Bank of America’s retail, preferred and small-business client segments, the bank said.
But Droesch’s new employer won’t be putting “CMO” in her new title. That’s because the bank announced this month it plans to permanently sunset the CMO title after Meredith Verdone retires at the end of 2021.
Droesch will succeed April Schneider, who is transitioning to become managing director of global capital planning, American Banker reported. Droesch will join Bank of America’s regional banking leadership team, and report to the bank’s consumer, commercial and small-business chief, Dean Athanasia.
“Our product team plays a critical role in our high-tech, high-touch approach to building relationships with clients by ensuring our industry-leading solutions stay ahead of clients’ evolving needs,” Athanasia said. “Mary has a proven track record of working with client-facing and digital teams to deliver for clients. She will ensure that we continue to design, enhance and deliver innovative solutions that help make our clients’ financial lives better.”
Droesch is just one change among many in Bank of America’s leadership. The bank last month announced the retirement of two C-suite executives, Vice Chair Anne Finucane and Chief Operating Officer Tom Montag.
And it followed up this month, announcing a shuffling of more than a dozen executives. Notably, Bank of America named Alastair Borthwick as CFO, and added three women to senior management: Holly O’Neill as head of retail banking, Lauren Mogensen as general counsel and Wendy Stewart as president of global commercial banking.
Prior to serving as CMO at Citi, Droesch launched her career with Accenture, and has also worked at American Express. As Citi CMO, Droesch led 500 employees across the bank’s cards, retail banking, wealth management and mortgage business, according to Bank of America’s press release.
Whither the CMO?
Citi has not yet publicly announced plans to hire a new CMO.
If it doesn’t, it would join a growing number of U.S. businesses that have scrapped the role.
Wells Fargo announced plans in May to ditch the title upon Wells Fargo CMO Michael Lacorazza’s retirement.
Rather than replace the role, some firms are decentralizing their marketing department. Verdone’s 1,400-person team will merge with Chief Digital Officer David Tyrie’s team at Bank of America.
Citigroup established the role of CMO within the company in September 2020, when the bank appointed Carla Hassan to it. However, JPMorgan Chase poached Hassan from Citi in July. A short tenure is typical for CMOs. The median time a marketing executing spends at the job has declined to just 25.5 months, down from 30 in 2019, according to The Wall Street Journal.
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