Fifth Third, Discover, BMO Financial: Bankers on the move

For several years now, Fifth Third Bancorp Chief Administrative Officer Teresa Tanner has earned a spot among American Banker’s Most Powerful Women in Banking, in large part because of her work helping other women to succeed in the industry.

But after a weeklong retreat last summer into the mountains of North Carolina to meditate and reflect on her life, Tanner decided it was time to step away and focus on creating more opportunities for people — particularly women — outside of Fifth Third.

Tanner departed the $168 billion-asset Cincinnati company on June 7.

“It’s about taking that leap of faith and knowing time is limited. If there’s something that you’re passionate about, you just have to seize the day and do it,” Tanner told American Banker. “It’s really hard when you’re in the C-suite to plan that next phase.”

Having begun her career at McDonald’s Corp., Tanner joined Fifth Third in 2003 as head of human resources in its operations and technology division. She later became chief human resources officer for the entire company, and in 2015 she was promoted to chief administrative officer.

Fifth Third will not choose a successor for Tanner and instead will divide her responsibilities up among the management team. She will continue to serve on the boards of several Cincinnati-area nonprofits, including the Ronald McDonald House and the Health Collaborative.

Among her accomplishments at the bank, she developed Fifth Third’s Women in Leadership program, an eight-month program designed to help high-performing female bankers carve a path to the C-suite.

She has also overseen the launch of various programs aimed at improving Fifth Third employees’ overall wellness. Its maternity concierge program gives expecting and new parents extra help juggling their day-to-day responsibilities, and its financial wellness program helps employees with budgeting and financial planning.

Shortly after she joined Fifth Third, Tanner partnered with a local hospital to adopt a workforce development program for young adults with cognitive and intellectual disabilities. Fifth Third then became the first bank to launch a Project SEARCH worksite and, more than a decade later, continues to hire graduates of the program.

Discover Financial Services said on June 6 that Chief Financial Officer Mark Graf plans to retire next year and that a search has begun for his successor.

Graf, a onetime CFO at Fifth Third Bank, joined Discover in 2011. He said in a press release that he has been speaking for years about wanting a second phase in his career. “As I turn 55, it is time to put that plan in motion,’ he said.

Graf will remain a Discover employee until early 2020, according to the Riverwoods, Ill.-based credit card issuer. He will participate in the search process and will remain in his current role until his successor is appointed, the firm added.

Early Warning, the company that manages the person-to-person payment service Zelle, named Albert Ko its new CEO on May 30.

Ko succeeds Paul W. Finch Jr., who retired in March. Ko comes to Early Warning from Intuit, where he was the chief transformation officer. During his tenure there, he was general manager of Mint and at another point oversaw QuickBooks.

Ko says he will spend his first month on the new job listening and learning about how Zelle — which is owned by seven banks — operates. In the first quarter of 2019, $39 billion was sent through the Zelle network in 147 million transactions.

Part of Ko’s mandate will be to help manage the next phase of Early Warning’s evolution from a business-to-business company to a business-to-consumer company.

One thing he’ll be working on is Zelle’s user interface. He will also work to address bankers' worries about the potential for fraud with Zelle.