Career moves

When Laura Sikora interviewed at BMO Financial 20 years ago, she was struck by the fact that several people asked her what she wanted to do next. She got the message that her aspirations were important to the company, and now she has spearheaded a new micromentoring program to give others help with realizing their career goals. Employees who have specific skills they want to improve can get matched up with a colleague for some customized coaching sessions.

Centric Financial is one of the few publicly traded banking companies with women in the chief executive and chief financial officer roles. Centric is also distinctive for its enviable growth and performance. Those two facts are not purely coincidental, according to President and CEO Patricia Husic.

Women at JPMorgan Chase don't just settle for the formal check-the-box networking groups. Their grassroots efforts have launched multiple programs to raise the profile of women at the company and help them advance, including a new "30-5-1" campaign inspired by Marianne Lake. Other examples include the globe-trotting Women on the Move initiative and the ReEntry program to help ex-bankers return to the workforce after extended time off.

There's a lot to be done now that KeyCorp has closed on its deal for First Niagara, and it's telling who has been put in charge of the many different facets of the integration. While some might have just a few token women on their leadership team, Key can boast about the diversity of its bench strength.

For several years, Zions Bank has monitored salaries to ensure women aren't being paid less than men for comparable work. Last year, the monitoring went from a semiannual review to a constant lookout.

Candi Wolff of Citigroup and Anita Eoloff of Wells Fargo are two of the most powerful banking lobbyists in the nation’s capital, but they don’t think the transformation of their once male-dominated field is done, nor do they think everything about the past should be abandoned.

Lisa McDougald, the deputy general counsel at the $222 billion-asset BB&T in Winston-Salem, N.C., and Leon Holschbach, chief executive at Midland States Bancorp, a $3 billion-asset company in Effingham, Ill., were appointed to the board this summer.

Wellesley Bancorp in Massachusetts has appointed New England banking veteran Kathryn Hinderhofer to its board.

Brookline Bancorp in Boston has promoted its head of commercial real estate lending to leader of its entire banking unit.

One CU celebrates more than seven decades of service, while others offer scholarships, financial literacy training, random acts of kindness and more.

JPMorgan Chase on Tuesday named Todd Combs, a protégé of and possible successor to Warren Buffett, to its board of directors.

Metropolitan Commercial Bank in New York has a new chief financial officer.

The board of directors at Lake Charles, La.-based Southwest Louisiana Credit Union has selected Ronaldo Hardy as the credit union’s next president and chief executive officer, effective October 3.

The $4.9 billion-asset company said in a regulatory filing Friday that its president and CEO, Ashton Ryan Jr., had relinquished the chairmanship to Shivan Govindan, its vice chairman since 2013.

MUFG Union Bank has named a head of private wealth management for its northern California and Pacific Northwest region.

The subprime auto lender Santander Consumer Holdings USA has made two key leadership moves as it faces ongoing accounting problems.

Charitable donations, Instagram contests and candy-filled fire hydrants are all part of the latest round of credit union community news.

A former NFL quarterback is set to become next chairman of MidSouth Bancorp in Lafayette, La.

Therapy for children, raising funds to cure cancer and anniversary celebrations are just a few of the latest ways CUs are giving back to the communities they serve.

Carolina Premier Bank in Charlotte, N.C., has hired Don Jackson from Community One Bank in Asheboro, N.C., as director of Small Business Administration lending, a new position at the bank.