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Maria Tedesco's first foray into banking was in a marketing role at BayBank in Boston. Although she held a B.S. in finance and accounting from Ithaca College, she didn't know much about the banking industry but wanted to help people with their finances. The CEO of the bank took a chance on the young Tedesco, and she was soon promoted to regional manager in charge of branches.
Since starting at BayBank in 1992, Tedesco worked at several banks in a broad range of roles across retail, consumer and business banking. Her experience includes more than seven years at Citizens National Bank and a two-year stint as chief operating officer at BMO Harris Bank before joining Atlantic Union Bank in 2018.
She joined the Richmond, Virginia-based AUB as president, and was promoted in February 2022 as president and COO. In 2018, the bank had just over $10 billion in assets. Today, it has $39.2 billion in assets.
The past 18 months have been a transformative – and busy – time for the bank and Tedesco.
She led the successful integration of American National Bankshares, which Atlantic Union Bank acquired for $3 billion in April of 2024. The bank also announced the acquisition of Sandy Spring Bancorp Inc., which closed in April 2025. That $1.3 billion purchase – the largest in AUB's history – catapulted Atlantic Union Bank into the largest regional bank in the lower mid-Atlantic. Its integration is set to be completed in October, Tedesco said.
As part of that acquisition, Tedesco oversaw the onboarding of 1,100 employees and 53 branches.
While the bank has grown, in part, through acquisitions over the years, Tedesco emphasizes that organic growth has remained a priority.
"We have to grow the bank organically. We don't just do acquisitions," she said. "The more we can grow organically, the more we can invest in strategic partnerships like acquisitions. We call this the flywheel effect. We feel like we have momentum with that."
While navigating the bank's acquisitions, Tedesco also helped guide the institution's successful migration to a new digital platform, a move that she believes "improved customer experience and retention."
"We wanted to modernize so that we could offer a much better customer experience online, for both businesses and for consumers," she said.
At first, the bank was not going to use an outside vendor for the digital platform, but after getting feedback from other banks, AUB opted to use Q2's platform which is designed specifically for financial institutions. The bank ended up converting nearly 300,000 retail customers via the platform.
"That was probably one of the best conversions I've ever seen," she said.
As the leader of Atlantic Union Bank's operations team, Tedesco played a pivotal role in driving AUB's strong fiscal year 2024 performance, which included net income of $197.3 million and adjusted operating earnings of $241.3 million.
Tedesco acknowledges that serving as a female leader in a male-dominated industry has at times been challenging. In an effort to help other women in the industry, Tedesco takes great pride in the Women's Inclusion Network (WIN) she started, which aims to advance women in the bank and help men support women.
"The participants have grown – both men and women," she said. "We as women don't always come with the confidence that our male partners come with. We don't always come with the ability to ask for what we want, and to say yes, and to push our own agendas. I have spent quite a bit of time helping the women in our company, and that is one thing I'm really proud of."
