When Jill Gateman joined the $1.5 trillion-asset TD Bank three years ago, she made what some considered a counterintuitive decision: She told people to stop selling and focus on strategy. "Just stop — stop selling transactions," said Gateman, EVP and co-head of U.S. commercial banking and head of corporate banking and sponsor-backed finance. "Bring strategy to the client and new business will come."
If there were ever any doubts about Gateman's strategy, her remit's strong performance has put them to rest. In 2025, commercial bank revenue rose 7% year over year to a record $3.4 billion, and performance continues to accelerate in 2026. Revenue for the commercial bank was $890 million in the first quarter of this year, up 5% year over year for the same period. Earnings hit $296 million, up 52% year over year, and return on equity jumped 480 basis points to 12.7%.
She and her team partner closely with TD Securities and TD Cowen to expand advisory, equity capital markets and investment banking connectivity for commercial clients. Given the significant increase in engagement with TDS, she established a new "corporate advisory" team to coordinate with investment banking and optimize new business opportunities. "The opportunity is to move from being a useful or a perfunctory part of the capital stack to becoming indispensable, to becoming a strategic advisor and becoming that first call that the client makes when they have an internal issue," said Gateman, who was recently named sole head of her unit in July 2026.
Leo Salom, president and CEO of TD Bank U.S., applauds her focus and the results it is producing. "Under her leadership, we are building stronger relationships, growing across key sectors, and evolving into a more connected, capable organization. She's an outstanding leader who combines strategic vision with a genuine commitment to people and clients."
Gateman explained that one of her ongoing challenges is to simplify a very complex product set and make those capabilities feel accessible and connected to the client. The last thing she wants is for the client to think how complicated the bank is. "Our responsibility is to organize ourselves around their reality, not ask them to organize around ours."
To this end, she sees AI as an important tool. "What I love about AI is that it's empowering our sales teams and our credit support teams to spend more time thinking about ideas and strategic decisioning for our clients." Call prep time before a client meeting is reduced dramatically, she said, and that frees teams to think much more deeply about the company from Day 1 of the relationship.
Ultimately, she said, AI helps make TD "much more interesting to our client base." Instead of the initial conversation being about refinancing the company's revolver, for example, bankers can immediately discuss several ways the company can recapitalize its business. The lower end of the market has historically been an underserved segment, and "now we're able to overserve it," she said.
