MIDWEST
Huntington Bancshares in Columbus, Ohio, has hired Daniel B. Benhase to head its private financial group, which caters to high-net-worth clients.
Mr. Benhase, 40, was also named an executive vice president; he oversees trust, private banking, brokerage, investment management, and insurance activities. He succeeds Robert Comfort, senior managing director of Huntington Investment Co., who had held the post on an interim basis since March, after Judith Fisher left. Mr. Benhase reports to the banking company's president and chief operating officer, Peter E. Geier.
Mr. Benhase was an executive vice president of Milwaukee-based Firstar Corp. and of Firstar Bank in Cincinnati, where he was responsible for trust and investment management, private banking, and brokerage activities. Earlier, he was a brokerage manager at Fifth Third Bank, also in Cincinnati.
Huntington has $29 billion of assets.
ABN Amro North America Inc. in Chicago has promoted Willie J. Miller Jr. to chief legal officer, responsible for the banking company's legal and compliance functions.He succeeds Christine Edwards, who left to become chief legal officer and executive vice president and secretary of Bank One Corp. in Chicago.
Mr. Miller, 47, has worked for ABN Amro since 1981, most recently as head of its Chicago legal section, in which he supervised 15 lawyers and managed litigation and employment practices issues. He reports to Harrison F. Tempest, chairman and chief executive officer.
ABN Amro Asset Management (USA) Inc. has hired Gary A. Anetsberger as chief administrative officer and group senior vice president.Mr. Anetsberger, 44, is responsible for day-to-day administration and oversees mutual fund administration, compliance, and finance.
He succeeded Carla Eyre, who is now head of marketing and sales, and he reports to Randall Hampton, president and chief executive officer of the ABN Amro North America affiliate.
Mr. Anetsberger was chief administrative officer and chief financial officer at Stein Roe Mutual Funds in Chicago, where he had worked for 12 years. Earlier, he was a senior manager in the Chicago office of KPMG Financial Services. Chicago-based ABN Amro Asset Management manages $9.3 billion of domestic-client assets.
MIDDLE ATLANTICIBJ Whitehall Bank & Trust Co. has announced the appointment of Noboru Nagata as senior shareholder representative of its parent company, the Industrial Bank of Japan Ltd. Mr. Nagata, also named a director and vice chairman, succeeded in all three roles Haruhiko Takenaka, who returned to Tokyo as a director of Nissan Motor Co.
Mr. Nagata, 60, is assigned to IBJ Whitehall's New York headquarters. For the preceding three years, he was senior managing director of the parent company's leasing company in Tokyo.
Mr. Nagata joined Industrial Bank of Japan in 1964 in the securities processing department of its Tokyo head office. Since then he has held posts in the banking company's offices in Germany and Switzerland with duties in capital markets, securities processing, corporate and investment banking, and international finance.
IBJ Whitehall was formerly IBJ Schroder Bank & Trust Co.; it changed names last year after the Japanese company bought the remaining shares held by Schroder PLC.
SOUTHEASTSynovus Financial Corp. in Columbus, Ga., has hired Leila S. Carr, 38, to fill the newly created post of director of retail banking. Also named a senior vice president, she is responsible for sales management, product development, delivery channel management and integration of wealth management services.
She reports to Richard Anthony, vice chairman, and works in the Columbus office. Ms. Carr was senior vice president and director of the small-business and commercial sales and service division of First Union National Bank in Charlotte, N.C., where she began her 17-year career in banking as a commercial relationship manager. Synovus Financial has $13 billion of assets.
