MIDWEST
Huntington Bancshares Inc. of Columbus, Ohio, has hired Kim Ravenda Benjamin as its chief marketing officer and a senior vice president.
Ms. Benjamin had the same job and title at FirstMerit Corp. of Akron, which owns the $10.5 billion-asset FirstMerit Bank.
Earlier in her financial services career she had worked at the old Banc One Corp., Equibank (now part of National City Bank of Pennsylvania), and Vanguard Federal Savings Bank, which S&T Bank of Indiana, Pa., bought in 1991.
Associated Banc-Corp. of Green Bay, Wis., has hired Daniel C. Fischer as its executive vice president of regional banking.
He will oversee the $15.5 billion-asset company's 218 bank branches, in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota.
Mr. Fischer was the senior executive of retail banking for Fifth Third Bancorp in Cincinnati. He had worked at Fifth Third since 1997.
MIDDLE ATLANTICMellon Financial Corp. of Pittsburgh has hired Samarjit Shankar to fill the newly created job of global strategy director for its foreign exchange group.
Mr. Shankar was a global foreign exchange strategist at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. of New York. Before that he had been a global markets strategist and the head of the research team at State Street Bank in Boston.
Earlier he had been the chief economist and chief equity strategist at Barclays BZW in London, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
ABN Amro North America Inc. in New York has hired William A. Eagan 3d to lead its financial institution and public sector group in the United States and Canada.
The group provides commercial and investment-banking services to banks, insurers, investment managers, and public sector organizations.
Before joining the ABN Amro Holding NV unit, Mr. Eagan was a partner for the Rowayton, Conn., financial services consulting firm MG Advisors Inc.
WESTU.S. Bancorp of Minneapolis has hired Hope B. Levin as its president of Arizona banking operations.
Ms. Levin was the senior vice president of commercial banking for Compass Bank in Phoenix.
Earlier in her 24-year financial services career she had been the vice president of commercial banking for Bank One in Phoenix, the chief financial officer of Fairfield Homes Inc. in Scottsdale, Ariz., and the vice president of finance at CBS Investment Realty Inc. in Phoenix.
U.S. Bancorp has also hired Glen Cummings as its commercial banking manager for Orange County, Calif.
Mr. Cummings, a 26-year banking veteran, was a senior vice president and a team leader of the commercial banking group in Los Angeles for Wells Fargo Bank.
