Huntington Bancshares has snapped up two executives from rival regional banks.
The Columbus, Ohio, company has hired a leading commercial banking executive from Fifth Third Bancorp to run its commercial specialty banking business line and has recruited a new corporate treasurer from MUFG Union Bank in San Francisco.
Tizu Menelik will serve as Huntington's managing director of commercial specialty banking. Menelik spent nearly six years at Cincinnati-based Fifth Third, where she served as managing director and group head of diversified industries and international corporate banking.
Commercial banking is the $178.8 billion-asset Huntington's largest and most profitable operating segment. On June 30, Huntington Commercial Bank had $58 billion of assets. Its profits through the first six months of 2022 totaled $560 million.
Menelik — who succeeds David Stone, who is retiring — will work from Charlotte, North Carolina. She will be responsible for health care, franchise, and technology and telecommunications lending as well as mid-corporate banking, sponsor finance and international trade finance.
Before joining Fifth Third in February 2017, Menelik served as head of global loan products for the United States and Canada at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
"We are fortunate to have a leader of Tizu's caliber join our team," Scott Kleinman, president of Huntington Commercial Bank, said Thursday in a press release. "She has an incredibly strong track record in building and leading teams and positioning them for success."
Huntington also announced the appointment of Hitesh Mehta as corporate treasurer. Mehta joined Huntington from the $125 billion-asset MUFG Union Bank in San Francisco, where he worked 16 years, the final year as corporate treasurer.
"Hitesh's superb business acumen, deep understanding of the banking industry and collaboration skills make him the right person to lead our critical treasury functions as we position Huntington for success in any economic environment," Chief Financial Officer Zach Wasserman said in the release.
Mehta takes the place of Derek Meyer, who joined the $37 billion-asset Associated Banc-Corp in Green Bay, Wisconsin, as chief financial officer in August.
