Succession planning

The world's largest credit union said that Dietrich Kuhlmann, a retired rear admiral and currently the institution's chief operating officer, would succeed retiring CEO Mary McDuffie on March 1.

The Pittsburgh company says its new president, Michael Lyons, will report to William Demchak, who will continue as chairman and chief executive. Lyons is positioned to become PNC's next CEO someday, observers said.

Several of the company's top leaders, including Jennifer Piepszak, have been given new duties in CEO Jamie Dimon's latest management reorganization. Piepszak and JPMorgan President Daniel Pinto are among those viewed as potential successors to long-serving Dimon.

John Watt, 65, will step down in May after more than seven years as president and CEO of NBT Bancorp in Norwich, New York. The plethora of internal candidates to succeed him made the decision a no-brainer, Watt says.

Three-fourths of Gorman's bonus will be paid in deferred stock over three years, the New York-based firm said in a regulatory filing.

Douglas Timmerman, the company's president of dealer financial services, will step in when Jeffrey Brown departs at the end of January. Ally continues its hunt for a permanent CEO.

The appointment of Lynne Biggio Herndon as chief credit officer marks the final step in the Phoenix-based bank's leadership reorganization.

Lincoln Savings Bank has tapped Sean Willett, chief administrative officer at Financial Institutions, as its next leader after a six-month search.

Morais, who leads the auto lender's consumer and commercial banking divisions, is preparing to leave as Ally Financial conducts a search for its next chief executive officer. She had been seen as a potential candidate to replace outgoing CEO Jeffrey Brown.

The number of women CEOs at top-50 banks will soon fall to one with the departure of Kelly Coffey from the top job at City National Bank. The recent trend line shines a light on the industry's shallow bench of women in C-suite roles.

The new chief financial officer, Chris Doll, is City National's third recent hire from Fifth Third. At yearend, he will succeed John Bai, who spent close to a decade in roles with Royal Bank of Canada and City National.

Pick, 54, a co-president and three-decade veteran of the firm, will be elevated to the top role in January and join the board, the bank said. Gorman, 65, will stay on as executive chairman.

Mark Smith, most recently head of the firm's treasury and trade solutions division in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, will take on the treasurer role on an interim basis. 

Jeffrey Brown, who's been Ally Financial's top executive for nearly nine years, plans to leave the company by early next year. His exit comes as deteriorating credit quality and rising interest rates are biting into Ally's profits.

Cboe Global Markets says Edward Tilly has resigned following an investigation that determined he didn't disclose personal relationships with colleagues. The derivatives and securities exchange has appointed Fredric Tomczyk, a current member of Cboe's board of directors, to replace Tilly. 

Many institutions are building internal development programs to lower the barriers of entry to more senior roles as aging leaders retire.

The credit card company is no stranger to regulatory penalties, but its CEO's sudden departure this week raises the specter of a more painful punishment tied to possible compliance shortcomings. Analysts are hoping to get clarity Thursday on how bad things could get.

Discover Financial Services' announcement of the immediate resignation of longtime executive Roger Hochschild comes weeks after the company announced it overcharged merchants for 16 years.

After eight years leading one of the nation's most prominent Black banks, Michael Pugh will become chief executive of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation.

The $1.6 billion-asset company said in a press release Wednesday that its directors "voted to terminate" Kevin Lycklama's employment. Dan Cox, chief credit officer, was named as acting president and CEO.