Santander Holdings USA, Inc. (SHUSA) announced a broad reorganization of its Board of Directors, including the appointment of four new independent SHUSA directors and the creation of the position of Lead Independent Director.
The new independent SHUSA directors will be Alan Fishman, Chairman of Ladder Capital; Thomas S. Johnson, former Chairman and CEO of GreenPoint Capital; Catherine Keating, CEO of Commonfund; and Richard Spillenkothen, former head of banking supervision at the Federal Reserve Board and former director of Deloitte & Touche LLP.
SHUSA said Thomas S. Johnson would become the Company’s first Lead Independent Director, a newly created position. The Lead Independent Director will chair board meetings in the absence of the Chairman, convene meetings of the independent directors and carry out the annual performance review of the Chairman.
SHUSA is the U.S. holding company of the Santander Group and parent company of fully-owned Santander Bank, N.A. and 59.03%-owned Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc. (SCUSA).
T. Timothy Ryan, Jr., non-executive Chairman of SHUSA, said: “These changes are among the many steps we are taking to reinforce best practices and meet our standards of excellence. Our new independent directors bring to Santander deep expertise in regulatory matters and experience in large U.S. financial institutions. All have managed banking or consumer finance businesses. Their appointments and the naming of Tom Johnson as the lead independent director will further strengthen governance and oversight of our businesses.”
He added: “On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Gonzalo de las Heras, John P. Hamill, Marian Heard, Manuel Soto, and Alberto Sanchez for the service they have given to Santander through their board service in recent years.”
Javier Maldonado, Senior Executive Vice President and head of coordination and control of regulatory projects of Banco Santander, S.A. of Spain, also joined the Board of SHUSA.
Following these appointments, the SHUSA Board will have 14 members, seven of whom are independent, with two vacancies. The new SHUSA directors were also appointed to the Board of Directors of Santander Bank, N.A.
Also joining the Board of Santander Bank are Steve Pateman, head of UK banking at Santander UK; Henri-Paul Rousseau, Vice-Chairman, Power Corporation of Canada; Victor Matarranz, Senior Executive Vice President and Head of Group Strategy, Banco Santander S.A.; and Juan Olaizola, Chief Operating Officer, Santander UK. Mr. Rousseau is an independent director.
Alan Fishman will be Lead Independent Director of Santander Bank.
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