PROVIDENCE, R.I.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: CFG) today announced that Michael Ruttledge will join the company as Chief Information Officer, effective Jan. 7. Ruttledge, who until recently served as a group chief information officer at American Express, will oversee all aspects of the bank’s technology environment, from customer- and client-facing applications to the people, processes and infrastructure supporting Citizens’ day-to-day business operations. He will report to Mary Ellen Baker, Head of Business Services, and will be a member of Citizens’ Executive Committee.
Ruttledge succeeds Brian O’Connell, who is retiring after a 37-year career as a technology leader, including leading Citizens’ Technology Services team since 2012. O’Connell will continue to serve Citizens in an advisory role to help ensure a seamless transition.
“I’m extremely excited to have someone of Michael’s caliber join the team to drive the next stage of our technology transformation,” said Bruce Van Saun, Chairman and CEO of Citizens Financial Group. “Michael has had a highly successful track record in key roles at a major financial services player, and brings with him a future orientation and customer focus that will benefit us on the next leg of our journey towards becoming a top-performing bank.”
Added Van Saun: “I’d like to thank Brian for his many contributions to Citizens. Under his leadership, we have made significant progress in modernizing our technology infrastructure and suite of applications, moving to a digital business model and partnering with FinTechs. He has contributed to Citizens’ strong execution over the last several years.”
Ruttledge comes to Citizens with more than 20 years of experience in infrastructure and engineering roles within the financial services industry including payments, merchant services, customer service, risk, fraud, banking and finance. He has been recognized for developing the vision, strategy and innovative culture to execute new digital capabilities, big data, payments, and next generation analytics platforms that advance business strategies. He has a proven track record leading application modernization and agile transformation initiatives and helping power growth through digital partnerships with leading financial technology companies.
“Michael is a highly results-oriented technology executive with a proven history of delivering large-scale change and modernization programs,” said Baker. “He will fit well with the talented technology team we have assembled and will be a great partner to our business line leaders as we work to accelerate a transformation agenda centered on customer-centricity, agility, speed and efficiency.”
Ruttledge has a Master of Science degree in Information Systems from Brighton University in the United Kingdom.
About Citizens Financial Group, Inc.
Citizens
Financial Group, Inc. is one of the nation’s oldest and largest
financial institutions, with $158.6 billion in assets as of September
30, 2018. Headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, Citizens offers a
broad range of retail and commercial banking products and services to
individuals, small businesses, middle-market companies, large
corporations and institutions. Citizens helps its customers reach their
potential by listening to them and by understanding their needs in order
to offer tailored advice, ideas and solutions. In Consumer Banking,
Citizens provides an integrated experience that includes mobile and
online banking, a 24/7 customer contact center and the convenience of
approximately 2,900 ATMs and approximately 1,150 branches in 11 states
in the New England, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest regions. Consumer Banking
products and services include a full range of banking, lending, savings,
wealth management and small business offerings. In Commercial Banking,
Citizens offers corporate, institutional and not-for-profit clients a
full range of wholesale banking products and services, including lending
and deposits, capital markets, treasury services, foreign exchange and
interest rate products and asset finance. More information is available
at www.citizensbank.com
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