Bruce Van Saun, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Citizens Financial Group, Inc, will keynote NJBIA’s Annual Public Policy Forum on Nov. 29, when business and government leaders gather to explore what is ahead for New Jersey’s economy in 2023, as well as workforce issues and the impact of billions of federal dollars for critical infrastructure projects around the state.
Van Saun will speak with Brenda Ross-Dulan, Founder and Managing Principal of The Ross-Dulan Group consulting firm, during a fireside-chat style keynote at the event, which will be held at Delta Hotels by Marriott Woodbridge, 515 US-1 South, in Iselin. A virtual attendance option is also available.
In addition to the keynote session with Van Saun, breakout sessions with 20 distinguished speakers are also on the agenda, including panels with top legislative leaders, as well as experts in workforce development and the planning and execution of critical infrastructure projects.
Van Saun joined Citizens Financial Group (CFG), a super-regional bank with a significant presence in New England, the Mid-Atlantic and the Midwest that serves more than 6 million consumer and business customers, in 2013 after having served as Group Finance Director at the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and as an executive director on the RBS board. He led Citizens to a successful initial public offering in September 2014 and has led Citizens through a dramatic transformation journey over recent years.
At RBS, Van Saun led efforts critical to re-establishing safety and soundness after the financial crisis, including improvements in the capital, liquidity and funding position, reduction in risk concentrations, and several significant divestitures such as Direct Line Group – the company’s insurance subsidiary – through an IPO and sell-down.
Prior to that, Van Saun held senior positions with Bank of New York and later Bank of New York Mellon over an 11-year period. As Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer, he was actively involved in the strategic transformation of BNY from a diversified regional bank into a focused global securities servicer and asset manager. This included over 80 transactions, including notable ones such as the merger with Mellon, a swap of businesses with JP Morgan and the acquisition of Pershing. He had also served as head of BNY’s asset management and market-related businesses.
Van Saun was selected as a Top CEO of 2022 by Barron’s and as 2019 Banker of the Year by American Banker magazine, while Citizens was named “The US’s Best Bank” by Euromoney magazine for 2021. He previously had been rated one of the industry’s top CFOs at both RBS and BNY.
Van Saun has served on boards of directors in both the U.S. and the U.K. He is currently a director of Moody’s Corporation and a member of The Clearing House Supervisory Board. He is a member of the Bank Policy Institute board and serves on the board of the Partnership for Rhode Island.
For more information about the NJBIA Public Policy Forum, or to register, go here.
Sponsors of the NJBIA Annual Public Policy Forum include: Amazon, Association Member Trust, AT&T, Citizens, Connell Foley, Fidelity, Hackensack Meridian Health, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, IBEW Local 102, Investors Bank, JCP&L, NJ Business Magazine, NJCCC and NJM.
