The Crown Jewels of Fintech AI Talent from SVB, First Republic, Signature Bank and Flagstar Bank

As the dust settles on SBV, First Republic and Signature and Flagstar Bank there’s going to be a reckoning. There are people from SVB First Republic and Signature who are going to struggle to find jobs ever again. They'll climb into the same cave that Dick Fuld climbed into after the collapse of Lehman, and will probably never be seen again. That’s a story for the financial tabloids. There is, however, a more interesting story: Following the bank’s collapse, some of the most talented AI executives in the banking sector are emerging from the rubble.?

Not long ago SVB was the darling of the ball in tech circles and together with First Republic, Signature Bank and Flagstar Bank attracted and retained some of the best talent in finance especially in the red hot areas of AI and Fintech. For years SBV in particular was eating Wall Street’s lunch when it came to talent. As the pandemic ended and the market and tech cooled, banks were starting to pounce to acquire key talent. Firms like Capital One, Citigroup and Wells Fargo went on a hiring spree in 2021-2022 benefiting from the talent available from Big Tech.

Then came the SBV collapse, faster than anyone envisioned. Now, as it’s happened in previous cycles, from the ashes of some of the biggest and fastest collapses in U.S. banking history will come the migration of some of the most valuable talent.?

We analyzed over 2,800+ executives from SVB, First Republic, Signature Bank and Flagstar Bank to uncover the crown jewels of AI and Fintech talent. The talent that has rival banks and recruiters chomping at the bit to pick off.?

Here are 12 of the top AI talent gems:?

Alla Whitson

Chief Information Officer, Commercial Bank & SVB Capital, and former CTO at CIT and Bank of America, Managing Director, Global Head of Infrastructure & Application Services at JP Morgan and Vice President, Enterprise Technology & Global Firmwide Technology Operations at Goldman Sachs.

Prosasty Chaudhuri

Managing Director, Chief Data Officer at SBV, former Global Head of Data Governance & Policy at Citi, Chief Data Officer, Global Banking & Markets at HSBC and Director Data Governance & Quality at GE.?

Will Kaser

Chief Data Officer and recent Head of Strategy and Operations Transformation at SVB, formerly Managing Director, Information Technology at MUFG, Senior Vice President, Customer Services Division at Union Bank, Vice President, Customer Service at E*Trade and SVP, Information Systems at SunTrust Bank.

Mark Rohrwasser

Chief Information Officer at SBV, former CIO at Equifax, Vice President of Core Services Product Development at PayPal, Technology and Operations Executive at Bank of America and CIO Transportation at GE.

Sundhar Subramanian

Head of Data Engineering at SBV, former Program Manager, Strategic programs and Data Architect Big data at American Express.

Trent Viavattene

Head of Security Engineering at SBV, former Director Information Security Engineering at McAfee, Cloud Security Architect at Armor Cloud Security and Principal Solutions Architect at NTT DATA Services.?

James Cornacchia

Chief Technology Officer at Signature Bank, former Director, Technology - Platform Management Prime Services/Electronic Trading Infrastructure at Wells Fargo Securities, Vice President, Technology at Marin Securities, VP, Application Development Manager - Electronic Trading Data (ETD) at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, IT Manager at IASG and

Jack Meyers

VP,? Core Platform Technology at First Republic, former Director, Enterprise Architecture: Retail & Direct Banking Technology at Capital One, SVP, Chief Architect: Shared Operations Technology and VP, Technology Integration: Wealth Management Technology at Bank of America,

Nega Adapala

VP, Head of Technology Enterprise Data & Client Insights and former VP, Head of Engineering - Wealth Management at First Republic, former Vice President Capital Markets Technology Strategy at Wells Fargo,?

Christine Yuan

VP Product, Data and Technology and former Director of Product and Digital Experience at First Republic, former Lead Product Manager - Card & Merchant APIs at U.S. Bank, Principal Product Manager - APIs & Digital Platform at BNY Melon and Senior Product Manager Merchant Payments at American Express.?

Greg Hubble

Chief Data Officer at Flagstar Bank, former Director, Business Intelligence at Quicken, Sr. Global IT Manufacturing Innovation Delivery Lead at General Motors, IT Data Management Specialist at Anderson Consulting and IT Systems Engineer at Electronic Data Systems.?

Jennifer Charters

CIO at Flagstar Bank, former CIO, former Corporate Technology at Ally Financial and Sr. Manager at Accenture.?

[Get the full list data here]?

These newly-emerging professionals boast a wealth of experience in using AI to build sophisticated predictive models that can be used to better understand customers’ needs and optimize products and services accordingly. They are leading the banking revolution, using AI from fraud detection to providing faster, more accurate services than ever before. ? As these AI experts make their way into other organizations, they’ll bring with them a unique set of skills and experiences that will help modernize banking systems for years to come.

The collapse of SVB, First Republic, Signature Bank and Flagstar Bank has left behind a wake of attractive talent to be scooped up by rivals and other industries. AI experts with knowledge, experience, relationships and scar tissue. Rival banks and recruiters are chomping at the bit to snap up some of the most talented AI executives in finance. It will be fascinating to see where everyone lands and how they not only survive but revolutionize banking.?

What companies or talent pools do you think we should track next?