Santander Bank, N.A. Management

Meet our leaders—the inspired individuals who direct, support, and empower our 9,800 colleagues to carry out our mission of providing you with easy–to–use banking products and services. While their personal stories reflect a variety of backgrounds, skills, and experiences, our leaders all share a collective passion for helping our customers and communities make progress.

Christiana Riley

CEO, Santander US; President and CEO, Santander Bank, N.A.

Christiana Riley is the Santander US Chief Executive Officer and President and Chief Executive Officer of Santander Bank, N.A.

Christiana is also a member of the PagoNxt Board, a leading payment solution provider for merchants, international corporates, SMEs, and consumers, fully owned by Santander.

Prior to joining Santander, Christiana spent 17 years at Deutsche Bank, where she was a member of the Management Board and held several leadership positions in both Europe and the Americas, including CFO and COO of the Corporate and Investment Bank, and CEO of the Americas. She also chaired the Audit Committee at Deutsche Post, enabling its integration into Deutsche Bank AG in 2019.

Christiana is an active member of the wider civic and business community and has held various active Trustee positions including The Clearing House, the Institute of International Bankers, London Business School, the Partnership for New York City and the Arthur F. Burns Fellowship.

Christiana graduated cum laude from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Arts in Romance Languages, Literatures and Linguistics and holds an MBA from the London Business School.

Patrick D. Smith

Head of Consumer & Business Banking
Santander Bank, N.A.

Patrick Smith leads Consumer & Business Banking at Santander Bank, N.A., and is a member of the U.S. leadership team. He is responsible for driving the strategy for Santander’s network of over 400 branches and 1,200 ATMs, small business banking, corporate & social responsibility, digital, retail operations, and investments. He brings a combination of banking experience and customer focus that position him for success as he leads the execution of Santander’s Consumer & Business Banking strategy.

Prior to joining Santander in 2020, Patrick served as executive vice president and Head of Commercial Digital at KeyBank, as well as a member of the company’s executive council. Over his nearly 30-year career in financial services, Patrick held a variety of leadership positions at Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Capital One. Previously, he also worked in Accenture’s strategy practice servicing clients globally.

Patrick received an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, an MS in IT Management from the University of Virginia, and a BS in Finance from Tuskegee University.

Currently, Patrick serves on the boards of BDC Capital and Boeing Employee Credit Union.

Swati Bhatia

Head of Retail Banking and Transformation
Santander Bank, N.A.

Swati is the head of Retail Banking and Transformation at Santander Bank, N.A., and is a member of the Santander US executive team. She is responsible for leading the US Consumer & Business Banking business and all related digital transformation initiatives, with a focus on building new capabilities, simplifying existing processes, and enhancing the customer experience to become a leading national, digital bank with branches.

Prior to joining Santander in 2024, Bhatia led the Marcus and GreenSky businesses at Goldman Sachs and previously served as the Chief Payments Risk Officer at Stripe, where she was instrumental in building out the company’s risk and compliance infrastructure. She also held a variety of leadership roles at PayPal and Capital One, spanning digital banking platforms and products, marketing and customer experience, governance and risk management, and operations.

Bhatia has more than 20 years of leadership experience in financial services with broad P&L management and functional expertise. She built her career around solving complex business problems and creating impact at scale through engaged and aligned teams. She strives to inspire the people around her to be their best and is adept at driving cultural change.

Recognized as an industry thought leader, Bhatia serves on the Board of Accion Opportunity Fund, a non-profit that provides small business owners in the U.S. with access to capital, networks, and coaching. She earned a M.S. in Finance from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani.

Michael Lee

Senior EVP and Managing Director, Commercial Banking
Santander Bank, N.A.

Mike is responsible for strategy and oversight of the Bank’s Commercial Banking Businesses throughout the United States. Commercial Banking includes Commercial Real Estate Construction Lending, Community Development Finance and Investments, Commercial Equipment and Vehicle Finance, International Banking, Middle Market Lending, Multifamily Term Lending, Not-for-Profit and Government Banking, and Treasury and Deposit banking. All Business Services supporting Commercial Banking also reports to Mike. The Commercial Bank’s combined Loan commitments and Investments exceeds $45Bn dollars and aggregate Deposits exceed $13Bn dollars.

Mike joined Santander in 2009 and has been employed in the financial services industry for over four decades. He has spent the majority of his career in lending and risk roles. Previously, he held Executive positions with Bank Boston, Fleet and Sovereign Bank.

Throughout his career, Mike has served on numerous civic and community boards. He is currently a member of the Massachusetts Business Roundtable, the Providence Chamber of Commerce, the Rhode Island Bankers Association, and a trustee of La Salle Academy.

He and his wife are past chairs of the Rhode Island Governor’s Ball, the Hasbro Children’s Hospital Ball, the Bishop’s Ball, and Take Flight Gala.

Mike received his Accounting and Master of Business Administration degrees from Providence College, and he remains active with the college as a member of the Providence College President’s Council.

David Hermer

Head of Corporate & Investment Banking US and Directing Officer of Banco Santander SA New York Branch

David Hermer joined Santander in August of 2023 as Head of CIB US and was appointed Directing Officer of Banco Santander SA New York Branch in January of 2024. David has over 30 years’ experience in investment banking, having spent significant time in senior roles at Credit Suisse (CS) where he most recently was Global Head of Equity and Debt Capital Markets. David was a member of various committees, including Global Investment Banking Management Committee, Equity Valuation Committee, Reputational Risk Committee, and Managing Director Promotion Committee.

David joined CS in 1994, where he focused primarily on equity products. He ran the bank’s US Equity Syndicate desk, Global Equity Syndicate, US and later Global Equity Capital Markets, and served on multiple local management committees. Prior to joining CS, David spent five years at Lehman Brothers.

David was a Morehead Scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he received a BA in Political Science.

José M. Linares

Senior Executive Vice-President of Banco Santander and Global head of Santander CIB

Senior Executive Vice-President of Banco Santander and global head of Santander Corporate & Investment Banking (Santander CIB). He reports directly to the Group CEO and is also a member of the Management Committee and the Executive Risk Committee of the Firm.

José joined Santander in 2017 to lead the deep transformation and expansion of the Corporate & Investment Banking business globally, positioning the business as a full-fledged global CIB player.

Additionally, he has been appointed to the Board of Directors of Santander Holdings US, Inc., Santander Bank, N.A. and Santander CIB New York, and he served as member of the Strategy Committee. He was also a member of Santander's Asset Management Board.

Prior to joining Santander, José spent more than 17 years at J.P. Morgan in a number of senior roles in New York, Hong Kong and London in the Investment Bank. During his tenure José has been a member of the EMEA leadership team, ViceChairman of the Board of Directors of J.P. Morgan Bank International and Vice-Chairman of the Balance Sheet Committee. He has also been a member of the Global Equities Executive Committee and Commitments Committee.

He started his Wall Street career covering Latin American stocks at Morgan Stanley in New York.

José holds a Bachelor's degree in Finance and Economics from Babson College, where he graduated summa cum laude, and an MBA from Columbia University. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst.

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