Honoree: Kelly Coffey

Chief Executive Officer
City National Bank

Kelly Coffey is the CEO of City National Bank, a subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). City National has $83 billion in assets, more than 5,000 colleagues and 74 offices in seven states and Washington, D.C. Coffey is only the fourth CEO in City National’s 67-year history. There has never been a bank CEO quite like Coffey: One of just a handful of women leading large banks, Coffey took the helm of City National in 2019 to make a great company even better. She’s brought modern transparency, compassion and openness to the organization while shaking up the top ranks and all levels with diverse hires. Coffey has retained the bank’s client-first culture while bringing transparent communication to a new level with her “Tell Kelly” colleague communication platform, town halls and weekly podcasts. She’s also guiding City National’s digital transformation-the bank has enhanced its digital capabilities, launched a successful mobile app and made key fintech acquisitions. She’s also realigning the bank’s wealth management and private banking offerings in an innovative way.

Despite 2020 upending business as everyone knew it, City National’s expansion remained a big focus for Coffey in 2020. The bank opened five new branches during the pandemic. It’s important to Coffey to have a brand presence with brick-and-mortar locations in dynamic, urban communities while building on City National’s strong legacy in California. Coffey has led the bank’s response to the COVID-19 crisis, stepping up for City National’s clients, colleagues and communities during this unprecedented time. When clients needed City National most, the bank facilitated nearly 26,000 Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, totaling more than $6.2 billion, saving thousands of businesses from going under. Under her leadership, the bank also migrated nearly 85% of the bank’s colleagues to work from home while ensuring its banking offices and frontline bankers remained safe and healthy as essential workers. The results speak for themselves. The bank continues to expand, and Coffey has spearheaded remarkable growth in loans, deposits, AUM and client accounts.