Chana R. Schoenberger is the editor-in-chief of American Banker. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of Financial Planning after joining Arizent in 2020.
In her prior role, she was the managing editor for U.S. wealth management at J.P. Morgan. Before that, she was a columnist and freelance journalist, and previously worked at Bloomberg News, Dow Jones/The Wall Street Journal, and Forbes. A graduate of Harvard College, she received her master’s degree as part of Columbia Journalism School’s Knight-Bagehot Fellowship
Mary Ellen Egan is a journalist with more than 25 years of experience in business and investigative journalism. She has been a staff writer and editor at Forbes, The American Lawyer, First Amendment Watch and American Banker. She has freelanced for Bloomberg, Bloomberg Law, University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Stanford Graduate School of Business and Thomson Reuters. She is currently an adjunct professor of journalism at New York University.
Holly Sraeel is SVP of Strategy and Content, American Banker Live Media, leading content creation and innovation for the events and live media portfolio and introducing new multimedia and invitation-only experiences for senior executives that drive critical conversations and action around corporate strategy, innovation and financial performance. She is part of the company’s operational leadership team and is focused on developing cross-platform programming that creates higher levels of engagement for subscribers, community participants and partners across the company’s brands, including American Banker, The Bond Buyer, National Mortgage News, Accounting Today, Digital Insurance, Financial Planning and Employee Benefits News.
Sraeel is an award-winning editorial director, media executive and content strategist with expertise in developing influential content, communities, and events for C-level executives in the banking and financial services, insurance, and technology industries. Prior to joining Arizent, she held several content leadership and strategist roles, including for B2B media consultancy New York Ventures, capital markets management consultancy Opimas, Oxford University-incubated startup Wise Responder, and as cofounder of Genesys Partners’ Agility First Forum.
This new role marks a return to the company for Sraeel. In her previous 12-year run, she was a member of the executive team and was pivotal in driving new cross-platform editorial, events and business innovation as SVP of Brand Management; Group Editorial Director of Banking and Technology magazines; and Founder, President and Editorial Director of The Most Powerful Women in Banking,™ the company’s first-ever, community-based media platform, now part of Arizent’s flagship American Banker.
Sraeel is an early honors graduate of Marist College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications and a concentration in journalism.
Cristin Reid has served as Chairman and CEO of Capitol National Bank since 2019. With more than 25 years in the banking industry, her focus has been in community banking and small business finance. In her current role, Ms. Reid has driven strategic growth, strengthened the bank’s community impact, and advanced leadership diversity by expanding female board representation from 10% to 46% and developing a senior leadership team that is 85% women. Additionally, she is planning for the next 10 years by recruiting young directors and implementing a development plan for young employees to grow within the company.
She also serves as Managing Director of Access BIDCO, a regulated financial institution focused on turnaround and management consulting for small businesses. Her prior experience includes executive leadership at a public bank holding company, where she held several roles including General Counsel, Chief Administrative Officer, and President.
Ms. Reid is the founder and CEO of Capitol Foundation, which provides emergency funding to local small businesses and individuals. She is actively engaged in promoting women’s leadership and entrepreneurship through her board service at Michigan Bankers Association, Lansing Economic Area Partnership, and multiple startup and nonprofit boards, including a boat-building school.
Her leadership has earned national and statewide recognition. She was named to American Banker’s “Most Powerful Women in Banking Women to Watch” list in 2006, 2024 and 2025, received the “Impact and Influence” award at the Lansing 2024 Entrepreneur of the Year event, and was honored as a Notable Leader in Finance by Crain’s Detroit Business in 2025. Under her direction, Capitol National Bank has been recognized by S&P Global as a Top 100 Community Bank for two consecutive years, by the SBA as Michigan Export Lender of the Year, and by Independent Banker as a Top Lender.
Ms. Reid holds a BA in Biology from Kalamazoo College, a JD from the University of Toledo College of Law, and an MBA from the University of Michigan.
Wendy Cai-Lee is the Founder and CEO of Piermont Bank, a fully chartered digital commercial bank, and the first multi-racial MDI (Minority Depository Institution) in the United States. The bank is the engine behind many successful fintechs as well as entrepreneur-led businesses in many leading industry sectors. With nearly 30 years of executive-level experience managing and leading Fortune 500 companies and startups, Wendy is a subject matter expert in fintech, international finance and banking.
Prior to building Piermont Bank, she was an Executive Vice President at East West Bank, responsible for its Commercial and Consumer Businesses in the U.S. Prior to East West, Wendy was a Managing Director at Deloitte LLP, where she managed its U.S./China cross-border M&A business. She started her banking career with JP Morgan Chase and held various management positions at both Chase and Citi. Wendy is named to Inc.’s 2024 Female Founders 250 and was an honoree of The Most Powerful Women in Banking to Watch by American Banker in 2025, 2024 and 2023.
Wendy is a member of New York State Department of Financial Services’ Charter Advisory Board and CDFI/MDI Council. In addition, Wendy is an Emeritus member of the Board of Friends of UNFPA. She also serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board at Douglass College. Wendy received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Rutgers University.
Christina Mohr is confident that her team can excel at a restructured Citigroup.
“What they’re calling simplification at Citi is really about putting clients at the center of what we do,” said Mohr, the New York company’s vice chair of M&A and investment banking. In other words, Citi is focused on what has always guided her career: “To serve clients intensively.”
Liz Wolverton is executive vice president and head of consumer banking and brand experience for Synovus.
Wolverton leads the bank’s consumer banking segment, including the branch network, consumer banking products and services, and mass affluent strategy and execution. She’s responsible for the digital and client experience, advancing an aligned and measured approach to delivering a holistic, consistent and differentiated client experience.
Wolverton joined Synovus in 2003 and has held various leadership positions, including chief strategy officer, senior director of banking and director of accounting and financial analysis.
Before joining Synovus, Wolverton served as finance director for Centerplate Management in Greenville, South Carolina. She started her career in the assurance and advisory business services division of Ernst & Young in Greenville and Atlanta, Georgia.
Since 2015 Wolverton has been recognized as one of American Banker’s Most Powerful Women to Watch. This annual recognition acknowledges women for their leadership, innovation and impact on the company, industry and community. She is a recipient of the Synovus Jim Blanchard Leadership Award.
Wolverton serves on the boards of Make-A-Wish® Georgia and Columbus Museum. She is on the advisory board of the Realizing Educational Achievement Can Happen Georgia Foundation.
Liz is married to Bobby Wolverton, who is the director of agronomy at Fall Line Golf Club. The recent empty nesters live in Columbus, Ga. They spend ample time traveling to visit daughter Graham, a junior at Texas Christian University and daughter Molly, a member of the Corp of Cadets at Virgina Tech.
Hope Dmuchowski is senior executive vice president and chief financial officer for First Horizon Corporation. She has responsibility for accounting, treasury, financial planning & analysis, line of business finance, banking data analytics, loan and deposit pricing, corporate development, and investor relations. In addition to her financial management responsibilities, she also has responsibility for corporate properties, sourcing, and procurement.
Dmuchowski has over 25 years of experience in banking and brings a wealth of finance, accounting and merger expertise having served in several key roles running integrated business and economic models, budgeting, forecasting, financial analysis, regulatory reporting, and operations. Prior to joining First Horizon in 2021, Dmuchowski worked at Truist and the predecessor bank BB&T in numerous roles, including head of financial planning and analysis and management reporting, chief financial officer of corporate banking, commercial banking and corporate groups, chief financial officer group director as well as chief financial and operating officer of enterprise operations services. Dmuchowski began her banking career in the Leadership Development program for the sales and trading division of Deutsche Bank.
Dmuchowski has a passion for serving her community and is an avid volunteer in every city where she has lived. She currently serves on the non-profit boards for the National Salvation Army, where she is currently the treasurer, 4Word and the Baptist Hospital Foundation. She also serves on St. George’s Independent School board of directors.
Dmuchowski holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and a Master of Science degree in Business Management both from Saint Elizabeth University, as well as a Women in Leadership certification from Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business.
Jill Castilla knows what success looks like.
Castilla took the helm as CEO of Edmond, Oklahoma-based Citizens Bank of Edmond in 2009, when the bank was reeling from the still-unfolding global financial crisis. In the intervening years, Castilla has not only turned the bank back from the brink of failure, but also expanded its size and profile into a stable and successful bank with more than $416 million of assets.
But success can be defined in a number of different ways, Castilla said, and many of the ways that bankers traditionally measure success may not capture some of the initiatives that make a difference for customers. As a privately-owned and primarily employee-owned business, Castilla faces less pressure for quarterly earnings results than many of her publicly-traded peers, which she says helps her focus less on short-term profits and more on long-term goals, such as securing inexpensive deposits to make loans. The bank’s core deposits grew 35% between November 2023 and May of this year.
Tasnim re-joined Citi in October 2021 to lead Citi Commercial Bank (CCB), a key business area for the bank. CCB provides full scale banking products and services to mid-sized companies across the globe delivering tailored solutions to this exciting and fast-growing client base. Commercial Banking clients represent a significant global growth opportunity as their needs closely align with Citi’s core value proposition that enables clients to grow cross-border by leveraging sophisticated platforms and solutions. Tasnim is executing on an ambitious growth strategy to capture the mid-market opportunity with an emphasis on talent investment, digital transformation, and expansion into new markets.
Most recently, Tasnim was the UK Corporate Bank Head at Barclays plc where she focused on growing target segments, building solutions, enhancing client experience and developing talent. Tasnim implemented National Industry verticals to serve corporate clients and set-up a Public Sector business to drive growth through industry specific insights and solutions. Tasnim played a leading role in the deployment of the UK Covid-19 Government Loan Schemes and was a strong voice for financial services during the pandemic.
Prior to Barclays, Tasnim was Head of Commercial Banking in Europe, Middle East and Africa at Citi where she led Citi’s expansion of the business in the region, including launching into new markets and driving innovation and digitization. During her more than 20-year career at Citi, Tasnim held various roles in Investment Banking, Corporate and Commercial Banking as well as Senior Regional Management.
Earlier in her career, Tasnim worked at JP Morgan and Commercial Union; and she is a Chartered Management Accountant. Tasnim is passionate about equality in the workplace especially for women and has led several diversity initiatives and chaired various Committees across her career in banking. In 2023, Tasnim was honored as the number one woman to ‘Watch’ in the American Banker’s Most Powerful Women lists and in 2024 she was also recognized on the publication’s Most Powerful Women in Banking list. Additionally in 2023 and 2024, Tasnim was included in Financial News’ 100 Women in Finance list, recognizing leading women across European financial services.
Additionally, Tasnim is a member of the Board of Directors of Foro Holdings Inc, a Fintech based in Charlotte, North Carolina; a Governor of Central Foundation Girls’ School in London and a Trustee of Developments in Literacy UK, a charity with a focus on girls’ education.
Tasnim graduated from Kings College London with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Management.