City National Bank Appoints Sandy Kuohn Chief Colleague Officer

Kuohn to Succeed Martha Tuma, who is retiring after five years of service

LOS ANGELES — City National Bank today announced that Sandy Kuohn will join the company as executive vice president and chief colleague officer (CCO), effective July 25. Kuohn will be based in Los Angeles and report jointly to Kelly Coffey, chief executive officer of City National, and Kelly Pereira, chief human resources officer of Royal Bank of Canada. Martha Tuma, currently the CCO of City National, is retiring from the role.

As CCO, Kuohn will oversee City National’s human resources strategy, including talent management, leadership development, recruiting, training and education, compensation and benefits, payroll, colleague engagement, colleague retention, colleague relations, and workforce diversity, equity and inclusion. She will also be a member of the bank’s Executive Committee.

“Sandy is a dynamic human resources leader with 35 years of experience supporting purpose-driven cultures, developing talent, and leading diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives,” said Coffey. “City National has experienced a great deal of growth and transformation in recent years, and the business landscape is more complex than ever. Sandy’s expertise aligns well with our values and will help City National best support our colleagues and our business as we look toward the future. I also want to thank Martha Tuma for her incredible leadership. We are grateful for her expert guidance as we’ve supported colleagues through the pandemic and the bank’s evolution over the past five years.”

Tuma is stepping down from her former role after five years at the bank. She joined City National in 2017 from Charles Schwab & Co., where she had managed a team of more than 300 HR professionals and was recognized as one of the “Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business” by the San Francisco Business Times. She had also held senior HR positions at Apple, Intel and Logitech.

During her tenure at City National, Tuma has grown the bank’s colleague base by about 1,500 colleagues. She oversaw the launch and rollout of City National’s increased short-term disability benefits and new parental leave policy — extending the leave offered for all birth and adoptive parents, doubling the financial support to colleagues adopting children, and improving the bank’s infertility and surrogacy benefits. She has also played an integral role in helping the bank successfully navigate the pandemic, including sending 85% of colleagues to work remotely in 2020 and supporting the 15% of colleagues deemed essential workers throughout the crisis.

Tuma was named in the Top Teams of American Banker’s “Most Powerful Women in Banking” in 2021. She serves as secretary of the board of the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southern California and is on the advisory committee for Kaiser Permanente’s Zero Breast Cancer initiative.

She will stay at City National through the end of the bank’s fiscal year, Oct. 31, 2022, to support a smooth and seamless transition.

“City National has built its reputation on always putting colleagues, clients and communities first,” said Kuohn. “I’m looking forward to working closely with Kelly and the rest of City National’s outstanding Executive Committee to make this great company even better.”

Prior to joining City National, Kuohn led human resources including due diligence and integration initiatives across seven mergers and acquisitions over a 10-year period, which resulted in one of the fastest-growing banks in the U.S., Huntington Bancshares. Through that decade, she drove complex organizational change as assets, locations and hiring grew following multiple consecutive acquisitions involving Huntington Bancshares, TCF Financial, Chemical Financial and Talmer Bancorp. Previously, she served in HR leadership, management consulting and organizational development roles at Urban Science, an international automotive consulting firm in Detroit; SDK Consulting, the private leadership consulting firm she founded; Electro Wire Products, an automotive supplier; and Anderson Consulting, a multinational professional services company.

Since 2005, Kuohn has served on the board of trustees of CATCH (Caring Athletes Team for Children’s and Henry Ford Hospitals), which raises funds for sick, vulnerable and economically disadvantaged children in Detroit. She joined the board of directors of Emanuel Steward Champions of Tomorrow in 2019. Kuohn was recognized by Crain’s Detroit Business as a “Notable Woman in HR” in 2019.