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CIBC CEO Victor Dodig says the executive shuffle at the bank ‘is about handing off the mantle of leadership.’Glenn Lowson/The Globe and Mail

An executive shakeup at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is redrawing senior roles and putting fresh blood in charge of core businesses just as Canada's fifth-largest bank prepares to push back into the U.S. market.

More than 40 executives will take on new roles and two influential figures are leaving the bank. Head of retail and business banking David Williamson will stay on in a transitional role focused on innovation until he departs next year. And Steve Geist, who has led the bank's wealth management arm since the fall of 2014, is also out at the end of 2017.

The responsibilities vacated by the two men will be divided up, altering the bank's executive structure and reshuffling its succession planning. Christina Kramer, a 30-year CIBC veteran, takes over as group head of personal and small-business banking. Responsibility for commercial banking and wealth management will be joined together under group head Jon Hountalas, a more recent hire who joined the bank in 2010.

For subscribers: With PrivateBancorp takeover, CIBC must work to make deal pay off

The executive turnover comes just days before CIBC is expected to close its $4.9-billion (U.S.) acquisition of Chicago-based PrivateBancorp Inc. – a signature deal that will reshape the Canadian bank's ambitions in the United States and promises to be key to its future growth. But the staffing changes have been in the works for years and mark the second substantial reorganization of CIBC's executive team since chief executive officer Victor Dodig took the helm in the fall of 2014.

"This is about handing off the mantle of leadership," Mr. Dodig said in an interview at CIBC's Toronto headquarters, referring to the bank's executive committee.

The shuffle also includes an important new hire: Deepak Khandelwal will serve as group head of client connectivity and innovation.

Mr. Khandelwal is a former Google executive who was most recently chief customer officer at Rogers Communications, which is undergoing its own leadership overhaul. Hired to the cable and telecommunications giant by its former CEO Guy Laurence, Mr. Khandelwal was tasked with improving customer service, which was a top priority.

At CIBC, he will work across all three main business lines to "make sure that we're well wired together in a highly technological world," Mr. Dodig said.

With the changes, Mr. Dodig continues to put his stamp on the bank, which he has sought to define first and foremost as friendly to clients. Mr. Williamson was one of a few remaining holdovers from CIBC's last regime under previous CEO Gerry McCaughey, having led the retail arm since 2011.

"Victor and I have worked, and continue to work, well together since his appointment," Mr. Williamson said in an e-mail on Tuesday, adding that he wanted to "leave on a high."

"I was offered roles that would have kept me on our executive committee, but concluded that now is the right time for other very capable team members to lead our business," he said.

Mr. Dodig also praised Mr. Williamson and Mr. Geist, who are "hanging up the cleats," dismissing any suggestion that he might have had concerns about performance in the retail or wealth businesses. "They've been performing very, very well," he said, adding of Mr. Williamson and Mr. Geist: "They're friends of our bank."

Current capital markets head Harry Culham remains in his role, but assumes global responsibilities that include corporate banking. Meanwhile, several other key executives are staying put, including chief risk officer Laura Dottori-Attanasio and chief financial officer Kevin Glass.

The realignment seeks to give a new crop of executives responsibility for business lines that have significant overlap – for example, personal and small business clients, to be overseen by Ms. Kramer.

The alliance of commercial banking and wealth management under Mr. Hountalas will mirror the model already in place at PrivateBancorp Inc. CIBC's acquisition of the U.S. bank is expected to close on June 23, after which Larry Richman, the current CEO at PrivateBancorp, will add oversight of CIBC's U.S. operations to his list of duties.

"You lend money to private businesses, you manage their wealth. They really go hand in hand," Mr. Dodig said. "They're high-touch relationship models."

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Tickers mentioned in this story

Study and track financial data on any traded entity: click to open the full quote page. Data updated as of 28/03/24 4:15pm EDT.

SymbolName% changeLast
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Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
+1.13%68.67
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Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
+1.3%50.72

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