Ex-State Street exec. named to Citizens board

PROVIDENCE – Citizens Financial Group Inc. has added a former State Street Bank & Trust Co. executive to its board of directors.
Wendy A. Watson, who had more than 30 years experience in the financial sector, has been elected to the boards of Citizens Financial’s subsidiary’s RBS Citizens N.A., and Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania.
“We are proud to welcome Wendy to Citizens Financial Group’s board of directors,” said Ellen Alemany, chairwoman and CEO of Citizens Financial and RBS Americas. “Wendy’s executive leadership, global banking expertise and board directorship experience will serve our organization well as we continue to build upon CFG’s commitment to being a responsible corporate leader engaged in the community.”
Watson is a former executive vice president of global services at Boston-based State Street. She had joined State Street in 2000 as the managing director of investment manager solutions.
Watson also led the bank’s Global Cost Leadership program and reduced annual operating expenses by $800 million. Before joining State Street, Watson was a senior vice president of global private banking and trust at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. Prior to that Watson was president and CEO of CIBC Finance, an arm of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.
She has a dual citizenship in Canada and the United States. She is a magna cum laude graduate of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, with a concentration in accounting and law. She is a certified general accountant and a certified fraud examiner.