CIBC is continuing to shuffle its executive ranks with barely one month left before chief operating officer Harry Culham takes over as leader.Evan Buhler/The Canadian Press
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce CM-T is continuing to shuffle its executive ranks with barely one month left before the lender gets a new leader.
Mike Freeborn and Alfred Traboulsi will each become managing director and co-head of global corporate and investment banking at CIBC as of Nov. 1, according to an internal memo viewed by The Globe and Mail.
Their appointments coincide with the date when Harry Culham, currently the bank’s chief operating officer, will formally succeed Victor Dodig as chief executive officer.
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“Mike will primarily focus on our Canadian franchise, while Alfred will focus on growing our U.S. platform,” Christian Exshaw, who became deputy head of capital markets last year and was tapped last month for Mr. Culham’s former role as head of capital markets, said in the memo dated Sept. 26.
Mike Freeborn will become one of two co-heads of global corporate and investment banking.Supplied
Much of Mr. Freeborn’s experience is in dealing with the oil and gas industry, having previously spent several years in Calgary as head of CIBC’s energy investment banking unit. He has spent most of his career with CIBC, aside from eight years in the early 2000s when he worked for Goldman Sachs.
Mr. Traboulsi is new to CIBC, having joined the bank’s New York office in May as head of U.S. investment banking. He had previously spent more than a decade as head of investment banking at HSBC and, like Mr. Freeborn, is also a veteran of Goldman Sachs.
Ever since Mr. Culham was named CIBC’s next CEO in March, he has moved quickly to reshape the bank’s executive ranks in his image. In August, CIBC announced that Shawn Beber, the head of its U.S. division who was previously considered a contender for the top job, was leaving the company.
Head of global investment banking Kevin Li was named as Mr. Beber’s replacement.
Mr. Exshaw announced several other organizational changes in the memo, including the appointment of Eric Métivier to a newly created role of executive vice-president and chief risk officer for corporate and private credit risk. Mr. Métivier, who has been with CIBC for more than 30 years and was most recently head of global corporate banking, will be responsible for corporate credit, trading credit and private credit risk management, the memo said.
Alfred Traboulsi will also be co-head of global corporate and investment banking.Supplied
Arden Majewski and Anton Erdody will each become managing director and co-head of global markets trading. Giorgia Anton, who has been head of research at CIBC for the past five years, will take on a newly created role as head of payments.
“Giorgia will focus on developing customized financing strategies and innovative credit solutions,” Mr. Exshaw said.
Kevin Chiang will take on Ms. Anton’s former role as head of research, reporting to Brad Black, who is head of global distribution. Mr. Black, the memo said, “will take on an expanded leadership mandate, bringing our sales and research functions closer together.”
Mr. Exshaw also announced in his memo that John Ovens, head of global markets financing and financial resource management, will be retiring as of Jan. 31, 2026, after more than 28 years with CIBC.
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