Newly appointed National Australia Bank (NAB) chief executive Andrew Irvine has announced key changes to its executive line-up, achieving a gender parity milestone within its senior leadership ranks.
Rachel Slade, who heads NAB’s personal banking team, will step into Irvine’s former role as group executive, business and private banking at the end of April.
The role is widely considered the clearest path to succession for NAB’s top job, with business banking a central focus of the group.
Slade, formerly of Westpac, was appointed NAB’s general manager of deposits and transaction services in 2017 before stepping in to lead the bank’s customer experience function.
Moving into Slade’s current role as group executive of personal banking is Ana Marinkovic, elevated from her current position as executive, business direct and small business (which sits within NAB’s business banking team).
Marinkovich joined NAB just under four years ago from big four rival ANZ.
A 15-year veteran of ANZ, Marinkovich served across the bank’s consumer finance, home loans, payments, small business and transformation teams.
NAB has also announced the promotion of Cathryn Carver, currently the executive client coverage within NAB’s corporate and institutional banking (C&IB) arm, to lead the C&IB function.
She replaces the outgoing David Gall, who has announced his departure from NAB after 16 years.
Irvine, the recently anointed successor of former NAB chief executive Ross McEwan, welcomed the internal hires, which he said would “ensure alignment delivering for the bank’s customers and colleagues”.
“These appointments demonstrate our ability to identify and develop talent within the business while broadening diversity and experience,” Irvine said in an announcement to the ASX.
Excluding Irvine, the three new senior appointees secure an even split within NAB’s executive leadership team on gender lines, with five of 10 positions now occupied by women. Excluding its chief executive, Westpac currently has a six to five split of women to men on its executive leadership team.
Irvine lauded Slade, Marinkovich and Carver as “great relationship bankers”, who will assume leadership of key customer-facing businesses.
“They understand the importance of using technology and data to make NAB easier and simpler to bank with,” he said.
Irvine concluded: “This completes the executive leadership team that will take NAB forward and maintain the momentum we have across the business, by executing with discipline and focus.”
