U.S. Bank’s chief operations officer, Souheil Badran, will retire this spring after three years with the company.
The bank said it plans to lean into its “robust” succession planning program as he prepares for retirement, and that Badran will remain involved with the leadership transition.
A U.S. Bank spokesperson had no comment on an expected transition timeline.
“Souheil has led our operations function with distinction and a keen eye toward elevating our client experience with our contact centers and driving productivity and efficiency in service of our shareholders,” CEO Gunjan Kedia said in a prepared statement last week. “I have appreciated his insights, advocacy and friendship, and we will build on the foundation he has helped set for the operations team.”
Badran came to U.S. Bank after more than two decades in executive roles across the payments, software and wealth management industries. The bank said he led efforts involving automation, artificial intelligence and efficiency during his tenure.
“It has been an honor and a privilege serving on the leadership team at U.S. Bancorp, and I am confident not only in the future of the organization, but in the leaders who will guide the company into the future,” Badran said in a prepared statement.
Prior to joining U.S. Bank, Badran spent three years as operations chief and one as innovation chief at Northwestern Mutual and two years as president of payments company Alipay North America. He also previously served as president and CEO of payments technology firm Edo Interactive, senior vice president of world payments at e-commerce company Digital River, and senior vice president and general manager of payment provider First Data Corp., according to his LinkedIn profile.
Badran’s leadership strategy has five pillars: empathy and inclusion, continuous learning, empowerment, emotional intelligence and integrity, he told host Craig Thielen in an interview last year with the 1% Better Improvement Podcast.
“Give the tools, give the resources, have them come up to you with good ideas, but support them where they need it to succeed,” Badran said of how he led his U.S. Bank team. “My job isn't to challenge them on [whether] it's a good idea or a bad idea … it's a matter of prioritizing. No one's come to me in the last couple of years with a bad idea. It's more, where does this fit in the priorities?”
“Empowering them to come up with the ideas is really key,” he told Thielen.
