Webster Bank

Christopher Motl is Head of Commercial Banking at Santander US, where he leads the bank's commercial business and growth strategy. He spent more than 20 years at Webster Bank, joining in 2004 as co-founder of its Sponsor & Specialty Finance Group and most recently serving as Senior Executive Vice President and President of Commercial Banking, a role that expanded after Webster's 2022 merger with Sterling National Bank; he previously held the position of Vice President at CoBank. Motl serves on the boards of the Connecticut Bankers Association and the Travelers Championship, and holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Colorado Boulder.

Elzbieta Cieslik is Chief Audit Executive at Webster Financial Corp., where her work centers on internal audit functions and audit strategy. Her background includes experience in banking and broker-dealer environments, along with audit committee and senior management reporting. She has knowledge of broker-dealer regulations across multiple jurisdictions, including those overseen by US FINRA and the CFTC, the UK's FSA, France's AMF, Hong Kong's SFC, Singapore's MAS, Japan's JSDA, Korea's Ministry of Finance and Economy, and Dubai's DFSA.

James Griffin is Executive Vice President and Head of Consumer Banking at Webster Bank, where he leads a consumer and business banking platform of approximately $12B in assets and $27B in deposits across roughly 200 branches, spanning business banking, private client, digital, lending, and marketing. A member of the Executive Management Committee, his work has centered on M&A integration, system conversions, and restructuring at institutions ranging from $15B to $80B in assets, including the growth of a combined organization from about $35B to $80B in assets. His board service has included Junior Achievement of New York and the Child Center of New York.

Jason Soto is Executive Vice President and Chief Credit Risk Officer at Webster Bank. He has more than 25 years of experience in credit risk management, corporate finance, and leveraged lending.

Kristy Berner is General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Webster Bank. Her work covers financial regulatory and compliance matters, mergers and acquisitions from initial stages through integration, support for lines of business and corporate operations, and advising on SEC filings and public company matters. She provides legal support to boards of directors, executive teams, and business partners, and has recruited and developed legal professionals.

Martin Anderson serves as Regional President at Webster Bank. His work in commercial banking includes cash flow lending, commercial mortgages, working capital finance, and cash management, with a focus on lending solutions to finance growth and revenue-generating assets.

Neal Holland is a Board Member at BECU and a public company CFO with experience across publicly traded and privately held financial institutions, including Webster, First Republic, and MUFG. Over a career spanning more than 25 years, he has worked in finance, strategy, operations, and risk management, and has led transactions and financial infrastructure initiatives. He has partnered with boards and management teams and led finance organizations through periods of growth and market stress.

An entrepreneur based in Central-Eastern Europe who founded Superbet, a European market-leading betting business that attracted a €175M investment from Blackstone. A former junior chess player, he is founding partner of Mozaik Investments and built his family office early-stage venture arm, D Moonshots, and holding company D Craig Holding.