Huntington National Bank has appointed Ameesh Vakharia as executive vice president and chief marketing and digital products officer in a newly created role that brings the bank's marketing and digital product management functions together.

Vakharia will lead an integrated organization covering brand, marketing and digital product management, with a mandate to strengthen Huntington's brand, support customer growth and create more connected sales and service experiences across digital and physical channels. He will report to Brant Standridge, president of consumer and regional banking.

The organizational change reflects a broader shift in how financial institutions approach customer experience. Rather than treating marketing as a communications function separate from product development, Huntington is combining teams responsible for the brand promise with those responsible for the digital products through which customers interact with the bank.

Vakharia joins Huntington with more than two decades of experience spanning strategy, digital, product and channel management, customer growth and brand leadership. Most recently, he was executive vice president and chief strategy and brand officer at USAA, where his responsibilities included enterprise strategy, innovation, digital, marketing, communications, corporate responsibility and membership growth.

Before USAA, Vakharia served on the Operating Council at Truist, leading areas including retail deposits, small business banking, contact centers, strategy, analytics and omnichannel client experience. He also held senior leadership positions at SunTrust focused on deposits, digital channels, customer experience and enterprise strategy.

For Huntington, the appointment places digital product development and marketing closer together at a time when customer journeys increasingly cross channels. A marketing message can influence customer expectations, while the digital product determines whether those expectations are met during account opening, servicing or other interactions.

Vakharia described the rationale in similar terms, arguing that customers do not separate a brand promise from their experience with a product. The organizational structure is intended to make those elements more closely connected and enable faster movement from strategy and ideas to customer-facing solutions.

The appointment follows expanded enterprise roles for Vijay Konduru and Mark Sheehan. Konduru now leads Huntington's business innovation and AI products organization, while Sheehan leads the bank's digital assets organization.

The broader restructuring indicates that Huntington is also establishing dedicated leadership around emerging technology areas while combining marketing and digital product responsibilities under one executive.

Market Landscape

Financial institutions are increasingly managing customer experience across interconnected digital and physical channels. Mobile applications, websites, contact centers, branches and marketing communications can all influence the same customer journey.

This makes organizational alignment between marketing and digital product teams increasingly relevant. Marketing can shape customer expectations, while product teams control many of the digital interactions through which those expectations are delivered.

Strategic Outlook

Huntington's newly created role signals an integrated approach to brand, customer growth and digital product development. Bringing these functions together could reduce organizational distance between identifying customer needs, developing digital capabilities and communicating their value.

The appointment also places customer experience within a broader technology transformation at Huntington, with separate enterprise leadership for business innovation, AI products and digital assets.

Top Insights

• Huntington appointed Ameesh Vakharia as chief marketing and digital products officer.
• The newly created role combines marketing and digital product management.
• Vakharia will oversee brand, marketing and digital product functions.
• His mandate includes customer growth and connected sales and service experiences.
• He previously held senior leadership roles at USAA, Truist and SunTrust.
• Huntington has also expanded leadership around AI products and digital assets.

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