CIBC names Shawn Beber as new head of U.S. operations

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce has named a new head of its U.S. operations, choosing current chief risk officer Shawn Beber to lead a growing unit, and has also shuffled its capital markets leadership.

Mr. Beber will take over as group head of the bank’s U.S. region on Nov. 1, serving as president and chief executive officer of CIBC Bank USA, the American subsidiary of CIBC. He will be based in Chicago, where the bank has its U.S. headquarters.

Mr. Beber has been CIBC’s chief risk officer since 2020, and was previously head of the bank’s U.S. capital markets division. He was also closely involved in the bank’s 2017 acquisition of Chicago-based PrivateBancorp Inc. for US$5-billion, which now forms the cornerstone of its U.S. business, when he served as the bank’s general counsel and led its corporate development office.

The bank’s current U.S. head, Mike Capatides, will become a vice-chair of CIBC Bank USA, and spend his time working on relationships with clients.

Taking over Mr. Beber’s role as chief risk officer is Frank Guse, the current executive vice-president of strategy and transformation for the personal and business banking division. He has past experience in risk, including three years as a senior vice-president of enterprise risk management.

The bank also announced 15 other changes to executive vice-president and senior vice-president roles in an internal memo, including six moves in its capital markets division.

Roman Dubczak, who has been the bank’s head of global-investment banking, has been named deputy chair of capital markets, reporting to division head Harry Culham.

That makes way for Susan Rimmer to take over as head of global corporate and investment banking, also reporting to Mr. Culham. The move makes Ms. Rimmer one of the country’s most senior investment bankers and could put her in line to lead the division one day.

The bank’s treasurer, Peter Levitt, is retiring, the memo says. Robert Sedran, a former banking analyst who led enterprise strategy, planning and corporate development, will take over as treasurer.