CBA’s marketing & CA head Priscilla Brown to return to the US
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) is on the hunt for a new group executive, marketing and corporate affairs. According to an internal note to staff, an internal and external search will now take place to find a permanent replacement for Priscilla Brown.
It is understood Brown, who joined the bank in August 2019, is returning to the US to be closer to her family and will finish up at the bank on 31 May.
Priscilla Sims Brown
Brown joined the bank in 2019 in a newly created executive leadership role to bring together marketing and corporate affairs functions.
She was prior to that CEO of Emerge.me, a US start-up digital healthcare platform she joined in 2017. Brown has also held executive leadership roles at Ameri Health Caritas, Sun Life Financial US, and Lincoln National Corporation, with responsibility for leading business units, stakeholder engagement, marketing, corporate affairs, investor relations and business development functions.
CEO Matt Comyn announced at the time of her appointment that CBA had decided to split the role of group general counsel and group executive group corporate affairs on the retirement of Anna Lenahan.
“In addition to a group general counsel and governance, we are creating the new role of group executive marketing and corporate affairs to allow for greater focus on how we engage with our customers, stakeholders, and the broader community,” Comyn said. “Both roles will report directly to me.”
The purpose of the role was to strengthen its brand and reputation, and ensure greater focus and alignment. The appointment of Brown was seen as a move to rebuild trust in the banking brand following revelations of misconduct at the financial services royal commission.
During her tenure, CBA undertook a brand refresh for the first time in 20 years, launched Next Chapter to support vulnerable customers and more. It recently announced a new agreement with Football Australia to be the the official naming rights partner of the Matildas, Junior Matildas and Young Matildas as part of a new partnership deal.
Competitor bank Westpac is also on the hunt for a new marketing head after Martine Jager moved to Bank of Queensland to take up a senior leadership position earlier this month.
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Olivia Kruimel is the managing editor at Mumbrella. She has more than 15 years of experience in journalism, communications and marketing. Her journalism career began at Fairfax Media (now part of Nine) and includes various B2B publications such as B&T, Travel Today and ALB. As a marketer Olivia has worked for Standard Chartered and various global law firms.
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