The head of Toronto-Dominion Bank's technological transformation group will retire next year, setting off a minor shuffle of other executive roles inside the bank.
Colleen Johnston intends to retire in April, after two and a half years as the bank's group head of direct channels, technology, marketing, corporate and public affairs. A 14-year veteran of TD whose career spans more than three decades in banking, she was previously TD's chief financial officer from 2005 to 2015.
Ms. Johnston has long been a key figure at TD who helped guide the bank through the financial crisis, and was once considered a possible candidate to be chief executive officer. With her departure, her role will be divided in two.
Norie Campbell, who currently serves as the bank's general counsel, will take over as group head, customer and colleague experience, with added responsibilities including human resources, marketing and financial crimes and fraud management.
And Michael Rhodes, who currently leads consumer banking in TD's U.S. arm, will become group head of innovation, technology and shared services.
Ellen Patterson will be promoted to group head and general counsel, filling Ms. Campbell's current role. And Leo Salom, the bank's executive vice president in charge of wealth management, will be a group head also overseeing both wealth management and insurance.
Ms. Johnston spent 15 years at Bank of Nova Scotia before being lured to TD in 2004 by Ed Clark, who was then the bank's CEO. Since then, she rose to be one of Bay Street's highest-ranking women, while championing the importance of having women in leadership roles.
"Colleen's passion energized her teams and her contributions to TD and to the financial services industry are both significant and long-lasting," said Bharat Masrani, TD's CEO, in a statement.
Under her watch, TD has increased its technology spending as a percentage of its total budget, even as it slashed hundreds of millions of dollars in legacy technology costs. As a result, the bank now spends about 40 per cent of its larger technology budget on new initiatives and changing the bank, compared with just 25 per cent previously.
"TD is truly an outstanding organization and I have been fortunate to work with leaders and colleagues who are second to none," Ms. Johnston said in a press release.
James Bradshaw