We are a team of entrepreneurs who are committed to innovation and exceptional service as the foundation of our bank.
| James S. Furash President and Chief Executive Officer |
| Jim co-founded Aris and is responsible for leading the development and implementation of the company’s overall strategic and operating activities. Prior to Aris, Jim co-founded Countrywide Bank in 2001 and, as its President and CEO, had ultimate responsibility for its day-to-day operations, strategic and financial direction, risk management, and regulatory and investor relations. He built a banking franchise that contributed a third of Countrywide Financial Corporation’s earnings at unparalleled efficiencies. Prior to joining Countrywide Bank, Jim co-founded Monument Financial Group, an acquisition and strategic advisory firm responsible for establishing and growing five de novo banks. Jim started his banking career in commercial lending and retail banking at SunTrust Banks, Inc. and National Capital Bank of Washington. Recently, Jim co-founded and ran acquisitions for PennyMac, a distressed mortgage asset manager sponsored by Blackrock. Jim holds a BA in economics from the University of Virginia and an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. |
| Mark P. Suter Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer |
| Mark co-founded Aris and has overall responsibility for the company’s consumer businesses and corporate operations. Prior to Aris, Mark co-founded Countrywide Bank in 2001 and served as the bank’s Chief Strategy Officer, Chief Retail Officer, and head of consumer diversified lending. In these roles, Mark developed and launched most of Countrywide Bank’s unique consumer businesses: the pioneering, highly efficient non-branch deposit physical distribution channel, wholesale and retail reverse mortgages, credit cards, and active portfolio management. Prior to Countrywide Bank, Mark co-founded Monument Financial Group and led the strategy development for establishing and growing five de novo institutions that now hold $2 billion in assets. Recently, Mark co-founded and managed the portfolio for PennyMac, a distressed mortgage asset manager sponsored by Blackrock. Mark holds a BS in Economics from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. |
| Thomas E. Ceto Executive Vice President, Chief Commercial Lending Officer |
| Tom has responsibility for the origination and portfolio management of the company’s commercial lending businesses. Tom joined Aris from AIG Investments where he was a Managing Director and led the Capital Solutions team which provided debt financing to middle market, private equity-backed companies. Mr. Ceto has over 27 years of leveraged finance experience that encompasses business development, underwriting and portfolio management of investments throughout the capital structure. Over his career, he has built and managed a number of successful leveraged finance platforms, including those at Bank of America (Greyrock Capital), GE Capital, Silver Point Capital and FirstLight Financial Corporation, and has served on the Investment and/or Management Committees of these organizations. Tom has been directly responsible for over $6 billion in financings for nearly 250 companies. Prior to becoming involved in principal investing activities, he was an Investment Banker at BT Securities. Tom received a BA from Lafayette College and an MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth University. |
| Jean-Marc F. Eichner Senior Vice President, Residential Lending |
| Jean-Marc is responsible for leading all facets of the company’s jumbo and conforming residential lending business. Before joining Aris, Jean-Marc was an Executive Vice President of Portfolio Lending with Countrywide Home Loans (now part of Bank of America) from 2005 through 2009. While there, he grew loan production to $21 billion in new fundings and sales and profitability grew an average of 30% per year. Prior to Countrywide, he spent seven years with Capital One Financial, creating a French subsidiary for the bank, then leading the U.S. personal loans division, and then the U.S. home loans division. Jean-Marc was also a strategy and management consultant for Braxton Associates (now part of Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group) from 1990 to 1996 focusing on the retail banking sector. He was also a sales and marketing executive for Credit Agricole’s consumer lending division (Sofinco Bank) in Paris, France from 1997 to 1999, where he created and managed sales call centers. Jean-Marc holds an MSc. in Marketing from HEC School of Management, Paris, France. |
| Julianne M. Fries Senior Vice President, Administration and Governance |
| Julianne oversees all administrative functions of the company including human resources, corporate real estate, and the management governance structure. Most recently, Julianne was the Chief Compliance Officer for PennyMac, a BlackRock joint venture. Previously, she was a Managing Director at Countrywide Capital Markets with responsibilities for the compliance, credit risk and human resources functions. She helped build the organization into a successful global fixed income broker dealer and U.S. Primary Dealership. Previously, she was the Chief Operating Officer for Great Western Financial Securities where she was responsible for operations, compliance, risk, strategic planning, and regulatory relations for a 420 retail branch banking system. Additionally, she was a senior partner for a bank consulting firm, Bank Compliance Associates, and worked on numerous merger and acquisition assignments, back office processing solutions, infrastructure planning, and regulatory interface. Julianne was also a Vice President for Security Pacific Bank’s corporate compliance department and started her career with FINRA as an examiner. Julianne holds a BA in Finance from California State University, Fullerton and is qualified as a series 7 and 24. |
| Jerry A. Hager Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary |
| Jerry is responsible for all of the legal and compliance functions, and is the corporate secretary to the Board of Directors. Prior to joining Aris, Jerry was with Bank of America, following the merger of Bank of America N.A. and Countrywide Bank, and before that was Executive Vice President, Deputy General Counsel with Countrywide Financial Corporation, assigned to act as General Counsel of Countrywide Bank, where he managed the legal group and was responsible for all of the legal affairs of that Bank and its subsidiaries. Prior to joining Countrywide, Jerry was the General Counsel of First Alliance Mortgage, a publicly held lender, from mid-1999. He spent the first 17 years of his career at various law firms, including Buchalter, Nemer, Fields & Younger, Smith & Smith, and Shafton & Hager. Jerry holds a BA from California State University, Northridge, and a JD from Pepperdine University School of Law, where he is an Adjunct Professor, teaching Banking Law since 1994. |
| Gregory C. Markarian Senior Vice President, Operations & Technology |
| Greg oversees all operations for the company, including information technology, deposit operations, wire operations, procurement, vendor management, and operating risk management. Greg was most recently an organizer and the President of ReconTrust Company, N.A., a wholly owned-subsidiary of Bank of America, N.A., which specializes in foreclosure processing, lien release processing, and the provision of document custody services. Prior to ReconTrust, which was originally a subsidiary of Countrywide Bank, N.A., Greg held various executive level positions with Countrywide Bank and Countrywide Home Loans and was responsible for launching several critical infrastructure components of the organizations. Greg started his career with First Interstate Bank of California as a commercial lending and credit risk officer and also worked at the University of Southern California. Greg holds a BS in Finance from California State University, Fresno and an MBA in Finance from the University of Southern California. |
| Philippe Masbanji Senior Vice President, Accounting Executive and Controller |
| Philippe is the senior executive responsible for the company’s accounting, financial and regulatory reporting, and financial planning functions. Previously, Philippe served as a Transition Executive for the integration of Countrywide into Bank of America. Prior to this role, Philippe served as Executive Vice President and Controller for Countrywide Bank, leading a team of over 70 accounting staff. Philippe also served as a Vice President of Finance and Controller for Cedars Bank (now part of Pacific Western Bank), and led all aspects of accounting, and financial and regulatory reporting. Philippe began his career at KPMG LLP as an assurance associate and manager in the financial services audit practice. His clients consisted of a mix of public and private financial institutions, primarily banks and mortgage companies. Philippe holds a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration: Accounting from California State University, Northridge. He is a Certified Public Accountant. |
| Craig S. Naselow Senior Vice President, Investment Executive and Treasurer |
| Craig is responsible for the company’s liquidity and cash management, asset/liability management, investment portfolio management, trading, and trading operations activities. Prior to joining Aris, Craig was with Countrywide Bank where he was a Managing Director and Treasurer and spent seven years assisting the bank during its growth from $1 billion in total assets to over $120 billion. He was responsible for the banks liquidity, asset-liability management, investment portfolio, and all wholesale funding and capital markets interactions. Prior to joining Countrywide, Craig spent the previous 13 years in banking treasury at various institutions such as Great Western Bank, California Commerce Bank, San Paolo Bank and City National Bank. Craig holds a BS in Management from California State University at Northridge and an MBA in Finance from Boston College, where he earned The Wall Street Journal award for outstanding academic performance of a finance major. |
| Judith A. Stevens Senior Vice President, Retail Sales |
| Judith is responsible for leading the company’s retail deposit business and retail mortgage sales channel. Prior to joining Aris, Judith was the National Centralized Sales Leader for Bank of America’s Reverse Mortgage business. During her four year tenure, she launched the channel under the Countrywide brand and built a top performing, highly efficient, and high touch centralized sales channel. Prior to Bank of America, Judith was at eFunds where she led new product development strategies targeted at retail bank risk management functions. She also spent part of her career leading product marketing and sales for several consumer enhancement services at telecommunications provider USWest. Judith’s also spent twelve years in retail banking at Phoenix, AZ based Valley National Bank and Bank One. Her career there culminated as Bank One’s Southwest Regional Sales Director where she oversaw a top performing sales culture within the 250 location regional branch network. She also held various other roles at the banks in marketing, product management and sales leadership. Judith holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Western Michigan University. |
