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Hegel Retiring, Sanchez To Lead Gigantic Compass Bank

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008


Manolo Sanchez appointed President and CEO of Compass Bank. Photo RHG/TBB

By Roberto Hugo Gonzalez

 According to a press release issued by José María García Meyer-Dohner, BBVA Country Manager for U.S. and Chairman of Compass Bank, the integration of several U. S. acquisitions has been completed. He said that much of the success of the transformation plan is the result of the leadership provided by Gary Hegel who has announced his retirement.

BBVA’s integration plan outlined the merger of BBVA’s four U.S. banks into a single, unified franchise by the end of 2008. The key milestones achieved in BBVA’s integration plan included:

March 13: Platform integration of State National into Compass Bank

August 21: Integration of Texas State Bank into Compass Bank

August 21: Launch of new U.S. brand BBVA Compass

November 13: Integration of LNB into Compass Bank

 Garcia Meyer also announced that Manolo Sanchez was appointed President and CEO of Compass Bank. “Manolo brings a great wealth of knowledge and experience having served in a number of senior management positions in his 18-year career at BBVA including most recently as President and CEO of Laredo National Bank,” Garcia Meyer stated.

 He added that the expertise he has gained as Chief Risk Officer at BBVA Bancomer in the Republic of Mexico will also serve Compass Bank well given the current credit environment. “I am confident that Manolo will provide the leadership needed as we begin the second phase of our transformation plan that is designed to upgrade our U.S. platform and instill BBVA’s customer-centric business model,” Garcia Meyer stated.

Manolo Sanchez began his career in 1990 with BBVA in the International Financial Institutions area with responsibilities for financial analysis of credit institutions in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Eastern Europe. His career advanced with a number of increasingly responsible management positions and in 1999 was appointed Director and Senior Vice President of Global Corporate Banking at BBVA- New York.

In 2002, Sanchez was appointed Chief Risk Officer of BBVA Bancomer, the leading financial services company in Mexico. In 2005 he joined a small group of bankers that initiated the expansion of BBVA in the U.S. and was appointed President and CEO of Laredo National Bank.

Since the legal merger of BBVA’s four U.S. subsidiary banks in March of 2008, Sanchez has served as Executive Vice President of Community Banking where he was responsible for commercial business activities in 57 markets stretching from Gainesville, Florida to Flagstaff, Arizona, with a strong concentration in the state of Texas.

            Sanchez is a graduate of Yale University where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics. He also holds Masters Degrees from the London School of Economics and the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium. His graduate work focused in international relations, with an emphasis in Middle Eastern affairs as well as in economic and monetary integration. He is multilingual with fluencies in Spanish, English, German, and Arabic.

Throughout his career, Sanchez has served on numerous civic and charitable organizations. He recently concluded his term as a member of the Executive Committee of the Laredo Chamber of Commerce. He also served as Chairperson for the American Heart Association “HeartWalk 2007.” He currently serves as a Trustee of the Houston Symphony and is an active member of the Yale Admissions Committee.

Compass Bank ranks as the fourth largest bank in Texas and among the top 25 largest banks in the U.S. based on deposit market share. The company has total assets of approximately $61.2 billion and operates 579 branches across a six state Sunbelt Region including: 312 in Texas, 92 in Alabama, 77 in Arizona, 44 in Florida, 33 in Colorado, and 21 in New Mexico. TBB

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