U.S. TRUST x BANK OF AMERICA
I joined U.S. Trust as SVP, Brand Marketing during a major period of evolution for the business, initially helping modernize the brand during the Charles Schwab era and later supporting large-scale integration work following Bank of America’s $3.3B acquisition of the company. The role expanded well beyond traditional marketing into enterprise integration, brand architecture, digital transformation, and organizational alignment across the newly formed Global Wealth & Investment Management division.
MODERNIZING A LEGACY BRAND
When I joined U.S. Trust, Peter Scaturro had recently been named CEO and the business was beginning to rethink how it positioned itself within a changing wealth management landscape.
At the time, much of the category still operated through a very traditional private banking lens that focused heavily on wealth preservation, exclusivity, and legacy conventions. While that discretion and “white shoe” level of service still mattered enormously, the category needed a more contemporary and investment-oriented point of view that better reflected how modern wealth creators actually thought about business, leadership, and growth.
I approached the brand through a more modern consumer strategy lens, carefully adapting that thinking for an ultra-high-net-worth audience where credibility, precision, and restraint mattered far more than visibility.
We repositioned U.S. Trust around a more investment-led narrative and introduced “The Green Papers,” a thought leadership platform designed to reflect a more contemporary and action-oriented perspective on wealth management.
Shortly thereafter, U.S. Trust was acquired by Bank of America for $3.3B.
INTEGRATION AT ENTERPRISE SCALE
Following the acquisition, I was retained as SVP, Brand Strategy within Global Wealth & Investment Management (GWIM), one of Bank of America’s three major divisions. My role expanded beyond repositioning the newly integrated U.S. Trust Private Wealth Management business to supporting broader brand strategy and integration efforts across Private Banking, Retirement Solutions, Mutual Funds, and the larger GWIM platform.
I partnered closely with Six Sigma teams on due diligence, helped restructure the enterprise brand architecture, rebuilt portions of the digital ecosystem, and supported the launch of the “Wealth Management for Today’s Wealth” platform through a fully integrated $30M campaign initiative.
Managing a global team of 24, I helped bridge two very different operating cultures: U.S. Trust’s highly bespoke relationship-driven model and Bank of America’s large-scale institutional infrastructure.
The work required operational discipline, executive alignment, and careful coordination across multiple business units moving through rapid organizational change simultaneously.
TAKEAWAY
It was one of the most sophisticated and formative environments I had worked in, particularly so early in my career. I was often one of the youngest senior leaders in the room, learning how to navigate enterprise transformation, executive communication, and integration at enormous scale.
What fascinated me most about wealth management branding was how much depended on subtlety. Ultra-high-net-worth audiences respond to quiet confidence, precision, and credibility. The work cannot feel overmarketed, even when the strategy behind it is highly sophisticated.
That experience fundamentally shaped how I think about premium positioning, leadership communication, and the difference between visibility and trust.