Heather Kesner

With more than 29 years in the financial services and banking industry, Heather Kesner serves as the Small Business and Branch Banking Region Executive for the East Region. Her region includes over 530 branches and small business in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, and North Carolina. Heather joined U.S. Bank in April 2019 and was focused on growing market share across the San Francisco Bay Area and becoming more central to the lives of existing local bank customers. Prior to joining U.S. Bank, she was the managing director of the retail network and sales and service strategy at Santander, where she led the sales and service transformation of the bank’s 640 U.S. branches to create a culture that was focused on building relationships with customers through collaboration across business lines. She also spent 16 years with Chase Bank, where she started in their management trainee program and advanced her career serving in several roles including market manager and managing director of customer experience for consumer banking and Chase wealth management. She is credited with creating and helping lead the Employee Networking Groups at Santander, including the Women’s Development Network Chapter, and was an elected board member of Women on the Move at JP Morgan Chase. Heather also served as an elected board member of the national diversity and inclusion council for Chase and created two recognition programs that recognized over 5,000 employees during her tenure as head of customer experience at Chase, both of which are still used today. Heather was recognized as one of the Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business by the San Francisco Business Times in 2020. Heather was a board member of JVS-San Francisco from June 2020 until July 2022. She is an active volunteer with the American Cancer Society and is an Executive Sponsor for Women Influencing Louisville. She has been a board member for Junior Achievement, and has volunteered with Carry the Load, Habitat for Humanity, March of Dimes, and has been a troop leader for Girl Scouts of America. Heather is an Ohio native and currently resides in Charlotte, NC with her husband and college aged daughter.