Joanne Sherwood Announces Retirement, Board Approves Michael Wamsganz as New President and CEO

March 4, 2021 | | Newsroom

Joanne Sherwood Announces Retirement, Board Approves Michael Wamsganz as New President and CEO

Joanne Sherwood

Denver, Colorado, March 2, 2021 — Joanne Sherwood, President and CEO of Citywide Banks, a subsidiary of Heartland Financial USA, Inc., announced that she will retire, effective May 3, 2021. The bank’s Board of Directors has approved Michael Wamsganz, the current Director of Commercial Banking, to become the new President and CEO of Citywide Banks, effective May 3, 2021.

“Joanne’s leadership over the past 21 years at Citywide Banks has made a tremendous impact to our clients, our employees, and our Denver community,” commented Kevin Quinn, Regional President of Heartland Financial’s West Region. “Her partnership and dedication will be missed, but we wish her the well in retirement.”

Joanne has worked in banking for more than three decades. She joined Citywide Banks in 2000, and has held multiple leadership positions across the bank. Her contributions have helped grow the bank from less than $500 million in assets to more than $2.5 billion today. She continually served as a mentor to up-and-coming bankers and developed a program to assist and support women in banking. In 2019, Joanne became the first woman to be named President & CEO of Citywide Banks.

Joanne was also the first woman in two decades to be elected Chair of the Colorado Bankers Association. During her leadership, she testified before Congress and led advocacy initiatives for all Colorado banks. She has also been actively engaged with the Denver Hospice, Arrupe Jesuit High School, Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Denver, Colorado Chamber of Commerce, and the Home Builders Association.

Michael Wamsganz

Michael Wamsganz joined Citywide Banks as Director of Commercial Banking in April 2020. He brings an extensive background in both the Commercial and Retail banking segments to his new leadership role. Prior to Citywide, as Business Banking Division Head at Huntington National Bank, Michael led a team that developed and managed a portfolio of $19 billion. During his time with Bank of the West, Michael managed teams across 370 branches as Executive Vice President of the Rocky Mountain Division.

“Michael has been an integral part of our Commercial banking team’s growth and evolution. He is well positioned to continue Citywide Banks mission of serving the needs of businesses and individuals across Colorado,” added Quinn.

Citywide Banks through its parent company, Heartland Financial USA, Inc., has been named a “Forbes Best Bank 2021.” In its annual review of the largest publicly traded banks and thrifts, Forbes ranked Heartland 52nd among a nationwide group of 100 leading banking organizations with assets ranging from $9 billion to over $2 trillion. To compile the rankings, Forbes used data collected by SNL Financial through the third quarter of 2020 on the country’s largest publicly traded banks and thrifts. The data covered 10 metrics of financial health: return on average equity; net interest margin; nonperforming loans (NPLs) as a percentage of loans; nonperforming assets as percentage of assets; reserves as a percentage of NPLs; two capital ratios (Tier 1 and risk-based); and leverage ratio. Forbes generated its ranking based on an average of the individual ranks of each metric.

About Citywide Banks

Citywide Banks is a subsidiary of Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (NASDAQ: HTLF). Citywide Banks is a state-chartered, community-invested bank with assets of approximately $2.6 billion and banking centers located across Colorado's Front Range, Foothills and Mountain communities. Citywide Banks is committed to delivering responsive service, local expertise, and comprehensive financial tools for Colorado businesses and families. For more than 60 years, Citywide Banks has been dedicated to finding ways it can impact its local community and to move Colorado forward. Visit www.citywidebanks.com to learn more. Citywide Banks is a member FDIC and an Equal Housing Lender.

About Heartland Financial USA, Inc.

Heartland Financial USA, Inc. is a $17.9 billion diversified financial services company providing commercial and retail banking, residential mortgage, wealth management, investment services and insurance services. Heartland currently has more than 130 banking locations in more than 100 communities in Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, Texas and Wisconsin. Additional information about Heartland Financial USA, Inc. is available at www.htlf.com.