Major bank bolsters executive team

Rachel Slade has been appointed group executive for personal banking, while Nathan Goonan will serve as group executive for strategy and innovation. Ms Slade is currently NAB’s chief customer experience officer and will continue to be a member of the executive team, while Mr Goonan will join the leadership team effective immediately. 

“Rachel and Nathan are talented leaders with deep experience in banking and will play critical roles in delivering for our customers and our bank,” NAB CEO Ross McEwan said. “As chief customer experience officer Rachel has been passionate about creating better experiences for customers and has led significant changes including simplifying our products and improving our digital solutions.”

Ms Slade has worked in banking for more than 20 years, joining NAB in 2017 as executive general manager deposits and transaction services after working at Westpac for 10 years in a number of senior executive roles. She has a bachelor of economics from Macquarie University and is a graduate of the Women’s Leadership Program at Harvard Business School.

Mr Goonan joined the bank in 2004 as a graduate in the mergers and acquisitions team before going on to positions at Lazard in London and with Goldman Sachs in their investment banking teams. He has been NAB’s executive general manager group strategy and development since 2018, and is a director of MLC Limited. 

“Nathan joins the executive leadership team having led the development of NAB’s long-term strategy announced today,” Mr Ross said. “He too is a passionate advocate for customers and has played a key role in NAB’s major strategic moves in recent years including the divestment of NAB’s UK business.”

It’s the latest in the leadership shake-up under new CEO Mr McEwan, which has already seen Mike Baird leave the position of chief customer officer for consumer banking.