Women in Banking Forum

Michele Andujo Gil is Managing Partner and majority equity owner with more than 25 years of recruiting and management experience at the Los Angeles-based Chrisman & Company, a national executive search consultancy to financial and related industries. She leads the firm’s board of directors practice as well as searches for senior/executive management positions including C-level positions for prominent clients in banking and financial services. Clients include regional and community banks, investment banks, wealth management, FinTechs, credit unions, as well as other sectors in the financial services industry. Mrs. Gil has experience working with bank regulatory agencies (FDIC, OCC, Federal Reserve and DFP&I). She consults with boards of directors and executive teams on issues concerning succession planning, leadership development and human capital strategies.

As a dynamic banker with over 35 years of experience, including as a senior level federal bank regulator and a C-Suite bank executive, Virginia Varela has served in a broad range of diverse professional capacities. Currently, Virginia is an Officer and President of SoFi Bank, N.A. (“SoFi”), and Head of Community Banking. SoFi, a large fast growing global FinTech company that became a unique national bank charter in 2022, offers expansive leading edge digitalized financial products and services to over 7 million customers. Virginia was the President, CEO, and Director of Golden Pacific Bank for eight years. Golden Pacific Bancorp was acquired by SoFi Technology, Inc. in February 2022 after a national search for a merger partner.