Longtime banking veteran Phil Donnelly has joined Dallas-based Veritex Community Bank as senior executive vice president and general counsel. As a member of the bank’s executive leadership team, Donnelly will work hand-in-hand with senior management in developing and implementing bank-wide strategic business initiatives and in the creation of new procedures and protocols designed to strengthen the bank’s contracts, compliance and risk management position. As senior executive vice president and general counsel, he will be primary counsel to various departments within the bank, including accounting, human resources and risk management, regarding investor correspondence, employee matters, corporate insurance and regulatory applications.
Donnelly brings more than 32 years of leadership expertise in the financial services industry, most of it served in Arizona. As general counsel, he has worked in both domestic and international organizations and for public and private institutions. His résumé includes leadership positions at Starbuck Bancshares Inc., AmericanWest Bank, Mutual of Omaha Bank and FINOVA Capital Corp. Donnelly is skilled in mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, commercial finance, complex litigation management, contracts, human resources, compliance and risk management. He earned his undergraduate degree in 1984 and his J.D. degree from St. John’s University in Queens, New York.
Donnelly recently served as general counsel and director of human resources for a publicly traded Berkshire Hathaway and Leucadia National subsidiary. He was responsible for the acquisition of nine banks in the Western U.S., creating a $10 billion financial institution. He successfully has managed and integrated diverse teams of professionals, including, in-house and outside counsel, human resources, marketing personnel and other professionals.
“Phil Donnelly’s reputation more than precedes him; he is a model for excellence in the banking industry,” says C. Malcolm Holland, CEO. “He knows first-hand what it took to build Veritex to where it is today, and he understands how to help take Veritex to where it needs to be. Adding his skillset in compliance, regulatory, M&A and corporate governance will only make the extraordinary team that we have in place, better.”
Established in 2004, Veritex Community Bank has more than 30 branches in Houston, Fort Worth and Dallas.
