Business Executive
Keith Banks is the son of Edna and Tom Banks. He attended Yantacaw School, Franklin Junior High and graduated from Nutley High School in 1973. He received his bachelor’s degree in 1977 from Rutgers University where he graduated with high honors and Phi Beta Kappa. He was the recipient of The Wall Street Journal award and elected to Omicron Delta Epsilon, Honor Society in Economics. Keith received his MBA in 1981 from Columbia Business School.
Keith began his career in 1981 at Home Insurance Company in New York. He worked in the Investment Department as an Equity Research Analyst covering the chemical, textile and oil industries.
In 1984, Keith joined JP Morgan Investment Management in New York. He was hired as an Equity Research Analyst covering the chemical and textile industries. In 1987, Keith was promoted to Director of US Equity Research, managing 26 equity research analysts. In 1988, he also assumed the role of portfolio manager and directly invested $3 billion of equity assets for institutional clients. In 1992, he was given the additional responsibility of Global Head of Research. In this role, he led the overall equity research efforts in the US, London, Tokyo, Singapore and Australia. Keith was promoted to Head of US Equity in 1996 and was responsible for a business with $130 billion in assets under management.
In 2000, Keith was hired by FleetBoston Financial in Boston to become President and Chief Investment Officer of its asset management company, Columbia Management. Columbia had $180 billion in assets under management.
In 2004, Bank of America acquired FleetBoston. Keith was named President and Chief Investment Officer of the combined asset management company at Bank of America. Assets under management were $550 billion. Keith was a guest commentator on CNBC and was often quoted in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.
In 2007, Keith was promoted to President of Bank of America’s Global Wealth and Investment Management business. In this capacity, Keith reported directly to the Chief Executive Officer, Ken Lewis and was a member of Ken’s eight person leadership team. In this role, Keith was responsible for Columbia Management, US Trust, Premier Banking and Investments, Alternative Investments and Retirement and Client Solutions. In aggregate, these businesses had $750 billion in assets under management, approximately $10 billion in revenue and 18,000 employees.
Following the acquisition of Merrill Lynch, Keith was named President of Bank of America’s Global Private Client, Institutional and Investment Management business. In this role, he is responsible for Columbia Management, US Trust, Institutional Retirement and Philanthropy and Alternative Investments.
Keith is a member of the Board of Overseers of Children’s Hospital Boston and a member of the Finance Committee. He is on the American Bankers Association Investment Committee as well as a board member of the Michael Geltrude Foundation.
He resides in Nutley with his wife of 31 years, Debbie, and his children Tom, Ashley and Colleen. His daughter Dana resides in Clifton.