Women Leaders in Today’s Global Banking World

Holliday Rees is responsible for leading a team of Relationship Managers focused on providing comprehensive financial services to Healthcare, Higher Education and Not-for-Profit organizations located in her region. In this role, Holliday sets direction and priorities for growing existing client relationships, new client acquisition, and partner engagement. These public and private clients range in size from $50 million to $14 Billion in annual revenue. Holliday and her team engage in dialogue with CEOs and CFOs regarding industry trends, alternative capital structures, working capital efficiencies, and global treasury solutions. In addition to her leadership responsibilities, Holliday frequently attends financial conferences where she introduces keynote speakers and moderate’s client panels. Prior to this role, Holliday was the National Client Acquisition Executive for the Global Commercial Bank. Her responsibilities included improving client acquisition performance results through analytics, planning, and the execution of national initiatives. Holliday provided coaching to leaders and client facing teams to accelerate development and maximize effectiveness in role. Holliday has also managed a team of Middle Market and Private Banking treasury sales professionals supporting approximately 2000 clients with combined annual treasury revenue of over $160 million. She started her career at Bank of America in 2000 as a Treasury Sales Officer covering Large Corporate clients with revenues of over $2 Billion in the Media, Telecom & Technology industries. She was directly responsible for growing YOY revenue and pipeline through selling products and solutions such as FX, international treasury management, liquidity, escrow, merchant services, card and trade. She has received the Award of Excellence for Outstanding Sales Performance twice while in individual contributor roles. Before joining Bank of America, Holliday was a professional ballet dancer with the Fort Worth Dallas Ballet company. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration from Principia College. She is married, has two children, and resides in Riverdale, NY. Holliday has her series 24, 7 & 63 licenses, leads a Power of 10 group, and is a member of the Women’s Leadership Council, the Parents & Caregivers Network, and is an LGBTQ Ally.

As Senior Vice President, Midwest Region Middle Market Executive for Global Commercial Banking, Cara believes what makes Bank of America unique is their commitment to both clients and employees alike. Inspired by that commitment, she leads a team that provides personalized experiences to Midwest-based businesses with revenues between $50 million to $2 billion– empowering them to focus on growth and meeting customer needs while protecting their capital. With more than 20 years in the industry, Cara brings extensive knowledge and experience to both her team and her clients. Since joining Bank of America in 1999, Cara has held several positions across the business. In her previous role as Chicago Market Executive, Cara served as a bridge connecting local businesses, families, and individuals with Bank of America’s investment and banking teams. In addition to her many leadership roles within the bank, she also co-founded and served as Co-Chair of the Chicago Women’s Leadership Council. Outside of work, Cara is passionate about serving and enriching her community through involvement and volunteerism. She serves on the Board of Trustees for the John G. Shedd Aquarium and as Assistant Treasurer and Board of Trustees member for Goodman Theatre.

Kathy is a Managing Director and Market Executive for the Metro NY market within the Global Commercial Bank at Bank of America. Kathy manages a team of commercial banking relationship managers across New York City and Long Island and is responsible for driving overall business results in the market. Kathy has been with Bank of America for 27 years and has held several positions throughout that time. Most recently she spent 15 years in Global Corporate Banking covering large-cap Financial Services companies where she was responsible for delivering the full suite of the Bank’s global products and services to her multi-national clients. Prior to that she spent time as COO for two different investment banking teams, Financial Institutions and Technology, Media and Telecom. She joined the firm as a credit analyst in portfolio management covering financial services companies. Kathy holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University. In her free time she enjoys traveling, music and a variety of outdoor sports including skiing, kayaking and kiteboarding.

Michelle Iturralde is the Greater Los Angeles Market Executive for the middle market Global Commercial Bank (GCB) of Bank of America (BofA). She is responsible for leading a team of senior bankers across multiple industry verticals including the 80 year old Aerospace, Defense and Space Technology group. GCB delivers solutions including investment banking and capital markets, credit, digital treasury and risk management to global companies with annual revenues starting at $50 million up to several billion. Michelle started with BofA in 2015, previously Senior Vice President for GE Capital, Corporate Finance where she spent 13 years of her career. Her most recent role at GE was originating middle market transactions from financial intermediaries which include private equity, investment banks, attorneys, accountants, and advisors. Michelle has over 20 years of experience in commercial banking with a diverse executive background. She began her career with General Electric after being selected to join GE’s Leadership Development Program, an accelerated two-year management program which includes four six-month rotational assignments in distinct business functions and locations across the country. She launched the program managing the integration team of the acquisition of a subsidiary of Traveler’s Insurance, business development co-lead for an acquisition in Shanghai, China, high yield bond portfolio research analyst and concluded as a direct marketing analytics associate. In 2003, she joined GE Capital Corporate Finance in Seattle, WA originating lending transactions for an array of capital intense industries. Michelle earned a bachelor’s of science in business administration with a degree in finance and minor in economics and liberal arts from the University of Florida. Born and raised in Miami, FL she is a first generation American whose mother and father were born in Havana, Cuba. Michelle serves on the board of Los Angeles Team Mentoring (LATM), an after-school mentoring program serving 1,400 middle school students annually and Latino Deal Makers (LDM), a networking group of successful Latino leaders with a mission of increasing the prominence of the Latino deal community in Los Angeles. In 2023 Michelle was selected as “Women of Influence: Finance” by the Los Angeles Business Journal and in 2021 LA Biz “2021 Women of Influence” honorees recognizing influential leadership, knowledge, skill with a commitment to innovation, business success and the Los Angeles community. Michelle is a 2020 APEX (Achievement of Performance Excellence) Award Recipient, GCB’s top honor for employees who deliver extraordinary results in serving clients, teammates and the company. Michelle is a Registered Principal with Series 24, 7 and 63 FINRA securities licenses and a member of YPO.