CIBC made senior leadership appointments to its group executive leadership team for 2026 to further accelerate the execution of its client-focused strategy by furthering connectivity, driving efficiencies through modernization and elevating human capital.
“Building on our record financial performance in fiscal 2025, we’re further strengthening our leadership team in areas where accelerating our execution will deliver more for our stakeholders,” Harry Culham, president and CEO of CIBC, said. “The deep bench strength of our talent is key to our enterprise-wide connectivity and our continued strong momentum.”
The following changes are effective January 1, 2026:
Sandy Sharman, senior executive vice-president and group head, people, culture and brand, will transition to the role of special advisor on Jan. 1, 2026 and will retire at the end of 2026. Throughout Sharman’s 19 years with the bank, she has been instrumental in leading the modernization of the company’s human resources (HR) function and capabilities, reclaiming purpose, reinvigorating the brand, enabling strong client and employee experience scores, modernizing the workplaces and positioning the bank to extend its impact in its communities through its CIBC Foundation.
“Sandy’s contributions to CIBC are significant, including helping to architect our client-focused, connected culture and embedding our purpose into everything we do which is enabling the strong financial performance we’re delivering across our bank,” Culham said. “Her vision helped to reinvigorate our brand, build our new global headquarters at CIBC Square and lead our team through the challenges of the global pandemic. We are grateful for her many contributions to the strength of our bank today.”
Christina Kramer, senior executive vice-president and chief administrative officer, will take on additional accountability for enterprise real estate, enterprise capabilities and organizational agility, brand, community investment, client experience, communications and corporate events. Kramer brings more than 35 years of CIBC experience to these added responsibilities.
“Christina’s deep knowledge of CIBC’s operations and her experience leading both frontline and infrastructure teams position her well to take on these key enterprise mandates,” Culham said. “She has a deep understanding of the needs of our team and has first-hand experience in growing and deepening client relationships, all of which will add value to our team through her new responsibilities moving forward.”
Richard Jardim will be appointed senior executive vice-president, chief technology and information officer, global technology, data and AI. In this role, he will play a central role in modernizing and driving efficiencies through technology platforms and capabilities, including furthering CIBC’s leadership in leveraging AI to enable the team to do more for clients. Jardim has been with the bank for 14 years and brings extensive technology, data and transformational leadership to the role.
“Our modernization agenda will enable us to further leverage emerging opportunities in artificial intelligence and other technologies to empower our team to do more for our clients,” Culham said. “Richard’s deep knowledge of our bank positions him well to lead this effort at a time when the opportunities to add value for stakeholders have never been higher.”
Yvonne Dimitroff will be appointed executive vice-president, chief human resources officer, people, culture and talent, accountable for leading the bank’s HR function and fostering a best-in-class culture for the CIBC team. Dimitroff brings deep experience, including 14 years of HR leadership with the bank across Canada, the U.S. and CIBC’s global businesses. Her performance driven, relationship-focused approach will be an asset as she takes on this key role.
“Our talent and our culture are key contributors to our current momentum, and sharpening our focus here will enable future growth,” Culham said. “Yvonne’s experience in shaping our culture and leading key HR functions for our bank across borders positions her well to drive an elevated focus on human capital as we sharpen our client focus and connectivity.”
