Wall Street welcomes first openly gay bank CEO on New York Stock Exchange
The financial industry has welcomed the first openly gay CEO of a bank trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
C1 Financial, which is based in St Petersburg, Florida, was created in 2009, when Trevor Burgess, now CEO, and three other investors took over the Community Bank of Manatee.
Burgess, a former investment banker, made the announcement that the company had priced its $44.7 million (£26.8 million) public offering earlier this week.
He previously worked as an investment banker at Morgan Stanley, and has been open about his sexuality throughout his career.
“Leaders who feel comfortable being open about their sexual orientation are more productive and engaged, which directly impacts the success of their organizations,” Irene Dorner, CEO of HSBC USA, a unit of HSBC Holdings Plc, said today in a statement.
“Sincere congratulations to Trevor on leading the way with this IPO.”
“Deutsche Bank is proud to offer our congratulations to Trevor Burgess for his courage and authenticity,” Jacques Brand, CEO of North America for the Frankfurt-based lender, added.
“We know that the ability to be oneself at work is fundamentally important to individual and organizational success.”
C1 brought in $12 million (£7.19 million) net income in 2013, and $13.1 million (£7.85 million) in 2012.
