Jay Sidhu

Jay Sidhu (born August 8, 1951) is the Chairman (chairman) and CEO (chief executive officer) of Customers Bank, a $1.9 billion asset bank with headquarters in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. Customers Bank currently has 14 branches in suburban Philadelphia, Hamilton, NJ and Rye, NY. In 2010, Customers Bank was ranked #4 in the nation out of 3,077 banks by the ABA Banking Journal’s Annual Bank Performance Rankings for “ one of the largest year- over-year improvements in earnings performance.” According to the Journal, Customers Bank (formerly named New Century Bank) was ranked #3,002 in 2009 and improved to #4 in 2010. In May 2010, he led an investment in Atlantic Coast Bank (NASDAQ: ACFC) and currently serves as the Chairman of the board. Atlantic Coast is a $900 million asset bank headquartered in Waycross, Georgia with 12 branches in northeastern Florida and southeastern Georgia. He also serves as the Chairman and CEO of Sidhu Advisors, LLC, a private equity and financial services consulting company. In March 2008, he filed for his own $150 million SPAC, Special Purpose Capital Corp. From 1989 until his retirement in December 2006, he was the Chairman and CEO of Sovereign Bancorp (NYSE: SOV), Inc and Sovereign Bank, a $90 billion financial institution.

During his 20-year career at Sovereign, he grew the organization from an IPO value of $12 million to the 17th largest banking institution in the US, with a market cap approaching $12 billion at the end of 2006. Through 2006 sovereign’s shareholders experienced an IRR of 17% over the last 20 years; outperforming the S&P500 and Dow over 5, 10 and 20 year periods.

He has received Financial World’s CEO of the year award and named Turnaround Entrepreneur of the Year. From the Chamber of Commerce he was named Large Business Leader of the Year; from the Caron Foundation, Citizen of the Year. Additionally he has received many other awards and honors, including a Hero of Liberty Award from the National Liberty Museum.

Jay has served on the boards of numerous businesses and non-for-profits, including as a member of the board of Grupo Santander (Madrid). and Chairman of Board of Trustees of Wilkes University. He obtained an MBA from Wilkes University and is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Leadership Course.

As a speaker on leadership and emotional intelligence, he has attended conferences in the US, Europe and Asia. He is active in community affairs and education. At his Alma Mater, he helped establish the Jay Sidhu School of Business and Leadership at Wilkes University, with the goal of it becoming a prominent center of excellence in these disciplines.