The (loose) Rhode Island ties to Silicon Valley Bank

Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg

The biggest story in the country right now is the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, which was shut down by regulators last week after panicked investors sparked a run on the bank. It was the second-largest failure of a financial institution in US history.

The good news is that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has guaranteed that depositors will have access to their money by today. The bad news is that New York-based Signature Bank has also been shut down by regulators.

You can learn a whole lot more about the downfall of SVB here, but there are a couple of Rhode Island connections: Two members of SVB’s executive team went to college here. Neither are considered responsible for the bank’s failure.

Michael Zuckert, general counsel

SVB’s top attorney earned two bachelor’s degrees from Brown University, one in history and the other in law and society. He later earned his law degree from NYU. Zuckert has deep experience in the banking world, having held high-level positions at Citigroup and Morgan Stanley.

Laura Cushing, chief human resources officer

Cushing has been at SVB just five months; her previous employers included Loews Corporation and JPMorgan Chase, where she was head of talent development and organizational development. She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Rhode Island before attending Villanova for her master’s degree.

This story first appeared in Rhode Map, our free newsletter about Rhode Island that also contains information about local events, data about the coronavirus in the state, and more. If you’d like to receive it via e-mail Monday through Friday, you can sign up here.