City National Bank’s Martha Henderson To Retire

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Martha Henderson

Longtime leader at City National Bank, Martha Henderson, will retire from her position as Vice Chairman of Entertainment Banking on Feb. 2. She has served the entertainment industry for more than 40 years at the bank.

“Since our founding in 1954, City National has had an unparalleled history of support for the entertainment industry, which is personified by Martha Henderson,” says Kelly Coffey, CEO of City National Entertainment. “Martha is an institution at City National and I am grateful for her extraordinary service—her decades of leadership and the profound impact she has had are felt throughout the organization.”

Henderson joined City National in 1983 from Wells Fargo, where she launched her career in its private bank unit serving the entertainment industry. When she joined CNB, she was just one of 16 colleagues on the Entertainment Banking team.

Named Head of the Business in 1989, CNB’s team serving the entertainment industry has grown substantially under Henderson’s leadership. According to CNB, the bank now provides financial expertise to more than 90% of entertainment business managers, more than half of all Broadway shows, more than 80% of the country music industry in Nashville and some of the biggest names in the sports and Latin entertainment industries.

Henderson led the strategic expansion of Entertainment Banking into New York, as well as the opening of the bank’s first offices in Atlanta and on Music Row in Nashville in 2011, and most recently, in Miami in 2019. Her impact and influence has made her widely recognized as one of the most powerful executives in the entertainment industry.

“Martha leaves a legacy of City National leaders poised to move the business and industry forward thanks to her long-standing commitment to colleague development and client-focus,” says Howard Hammond, CEO of City National Bank. “As she prepared for retirement over the last several years, Martha invested herself in ensuring the continuing Entertainment Banking leadership team is well prepared to support our clients. Those leaders include JaHan Wang, Executive Vice President of Entertainment Banking—we are fortunate to continue to benefit from his deep experience.”

“I deeply appreciate my decades-long career at City National, and the meaningful and rewarding relationships I have built here and across the entertainment industry,” shares Henderson. “Among the career highlights I am most proud of is the opportunity I had to grow and develop the next generation of leadership at the bank to continue our focus on serving clients. I’m confident City National’s unwavering dedication to the industry will only grow.”

LB Cantrell
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