May 5, 2022
Cross River Expands Leadership Team for Ongoing Support of Strategic Business Initiatives and Accelerated Growth
New Chief Risk Officer, Chief Data Officer and Head of Strategic Initiatives bring decades of experience and expertise to Cross River
FORT LEE, N.J. - Cross River Bank (“Cross River”), a technology driven infrastructure provider that offers embedded financial solutions, today announced three distinct new hires to support the Company’s next stage of growth and expansion.
Cross River has appointed Dafna Dothan as Chief Risk Officer and Samir Mohanty as Chief Data Officer, as well as Radhika Bangaru as Head of Strategic Initiatives, each of whom bring seasoned expertise in their respective fields and will help drive Cross River’s next stage of growth. Cross River recently announced a $620 million capital raise led by Eldridge and Andreessen Horowitz to accelerate Cross River’s ongoing technology-focused growth strategy, including building out the Company’s leading embedded payments, cards, lending and crypto solutions and bolstering strategic partnerships that underscore Cross River’s commitment to reshaping global finance and promoting financial inclusion.
Dafna Dothan comes to Cross River as Chief Risk Officer with over 25 years of experience in commercial banking and risk management. She will be responsible for leading the best-in-class governance for innovative and sustainable growth, strategically developing and implementing risk management for the company. Prior to Cross River, she was an EVP, Chief Risk Officer and before that the Division Executive, Head of International Commercial Banking, both at Bank Leumi USA for 12 years. Before that, Dafna was in Tel Aviv, Israel for 16 years with Bank Leumi, involved in commercial and corporate banking. She has deep understandings of enterprise risk management, financial analysis, credit risk, and portfolio management that will support Cross River’s overall growth strategy and success.
As Chief Data Officer, Samir Mohanty will be responsible for all aspects of data management strategies for Cross River. With more than 10 years of experience in financial services and extensive regulatory knowledge, he will lead in developing innovative data strategies to improve and support Cross River’s growth. Samir has hands-on experience in building data platforms, leveraging advanced data analytics and utilizing emerging technologies such as AI, ML and Robotic Process Automation to drive business success. Prior to Cross River, Samir was with Oracle, responsible for long-term data-driven roadmaps for their customers. Prior to that he was instrumental in building a data and Content platform at Moody’s.
With 20 years of experience in Retail Banking and Wealth Management, Radhika Bangaru brings expertise in multi-geographical and multi-business strategies. At Cross River, she will be responsible for leading growth initiatives for the business units and driving solutions to deliver Cross River’s best-in-class products and services as the Company continues to expand across markets. Prior to Cross River, Radhika was with Citibank where she was a Director and Global Lead for Banking, Payments, Wealth and Advisory initiatives. She also holds knowledge in P&L management and investment products from her time as an Investments Director at Citibank Singapore.
Earlier this year, Cross River welcomed Ben Krefting as its new Chief Customer Success Officer, focused on expanding Cross River’s customer centric culture, platform and enterprise capabilities. Ben comes to Cross River from Salesforce, with previous experience at Williams-Sonoma, Nestle and Accenture.
