Jay. S. Sidhu
Jay is Chairman and CEO of Sidhu Advisors, LLC, a private equity and financial services consulting company based in Palm Coast, Florida and Reading, Pennsylvania. Until his retirement at the end of 2006, he was the Chairman and CEO of Sovereign Bancorp, Inc and Sovereign Bank, a $90b financial institution.
During his 20-year career at Sovereign, he grew the organization from an IPO value of $12m to the 17th largest banking institution in the US, with a market cap approaching $12b at the end of 2006. Jay’s growth strategy gave Sovereign’s shareholders IRR of 16.7 over the last 20 years; outperforming the S&P500 and Dow in the last 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 Banco Santander (Madrid). 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.