Who are Bank of America's decision-makers?

Brian T. Moynihan (CEO since January 2010, Chair since October 2014) is an attorney-turned-banker who came to Bank of America via the 2004 FleetBoston Financial acquisition, where he had served as deputy general counsel after nine years in private practice. He holds a BA from Brown University and a JD from Notre Dame Law School. Since becoming CEO, Moynihan oversaw the orderly integration of Merrill Lynch (the $50B crisis-era acquisition) and Countrywide Financial, divested non-core international assets to rebuild capital ratios, and drove the bank's responsible growth strategy through the 2010s. Under his leadership BofA posted a record $30.5 billion net income in 2025 and reached a market cap of ~$399B by June 2026. He has publicly stated he plans to serve through the decade.

The September 2025 restructuring created two Co-Presidents. Dean Athanasia joined BofA through the same FleetBoston acquisition in 2004, most recently running Regional Banking with oversight of consumer and small-business lines, and now oversees consumer, business, and commercial banking as Co-President. Jim DeMare joined BofA in 2008 and ran Global Markets before becoming Co-President with oversight of institutional, trading, and global markets businesses. Together Athanasia and DeMare bring nearly 60 years of combined financial services experience across every client segment — and are widely viewed by analysts as the primary CEO succession candidates.

Alastair Borthwick, elevated to CFO from Chief Revenue Officer in September 2025, manages BofA's capital planning, investor relations, and financial reporting. Under his watch the bank approved a $40 billion share buyback program in July 2025 and delivered approximately $30 billion in total shareholder returns for the year. Hari Gopalkrishnan, promoted to CTIO in 2025 after leading consumer and wealth technology since 2011, commands a 60,000-person technology organization with a $13 billion annual budget and is publicly leading BofA's $4 billion AI initiative.

For enterprise technology and software purchases, buying decisions at BofA span three power centers that sellers must navigate simultaneously. First, the business-line president or division head controls the problem statement and strategic budget: Athanasia's consumer and commercial organization drives digital banking, retail technology, and relationship management tooling; DeMare's Global Markets and investment banking organization drives capital markets technology, trading infrastructure, and front-office tools. Second, CTIO Hari Gopalkrishnan and his 60,000-person technology organization control architecture decisions, platform standards, security posture, and build-versus-buy direction — any vendor seeking to displace a BofA-built capability must win at the CTIO layer before business champions can approve spend. Third, Procurement and Vendor Risk Management controls contracting, InfoSec review, and ongoing supplier governance.

For AI and data infrastructure specifically, Gopalkrishnan's team is the most active buyer in 2025–2026 given the publicly stated $4 billion AI budget and the bank's Erica Next Generation initiative. For consumer product fintech partnerships, Athanasia's consumer banking division is the relevant champion. For capital markets and trading technology, DeMare's Global Markets business sets direction. CFO Alastair Borthwick ultimately approves large capital expenditure and multi-year vendor commitments that exceed pre-defined authorization thresholds.

The BofA procurement process is rigorous: expect a multi-stage RFP, InfoSec review under OCC/Fed guidance, a vendor risk management (VRM) assessment, legal and compliance review, and typically a proof-of-concept pilot before production contracts. Deal cycles run 6–18 months. The investor relations team (i_r@bofa.com) handles public investors and analysts; press contacts route through newsroom.bankofamerica.com.

Bank of America operates eight lines of business: Consumer Banking, Global Wealth & Investment Management (Merrill Lynch wealth advisors, Merrill Edge, Bank of America Private Bank), Global Banking (large corporate, commercial banking, treasury and trade), Global Markets (sales and trading, research), Global Transaction Services, Business Banking, Global Commercial Banking, and a horizontal Technology function under the CTIO. The September 2025 Co-President structure is explicitly a succession and governance mechanism: Moynihan retains all external CEO functions, investor relations, and board responsibilities while Athanasia and DeMare run day-to-day operations across the eight lines.

At approximately 213,000 employees, BofA is one of the largest private employers in the United States — and technology alone employs 60,000+ people, larger than most Fortune 500 companies in their entirety. The consumer banking franchise spans 3,800+ financial centers and 15,000+ ATMs in the U.S., while the global franchise reaches 35+ countries. The wealth management unit (Merrill Lynch + Private Bank) employs more than 20,000 financial advisors serving clients with $6.1 trillion in total client balances. BofA's Investor Day in 2026 highlighted the Co-Presidents' distinct roles as the primary operational executives while reinforcing Moynihan's CEO continuity through the decade.