WSFS Bank, the primary subsidiary of WSFS Financial, expanded its capital markets team with the hires of Michael Burnap and Christian Gil as senior vice presidents, directors of trade finance, reporting to Neil Orechiwsky, senior vice president and managing director of capital markets.
“WSFS is committed to being the premier provider of international services to our customers and the markets we serve,” Orechiwsky said. “Trade finance plays a critical role in facilitating international commerce as tools for payment, capital and liquidity optimization. The addition of Michael and Christian as co-leaders of the trade finance team in capital markets, in combination with our foreign exchange business, demonstrates WSFS’ focus on delivering these differentiating capabilities to the small and midsized businesses who often lack access to these necessary resources. We’re thrilled to welcome industry leaders of their character and expertise into our organization.”
Burnap will leverage his more than 30 years of trade and payments experience as the operational leader for all trade finance services and continue to develop the letter of credit and trade finance product capabilities at WSFS.
“I am excited to join WSFS Bank and be a part of the international services team,” Burnap said. “With its in-house trade finance experts, WSFS Bank is ideally situated to help small and midsized companies take advantage of the international trade products to grow their business and thrive in the years to come.”
Prior to joining WSFS, Burnap managed global trade services daily operations for U.S. Bank supporting daily commercial and standby letter of credit and documentary collections processing. He previously managed the correspondent banking and payments operations team at BBVA Compass in addition to numerous trade operational leader roles earlier in his career.
He graduated with an MBA from the University of Southern California and a BA in Mandarin Chinese from the University of Colorado.
Gil will serve as the revenue and sales leader for the trade finance team. He will work with internationally active customers and their relationship bankers in originating trade and working capital solutions for the commercial, consumer and wealth segments alike.
“I am excited to be part of WSFS’ vision to empower customers in achieving their international markets potential,” Gil said. “Trade finance often serves as a crucial missing link for companies seeking to reach regional and global clients and suppliers. I am eager to provide the solutions they need.”
Prior to joining WSFS, Gil spent nearly two decades as a customer-facing leader in structured trade and commodity finance sales with multi-national banks such as MUFG Union Bank and BBVA, where he covered different industries within the North and Latin American markets.
Gil has an MBA in finance from the Gabelli School of Business at Fordham University and a BS in Business from ICESI University.
