BankUnited released its succession plan for the role of chief financial officer. James G. Mackey will join the company as senior executive vice president, reporting to BankUnited chairman, president and CEO Rajinder P. Singh, effective Aug, 15, 2025. He will assume the role of chief financial officer on Nov. 1, 2025. Mackey will succeed longtime CFO Leslie Lunak, who plans to retire effective Jan. 1, 2026, after a distinguished tenure with the company.
Mackey is a seasoned business executive with extensive experience as a CFO for a variety of highly regarded financial institutions, helping to lead them through transformative periods of growth across finance, operations, risk and controls. Most recently, Mackey served as the CFO for Wells Fargo’s consumer lending division. Previously, Mackey was the CFO for Freddie Mac and Ally Financial and was a divisional CFO for Bank of America’s corporate investments, corporate treasury and private equity divisions.
“We are delighted to welcome Jim to BankUnited as our new chief financial officer, effective this November. With over three decades of experience leading some of the industry’s most respected names, Jim brings a wealth of expertise that will be instrumental as we continue to grow and evolve,” Singh said. “His proven ability to drive performance and deliver value, while cultivating strong relationships with stakeholders, makes him an excellent addition to our leadership team.”
During Mackey’s time with Wells Fargo, he led the finance team supporting the newly formed consumer lending division, assisting with successful strategic reviews to optimize earnings, minimize operational risk and increase enterprise value. As CFO of Freddie Mac, Mackey helped guide the strategic execution of an enterprise-wide transformation to modernize the institution, improve customer service, adopt modernized capital standards and improve the overall housing finance system.
Mackey joined Ally Financial shortly after Ally became a bank holding company. As CFO, he helped transform the company into a leading diversified digital bank, ultimately laying the foundation for significant capital raises. At Bank of America, he led a global team through the financial crisis, with finance responsibility for the parent company and several banking subsidiaries. He played a key role in business, finance and treasury activities related to several major acquisitions. He began his career at PwC, after earning his master’s in accounting and bachelor’s in business administration from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The transition comes as Lunak announces her retirement. Lunak joined BankUnited in 2010 and assumed the CFO role in 2013. Before rising to her current position, she held the roles of executive vice president, chief accounting officer and senior vice president, finance. During her tenure as CFO, which saw the bank’s total assets grow from $12 billion to over $35 billion, Lunak was at the forefront of a successful enterprise-wide initiative aimed at strengthening BankUnited’s core business model, streamlining its organizational structure and broadening its portfolio of products and services.
“As an integral member of our C-suite management team, Leslie has made many significant and lasting contributions that have helped to transform BankUnited into a leading national commercial bank,” said Singh. “Leslie has strengthened BankUnited’s capital position, led the implementation of a new credit loss accounting standard, guided impactful cost savings and revenue-generating initiatives and helped steer the company through periods of market volatility and a pandemic. We are grateful for her 15 years of dedication and commitment and wish her well as she begins a new chapter.”
