Zions Bancorporation Elects Vivian Lee And Suren Gupta To Its Board Of Directors

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Mar 19, 2015, 04:17 ET

SALT LAKE CITY, March 19, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Zions Bancorporation (NASDAQ: ZION) today announced that Vivian S. Lee and Suren K. Gupta have been elected to its board of directors.

Dr. Lee serves as senior vice president of Health Sciences at the University of Utah, dean of the University's School of Medicine, and CEO of University of Utah Health Care. She manages five colleges; is responsible for an annual budget of more than $2.4 billion; and leads a healthcare system comprising four hospitals, numerous clinical and research specialty centers, neighborhood health centers, an insurance plan, and more than 1,200 board certified physicians. She was previously inaugural vice dean for Science, as well as senior vice president and chief scientific officer of New York University Medical Center. She recently served on the board of Zions First National Bank. A member of the National Institutes of Health Council of Councils, the Journal Oversight Committee for JAMA, and the Scientific Advisory Board for the Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. Lee is a recognized leader in health care and academic medicine. Dr. Lee received her M.D. from Harvard Medical School, her Ph.D. in medical engineering from Oxford University, and her MBA from NYU's Stern School of Business.

Mr. Gupta is executive vice president of Technology and Strategic Ventures at Allstate Insurance Company. Responsible for the company's information systems, technology, strategy, operations and processes, he leads a global organization delivering innovative and transformational solutions for Allstate's customers, agency owners and employees. He also has led operations providing countrywide service and support for customers and exclusive agencies. In addition, Gupta oversees Allstate's strategic ventures with companies that advance its innovation strategy. Previously, Mr. Gupta was an executive vice president and group chief information officer for consumer lending at Wells Fargo Bank. He held a similar role for Wells Fargo's home and consumer finance group. He was a founding member of the corporate executive team at Airclic Inc., a startup wireless Internet venture, and senior vice president of information technology and operations for GMAC Residential, a division of General Motors. Mr. Gupta also has held senior operations, sales, marketing and strategic development roles at INTELSAT, a telecommunications company, and at Thomson Corp., an information company. He is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School and received an MBA from George Mason University and a master's degree in computer engineering from West Virginia University.

"Vivian Lee, with her wealth of experience as a CEO in the highly regulated and fast-evolving health care industry, and Suren Gupta, with his deep technology-related financial services experience, will provide invaluable insights and add additional depth to our board of directors," said Harris H. Simmons, Zions Bancorporation's chairman and CEO. "We are delighted that they are joining us and look forward to the contributions they will make to building one of the nation's outstanding banking organizations."

"Zions is an extraordinary community partner," Dr. Lee said. "I feel privileged to be joining the board of an exceptional organization that has consistently delivered value through its strong ties to the communities and customers it serves."

"I'm honored to be asked to serve on Zions' board," Mr. Gupta said. "New business strategies enabled by digital technologies are transforming the financial services industry. As a successful regional banking organization, Zions is well-positioned to further differentiate itself and innovate for its customers."

Zions Bancorporation is one of the nation's premier financial services companies, consisting of a collection of great banks in select Western U.S. markets with combined total assets exceeding $55 billion. Zions operates its banking businesses under local management teams and community identities in 11 Western and Southwestern states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. The company is a national leader in Small Business Administration lending and public finance advisory services and is a consistent recipient of numerous Greenwich Excellence awards in banking. In addition, Zions is included in the S&P 500 and NASDAQ Financial 100 indices. Investor information and links to subsidiary banks can be accessed at www.zionsbancorporation.com.