William E. Askew
Senior Executive Vice President, Service Quality Division
Regions Financial Corporation
Senior Policy Advisor
Financial Services Roundtable
Bill Askew, 59, is head of the Service Quality Division of Regions Financial Corporation and he serves as the Senior Policy Advisor for the Financial Services Roundtable. He is responsible for leading improvements to the way Regions serves customers in every geographic region, line of business and all service channels. He has served 25 years with Regions, a top U.S. bank-holding company headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, with $142 billion in assets, operating 2,000 branches in 16 states. Half his time is spent in Washington, D.C. advocating for the Top 100 Financial Services Firms in America.
Askew joined Regions in April 1984 as manager for the data processing department. He was promoted to senior vice president of information systems in 1986 and to executive vice president and head of Retail Banking from 1987 to 2006. He served as a member of Regions Executive Committee from 1997 to 2006. During his tenure as head of Retail Banking he played a leadership role in the acquisition and merger of the consortium of banks that formed Regions Financial Corporation. He was appointed as senior executive vice president and served as head of Consumer Banking from 2006 to 2008 for the new Regions after the merger with AmSouth before taking over the Quality Division in 2008. He took on the dual role of Senior Policy Advisor for the Financial Services Roundtable on February 1, 2009. Before working in the financial services industry, Askew began his career in technology and was employed by IBM and Worldwide Defense Systems.
Askew holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from the University of Alabama, completed graduate work in computer science at Shippensburg University and studied business at Auburn University in Montgomery. He also completed the Regions Executive Development Program and Leadership Birmingham. He served on the board for Star Systems and is a director for Regions Asset Company. Askew was formerly a member of the Consumer Board of the Financial Services Roundtable.
Askew is active in many civic and charitable organizations. He served as Region’s co-chairman for the 2007 United Way Campaign and the chairman for 2008. He has served as chairman of the board for the Regions Charity Classic Champions Tour’s charitable foundation since 2005. Askew formerly served as president of the John Carroll Catholic High PTO and has been actively involved with Habitat for Humanity.