Santander Holdings USA announced that Laura Burke has been named Santander US Chief Communications Officer, reporting to Jennifer Mathissen, Chief Marketing Officer for Santander Bank, N.A. Burke also joins the Santander US leadership team, headed by Santander US CEO Tim Wennes.

In this role, Burke is responsible for all executive and corporate communications, crisis and issues management, employee communications, brand communications, public relations, and social media strategies for the portfolio of Santander US businesses. She will oversee the promotion of Santander’s mission, vision, and brand to both internal and external stakeholder audiences.

With more than 20 years of experience in corporate and public relations agency settings, Burke joins Santander from Prudential Financial where she served as Head of Corporate Brand & Communications and Chief Operating Officer, Communications. In this capacity, she held enterprise-level responsibility over financial, policy & regulatory, crisis, employee, and executive communications as well as the financial, talent and technology operations for the Communications department. Previously, Burke was an executive vice president at the global communications firm Edelman and held leadership roles at FTI Consulting and Hill & Knowlton.

“I’m excited to welcome Laura to Santander as we move into the next chapter of our growth and transformation,” said Mathissen. “Her financial services knowledge, broad communications experience and strategic storytelling ability will help us to shape our narrative and to deepen relationships with our stakeholders. Under Laura’s leadership, we will expand our efforts to promote Santander’s global brand, businesses and community commitment in the U.S. market.”

Burke earned a B.A. in political science and government from Tufts University and an MBA in finance from the New York University Stern School of Business.