www.negociosnow.com
50 October 2022
Age: 34
Title: Director, Digital Banking
Business Operation
Name of Organization: Bank of
America
Maria Silvana Vargas is a COO for
Bank of America's Digital ban-
king platform, specializing in
Non-English Language matters.
In her role, she supports strate-
gic growth by driving operational
enhancements. Currently, Bank
of America services 42.6MM
digitally active users, of which
about 4MM prefer to be serviced
in Spanish. She joined Merrill
Lynch Brazil in 2006 as an intern
and has held several COO roles
covering multiple businesses and
regions. Prior to her current role,
she was the Americas Head of
Business Operations for the Glo
-
bal Corporate and Investment
Banking segment. She relocated
to New York in 2014.
Ms. Vargas has been part of
the leadership team of Bank of
America's Hispanic/Latino Em-
ployee Network (HOLA) since
2015. She played a key role in the
New York chapter's 600% growth
to over 2,000 members in 2 years.
The network executes initiatives
focused on Latino employees,
clients and community across its
4 pillars: volunteerism, business
strategy, recruiting and profes-
sional development. Ms. Vargas
also served as co-chair of the
group's Executive Advisory Board
in 2019-2021 and she is currently
part of Bank of America's HOLA
Enterprise strategy team.
Ms. Vargas was awarded a
Global Diversity & Inclusion
Award from Bank of America's
Global D&I Council in 2017 and
received a Young Hispanic Cor
-
porate Achievers award from the
Hispanic Association for Cor-
porate Responsibility (HACR)
in 2018. The latter recognizes
Hispanic/Latinos under 40 years
old who have shown exceptional
leadership qualities in Fortu-
ne 500 companies along with a
proven commitment to the His-
panic community. In 2020, she
was named first ever Woman of
Hope by Boys Hope Girls Hope,
a non-profit organization that
provides housing, education,
support and guidance to under-
served students.
Ms. Vargas was born and
raised in Montevideo, Uruguay
and moved to Brazil in 2004 for
her undergraduate studies. She
graduated with a major in eco-
nomics in 2008 and holds FINRA
licenses for Investment Banking
(Series 79) and Securities Su-
pervisor (Series 24). She speaks
fluent Spanish, Portuguese and
English.
WORDS OF WISDOM:
"D
on't be afraid to give up the
good to go for the great."
John D. Rockefeller.
María
Silvana Vargas
Making
Banking
Inclusive
