Leslie Veluswamy
About Leslie Veluswamy
Executive Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer of Amalgamated Financial Corp. since November 2022; age 40; licensed CPA in New York; B.S. and Master’s in Accounting from the University of Florida . Serves as Principal Accounting Officer and signs SEC filings, including the company’s 10-K and 10-Qs in 2024–2025 . Company performance during her tenure: FY2024 net income $106.4M with diluted EPS $3.44, core diluted EPS $3.48; FY2023 net income $88.0M with diluted EPS $2.86; 3-year TSR to 2024 of 27.6% .
Past Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Strategic Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dime Community Bancshares (DCB) | Senior Vice President & Chief Accounting Officer | 2019–2022 | Not disclosed |
| Dime Community Bancshares (DCB) | Senior Vice President & Director of Financial Reporting | 2016–2019 | Not disclosed |
External Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | — | None disclosed in company filings |
Fixed Compensation
- Individual base salary, target bonus %, and actual bonus for Veluswamy are not disclosed in the proxy; the CD&A covers only Named Executive Officers (CEO, CFO, Chief Banking Officer, COO, Chief Legal Officer) .
Performance Compensation
Company incentive design applicable to senior executives (structure and outcomes for 2024; NEO metrics shown—Veluswamy’s individual participation and payouts are not disclosed):
| Metric (AIP 2024) | Weight | Threshold | Target | Maximum | Actual | Payout (% of Target) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core Earnings (in $MM) | 40% | 96.1 | 104.0 | 108.0 | 101.8* | 72% |
| Adjusted Core Efficiency Ratio | 20% | 52.0% | 50.8% | 50.2% | 50.3%* | 178% |
| Growth of Non-Time Deposits | 20% | 0.0% | 2.4% | 5.0% | 4.50% | 179% |
| Nonperforming Assets / Total Assets | 20% | 0.45% | 0.32% | 0.28% | 0.31% | 107% |
| Total AIP % Earned | — | 50% | 100% | 200% | — | 121% |
PRSUs and TRSUs: LTIP grants vest over 3 years; PRSUs split 50% rTSR vs compensation peer group and 50% Adjusted TBV growth over a 3-year period; TRSUs vest ratably annually .
Equity Ownership & Alignment
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Stock ownership guidelines | CEO: 4x salary; Senior EVPs: 2x salary; Other EVPs: 1x salary; 5-year period to achieve; qualifying shares include outright, retirement plan holdings, net shares from unvested time-based RSUs, and vested but unexercised options . |
| Hedging/Pledging | Hedging (collars/forwards), short sales, options trading, and pledging/margin accounts are prohibited under Insider Trading Policy . |
| Clawback | Incentive Compensation Recovery Policy mandates clawback for restatements and misconduct, covering 3 full fiscal years; filed as an exhibit to 10-K . |
| Beneficial ownership (individual) | Veluswamy’s individual share count is not listed in the beneficial ownership table, which shows NEOs and directors; group holdings: directors and executive officers (22 persons) own 396,770.36 shares (1.29%) . |
| Equity plan status | 2023 Equity Incentive Plan has 1,300,000 shares authorized; 570,913 available as of 9/30/2025 . |
| Options | No new option grants; legacy options fully expensed; company-wide outstanding options: 50,960, all vested and exercisable, WAEP $13.63; intrinsic value ~$0.689M at 9/30/2025 . |
| Bonus Deferral & Stock Purchase Plan (BDSPP) | Executives can defer up to 100% of AIP bonus into DSUs; Company matches 100% up to 35% of deferred amount in DSUs; DSUs accrue dividends and convert to shares at separation/CIC/emergency; as of 9/30/2025 unvested/expected DSUs: 16,304 shares at $29.87 grant-date fair value; $0.5M unrecognized comp cost (0.9 years) . |
Employment Terms
- Individual employment agreement, severance, and change-of-control provisions for Veluswamy are not disclosed. NEO agreements provide reference: if terminated without cause/nonrenewal or for good reason, severance equals 12 months base salary + target bonus + pro-rated bonus, plus 12 months COBRA; in change-of-control scenarios, 21 months base salary + 175% of target bonus; no excise tax gross-ups (best-net cutback) . CEO non-compete/non-solicit generally extends the longer of 12 months post-termination or severance period .
Performance & Track Record
| Metric | FY 2023 | FY 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Net Income ($MM) | 88.0 | 106.4 |
| Diluted EPS ($) | 2.86 | 3.44 |
| Core Diluted EPS ($) | 2.94 | 3.48 |
| Core Efficiency Ratio (%) | 51.33% | 50.33% |
| 3-year TSR (annual average) | 28.2% (to 2023) | 27.6% (to 2024) |
Additional context: FY2024 deposit growth +$168.6M to $7.2B; net loans +$267.2M to $4.6B; NPAs 0.31% of assets; criticized/classified assets 2.06% of loans .
Governance & Shareholder Feedback (context)
- Say-on-pay vote at 2025 Annual Meeting: For 26,163,265; Against 444,873; Abstain 19,529; Broker non-votes 1,367,954 . Prior year’s say-on-pay approval was 98.5%, considered by the Compensation Committee in program design .
Investment Implications
- Disclosure gaps: Veluswamy’s individual pay mix, bonus targets, grant sizes, vesting schedules, and beneficial ownership are not itemized in the proxy, limiting precision on pay-for-performance alignment and insider selling pressure specific to her .
- Alignment safeguards: Strict prohibitions on hedging/pledging and a robust clawback policy reduce misalignment and downside governance risk, while executive stock ownership guidelines (1x salary for EVPs) reinforce skin-in-the-game over time .
- Incentive architecture: Company AIP and LTIP explicitly link pay to Core Earnings, efficiency, core deposit growth, asset quality, relative TSR, and Adjusted TBV—metrics supportive of shareholder value creation and capital discipline .
- Retention: BDSPP deferral with matching up to 35% promotes retention and tax-efficient alignment; no 10b5-1 trading plan disclosed for Veluswamy, and no individual insider sale pattern identified in filings surfaced here .
Monitoring priorities: upcoming proxies for individualized disclosure; any Form 4 activity by Veluswamy; compliance with executive ownership guidelines; changes to clawback/insider policies; and whether CAO responsibilities and internal control oversight continue to track with stable SOX compliance and audit committee reporting cadence .