Greta Guggenheim - Director | WESTERN ALLIANCE BANCORPORATION (WAL) Executive Profile & Compensation

About Greta Guggenheim

Greta Guggenheim (age 66) is an independent director at Western Alliance Bancorporation, serving since 2024. She brings nearly 40 years of commercial real estate and real estate finance experience, including CEO and C‑suite roles at public REITs; she holds a B.A. from Swarthmore College and an MBA from The Wharton School. She serves on WAL’s Risk Committee and Finance & Investment Committee, contributing deep credit, capital markets and corporate governance expertise .

Past Roles

Organization	Role	Tenure	Committees/Impact
TPG Real Estate Finance Trust	Chief Executive Officer	2016–2021	Led a public mortgage REIT through market cycles; board-level governance exposure
TPG Real Estate	Board Member	2017–2021	Strategic oversight for private real estate platform
Ladder Capital Finance LLC	Chief Investment Officer (2012–2015); President (2008–2012)	2008–2015	Built/led CRE credit and investment origination platform
Dillon Read Capital Management	Managing Director, Head of Originations	2006–2007	Led CRE origination
UBS	Managing Director, Originations, Commercial Real Estate	1999–2006	CRE lending/origination leadership
Credit Suisse	Real Estate Investment Banking, Commercial Real Estate	1986–1999	CRE banking and advisory

External Roles

Organization	Role	Public/Private	Notes
None disclosed	—	—	No current public company directorships disclosed in WAL’s proxy

Board Governance

Committee assignments: Risk Committee member; Finance & Investment Committee member .
Independence: Board determined all nominees except the CEO (Vecchione) are independent; Ms. Guggenheim is independent .
Attendance: In 2024, each current director attended at least 75% of Board and committee meetings; Board held 9 meetings; independent directors held 5 executive sessions .
Skills profile: Governance matrix indicates contributions in Corporate Strategy, Risk Management & Controls, Public Company Governance, and Compensation & Management Development .
Chair structure: Independent Board Chair (Bruce Beach); separated Chair/CEO roles .

Fixed Compensation

Program design (non‑employee directors, approved Feb 2024):

Component	Amount
Annual Board retainer (cash)	$50,000
Committee service retainers	Audit: $20,000; Compensation/Governance/Finance & Investment/Risk: $10,000 each
Committee chair retainer	+$10,000 per committee chair
Equity grant	4,056 restricted shares; grant date fair value $235,005 (standard annual grant)
Additional Chair of Board	$80,000 cash + $80,000 restricted stock (applies to Board Chair, not Guggenheim)

Ms. Guggenheim’s 2024 director compensation:

Item	Amount
Fees Earned or Paid in Cash	$52,500
Stock Awards (grant date fair value)	$195,889 (appointed Apr 22, 2024; stock award granted May 2, 2024)
All Other Compensation	$3,659
Total	$252,048

Compensation mix (alignment): cash ~21%, equity ~78% based on 2024 values, supporting long-term alignment .

Performance Compensation

Element	Structure	Metrics
Director equity	Time‑vested restricted stock	No performance conditions (time-based vesting); annual grant sizing maintained to preserve value amid stock fluctuations

Other Directorships & Interlocks

Company	Role	Committee Roles	Interlock/Conflict Notes
None disclosed	—	—	No interlocks or related-party ties disclosed for Ms. Guggenheim

Expertise & Qualifications

Nearly four decades in commercial real estate credit and markets; prior CEO of a public REIT (TPG RE Finance Trust) .
Deep credit, capital markets, and governance experience; contributes to Risk and Finance & Investment oversight at WAL .
Governance skills matrix flags strengths in corporate strategy, risk management & controls, public company governance, and compensation/management development .
Education: BA (Swarthmore), MBA (Wharton) .

Equity Ownership

Item	Detail
Beneficial ownership (WAL common)	5,861 shares; <1% of outstanding shares
Ownership guidelines	Non‑employee directors must hold ≥5x annual cash compensation; five‑year compliance window for new directors; 2024 compliance reported for all directors
Hedging/pledging policy	Hedging and pledging prohibited with limited legacy/ability-to-repay exceptions; pledged shares excluded from guideline compliance
Pledged shares (Guggenheim)	None disclosed for Ms. Guggenheim; CFO Gibbons disclosed pledged shares (for policy context)

Governance Assessment

Board effectiveness: Placement on Risk and Finance & Investment aligns her CRE credit/capital markets background with WAL’s core risk and balance sheet oversight remit as the bank prepares for potential LFI status; committee charters cover credit quality, CET1/capital planning, liquidity, interest rate risk, AML/BSA, cyber, and insurance—areas where her experience is directly relevant .
Independence & engagement: Independent director with confirmed independence; attended ≥75% of meetings; Board maintains independent chair and holds regular executive sessions, supporting oversight quality .
Alignment: High equity portion of director pay and stringent 5x ownership guideline (with hedging/pledging prohibitions) are positive alignment signals; Ms. Guggenheim’s 2024 mix is equity‑heavy .
Conflicts/related parties: No related‑party transactions disclosed involving Ms. Guggenheim; company’s policy routes such items to Governance Committee; 2024 review reported none beyond executive family employment disclosures, not involving her .
RED FLAGS: None identified specific to Ms. Guggenheim (no pledging/hedging disclosed; no related‑party transactions; attendance threshold met). Note: relatively short WAL board tenure (director since 2024) implies limited on‑board track record to date, though counterbalanced by relevant sector expertise .
Shareholder context: 2024 say‑on‑pay support exceeded 95%, indicating broad investor confidence in WAL’s pay governance framework (context for overall board credibility) .

Context Metric	Value
2024 Say‑on‑Pay approval	>95% of votes cast in favor