Poole College Advisory Board Spotlight: Brian V. Ciaverella

With a 34-year career in banking, most recently as executive vice president and corporate banking market leader at PNC Bank, Brian V. Ciaverella brings with him a wealth of experience –– and connections –– to the Poole College of Management Advisory Board. 

Ciaverella was born and raised near Pittsburgh, Penn., but relocated to the Raleigh area as part of PNC’s 2012 acquisition of RBC Bank USA. In his current role, he leads PNC’s corporate banking team in Eastern Carolina, which delivers financial services to both private and public companies throughout the region. After moving to the Triangle, it didn’t take him long to get connected to Poole College.

“I quickly became familiar with the college since PNC, as a company, actively began recruiting its students once we established a presence in the area,” Ciaverella says. 

When he was approached to take a position on the board in 2019, he was quick to agree.

“Our regional president, Jim Hansen, had served on the Poole Advisory Board, and when he moved to take a position on the NC State Board of Visitors, I stepped into his role. Poole College of Management –– and NC State as a whole ––  is an important member of the local business community and a key source of recruits for our internship and corporate banking development programs,” Ciaverella says. “My position on the board helps PNC stay connected to the professors and students so that we can re-enforce our brand and successfully recruit emerging business leaders to the PNC family.”

Ciaverella’s position at PNC has afforded him the opportunity to work with many different businesses in the community, giving him a solid understanding of what the local business community –– including PNC –– is looking for when it comes to recruiting students. Poole business school students, Ciaverella says, are bright, well-educated, confident and are ready to make an immediate impact when they graduate from college and join the business world. For this reason, he believes, these students are highly recruited by companies both inside and outside of the state.

Last year, PNC became the official “bank” of NC State University and the company has sponsored a thought leadership series at Poole College. In recent months, the bank’s chief economist presented to a group of economic students, and the executive leaders at PNC are currently looking for other areas to partner with the college’s new business analytics program.

Working with the new business analytics program is a natural way for PNC to partner with the college, whether it’s by having Poole students work on projects alongside our PNC data analytics team or hosting a thought leadership series around data analytics. They’re a lot of ways for us to interface with the college in respect to that program.

“Data analytics is the key to so many businesses, as many are analyzing data as a way to accelerate sales efforts and make better decisions. As a bank, we use data analytics to look at risk and how we target our products to the right audience,” he says. “Working with the new business analytics program is a natural way for PNC to partner with the college, whether it’s by having Poole students work on projects alongside our PNC data analytics team or hosting a thought leadership series around data analytics. They’re a lot of ways for us to interface with the college in respect to that program.”

Poole College’s desire to stay connected to the local business community is something that sets it apart from peer business schools, Ciaverella believes.

“Poole has an underlying commitment to the success of the region first, knowing that if the region is successful, then Poole College will also be successful,” he says. “The college is very much focused outward on the betterment of the community, as opposed to just being focused internally on itself.”

And it’s impact, Ciaverella believes, is already clearly seen.

“Poole College plays a critical role in helping our local business community solve real-world problems, and –– most importantly –– is education a future generation of leaders,” he says. “The future of Poole is very bright.”

This post was originally published in Poole College of Management News.