Sandra (Sandy) Pierce
Chair-Elect, Vice Chair, Detroit Riverfront Conservancy
Sandy Pierce is a board member of Penske Automotive Group, American Axle & Manufacturing and chair of ITC Holdings, Inc. She also serves as chair of Henry Ford Health Foundation, chair of Detroit Economic Club, and is a board member of Barton Malow Company and Renaissance Venture Capital. Pierce was appointed by Governor Whitmer to Michigan State University’s Board of Trustees in December 2022. She served on the Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Detroit Branch from 2016 to 2021, vice chair of Business Leaders of Michigan, and served as Chair of the Detroit Financial Advisory Board from 2012 through 2014. Current business associations and civic involvements include Detroit Economic Club (Board of Directors; Executive Committee); Detroit Regional Chamber (Prior Chair); Downtown Detroit Partnership, and The Parade Company (Executive Committee, Prior Chair, Board of Directors).
Pierce spent 45 years in financial services most recently with Huntington Bank where she was a member of Huntington’s executive leadership team. She led several revenue segments across its eleven-state footprint, including the Private Bank, Insurance Agency, and Auto Finance. Pierce also had management responsibility for Regional Banking and Community Development.
Prior to the Huntington merger with FirstMerit, Pierce was appointed to Vice Chairman of FirstMerit Corporation and Chairman and CEO of FirstMerit Michigan. Pierce had direct oversight of and responsibility for Retail Banking, Wealth Management Services, and Corporate Marketing for FirstMerit Corporation and coordination of FirstMerit’s business activities in the state of Michigan.
Prior to joining FirstMerit, Pierce was Midwest Regional Executive, President and CEO for Charter One Bank, Michigan, a division of RBS Citizens, N.A. where she had responsibilities for commercial banking and all state bank activities in Michigan as well as oversight of all state activities in Illinois and Ohio and was a member of Citizens Financial Group’s Executive Leadership Group and the Midwest Regional Advisory Board.
Pierce began her successful and diverse career in 1978 when she joined NBD Bancorp as a teller while attending Wayne State University. Upon graduation, she held a number of significant roles in commercial banking, retail banking, marketing and private client services at NBD and its successor organizations First Chicago NBD, Bank One, and JPMorgan Chase. In 2002, Pierce became regional executive of the Retail Midwest Region at Bank One. In this role, Pierce managed 350 bank branches that served over one million households and provided a full suite of consumer services, including: mortgages, small business loans, consumer loans and investments.
A native of Detroit, Pierce is a 1980 graduate of Wayne State University with a Bachelor of Business Administration / Marketing degree. She earned a Masters of Business Administration / Finance degree from Wayne State University.
Pierce and her husband of 45 years reside in Northville, Michigan with a second home in Bonita Springs, Florida; have three children, two sons-in-law, and six grandchildren.