Modern Bank Leadership

Michael Tedesco joined Modern Bank in 2008 and has over 25 years of commercial banking experience. Mr. Tedesco is responsible for managing Modern Bank’s strategic direction, and safety and soundness.

Prior to joining Modern Bank in 2007, Mr. Tedesco was a Vice President and Controller of U.S.B. Holding Co., Inc. (a New York Stock Exchange Company), where he oversaw all financial and tax reporting, capital planning, and business plans. Earlier, he was an Assistant Controller of its wholly-owned commercial bank subsidiary, Union State Bank.

Mr. Tedesco earned a Master of Science in Accounting and a Master of Business Administration in Finance from Pace University. He also earned a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from Binghamton University. Mr. Tedesco has successfully completed the CPA exam. Mr. Tedesco served as the treasurer and director of People-to-People, Inc. in Rockland County. He has also served as president and director of the Rockland County Division of the American Heart Association.

Curt Lueker is responsible for overseeing Modern Bank's Commercial Markets business, which includes Commercial & Industrial, Commercial Real Estate and Energy lending. Before joining Modern Bank, Mr. Lueker spent nine years at the Royal Bank of Scotland originating, executing and managing senior secured loans, mezzanine investments, equity co-investments and private equity fund commitments. He was a Managing Director in Asset Management, Head of Leveraged Finance Portfolio Management, Head of Technology/Media/Telecom Portfolio Management, and President & Chief Operating Officer of RBS Equity Corporation. His teams managed more than $20 billion in assets, with RBS acting as Lead Arranger and Administrative Agent for more than half of the Leveraged Finance clients.Prior to joining RBS, Mr. Lueker was a Vice President in the Merchant Banking Group at Indosuez Capital and a founding member of Bank of America's Financial Sponsor Portfolio Management team. At Bank of America, he primarily managed Administrative Agent and Lead Arranger positions for middle market LBO clients while also underwriting and closing new transactions.Curt began competing in endurance racing in 1999 and has completed marathons, duathlons, triathlons and ultra marathons. He is the Founder and a Board Member of My Team Triumph Connecticut and a member of the Westport Astronomical Society. Curt previously served as the Co-Chair of the PR/Marketing Committee for A Better Chance of Westport and has been actively involved as a fundraiser/cyclist for the CT Challenge.

Geoffrey Cavey has over 25 years of experience working within the financial services industry. Mr. Cavey is responsible for building and managing Modern Bank’s operating platform and technology groups, while coordinating bank-wide projects. He is responsible for the management and oversight of the operations, technology, client service, and infrastructure teams.

Before joining Modern Bank, Mr. Cavey was a Managing Director at Milestone where he was responsible for strategic change within the banking and insurance sector. Prior to that, Mr. Cavey spent 4 years as the Head of Finance Change for Morgan Stanley, N.A, where he was responsible for the Finance Change Management Program, which included defining and implementing the finance strategic change agenda. Previous to that Mr. Cavey spent 15 years at UBS Investment Bank in various leadership roles within the Bank’s Finance function.

Mr. Cavey graduated from Massey University, New Zealand with a Bachelor of Business with a major in Accounting.

Stephanie Suriano is responsible for overseeing the financial operations of the business at Modern Bank. Before joining Modern Bank, Ms. Suriano spent six years at Bank Leumi USA. As the Co-Controller of Bank Leumi USA, Stephanie had oversight of the product controllership, reporting of financial results, and management of the bank’s tax strategy. While at Bank Leumi USA, Ms. Suriano worked on multiple bank-wide initiatives improving processes, implementing an internal control framework to be compliant with SOX, and enhancing technological solutions.

Prior to joining Bank Leumi USA, Stephanie was in the audit practice of the Banking and Capital Markets group at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Stephanie’s audit career was focused in banking, working primarily with large publicly traded banking clients.

Stephanie earned a B.S. in Accounting from Ithaca College and a Masters in Accounting from Ithaca College. Ms. Suriano has successfully completed all four parts of the CPA exam, holding licensure in New York State.

Valerie Swaya has over 25 years of regulatory compliance and banking services experience. Ms. Swaya is responsible for overseeing the bank’s Compliance Risk Management function, including the bank’s Anti-Money Laundering (AML) program and Compliance Management program. She is responsible for the management and oversight of the Compliance Department, including the bank’s AML software and the Compliance Testing Program.

Prior to joining Modern Bank in 2011, Ms. Swaya was the Senior Vice President, Compliance Officer at The Provident Bank, NJ, where she was responsible for the management of the bank’s Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and AML program. Prior to that, Ms. Swaya spent 6 years as the Chief Compliance Officer for Millennium bcp bank, N.A, where she was responsible for the Compliance Risk Management Program, which included oversight of the bank’s AML function and Consumer Compliance Program.

Ms. Swaya is an accredited Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) and a member of the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS). Ms. Swaya started her career at the Office of Thrift Supervision as a Federal Bank Examiner. Ms. Swaya graduated from University of Massachusetts, Amherst with a B.A. in History with a minor in Economics.

Vera McVey oversees Enterprise Risk Management of Modern Bank with particular focus on credit risk.

Prior to joining Modern Bank in 2010, Ms. McVey was engaged by The Promontory Financial Group as an independent consultant providing expertise in credit risk management, risk governance, and loan review. She was previously chief credit officer of Americas & Asia of HypoVereinsbank (HVB) in New York and a member of the regional management committee. In that capacity, Ms. McVey served as a voting member of HVB’s group credit committee. Ms. McVey spent the prior 10 years with Deutsche Bank in New York as a senior risk manager covering a wide range of industries and products as well as a relationship manager for Fortune 1000 companies and highly leveraged healthcare transactions.

Ms. McVey earned a BA degree from Fordham University. She was trained and certified as a universal banker in Germany at the inception of her banking career.

Michael Tedesco joined Modern Bank in 2008 and has over 25 years of commercial banking experience. Mr. Tedesco is responsible for managing Modern Bank’s strategic direction, and safety and soundness.

Prior to joining Modern Bank in 2007, Mr. Tedesco was a Vice President and Controller of U.S.B. Holding Co., Inc. (a New York Stock Exchange Company), where he oversaw all financial and tax reporting, capital planning, and business plans. Earlier, he was an Assistant Controller of its wholly-owned commercial bank subsidiary, Union State Bank.

Mr. Tedesco earned a Master of Science in Accounting and a Master of Business Administration in Finance from Pace University. He also earned a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from Binghamton University. Mr. Tedesco has successfully completed the CPA exam. Mr. Tedesco served as the treasurer and director of People-to-People, Inc. in Rockland County. He has also served as president and director of the Rockland County Division of the American Heart Association.