CIBC names Harry Culham as next CEO as Victor Dodig prepares to retire

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce appointed Harry Culham to succeed chief executive Victor Dodig, who will retire in November after leading the nation’s fifth-largest lender for more than a decade.

Culham, a former intern in CIBC’s Vancouver office who now leads its capital-markets arm, will become chief operating officer on April 1, the bank said Thursday in a statement. After handing the reins to Culham on Nov. 1, Dodig will remain as an adviser to the new CEO and the board through April 2026.

Dodig, 59, who invested in technology upgrades and spent years transforming the bank to focus more on client relationships, said it’s never the perfect time to leave.

“At a personal level, by the end of this, it’ll be more than 11 years,” he said in an interview. “We’re really coming into our own in terms of what’s been achieved.”

The transition will cap more than two decades at the bank for Dodig, who became CEO in 2014. And after weathering years of investor frustration over its underperforming stock, amid concerns over CIBC’s exposure to United States office loans, his pending departure comes at a relative high point.

CIBC has worked through the credit woes, kept a tight grip on expenses, targeted wealthy Canadian clients and focused on private companies south of the border. Its stock had been on a tear, returning more than 50 per cent in the 12 months through January, before US President Donald Trump’s trade war upended global markets. The shares have dropped 12 per cent since.

“When you’re in the seat here as captain for over a decade, you don’t cling on to the role,” Dodig said. “It feels great because Harry’s a great partner.”

Culham, who has been part of the bank’s executive team since 2015, said he doesn’t foresee