Chairman and President of

ING DIRECT USA

Affectionately referred to as "The CEO of Savings" by his associates, Arkadi is the chairman and president of ING DIRECT USA, the retail bank that offers simple financial products direct to consumers over the telephone and internet. When ING DIRECT's online banking concept was introduced to the United States in 2000, analysts predicted it would be a failure. Nine years later, under Kuhlmann's leadership, ING DIRECT has grown to become the country’s largest savings bank with more than $90 billion in assets, and has led more than 7.7 million Customers back to saving.

Prior to ING DIRECT, Arkadi's experience includes both high-level corporate and academic positions. He served as President of North American Trust and CEO of Deak International Incorporated and held various executive positions at the Royal Bank of Canada. His academic experience includes teaching at the American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird) in Phoenix, Arizona, where he was a professor of International Finance and Investment Banking.

Arkadi received an Honors B.A. in Business Administration along with an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. He serves as chairman of the board of ING DIRECT Canada and is a member of the Global Management Team for ING DIRECT N.V., and ING DIRECT N.V. Supervisory Board. He is on the ING Foundation Board, ING Americas Advisory Board, ING Direct Council, and the ING Group Leadership Council. Additionally, he serves as chairman of the Advisory Board of the Richard Ivey School of Business.