Chairman, President and CEO,

ING DIRECT USA

Arkadi is the Chairman, President and CEO of ING DIRECT USA, the retail bank that offers high-value, simple financial products direct to consumers over the telephone and Internet.

Headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, ING DIRECT USA is part of ING Group of the Netherlands, one of the world’s largest financial services institutions, where he serves as a member of the General Management of ING Direct NV, a member of ING Direct NV Supervisory Board and a member of the ING Group Leadership Council. He joined ING in June 1996 as President and CEO to start up the ING DIRECT initiative in Canada.

Following the successful launch of ING DIRECT in Canada, Arkadi embarked upon the launch of ING DIRECT USA in September 2000. In just five years, ING DIRECT has led more than 3.2 million customers back to saving and has become the 4th largest thrift in the U.S.A.

Prior to ING, Arkadi's experience includes both high-level corporate and academic positions. He served as President of North American Trust, 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 in Canada. He holds several Board positions including Chairman of the Board of the Foster Parents Plan in Canada and Chairman of the Board of ING Bank of Canada. Additionally, he is on the Boards of Johnson Electric, ING US Holdings Advisory and serves on the Advisory Board of Richard Ivey School of Business. He also serves as Chairman of the ING DIRECT Kids Foundation, a non-profit organization he helped to establish to improve the lives of at-risk children around the globe and is an ambassador for ING Chances for Children, ING’s global education program. He is Honorary Chair for the “More Than Houses Campaign” for Habitat for Humanity, a charter member of the American Savings Education Council, and a member of NACD – National Association of Corporate Directors.