Senior Vice President, Flagstar Bank, Troy
Net Income: $62.7 million // Employees: 3,778

Dounia Lievan’s father is an entrepreneur. Her mother is a social worker. Lievan grew to love both avocations — the challenge and rewards of business, and the calling of helping others. With that background, she wanted to build her career by doing something that would combine both concepts. The answer was banking. “I chose a profession that was really tough, but banking was the best opportunity to help people,” Lievan says. “You’re helping business owners get their start. You’re helping customers when they’re saving for their first home, when they have a baby, when they have a death in their family — getting through that. So it’s been a great way to make a living and a great way to make a difference in people’s lives.” After rising through the industry with positions of greater responsibility at Comerica Bank and People’s State Bank, Lievan came to Flagstar Bank and began taking on challenges to upgrade the effectiveness of the bank’s sales and service functions. As Flagstar transitioned from a mortgage bank to a full-service financial institution, it went through some “pain points” and its service ranking from J.D. Power & Associates slipped to ninth in its category. Lievan led an effort that successfully returned it to No. 2 in just a year. “We focused on all customer touchpoints and changed some of our processes and interactions to get us back toward the top,” Lievan says. — Dan Calabrese