Kim D. Saunders, who ran a financial consulting firm after leading banks in Richmond, Washington and Raleigh-Durham, N.C., has died.

Involved in banking and financial services industry for 40 years, Ms. Saunders earned plaudits for her expertise in management, lending, credit administration, asset management and community and economic development.

Ms. Saunders, 62, succumbed to illness on Saturday, July 29, 2023, in Durham, N.C., where she was living.

Her life will be celebrated 11 a.m. Friday, Aug. 25, at Bethlehem Church of God in Washington, D.C., according to the J.B. Jenkins Funeral Home.

Ms. Saunders was just the second woman to lead Consolidated Bank & Trust Co. in Richmond. The bank was founded by Richmond business leader Maggie L. Walker in 1903. Mrs. Walker led the bank until her death nearly 30 years later.

In 2003, Ms. Saunders was brought in to replace the manage- ment that led the bank into serious financial trouble after 100 years of operation. As president and chief executive officer, she guided Consolidated’s sale to a Washington institution in 2005

and remained at the helm for two years during the transition. She also served on the boards of the Virginia Port Authority and the Virginia Housing Authority while president of Consolidated.

In 2007, she was tapped to serve as president and chief executive officer of the then 100-year-old Durham-based Mechanics and Farmers Bank. During her seven-year tenure, she was credited with leading the bank’s first acquisition in 86 years and helping the institution double its asset base to more than $300 million.

Ms. Saunders left Mechanics and Farmers Bank in 2014 to become founding president and chief executive officer of Eads Consulting Group, which she created to help community banks and community development financial institutions improve their management and become more strategic in their lending.

She was still leading the consulting group at the time of her death.

Ms. Saunders began her banking career after graduating in 1982 with a degree in finance and economics from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

Marked as a leader, she rose relatively quickly from entry level to management.

Within 12 years, she had become the executive vice president and chief lending officer for Enterprise Federal Savings Bank. She spent three years there and then moved on to City First

Bank of D.C., where she served as executive vice president and chief lending officer for five years and served as interim president during the illness of the president.

Her experience resulted in her being brought to Richmond to become president and chief executive officer of Consolidated.

Ms. Saunders was a former member of community bank advisory committees and councils of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Richmond Federal Reserve Bank. She also served on the board of the National Bankers Association.

Ms. Saunders also served as treasurer of the North Carolina Museum of the Arts Foundation, and was a member of the board and audit committee of the United Way of the Greater Triangle of Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, and of the board of visitors of the Wake Forest Baptist Health Medical Center.