Sallie Mae Recognized as a Leader in Board Diversity

2020 Women on Boards Recognize Sallie Mae for Third Straight Year

NEWARK, Del.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#BoardDiversity–SLM Corporation (Nasdaq: SLM) — more commonly known as Sallie Mae, the
nation’s saving, planning, and paying for college company — announced
today it has been named a Winning “W” Company for the third consecutive
year by 2020
Women on Boards for the diversity of its board of directors. Four of
Sallie Mae’s 13-member board are women.

Sallie Mae has earned this recognition every year since 2014, when the
company became a consumer banking business focused on providing private
student loans and other products to help students and families make
college happen. The “W” designation is the highest awarded by 2020 Women
on Boards, a national campaign working to increase the percentage of
women who serve on company boards to 20 percent or more by the year
2020. Of the 1,745 boards the organization evaluated in 2016, only 704 —
40 percent — achieved Winning Company status.

“To provide best-in-class service that helps students and families make
college happen, we need best-in-class talent at all levels of the
company, including our board, and that’s something that transcends
demographic distinctions,” said Raymond J. Quinlan, chairman and CEO,
Sallie Mae. “We seek diversity not only in identity, but also in
thought, opinion, personality, and experience, and we have those traits
in abundance at Sallie Mae.”

The company’s board diversity has also been acknowledged by The
Forum of Executive Women, which awarded Sallie Mae a 2016 Champion
of Diversity award for being a public company in the Philadelphia region
with 25 percent or more women on its board. According to “Women
on Boards 2016,” a report produced annually by The Forum and PwC,
Sallie Mae is one of only 19 companies in the region to qualify for the
Champion of Diversity award.

More information about 2020 Woman on Boards is available at 2020wob.com.
For more information and free tools and tips about saving, planning, and
paying for college visit SallieMae.com.

Sallie Mae (Nasdaq: SLM) is the nation’s saving, planning, and
paying for college company. Whether college is a long way off or just
around the corner, Sallie Mae offers products that promote responsible
personal finance, including private education loans, Upromise rewards,
scholarship search, college financial planning tools, and online retail
banking. Learn more at SallieMae.com.
Commonly known as Sallie Mae, SLM Corporation and its subsidiaries are
not sponsored by or agencies of the United States of America.

Contacts

Sallie Mae
Beth K. Toll, 302-451-4985
Beth.toll@salliemae.com