13 minute read
Honoring The Best
HONORING THE BEST
A Recognition Of The Top Women In Banking
At Banking New England, we honor the growing impact that women are having on the banking industry. This special feature shines a light on the many trailblazers who are leading the way for others in this once maledominated area.
The women being honored were selected thanks to readers’ nominations. They let us know who makes significant contributions in the credit unions and community banks across New England.
Please read their stories on the following pages to see what they have accomplished both professionally and in civic and volunteer capacities to impact their institutions, industry and communities!
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KATELIN CWIEKA
KATELIN CWIEKA | AVP - Communications Manager Avidia Bank
How did you get into this field? What keeps you motivated to stay?
I came into banking from a digital marketing and web design agency. At the time, Avidia Bank was looking to undergo a digital transformation, so I was brought on board to help with those initiatives. I’m really proud of what we have accomplished and there’s so much more that lies ahead, which is why I’m excited to keep doing the work that I do.
What is the importance of mentoring and is this something that you focus on?
Mentoring is so important, especially for women. It keeps us focused on the goals ahead and open doors to new connections and opportunities. Mentorship goes beyond providing guidance, it also involves listening when things get tough and advocating for a person even in sometimes the subtlest of ways, all of which makes a dramatic difference.
What do you consider your greatest success?
While it’s difficult to pinpoint one moment because I often find that success is found in consistent moments of satisfaction, one of my biggest moments was getting on stage at the ABA Bank Marketing Conference in Nashville to speak.
PAMELA FEINGOLD
PAMELA FEINGOLD | Senior Vice President and Group Director of Community Development Lending Eastern Bank
How did you get into this field? What keeps you motivated to stay?
My career in community development lending began in 1992 when I [went] to a meeting with the late Kip Tiernan, founder of Rosie’s Place. Kip was my inspiration for taking this social agenda to another level by using my professional skills and knowledge. I don’t think of this line of work as solely banking—it’s more of a mission. That’s what keeps me motivated—collaborating with others to provide safe, stable, and affordable homes.
What is your favorite book?
My favorite book is “The Middle Place” by Kelly Corrigan. It’s about the author’s experience with balancing the responsibilities and pressures of being a parent and a caretaker of elder parents, while also having breast cancer. As a cancer survivor, her story resonated with my experience. I loved that she had a humorous outlook.
What do you consider your greatest success?
When I reflect on my career, I feel proud about having built a vibrant team of nearly a dozen deeply committed lenders. They’re not just lenders, but also community advocates.
MARIA HESKES-ALLARD
MARIA HESKES-ALLARD | Senior Vice President / Senior Lender Bay State Savings Bank
Have you had any great female mentors?
What is the importance of mentoring and is this something that you focus on? One of my biggest supporters and first mentor was one of my first managers. I was just a twenty something year old starting in my first real job and knew very little about banking. My boss could have treated me differently or dismissed me. He recognized my drive to learn, my willingness to work very hard, and my strong work ethic. In the 10 years I spent reporting to him, I learned more than I could have ever imagined.
What is your favorite movie?
I have so many great memories of watching “Sound of Music” with my mother and my sister. It is such a happy and just makes me sing. We need more joy and song in our days.
What do you consider your greatest success?
Worcester has been going through a renaissance, including the immediate downtown real estate market, significant renovation projects, and construction of Polar Park. Bay State Savings Bank is excited to be located in the middle of this activity.
COURTNEY JINJIKA
COURTNEY JINJIKA | Senior Vice President/ Regional Retail Leader KeyBank
How did you get into banking, and what keeps you motivated to stay?
My brother encouraged me to go into banking as that was his career as well. Our focus at KeyBank is financial wellness and that mirrors what keeps me personally motivated. My strong desire to help others comes into focus daily in my professional life. KeyBank provides me resources to best support my community and ensure that each day we make an impact on a client that can change lives.
Have you had any great mentors along the way?
What is the importance of mentoring and is this something that you focus on? Through my years in banking I have had many great formal and informal mentors. My greatest mentor is my father who encourages me, allows me to talk through things, and is a great sounding board. My most recent mentor, Brian Fishel, KeyBank chief human resources officer, encourages me to research, learn, and approach a question from multiple standpoints. Being a mentor is also very important to me. I consistently encourage KeyBank employees to utilize our internal program Keys2Mentor program where I serve as a mentor as well.
WENDY E. KAGAN
WENDY E. KAGAN | Executive Vice President, Director of Employee and Community Engagement BankNewport
How did you get into this field? What keeps you motivated to stay?
I came into the banking profession through the human resources world. Now that I have been in banking for over 20 years I can say with confidence I consider myself a “banker.” I am motivated to stay in banking because I have continued to stretch the “status quo” … to continuously try new things, and reach new challenges.
What is your favorite book?
My favorite book is “Ahab’s Wife” written by Sena Jeter Naslund. It is an uplifting, beautifully written story of a woman’s spiritual journey, filled with humanity, wisdom, tragedy and triumph, all wrapped in our New England history.
What do you consider your greatest success?
Honestly, I consider my greatest success the credibility and reputation that I have built in the community. And at the core of my being I take pride in demonstrating authentic leadership with my teams and colleagues, through openness, trust, and reinforcement of their individual and collective value – and how together our commitment to the bank and its mission truly does impact our communities.
TERESA KNOX
TERESA KNOX | Senior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, American Eagle Financial Credit Union
Highlights from the nomination for Teresa:
As chief operating officer and highest-ranking woman at American Eagle Financial Credit Union, Teresa Knox led many initiatives that now define the credit union in 2020.
During her 17-year tenure at American Eagle, Teresa led the expansion of the credit union’s branch network to 18, having overseen 10 new office openings, including its first one in New Haven County. Today, American Eagle serves 155,000 members in Hartford, Middlesex, New Haven, Tolland counties in Connecticut and Hampden County in Massachusetts.
Teresa’s commitment to business excellence is also apparent in her myriad community endeavors. She is a board member of Credit Unions Building Financial Independence, a nonprofit foundation of the Credit Union League of Connecticut dedicated to building economic capacity, community impact and financial inclusion. Teresa participates in Financial Reality Fairs, a hands-on experience in which students, after identifying their career choice and starting salaries, are provided a budget sheet requiring them to live within their monthly salary. Teresa refers to this as a “labor of love” in providing real world advice and “adulting” to more than 34,000 Connecticut high school students, to date.
PATTY OSTROUT
PATTY OSTROUT | Senior Vice President / Retail Banking North Brookfield Savings Bank
How did you get into this field? What keeps you motivated to stay?
I entered initially as a teller when I crossed paths with my high school acquaintance’s mother, [who] mentioned a position was available at Spencer Savings Bank … and that was the beginning of my 34-year journey in banking. The relationships I have built with those that I have helped, served, worked with, learned from, mentored, and cared for, [have kept me] motivated over my career.
Have you had any great female mentors? What is the importance of mentoring?
I have had many female mentors throughout my career. Donna Boulanger, the president and CEO of North Brookfield Savings Bank, … is a very strong businesswomen and leader. She has a wealth of knowledge and experience that she shares with her staff. I am very focused on mentoring and find it essential to the success of any business or individual.
What do you consider your greatest success?
My family. As a mother of two sons and one daughter, a grandmother to five, and a dog mom to my Great Danes, I consider my greatest success my family.
JENNIFER PENSA
JENNIFER PENSA | EVP, Director of Operations and Technology Chelsea Groton Bank
How did you get into this field? What keeps you motivated to stay?
I found my way to Banking through a role as the Executive Director of a Chamber of Commerce. In that role I worked closely with the leadership of the local community Bank and when I needed to work more than part time I joined their team and found a fantastic fit with my skill set. The past several months have been the most challenging of my career, but I think overcoming these challenges as a team has motivated me to work harder and smarter each day.
What do you consider your greatest success?
I am tough, I have high expectations and I push hard. I feel successful when my team has worked side by side, aligned to our bank strategy and we are having fun! Honestly, my greatest professional success was having my team recognize me through the nomination of this award. That means more to me than anything else. At the end of the day, my role is to guide, mentor and provide resource for them so that we can meet our goals.
JANET D. RAYMOND
JANET D. RAYMOND | Executive Vice President, Chief Lending Officer St. Mary’s Bank
How did you get into this field? What keeps you motivated to stay?
In the summer following my first year of college, in the mid 1970’s, I was working part-time. I wanted more hours so I stopped at a bank to see if I could fill up my time. Banking is dynamic and never boring or stagnant.
What is the importance of mentoring and is this something that you focus on?
Early in my career, I found myself choosing to be the mentor of young women in banking, although few were entering the male dominated industry in the 1980’s and I still find that to be the case today. We think we have come so far, however, there still are few women executives in commercial banking and banking / credit unions in general. Young women need to see someone like themselves succeed, allowing them to imagine their future as an executive.
What do you consider your greatest success?
I like to thing my greatest success has been making women leading in banking look natural and influencing the careers of many accomplished women.
MARIANNE STOWELL
MARIANNE STOWELL | First Vice President, Commercial Banking Relationship Manager Berkshire Bank
Highlights from the nomination for Marianne:
Marianne Stowell is an extremely dedicated and hard-working banker. She has been in banking for her entire 30-year career. In addition to her role at Berkshire as a first vice president and commercial relationship manager she has always been involved with community, especially with economic development effort.
In her role at Berkshire for the past seven years she has been involved with the Berkshire Bank Foundation in terms of identifying and maintaining levels of support in the local community. Also, she worked with internal partners and some not for profit clients to identify needs and try to work towards solutions to make banking services available to more people.
The current situation is a challenging one and Marianne rises to the challenge. She exceeds in credits analysis, commercial banking and she has a lot of common sense to understand the situation. The amount of times that she dedicates to review packages and providing solutions is amazing.
Marianne, a graduate of Westfield State University with a degree in Business/Finance, is always there to provide assistance.
CARMEN F. SYLVESTER
CARMEN F. SYLVESTER | President and CEO Southern Mass Credit Union
Highlights from Carmen Sylvester’s nomination:
Carmen joined Southern Mass Credit Union as president and CEO in August 2017. Carmen quickly realized the credit union was a diamond in the rough in an area that had great growth potential. When she joined there was not a formal organizational chart and she knew the credit union would need a strong management team to take SMCU to the next level. Over several months, she hired a team of six knowledgeable, experienced banking professionals to lead in lending, accounting, human resources, marketing, operations, and information technology.
When Carmen joined the credit union, assets were $205 million, and the year ended with assets at $210 million and lending originations at $35 million. With the diversification of the loan portfolio in 2018, assets grew to $222 million and lending originations grew by 97% to $67 million. During 2018 and 2019, additional changes were implemented within product offerings, and operational efficiencies were realized through streamlining several processes. 2019 ended with $251 million in assets, and originations grew by 35% to $91 million. As of June 2020, assets were $281 million: a 37% growth in three years.
AMY WALSH
AMY WALSH | Senior Vice President, Senior Relationship Manager Bank of America
How did you get into this field? What keeps you motivated to stay?
My first real job was as a management trainee in the consumer bank. I realized quickly that my passion is helping small business clients. It started with interest and motivation in hearing how and why folks started their businesses and evolved into helping owners and senior managers realize their financial goals and helping their employees.
Have you had any great female mentors? What is the importance of mentoring and is this something that you focus on?
The first and most important role model was my mother. She raised three girls as a single mom (while working at a bank!). Qualities that I look for are: someone who is trustworthy, with some kind of expertise, significant experience and lots of patience! I also agree to mentor when asked.
What is your favorite book? Why?
Eckhart Tolle’s “A New Earth” I read it ten years ago and I am reading it again. It takes forever to get through a chapter. Each time I pick it up I gain new perspective and understanding. It is an amazing, transformational book!
AILEEN ZEC
AILEEN ZEC | Senior Vice President & Chief Operating Officer North Easton Savings Bank
How did you get into this field? What keeps you motivated to stay?
I started my career auditing banks and was hired part-time by a client to manage their accounting department. This arrangement afforded me the luxury of having time to spend with my young children and advance my career at the same time. The best part is that I love what I do. I take a lot of pride in and derive a great amount of satisfaction from the work that we do.
Have you had any great female mentors? What is the importance of mentoring and is this something you focus on?
I can think of two: an accounting professor I had at Simmons College and my boss at the audit firm. They showed me it was possible to be compassionate, professional, and perform with high standards. Mentoring is a huge part of my responsibility here at the bank. Fostering a relationship of mutual respect, teaching by example, encouraging people to be creative and go out of their comfort zone, offering my advice are all things I strive to be good at every day.
