Lisa Casper
If you ask Lisa Casper, it was inevitable she would get into banking. If you ask her colleagues, it was inevitable she would be named a Woman of FIRE.
Thinking back on her career now, the New Jersey native recalls that most of her high school classmates entered the financial services world in one capacity or another. She also had a close family member who worked in the banking business and a natural aptitude for math and numbers.
“There’s always an answer,” she told The Commercial Record when asked what she loves about her job. “Whenever you’re analyzing and reviewing and working through situations, whether it’s for an earnings call or anything else, there’s always got to be an answer. It’s relatively black and white, although there is some gray in there. So I enjoy analyzing and researching and figuring out what’s going on.”
Over the years, Casper has put her aptitude and expertise to work in aspects of banking like loan review and reporting and analytics. Often, she’s been the only woman in the room, but she credits an early mentor of hers with helping her navigate the male-dominated world of banking.
“Her name was Amanda, and I still keep in touch with her. I’d like to think that she gave me the polish I needed,” Casper said. “She taught me to really evaluate and look at what I was doing, making sure I tend to take another look at stuff. … She did a lot for me. She was always questioning me. She spent a lot of time with me.”
That mentorship has clearly served Casper well throughout her career, and her colleagues couldn’t praise her enough, particularly Oona Robinson, who has been deputy CFO at Webster Bank for about a year.
“I’m new to the organization, and I’ll work with her and she’ll release a product that far exceeds what I was thinking,” she said of working with Casper. “She’s made me look really good in this past year. And she has such a broad perspective of Webster. She’s been an invaluable part of my ability to be successful.”
Robinson also admires Casper’s hands-on approach to all facets of her life, from her work to her kids to caring for her elderly parents. With a seemingly boundless reserve of energy, perhaps it’s unsurprising that Casper runs to help decompress from work. (She’s also run roughly 15 marathons, but who’s counting?)
“Her job is to always steer the ship straight,” Robinson said. “I don’t need to be in the room to know that Lisa can deal with the executives by herself and we’ll have a very good outcome. She’ll have a good, balanced dialogue and help do the right thing for the franchise.”
