PEYTON R. PATTERSON – ‘Honored’ by recognition
The country’s 14th most powerful woman in banking is right in your backyard.
Peyton R. Patterson, chairman, president and chief executive officer of New Haven Savings Bank, has been honored with that distinction by U.S. Banker magazine.
The publication recently compiled its first-ever list of “The 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking” from among 1,000 candidates gleaned from nearly 4,700 top female banking executives.
The magazine judged the candidates according to position and responsibility, financial performance, length of time in banking, career path, management style, community ties and industry influence.
“I am honored to have received this award,” Patterson said. “I view it as an award that recognizes me not only as a woman, but also as someone with dreams as an individual and a businessperson.”
Patterson, 47, has been in the industry for more than two decades, and has held senior executive positions with several of the best-known financial names in the Northeast.
She started her career at Corestates/Philadelphia National Bank in 1983. Six years later, she moved to Chemical Bank and worked her way up to becoming senior vice president in charge of national consumer lending.
In 1997, Patterson became executive vice president of consumer financial services at Dime Savings Bank in New York. Finally, in 2002, she was named to her present position at New Haven Savings Bank.
“I got into banking by accident. I had a choice out of business school of going into banking or working at Hewlitt Packard. I picked banking because that allowed me to use my analytical skills, my very strong love of people and my strong marketing and sales skills,” Patterson said.
At that time, the banking industry was seeking to change the traditionally conservative nature of the business to be more sales- and marketing-oriented, which was what attracted Patterson to the profession.
“And I’ve never been incredibly adept at computers,” she added with a laugh.
‘Expecting Results’
Patterson’s adroitness at marketing, however, is evident. Recently, New Haven Savings Bank customers could enter drawings to win such prizes as having a meal cooked by bank executives – including Patterson – in their own homes.
“I like seeing results. I like forming teams of people and leaders around me, making things happen, being successful at them … taking pride in what’s been accomplished,” said Patterson. “I have a very flat organization. My success is only as a result of the people I have around me.”
The board at New Haven Savings Bank, or NHSB, brought Patterson to the 165-year-old bank because of “her history of being able to jumpstart momentum at financial institutions, and her strong belief in community banking,” according to a public statement by the board.
“Our confidence in her and her team has been confirmed in numerous ways, but most notably with the pending acquisitions of Savings Bank of Manchester and Tolland Bank, and the proposed plans to convert the bank to public ownership,” the board stated.
Patterson announced the simultaneous mergers and conversion this past July. Provided the mergers are approved by regulators, the newly created bank will be called NewAlliance Bank and will maintain headquarters in New Haven. The conversion is expected to be finalized in January. Patterson will serve as the chairman, president and chief executive officer of the new holding company and bank.
Currently, New Haven Savings Bank is the largest hometown bank serving the New Haven community, with 36 branches and $2.4 billion in assets. Savings Bank of Manchester has 28 branches and $2.6 billion in assets. Tolland Bank has nine branches and $420.8 million in assets.
Once the acquisitions and conversion to stock ownership are completed, NewAlliance Bank will become the second-largest savings bank and the fifth-largest bank overall in Connecticut, with 73 branches, $5.3 billion in assets, $3.8 billion in deposits and equity of about $460 million.
Patterson and her team determined that the undertaking had to satisfy three tests.
“One, it had to be good for the bank, and make a very strong financial and business case,” Patterson said. “Two, it had to be good for the community. And three, which is very important: This company is about the people, and it had to be good for the employees, not only in terms of career paths, but also in terms of training capabilities.”
With the downturn of the local economy and the resulting increase in competition for market share among banks, NHSB’s customer base declined in the past four years, and earnings decreased by 27 percent. Meanwhile, the bank’s expenses increased faster than income and revenue, as explained by the bank’s board.
But not everyone in the community is sold on the move. Some citizens, according to local newspapers, see the pending mergers and acquisitions as the next steps in the selling-out of one of the few hometown banks remaining in the area.
But Patterson is hanging tough, convinced that the move is the only one capable of ensuring the future viability and stability of the bank.
“Not everybody agrees with what we’re doing,” said Patterson, adding that those people are the minority and that she hopes they will ultimately see the benefit of the proposed changes.
“The second challenge is never losing sight of what’s being expected of us,” Patterson added. “We’re empowering people, but we’re really expecting results. With the size of this transaction, we can’t afford to miss a beat.”
NHSB also announced that it will be funding a new community foundation with $30 million in conversion stock, which would immediately make it one of the largest private foundations serving the Greater New Haven area.
The move echoes Patterson’s own personal commitment to community involvement: she serves on the board of the March of Dimes of Greater New York and is the organization’s co-chairwoman in Connecticut. She also serves on the board of the Yale-New Haven Hospital System, the Arts Council, the United Way of Greater New Haven and the Regional Growth Partnership.
“Connecticut is a wonderful place to be a leader in banking. It’s a great state with a diverse set of businesses, a wonderful set of customers from a personal and business point of view,” said Patterson. “The challenges, generally speaking, are that the industry is consolidating. Given the attractiveness of Connecticut, there are a lot of out-of-state larger players in the state.”
About 65 percent of all deposits in Connecticut are owned by out-of-state banks, according to Patterson.
“We see the action we’re taking as a Connecticut thing: We’re standing up for local jobs, economic development, community support, and we’re protecting the interests of the state,” Patterson said.
With so much going on in her career, Patterson also must find time to be a wife and mother. Every day brings new challenges in managing multiple priorities: professionally, striking a balance between what’s best from a financial point of view and a community standpoint; personally, striking a balance between family and business life.
“I have a 6-year-old daughter, and there’s a limited amount of time during the day, physically and mentally, and you need to be a star in both camps,” Patterson said.
But, characteristically, Patterson is up to the challenge.
“For me personally, I’m fulfilling a dream. It’s what gets me up in the morning, as a wife and mother, as well as a businessperson.”
