David Lentini, chairman and chief executive officer of Hartford-based The Connecticut Bank & Trust Co., now serves on the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s board of directors.
David Lentini has come a long way from working his way through accounting school by pumping gas and repairing cars. The chairman and chief executive officer of the successful Hartford-based The Connecticut Bank & Trust Co. has just completed his first month as a member of the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
Lentini, along with some colleagues, opened The Connecticut Bank & Trust in 2004. It has since become, he believes, the fastest-growing bank in state history.
He started his banking career with the first Connecticut Bank & Trust, a bank that was one of the state’s largest right up through the early 1990s. In the 1980s it merged with Bank of New England, which quickly ran into trouble and was sold by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to Fleet Bank, a now-defunct institution that was based in Boston. Fleet absorbed all of the CBT branches but didn’t protect the name, so Lentini and the other founders adopted it for their de novo bank.
Lentini started out at the old CBT in 1965. He was working at a filling station and repair shop and going to accounting school, when one day an advertisement caught his eye.
“I saw a note on the bulletin board that said, ‘How would you like to be a banker?'” he said.
It was posted by CBT, and he responded. He started working as a runner and a check processor, making $1.15 an hour.
“It was about the lowest you can get,” Lentini said.
But he didn’t remain at the bottom of the corporate ladder for long.
“I actually rose through the ranks,” he said. He became a supervisor, then a manager. It wasn’t long before his superiors realized he was good at solving problems, a skill that would affect his career for years to come.
“Wherever a problem was, I seemed to be transferred to it,” he said.
He had 14 jobs during his 21 years at the old CBT. It was annoying at times, Lentini said, because as soon as he started to get to know a department and the people in it, he would be transferred. But the experience helped make him a well-rounded banker.
“I ended up knowing a lot about banking,” he said.
His last job at the old Connecticut Bank & Trust was on the corporate banking side, dealing with large clients such as Travelers Insurance. His reputation preceded him into the world outside of CBT.
“When it came my turn to go out in the world, I was recruited,” he said.
‘It’s Been Amazing’
Northeast Savings in Hartford, a conglomeration of several banks that were all close to failing, recruited Lentini to help save the institutions. After spending some time there, he started the Bank of South Windsor in 1989. It was very successful, and was the first time he served as president of a bank. He was then recruited to help fix the ailing New England Community Bank in Windsor, which he did. Waterbury-based Webster Bank acquired that institution, so he worked there for awhile before deciding to start the new Connecticut Bank & Trust, also known as The CBT.
The new bank is growing quickly, with branches all over central Connecticut.
“We are, we believe, Connecticut’s fastest-growing bank ever,” Lentini said.
The bank has surpassed the $100 million mark in loans, and Lentini is enjoying the ride.
“In two years and nine months, it’s been amazing,” he noted. “You don’t want to work if you’re not having fun.”
With his 41 years of experience as a Connecticut banker, Lentini is excited to work on the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s board of directors. His tenure started at the beginning of this year, and he hopes to bring a good perspective to the board.
“I’m just happy to deliver from Connecticut the news of our economy and how our people are feeling, and how Hartford is doing,” he said. That news, he added, might not reach the board otherwise.
The rest of his job on the board will be to help set policy, and to help name the new president of the Boston Fed, when current President Cathy E. Minehan steps down sometime this year.
“If you look at the Fed’s job, which is pretty broad, it obviously helps control monetary policy,” he said.
The board helps in that strategic direction and is part of an effort that stretches across the entire country. There are 12 Federal Reserve districts throughout the United States.
“You see a lot of issues with technology at the Fed level, which the board looks at,” he said.
Lentini, one of three new members of the board, is a Class A director. The Federal Reserve Act requires that each Federal Reserve Bank have nine directors. Three Class A directors represent member banks in the district, while three Class B directors and three Class C directors are selected with due consideration to the interests of agriculture, commerce, industry, services, labor and consumers.
Member banks elect Class A and Class B directors. The board of governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, D.C., appoints Class C directors and from that group designates the chairman and deputy chairman.
Lentini also serves as a director of the St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford and is a trustee and treasurer of the St. Francis Foundation.
