Diane Arnold
President and CEO, Essex Savings Bank
Age: 57
Industry experience: 38 years
Diane Arnold had a summer job in Branford as a bank teller, but after graduating from college, she began working in the insurance industry. That career was short-lived, though, after Arnold received a call from Gregory Shook asking her to return to the bank and go through a management training program. She has been in banking ever since, working on commercial lending.
Shook went on to become president and CEO of Essex Savings Bank, where he retired this summer after leading the bank for 22 years. Arnold, who had joined Essex Savings Bank in 2002, took over as president and CEO on Aug. 1. She is the bank’s 18th president and its first woman leader. Essex Savings Bank has six branches and about $534 million in assets.
Q: What are your goals for Essex Savings Bank?
A: We definitely plan to remain an independent mutual bank. I think we’re a good resource and partner for our customers, which is important, because banking is changing a lot these days. It’s important to me to retain and grow our staff and continue to be an integral part of our community and carry on our 170-, almost 171-year legacy.
Q: What are some challenges that you expect to face?
A: I think the biggest challenge for all banks, but especially community banks, is the regulatory environment. The regulations are written in such a way that whether we’re Bank of America or Essex Savings Bank, we have to adhere to the same standards in many respects, which takes a lot of time and resources. That can certainly be challenging.
One of the other challenges is just the talent pipeline. Banking as an industry overall has a lot of older folks working in it, and we have to figure out how to get the next generation in here, so that they’re ready to take over when we all retire.
Q: Do you have ideas on how to get that next generation in?
A: We’re going to do – I’m loosely terming it – an emerging leaders program. It’s something I hope to formulate in the coming months to put together a more formal structure of training and development for that next level, so that they can move up into middle management with the hope and expectation that at one point they all make their way right on up to the senior management level.
Q: Are there challenges with getting some of these potential leaders interested in banking or community banking?
A: There are a few in-house that I think have great potential, so I’m hoping to grow them organically. But I think in general, we all know the workforce is challenging across the board. The banking industry 30 years ago was a popular choice for kids coming out of school, and it just seems that that hasn’t been the case. It hasn’t really been a career choice for a long time. And I think we need to understand what to do to reach those college graduates to let them know that banking can be a great career and that there’s lots of opportunity.
Q: What there are some opportunities for Essex Savings Bank within your market?
A: We’ve been seeing a lot of both merger and acquisition activity and branch closings from some of the larger institutions in our immediate market. That’s created some great opportunity for us. While we do so much electronically in banking, people still want a branch; they still want to be able to talk to somebody.
Q: What are your thoughts on M&A and how it’s reshaping the Connecticut banking industry?
A: I think it’s a shame that the industry is shrinking as much as it is. I think at the end of the day, you’re going to end up with small community banks and large regional banks. It seems like those middle-of-the-road banks are the ones that are being caught up in the merger and acquisition phase right now. I worry about the choices that it will leave for consumers overall.
But at the end of the day, it’s actually a good thing for community banks like mine. I think it certainly gives us opportunities to continue to grow and reach businesses that are kind of disenfranchised with the mergers and acquisitions.
Q: What has it been like to take over as CEO in this environment during the pandemic?
A: Well, there’s no doubt that I face some headwinds that we didn’t face previously. You just deal with it as it comes along, and we’ll figure out what to do. I was the chief lending officer prior to taking over as CEO. When the pandemic hit, I handled the implementation of PPP and the forbearances on the mortgages and all the rest of that. It was a great lesson in how to handle challenges in a quickly changing environment. So, I get to take those lessons with me now to the next level and adapt as things move forward.
Q: What are your thoughts on being Essex Savings Bank’s first female CEO and being a female CEO in the banking industry?
A: Well, there are now six of us in the state of Connecticut. So thankfully, I’m in good company. Coming through the commercial side of the banking world, I’ve always been in the male-dominated side and never really focused on the fact that I was a female banker, just that I was a banker. When I first got into this role, I thought I would view this the same, until others pointed out that it’s important to be a role model for the women coming up behind me to see that there are no more ceilings. You can achieve whatever you want to achieve in your career. So, because of that, I’ve decided to embrace that a little bit more and try to be that role model and that mentor for some of the other women coming up the ranks behind me. I think they need to know that if they work hard, they can achieve anything.
Arnold’s Five Favorite Boating Destinations
- Coecles Harbor
- Cuttyhunk
- Greenport
- Mystic
- Mattatuck
