Guilford Savings Bank
Timothy Geelan, Paul Pirotta and Renee Pallenberg
CEO, SVP/Associate Director of Marketing, and EVP/Director of Marketing, Guilford Savings Bank
Industry experience: 40,13, and 37 years
Guilford Savings Bank is rebranding to Ascend Bank in the third quarter of 2025.
The bank continues to grow, including its recent merger with Eastern Connecticut Savings Bank. The new name and brand were developed over the last year through a partnership between the bank and the Rebellion Group, a Connecticut-based strategic marketing agency.
After the ECSB merger is completed, the bank will have $1.4 billion in assets.
Q: What was the catalyst in terms of starting the rebrand process and looking to move on from GSB, and enter into a new era?
PP: The bank has been considering looking at the name for some time and really it was about as the bank has grown over such a long period of time, we have come to serve people, community businesses across the state of Connecticut. There are a number of communities we serve at this time and have for some time now. While the goal isn’t to outgrow who we are, we’re still the local community bank, we wanted to make sure that we did fairly represent all of our constituents and communities.
The idea was to look at perhaps a new name that drew from our experience and our legacy, certainly embracing it and carrying it forward, something that was authentic to who we are in terms of giving of ourselves to the communities we serve and carrying that forward. The name Ascend really seemed to work because we’ve always been about lifting up our neighbors and our businesses and creating a greater financial future for them.
TG: We’re very proud of the Guilford Savings Bank, name and legacy. It got us to a point of strength as a savings bank but really, for the last 15 or so years, we’ve been evolving to much more than a savings bank. Our commercial banking business has grown double digits. We offer wealth management, we offer things that savings banks typically don’t. So we were struggling a bit to convey that with the GSB brand, and it was a bit of a misnomer, of sorts.
Q: With the growth of the bank and with the name change, how do you aspire to maintain being a community bank while also being able to go out and get new customers and continue to grow the bank through this name change?
TG: I think that actually speaks to why we changed it, because the brand worked for a long time, but it actually didn’t pass the first impression test anymore. So to remain viable and relevant, I think it actually it helps us enhance who we already are and deliver on the value proposition, which is clients, first, certainly our employees and the communities we serve. So we intend on remaining a mutual organization, but you have to earn that every day. Of course, we got some not-so-fan mail about the name change, and have been busy with educating people on mutuality, community banking. It’s just the next chapter.
PP: At the core of who we are is not changing. It’s not a new bank. That’s not what this is all about. It’s not a reinvention. It’s really a name change to better represent who we serve across the state and to make sure that we have a platform and strong brand that allows us to deliver that kind of exceptional local community banking to more people. We continue to give back of ourselves and our time. We continue to give back in terms of financial support throughout the communities we serve and none of that changes for our current partners.
Is there going to be a period of adjustment for people who have known the name for so long? Certainly we anticipated that, but we have positive conversations. We try to explain ourselves and the rationale. I think people who understand our core values and what we’re about, understand that nothing about that’s going to change. It’s just about bringing it to greater people and numbers across the state.
Q: Obviously the new brand comes with a new design and look and feel. When you were going through the process, what did you want this new brand and new imagery to convey?
RP: I think it was as much about what we didn’t want it to represent or display. Back to when we talk about Guilford, we talk about “savings bank” and the limitations in the geographical reference to the name. So we knew we didn’t want to do that. We needed to be something that was more attractive a feeling and representative of who we are and how we are growing and serving people in larger communities. I will say too, we were careful, very careful, to not choose something that was trendy that we’d be looking at it another 10 years saying we need to start over again, this isn’t going to work. So we really felt strongly that the Ascend, reaching new financial heights, kind of captured what we do for our clients.
PP: It was really about being authentic. We went through a lot of names, and we didn’t want to be trendy. We didn’t want to be techie. It wasn’t about coming up with some out of the stratosphere kind of name. It was really just about, what’s the name that embodies what we do, and it’s really about lifting people up.
TG: We want to improve people’s finances. That’s the bottom line. If we’re enhancing their financial situation and improving their financial situation, we’re a healthier bank. Our logo is a green arrow going up to the right, hopefully that implies balances are moving higher, wealth is moving higher, and all those things. We want to be on the same side of the table with the client working to improve your finances. That’s an asset of the naming and the logo.
