Courtesy/Machias Savings Bank
Larry Barker, CEO of Machias Savings Bank
Updated: November 13, 2020
Machias Savings bulks up leadership to pursue growth, keep community links
Photos / Courtesy Machias Savings Bank
From left, Jonathan Alley, Dean Clark and Jill Saucier will serve as regional senior vice presidents at Machias Savings Bank under a leadership restructuring set to take effect at the start of 2021. A fourth regional senior vice president has not yet been named.
Machias Savings Bank on Friday unveiled a leadership restructuring plan it says will allow the bank to "stay local" while pursuing growth. Set to take effect at the start of 2021, the new structure includes two new executive positions, including chief banking officer, and four regional senior vice presidents.
"We have grown this company one great employee and one new customer at a time. That's how we expect to continue to grow," Larry Barker, the bank's CEO, told Mainebiz in a phone interview earlier this week. "We have to be Maine's best big small bank."
The announcement follows the bank's recent move into a new $5 million downtown headquarters building at 31 Main St., Machias, which Barker said employees are "absolutely loving." The energy-efficient building includes 142 rooftop solar panels in which the bank invested $15,000.
In Friday's press release about the leadership changes, Barker shed further light on the plan.
"We've taken a multifaceted approach to outlining this new structure, which we believe will better line us up to deliver our vision of business relationships that move Maine forward," he said.
"We recognize that as the business environment changes, we need more dedicated executive-level attention on evolving aspects of our organization, but don't want to lose the community connection that's been such a huge part of our culture as a bank since the beginning."
Under the plan the bank is calling a strategic restructuring, every member of the senior team has been promoted to executive vice president.
The promotions include the newly created executive leadership positions of chief banking officer and chief data analytics and product officer.
Christian Lyford, previously chief operating officer, will serve as chief banking officer, while Nicole Pellenz has been promoted to chief data analytics and product officer. She was previously senior vice president for deposit relationships.
'Break down silos'
Barker explained to Mainebiz that while previously retail and business or commercial banking were run as separate departments, both will now be overseen by Lyford.
"We wanted to break down those silos," Barker said. "We've had market teams we've been trying to encourage to work together, and I believe this is the next step in the evolution of that work — taking it to yet another level."
Machias Savings Bank, which has around $1.8 billion in assets, has 16 branches from Portland to Calais and about 285 employees.
Beyond the senior level promotions, Machias Savings Bank is introducing four new regional senior vice president positions, with Jonathan Alley leading the Downeast and Northern markets; Jill Saucier managing the Midcoast market; and Dean Clark heading the Central market.
A fourth regional senior vice president, for the Southern market, has not yet been named and will be managed for the time being by Chris Fitzpatrick, who will stay in his role as chief lending officer.
As part of the reorganization, there are two additional promotions to senior vice president roles: Kari Reynolds to senior vice president leading a new relationship support department, which includes loan serving, customer service and deposit services; and Lucas Morris as senior vice president, senior credit officer, overseeing business loan processing and underwriting.
Among other details, Peter Greene will fill Lyford’s former role as chief operating officer; Traci Sanborn will remain chief customer experience officer; Nate Martell will fill the role of chief risk officer, with a focus on enterprise risk management; Matt Walsh will continue as chief financial officer; and Danielle Caricofe will remain as chief human resources officer.
Southern Maine growth focus
Barker told Mainebiz earlier this week that there are no other hiring plans at this moment, and that Machias Savings Bank would focus in the next three to five years exclusively on the state of Maine with significant growth in the southern part of the state.
"We don't intend in the short term to add any additional locations," he said. "We haven't been bricks and mortar historically, which certainly has played out well given the way digital banking has exploded."
Asked about the mix of retail versus business banking, he said the latter has historically accounted for about three-quarters of the bank's balance sheet.
"We continue to work hard to take care of both retail and business customers," he added, saying the mix has "held pretty steady" over the years.
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