Community ties drive success

MAKING CONNECTIONS: Deborah Viveiros, vice president and associate relationship manager for Webster Bank, has used her native Rhode Island connections to drive business for the bank. Here she talks with Joe Monteiro, vice president, relationship manager business banking. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY
MAKING CONNECTIONS: Deborah Viveiros, vice president and associate relationship manager for Webster Bank, has used her native Rhode Island connections to drive business for the bank. Here she talks with Joe Monteiro, vice president, relationship manager business banking. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY

In December 2008, when Deborah Viveiros was 28 years old, she was recruited to manage Webster Bank’s new location in Barrington as vice president of the location.

It was her volunteer work, particularly with the Portuguese American Women’s Association, she says, that originally distinguished her from the rest of the pack for the position at Webster, a commercial bank with a network of more than 177 Northeast branches.

“They were looking for someone who is involved in the community, and loves networking, someone to bring in business,” Viveiros said.

During her time managing the Barrington branch for Webster, Viveiros, a Rhode Island native and University of Rhode Island graduate, further developed her skills in treasury services and lending. And then some.

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“Applying a combination of honed sales skills, natural leadership, and unbridled enthusiasm, Deborah consistently outperformed her peers, achieving Webster ‘Top One’ status for sales production for the next five consecutive years,” wrote Donald Troppoli, senior vice president and business banking and regional manager, in Viveiros’ nomination application.

In September 2014, Viveiros was asked to join Webster’s business-banking team as vice president and associate relationship manager of the commercial-lending division.

Viveiros excels not only in her work, but in the business community, where she champions small businesses and women in enterprise. She won the East Providence Chamber of Commerce Member of the Year Award in both 2011 and 2015, and her work has earned citations from both the governor and state Senate.

“It’s a great feeling to see businesses I’ve helped start up and then thrive as sustainable enterprises,” Viveiros wrote via email.

“With long-standing businesses in the community, they can get static or may need help through the minutia of regulation or reinventing themselves. … It’s encouraging to see entrepreneurs excited about new business. And the more business-friendly you make the community, the better you make it for the families living in it,” she said. •

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