The career lessons started early for Joseph L. Silva.

When he was young, Silva said he was called upon to pitch in at his family’s restaurant in Cranston, doing pretty much anything that was asked of him.

“I worked hard, partly because there was no shortage of things to do in a busy restaurant, but mostly because that’s what my father expected of me,” Silva recalled. “The lessons I learned have stayed with me – work hard, put in the hours, pay attention to the little things and always show service with a smile.”

Silva, 35, has long since gotten into the banking arena, following a career track that has taken him from Domestic Bank, where he was named loan officer of the year numerous times, to Bank Rhode Island.

He acknowledged it wasn’t a childhood dream to become a banker. In fact, he earned a degree in interpersonal communications at the University of Rhode Island.

After graduating he took a job with Domestic Bank in Cranston, which has since been renamed Admirals Bank.

Because he worked at a small bank, Silva found himself taking on a lot of roles, much like he once did at his family’s restaurant. He trained other lenders, assisted with marketing, ran construction-loan seminars and helped to streamline loan processing.

Silva joined the commercial real estate division at BankRI in 2007. He developed 90 “loan relationships” with new clients – the industry standard is 20 to 25 per year, Silva said.

Silva was recently promoted to senior vice president and is part of the senior-management team. He oversees an $80 million portfolio. •