If you happen to run across one of Citizens Bank’s many community initiatives, it’s a good bet Amie Kershaw is behind it.
Kershaw is Citizens’ vice president and director of public affairs, and is responsible for developing and overseeing the bank’s signature programs, such as Champions in Action, Striking Out Hunger and Gear for Grades, among others.
But she does much more.
Kershaw regularly fields news media inquiries, assembles special events and oversees philanthropic activities.
“My scope of responsibilities is vast and on any day can involve community relations, media relations, event planning, budgeting and marketing,” Kershaw said in her 40 Under Forty application. “The best part of my job is the people whom I work with every day. They are the smartest and most creative group.”
Kershaw joined Citizens as a junior member of the public affairs department in 2003, after serving for five years as promotions director at WPRO-FM, working her way up to the director’s role.
A favorite part of her job is working with nonprofits while bringing to bear the resources of Rhode Island’s largest bank.
Case in point: Kershaw said the public affairs team brainstormed about raising awareness and money for the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. The team came up with Striking Out Hunger, a pledge by Citizens to donate $75 to the food bank for each strikeout recorded by a PawSox pitcher, up to $75,000. The program is now in its fourth year.
Another example: When she left her job at the radio station, Kershaw was working on a partnership program with Citizens called “Tools for School,” a statewide school-supply collection drive.
She continued to work on the program when she moved to Citizens. Now renamed “Gear for Grades,” the program is in its seventh year and has provided more than 50,000 backpacks and supplies to needy children, and has been expanded to 10 additional markets. •
