AGE: 39
POSITION: Senior vice president and regional manager, Webster Bank
RESIDENCE: Marion, Mass.
LIFELONG AMBITION: To raise children to happy, successful adults
FAVORITE BOOK: “The Kite Runner,” by Khadled Hosseini
GUILTY PLEASURE: A weekend spa getaway
In the 18 years spent as a commercial banker, Ana C. Dyer has met new people almost on a daily basis, many of whom are distinguished in their business achievements. But the person who has made the greatest impact on her is someone closer to home.
In 1975, when she was 8, Dyer and her family immigrated to the United States from Portugal, “full of excitement for what lay ahead” and unable to speak English.
Her father, then 37 and with only four years of formal education, “worked very proudly in various low-skill jobs to make a living for his family,” she said.
“He knew that the path to success was through an education,” she added, “and the willingness to work hard for your dreams. He constantly reinforced to me the value of an education and instilled in me the work ethic that I believe makes me successful today.”
Dyer didn’t just get an education – she shone. She was the valedictorian for New Bedford High School’s Class of 1985, and she went on to Harvard University, where she earned a B.A. in economics. From there, she went into banking, and she’s continued to excel ever since.
She started at Fleet Bank in Providence as a management trainee and credit analyst. Then she moved on to Shawmut Bank, back in New Bedford, where she was an assistant vice president.
In 1993, four years out of college, she went to work for Bank of Boston, becoming a vice president and relationship manager. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, she ended up working for Bank of America, where she was a senior vice president when she left, in 2005, to lead Webster Bank’s regional operation in Massachusetts.
At Webster, Dyer manages a team of business bankers, portfolio managers and administrative staff, and she also serves on the bank’s senior leadership team, representing business and professional banking – which includes clients with revenue of up to $10 million.
Dyer also serves on Webster’s Community Reinvestment Act management committee, and she was recently named manager of the medical financial services and association financial services initiatives, charged with leading the growth of those business segments.
