Exec sees BankRI as a champion of local business, arts, community development

As chief business officer for BankRI, Jim DeRentis oversees both the bank’s commercial and retail banking businesses, as well as its marketing and communications divisions. He is also known as a passionate advocate for Providence’s creative economy and a supporter of the arts and urban development efforts. Through his leadership, BankRI has funded Soundsession, a week-long music festival hosted by the Providence Black Repertory Company, and has financed AS220’s Dreyfus Hotel project, which will create affordable housing for artists.

PBN: What are you responsible for on a daily basis as BankRI’s chief business officer?

DeRENTIS: Chief business officer is [a unique position] in this business, in that the commercial bank, the retail bank, marketing and communications all report in to one group head. And the idea was that we want to make sure that we are creating the customer experience that is superior to what you can get at any alternative banks.

PBN: You’ve done some unusual things in BankRI branches. Can you talk about that?

DeRENTIS: Again, it goes back to differentiating ourselves from the competition. We are never going to be the bank of convenience, i.e., I’m not going to have 100 branches in this state. By and large, most customers still think of the bank branch as “the bank,” and depending on which branch you use, that’s your overall impression and perception of the bank. … So we did things like put in coffee bars, Internet cafŽs, art galleries, children’s play areas in some markets, plasma screen televisions – all things that enhance the customer environment, so that when customers came in, it was obvious to them that this was a place to linger, and that they could spend a bit of time to broaden and deepen their relationship.

PBN: Can you talk about PL Capital’s effort to nominate members to the BankRI board?

DeRENTIS: I think our CEO and CFO have been very public about what the PL Capital move means to the company from a business perspective. Suffice it to say that these kinds of shareholder activism movements are part of being a publicly traded company. … If you are a publicly traded company in this environment, you are susceptible to shareholder questions and shareholder activity. We have always, since the inception of the bank, listened to the views of our shareholders, and our primary goal and primary business objectives have been to deliver superior shareholder value over time, and that’s what we’ve done. … We believe that, left to execute on our strategy, that over time we will deliver greater shareholder value.

PBN: What are you particularly looking forward to?

DeRENTIS: We believe … that there is a strong need for a financial service partner on behalf of local businesses. And that’s the role we’ve always played, and we’ve been able to triple the size of the bank in 10 years because we’ve been able to execute on that plan. I think, going forward, you’re still going to have that opportunity even greater. Because, if you’re a local business, you want to know that if your bank is making decisions on your behalf, that they truly understand your business, that they truly know you and you truly know them. If you’re making decisions from 1,500 miles away, that bank can’t claim to know the difference between Warwick and Woonsocket.

PBN: Tell me about your work with the Providence Redevelopment Agency.

DeRENTIS: When Mayor Cicilline was elected, I was his first appointment. … He knew that in addition to arts and culture, I was also involved in many neighborhood organizations, many housing, nonprofit community development organizations, and I also was involved in adaptive reuse personally. … So he asked me if I’d like to serve in the Providence Redevelopment Agency, which is the lead agency for basically eradicating blight throughout the city. It is the arm that owns the real estate in the city, and it’s responsible to make sure that city-owned assets that are not being used to their optimal potential are in effect put into service. PBN: How did you get involved with the Arts & Business Council? DeRentis: My involvement … started when [the council] was what was known as the Business Volunteers for the Arts. And in essence … it was an affiliate program of the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce, where they took people in the business world with certain skill sets and expertise – whether it be marketing or finance or accounting or IT – and they matched them with arts organizations that needed help with strategic planning, with marketing, with growing audience, with growing market share, whatever it might be. … We actually transitioned to a full-service arts organization that provided a broad range of services to arts venues. And one of the things we did that you may see around town is this thing called ArtTix, an online box office and ticketing system that small venues just wouldn’t be able to do.

PBN: Let’s talk about Trinity Rep.

DeRENTIS: Trinity is, in my opinion, the crown jewel of performing arts venues in the state. As you know, Curt Columbus came roughly a year ago as the new creative director, and Jack McConnell is the new chair of the Trinity board, and last summer they invited me to lunch and asked me to sit on the board of directors. And, you know, I was just kind of blown away that these two gentlemen would think that I could add value to the organization.

AGE: 45