PBN 2021 Business Women Awards
Industry Leader Financial Services: Mary Leach, BankNewport
Mary Leach has a massive portfolio of responsibilities in her role as executive vice president, consumer relationships, for BankNewport, with $1.6 billion in deposits. She oversees the operations and sales at the Middletown-based bank’s 17 branches statewide, as well as its 90 bankers and a 12-person call center.
With more than 35 years of banking experience, Leach continues to introduce innovations to the Rhode Island banking market, many of which marry technology with human interactions.
One such change is the interactive personal teller machines, which replaced traditional drive-up bank windows and blend the convenience of ATM services and face-to-face service from a personal banker via a secure video communication.
“The biggest challenge” to using the PTMs, which are now at eight locations, “was getting customers to embrace new technology and understand all the new features,” Leach said. “Strange as it was, the pandemic brought customers to use the PTMs. Very early in COVID, people used the PTMs at three times the rate they did before COVID.”
In 2016, Leach also brought to BankNewport the “universal banker” model, in which each banker is trained to provide the full array of banking services customers seek, such as depositing or withdrawing money, getting new loans and opening accounts, rather than requiring customers to engage with multiple bankers.
“Mary had the foresight to serve customers better with one-stop shopping and to allow bankers opportunities to learn more,” said Wendy Kagan, BankNewport executive vice president and director of employee and community engagement. Describing it as a tough decision, as some tellers didn’t want to sell and employees selling accounts didn’t want to do transactional work, Kagan added, “We created a task force … she knows that we really needed to understand the stakeholders and audience, get buy-in and recognize all the components we needed to execute.”
“Implementing the universal banker approach was a pretty significant change that we did in a phased-in approach,” Leach said. “We don’t really have a traditional teller role now.”
Since 2017, BankNewport has opened four retail branches under Leach’s direction. With a blueprint of expansion desires, including Warwick and areas north of Johnston, she said the bank is “always actively looking.”
Among the bank’s fastest-growing business lines is the Premier Banking group, which offers concierge services and provides personalized products and services. Some 500 new high net worth customers, or those who have at least $500,000 in deposits, are now in the Premier Banking group. Leach established the group in 2019 as the bank’s first private banking service.
“I … spearheaded [these initiatives], but each required a group of people to bring them to fruition. It makes me excited to know BankNewport has highly skilled and capable people who are willing to jump in and support [new projects],” Leach said. “Technology in banking is changing nearly by the minute. To remain competitive, we have to be open-minded, consider what customers want and [propose] solutions. I like to take a little bit of risk; I’m always looking for something new and different.”
Having worked closely with Leach for several years at BankNewport, and earlier at Citizens Bank N.A., Kagan said, “Leach doesn’t promote herself in the community, as she’s more focused on getting things done to make the bank successful.”
Although BankNewport didn’t close its branches during the COVID-19 pandemic, customers for several months last year were required to make appointments to enter the bank lobbies.
“We never reduced pay, regardless of reduced hours; we made that decision together,” Kagan said, “as our employees’ well-being was so important.” Once BankNewport got past all the personal protective equipment requirements and allayed anxieties, “we grew deposits to record levels … we did extremely well across all business lines,” Leach said.
Leach, a Rhode Island native, is grateful for the opportunities she’s had to grow, progress and contribute professionally right at home.
“It’s been icing on the cake to do that here in Rhode Island,” she said.
