Business Women Awards 2022
Industry Leader Financial Services Terri Monjar, Bank of America Corp.
As a senior relationship manager for Bank of America Corp.’s Northeast Commercial Banking, Terri Monjar is responsible for bringing people, products and solutions together.
“My job is to understand what [my clients] are trying to do and bring the team members that I have from across the bank to the table, quickly and efficiently, so they can get those deals done,” she said.
Monjar manages a portfolio of middle-market public and private clients with annual sales ranging from $50 million to more than $2 billion, advising and executing on various capital-raising approaches, merger and acquisition initiatives, treasury management solutions, risk management strategies and employee financial services.
She joined Bank of America in 2016, bringing years of consulting, technology management and global accounts to the work. Over the years she has helped clients acquire close to $200 million in new capital, save millions of dollars in streamlined operations, mitigate foreign exchange and interest rate risks, and retain and hire employees.
“My background is a consulting mindset,” she said. “I came up through a consulting firm. I have technology, operations, product and relationship experience and through all those disciplines, I learned how to understand the big picture. Then I partner with my teammates for the deep-dive expertise. My skill is being able to bring people and processes and technology together to solve complicated problems for our customers.”
Monjar recently served as a We Can Deliver Champion and partnered with more than 20 other leaders to educate and motivate employees to use a new customer service system. The easy-to-access application allows employees to take a customer concern and log it into a system for it to be addressed, effectively supporting thousands of inquiries from clients and prospects across the bank’s eight business lines.
“I’ve been fortunate to work closely with Terri for the last several years and I am so impressed with her leadership in support of our clients and employees in our state,” said Kevin Tracy, president of Bank of America Rhode Island in East Providence. “No matter what the circumstance is, she is always willing to lend her strong business acumen to help improve the financial lives of our clients … we are lucky to have her on our team.”
Monjar represents the Northeast region on Bank of America’s National Commercial Banking’s Diversity and Inclusion Council and is a member of Global Banking Asset Management Women’s Leadership Council and an active member of Bank of America’s Rhode Island Employee Networks.
Tracy says Monjar is a “great inspiration to other teammates in the company.”
She serves as a mentor to others in the industry through Bank of America’s Women Exchange, Bank of America’s Leadership Mentoring Program, Young Voices, Year Up and Junior Achievement. She also volunteers through the Babson College Alumni Supporting Entrepreneurs program, connecting and supporting fellow alumni and students. She participates continuously with the United Way of Rhode Island, currently serving as an honorary board member.
“Mentors, managers and influencers have been unbelievable not only here but throughout my career,” she said. “I’ve had people see I had potential, maybe not the experience, but they opened doors to give me exposure to areas that would help build my career.”
She is a proponent of building peer circles, as well as reaching out across generations.
“I love staying in touch with the younger generations,” she said. “They keep me hip in terms of technology and trends, like social media.”
Mojnar says she’s always felt fully supported within the organization, pointing to Bank of America’s ranking as one of only nine S&P 100 companies with six or more women on the board.
“I’ve been with a lot of organizations over the years and when I came to the bank, I was told there were two words you need to know to be successful: you have to be smart, and you have to be nice,” she said. “It’s instilled from the top down. … Everybody is treated with respect.”
