PBN C-SUITE 2021 AWARDS CAREER ACHIEVER
Mary E. Noons
The Washington Trust Co. executive vice president and chief retail lending officer
It has been almost 30 years since Mary E. Noons joined The Washington Trust Co. and started its secondary marketing department.
During that time, Noons, executive vice president and chief retail lending officer for the Westerly-based bank, has had the opportunity to work with and learn from many people.
“In many ways, I have grown along with the bank. When I started in 1992, there were around 200 employees and we had limited mortgage origination. However, there were many people willing to teach. I was eager to learn and during my tenure, the bank has always been interested in growth,” Noons said. “I was given opportunities and learned from a diverse group of talented, knowledgeable people. I think you have to set yourself up for success and avail yourself of the opportunities as they come up.”
That type of give-and-take requires a certain amount of flexibility and trust. Over the years, Noons has made the effort to participate in as many things as possible, including volunteering for projects or other work and attending every educational seminar or conference she could find.
“By educating myself and increasing my exposure,” she said, “I got on the radar of people who could influence my career. I am very grateful that I worked with high-quality individuals who gave me the chance to grow.”
These days, Noons is knee-deep in a major business integration project she describes as building on some of Washington Trust’s relationship banking and viewing it from the customer’s perspective to ensure the right products and approaches are being offered to add the most value.
“We believe we have so much to offer and want to improve how we engage with our customers regardless of how they initiate their Washington Trust relationship,” Noons said. “The cross-functional project encompasses all business lines and communication channels. Many believe this is the future of banking, particularly community banking, and it’s the best way to project benefits to our customers.”
Another related project involves partnership building, with Washington Trust identifying or enhancing ways to improve referrals and services awareness between divisions to realize some business cross-pollination benefits before the full integration infrastructure is built.
Al Grant, a Washington Trust mortgage origination senior vice president, said Noons is a natural leader who puts her heart and soul into everything.
“What makes Mary a strong leader? What makes her so strong at her job?” Grant said. “She won’t tell you, but I will … she’s brilliant, humble and caring. Mary is process-driven, always with an eye on business sustainability. She has the unique ability to manage to today, the next quarter and the next decade, and she truly cares about all three. She recognizes talent, gives people the latitude to use that talent and always plays to people’s strengths. She truly cares about the well-being of her entire ‘work family.’ ”
A big believer that leadership takes different forms at different times as situations necessitate, Noons also feels that some fundamentals are always present, including being open-minded and honest, respecting people, not shying away from challenges and always taking responsibility for your team.
“When things are tough, or to best prepare for changes in the industry, you need to ask the tough questions, offer the unpopular opinion and stand strong for the things you believe you need for your team, or your business line in general,” Noons said. “You can be open and confront issues without being obnoxious. I think you need to do whatever it takes to build the right team and then ensure they know what the mission is at all times.”
Humbled and grateful for being honored, Noons is unsurprisingly quick to share the spotlight.
“In good conscience,” she said, “I am accepting [this award] on behalf of my team who are the most incredible people I have ever worked with and without whom I would not have been able to have the accomplishments over the past few years.”
